BlueAnt X5i Party Speaker: It gets the party started

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I was not expecting to enjoy the BlueAnt X5i as much as I did for my review.

I didn’t expect it to be a disappointing product at all – reviewing the BlueAnt Soundblade earlier this year was enough for me to know that the Aussie audio company produces high-quality gear.

But I’m not one for karaoke. I would never be the frontman in a rock band – I’d be the rhythm guitarist in the background. The idea of singing – and having my voice amplified while doing it – isn’t really my thing.

It is, however, my 13-year-old daughter’s thing. And together, we have had a lot of fun with the X5i’s twin microphone setup.

The speaker is simple to use, sounds great and looks good. It’s still a premium product within the party speaker space, but in my opinion, the cost is worth it.

What is the BlueAnt X5i offering?

There are a few things a party speaker really needs to offer. It needs to be portable, so you can move it from party to party effortlessly. It needs a thumping sound that doesn’t distort at high volumes. And it has to look good, with a lightship designed to get the party started.

The X5i offers all three of these features, plus a few more. It offers a huge 120 Watts of peak bass output, pairing two 58 mm tweeters and a 165 mm bass driver with a bass reflex tube.

Packed inside the X5i is a 20,800 mAh battery, which should offer up to 30 hours of music playback at 50% volume. Pumped to full volume that battery life drops to about seven hours, which kind of gives an idea as to how loud it gets as well.

Like any good party speaker, the front of the X5i lights up in sync with the music. BlueAnt has included seven different lighting modes, which vary in colour and pattern.

The speaker weighs just 4.8 kg, and has a convenient handle built into its design, so you can easily move it around. If you'd like, you can pick up two X5i speakers and create a stereo pair, though I only got to use the one for this review.

The speaker comes with two wireless microphones, each offering 50+ hours of battery life. They are rechargeable via a USB-C cable, and you can charge them from the X5i speaker if you need to.

For the most part, you’re going to be using the X5i as a Bluetooth party speaker, but it does also support auxiliary input and USB mode if you need those options. There’s a convenient groove in the top to house an iPad or smartphone as well, making it easy to read lyrics while singing along.

What does the BlueAnt X5i do well?

From the moment I first powered on the X5i, I was impressed. Maybe it’s the Australian in me, but the didgeridoo startup sound is fantastic, demonstrating the powerful bass of the speaker.

I was also impressed by the quality of the build. 4.8 kg sounds heavy, but it’s deceptively light to move around. But it’s rugged and robust, feeling solid enough to take a few knocks alone the way. Not that I did, but it feels like it can take it.

The controls are simple. There’s a large volume dial on the top of the speaker, with a scale that goes to 16. That seems like an odd numerical scale to work to, but at full volume, it does feel like a few notches above turning it up to 11.

It’s not perfectly balanced at full volume. It’s not distorted at all, but it feels like the X5i is stronger at the low end and the high end, with the mid-range maybe a bit overwhelmed.

But it still sounds great, straight out of the box. If you want to really feel your music, there’s a dedicated bass boost button that really focuses in on the low-end, and creates a thumping, immersive sound that fills a large room, despite its relatively small size.

I imagine that throwing two of these in a stereo arrangement might balance out the sound a bit more as well, but I am speculating a bit here.

The X5i has two circular slots on the top that houses the two wireless microphones. They come pre-paired, so all you need to do is turn the mic on, and it will amplify your voice through the speaker.

Each microphone also has an individual volume control up to 16, which is managed on the mic itself. There’s also an echo control on the top of the main unit, which scales up to – you guessed it – 16 as well.

The scale of the volume is great. You can easily crank it up so you can hear your voice, or scale it down, so your vocals are minimised.

Because it’s effectively just a Bluetooth speaker, I used it paired to an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and used Apple Music’s Sing functionality to remove the vocal track to create a pretty impressive karaoke setup.

The groove in the top of the speaker is designed to hold a phone or an iPad, and an iPad is definitely a better size for reading lyrics. Unfortunately, none of my home’s iPads are new enough to support the Sing control in Apple Music, though.

One last thing to call out here: I haven’t had to charge the speaker yet. I’ve had a couple of hour-long karaoke sessions, and I know my daughter has snuck off with the X5i and performed for herself a few times as well, and the battery is still showing at 3/4 full.

It all depends on how you use it, obviously, but in the few weeks I’ve been testing it, the X5i has sipped at the battery in that time.

What could the BlueAnt X5i improve?

Honestly, there’s not too much to list off here. I have noticed a few occasions where the mics cut out. I assume it’s just a bit of wireless interference around my home. It typically never lasts longer than a couple of seconds, so isn’t a big deal.

The storage slots for the mics are relatively shallow, which means the mics stand quite tall above the top of the speaker. This is fine for moving the speaker from room to room, but if you were taking the X5i to a friend’s place, you’d need to carry the microphones separately.

Verdict

I was shopping for party speakers for my daughter for Christmas, and they all looked to sit in one of two camps: The cheap junk that looks like it will sound terrible, and the pricey beasts that will cost you a fortune, but likely sound fantastic.

There’s not too much in the middle. While the BlueAnt X5i is still probably still leaning on the premium side at its $479 RRP, the introductory price of $289 (which is available until December 30) makes it incredible value.

It’s a party speaker that looks great, sounds incredible and has epic battery life. It is an easy recommendation if you’re looking for a party speaker this summer.

Buy the BlueAnt X5i party speaker online

BlueAnt X5i

RRP: $479

Check Price @ Telstra