EWA A106 Pro Mini Speaker Review

When we talk about award-winning speakers here at Stozz Audio you might think of some of the ultra high-end products we have featured in the past. Today is going to be a little different because I am going to review the EWA A106 the cheapest and smallest travel speaker I have reviewed to date. Why would I do such a thing? Well, good products should have a spotlight put on them and for what this little guy is, it’s a hell of a product.

What is the EWA A106?

This is an ultra-portable travel speaker designed to take up as little space as possible but still, provide a far louder and more enjoyable listening experience than you would get from using your phone speakers. It’s also louder and fuller sounding than many other larger travel speakers I have tried. In fact, the reason I am reviewing this today is someone in the office pulled it out at lunch. My first thought was it would be another poor effort cheap Chinese cash grab but when he started playing it I got interested, enough to borrow it for a few days to do the review

It’s designated a mini speaker with its diminutive dimensions of 1.87”x1.52” inches, it’s about the size of a large egg if you want some context. It can go in the pocket easily but for a little added protection you might want to throw it in the included carry case. The carry case is a smart little generic option with a twist. Obviously, it protects the speaker in transit in a backpack but it also has perforations cut out so you can actually play music through it. My preference was to use the speaker without the case as it does add a little too much bulk.

The driver used inside is a small 3w unit but packs a punch as we will discuss in the sound section of the review. The battery is rated for what EWA claims is 8 hours from a full charge however this comes with the caveat that you are playing music at 50% volume. In our real-world test, we found 75%-80% listening volumes to be more accurate and from that, we got 5 hours and 25 minutes out of it.

There are zero additional features. I love this as a design choice and EWA talk about it themselves. When designing the A106 Pro their brief focussed on 3 things, sound, size, and price. By eliminating unnecessary extras like volume controls, microphones, and aux inputs they were able to put more expense into using quality materials. This is an ethos I wish more companies in the audio industry would adopt, trying to please everyone by including unnecessary features kills the value aspect of many products. Here EWA kept it simple and it’s a success.

Negatives are few and in my opinion, should not really play into the buying decision because they are outweighed greatly by the product as a whole but let’s mention them anyway. The first thing I don’t like is the speaker charges via Micro-USB, I think at this point everyone knows we are moving to a future where even Apple will be forced to adopt USB-C standardization. Micro just means I have to carry an extra cable with me. Secondly, the Bluetooth standard is not the latest 5.3 which can mean issues with low latency in some cases. Not a problem for music but more of a consideration if watching a movie on your phone or gaming with the speaker.

Sound

The best and worst part of the EWA A106 Pro mini speaker is the sound. By audiophile standards and the standards of the products that usually come through our office, this is right down the bottom. However, we are talking about a speaker here the size of an egg, that can be carried in a pocket and pulled out in a park or on a patio and definitely start to rock. I simply cannot understand how EWA managed to extract so much power from this small of a package. It absolutely rocks and on sound, I am definitely recommending it.

In a speaker this size there is no point talking about imaging or detail retrieval. What we need to know is can it go loud and if it does is there distortion.

Loudness - The volume this speaker can reach is incredible, many times that of your phone but at the same time it also sounds so much fuller. You can use it to fill (not full) a small or medium-sized room at decent volume to provide background noise when having conversations and drinks. It won’t obviously be loud enough to get the party started but definitely enough that a few of you can enjoy the music while you hang out.

Distortion - It does distort and display some clipping when you reach the higher end of the volume limits. I would say 90-95% is where it starts to deteriorate which is really good because I have tested more expensive speakers that significantly degrade at about 80%. Here it’s noticeable in the bass where it starts to lose much and go flat. Up to that point though the bass is tight and punchy, hitting way harder than I could imagine from its size.

In short, the sound is amazing, but it has its limitations and for the price and size expectations should be tempered. EWA though has created a little beast that on sound alone I just went out and purchased one for myself. It’s a handy thing and I’m looking forward to adding a video portion to this review in the future.

Our Verdict

Small can be mighty and in the case of the EWA A106 A, that is certainly the case. The speaker is the perfect blend of performance price and builds quality. It’s a useful thing to have with you especially if you travel, hike or camp a lot. Minimal fuss, simplicity, and a focus on getting the basics right make this an easy product for us to recommend to our readers.

Official Website of EWA A106 Pro: www.ewaspeaker.com