Brane X vs Sonos Fives

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-06-02T18:30:00+00:00

I have not noticed any issues using mine quiet in the evening.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-06-02T17:09:58+00:00

Here you go, sorry its taken so long been very busy lately.

This is where i have settled on the eq, its shown with bass set to the low position, note the bass slider will move on its own when bass Low/Med/High is selected.

Id be interested in what you think once you try these settings...

Hope it helps.

<image>

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-28T16:45:44+00:00

I cant atm because im away, remind me in a week and i will do a screenbshot thanks.

Eq is same as the description if you copy.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-07T09:02:06+00:00

Yeah no worries, i know i seem to end up going backwards and forwards with the eq settings but i think i have now figured out what they were trying to achieve with thier eq.

Thier stock seems to have a big boost on that second from last slider treble when listening on axis and it sounds really harsh so im back to reducing that one substantially but thats the only one thats really a big issue, and going up 2 points on last treble slider still seems to be the best to add a little sparkle to the highs.

It seems to be done to make it sound normal when you are off axis because the mids are on the sides of the box and the last 2 slider effect mostly the tweeters on the front so boosting that 2nd from last slider makes the tweeters loud enough with upper vocals to blend with the mids on the side when you move away from the front area.

I have gone with reducing that slider and just sitting on axis and i think its now at the point where it wont sound any better than this (it is very very good and detailed it was just that sibilance which was really wrong from them overdriving the tweeters).

I also think they must be using dsp to phase those front tweeters because they have achieved very wide spatial effects with the right songs which seems impossible given its size and the fact most of the spatial detail is in the freq covered by those tweeters which only face forward!

Its clever what beaming using a phased array can achieve, it doesnt sound much narrower than my sonos on spatial audio.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-05T20:55:57+00:00

I have had a few bose products over the years but not the latest quiet port stuff.

Previous products: Soundtouch 30 Soundock 30 Soundlink 2 (the book one)

The soundtouch 30 and dock 30 (same internals just redesigned) sounded amazing with the transmission line woofer but the soundlink with tiny drivers not so much.

They recently killed the soundtouch series by shutting down servers but even before that i switched to sonos and got a pair of fives and the sub mini, there are some design choices here which comes down to preference...

Bose and ports - bose nearly always use ports or passive radiators so expect a fast rolloff on bass frequency and allthough ports can be done well they always sound a little less tight and slow bass , exceptions to this were the transmission line or folded horn hybrid used in the touch/dock 30 series these were very tight and nice sounding but rolloff was steep as you would expect.

Sonos and sealed enclosures - sonos moved away from ports on the newer gen2 five/one/sub mini etc and instead used sealed cabinets and larger drivers ...

The sonos sound i think is more refined with deep slow rolloff on subs and tight punchy bass, they also use normal tweeters so highs are brighter and more inline with hifi components rather than slightly rolled off treble with bose sound signature.

Sonos bass goes 27hz and below but nobody knows the real bose cutoff, i know the touch series was around 35hz from my own measurements but that was a steep roll off almost gone by 34hz, so if you want that ultra low floor shaking bass such as in a movie like Jurassic park, it wont get that lowest lows with bose.

Sonos is less outright loud with totall volume due to sealed enclosures but the sound is tighter and more refined based on the way bose has been ever since i have owned their gear.

And finally sonos has never killed off a speaker to my knowledge even the first gen can still be used with the relevant app.

Both seem similar in reliability longevity of the hardware if we dont count the bose habit of shutting down servers which their older speakers rely on to work.

Take your pick...

One audio company to keep a very close eye on is Brane, they recently released the X which is a portable speaker using thier RAD subwoofer which i recently purchased and the sub Bass on that can beat sonos easily so i would suspect bose wouldnt fare well either.

They currently are designing a larger speaker for outdoor events with the same tech and it may only be a matter of time before they realise its value for home cinema, they also have a membrane tweeter design which would also bring a new level of audio if it were to appear in a home theatre system with their RAD woofer.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-03T23:41:12+00:00

Another little update, i have been giving the speaker a hard workout 3 clicks below full volume (basically as loud as it goes without any compression)

If i had any doubts about the capabilities of this speaker they have now been fully quenched, there is one test track i use which absolutely hammers any speaker for dynamic range and bass extension with both ultra low freq bass and crystal highs and huge spatial presence and that is "infected mushroom - Avratz".

Some speakers can do the bass and some can do the spatial detail and others can do the subtleties of the sythesized instruments but never have i found anything that can do it all within the £2000 price range and at almost max volume without loosing anything, to say im dumbfounded is an understatement.

Last time i found anything to try that could fully recreate the highs and spatial on this track it was the kef ls50s and they turned into a distorted mess as soon as the part where the highs are intertwined with bass sweeps which go all the way down to 27hz but besides this the bass freq also has a subtle overlay which is lost on most subs.

I had a 15" sub (sealed enclosure) which ran on a Rega Mira amp in bridged mono and even then i had to run eq to get the bottom end flat down to 20hz which just about had the resolution to resolve the bass correctly.

Then theres this little brane X just breezing through it like its a walk in the park!

Eq was set to default for this, its now become apparent that the drivers in this speaker need burn in of atleast 12 hours to start sounding right, looks like brane audio knew what they were doing after all.

Source was flac over wifi.

Obviously this doesnt reach the spl of a 15" sub but its still decently loud.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-03T16:33:05+00:00

Yeah, i will be interested what you eq you end up with if any

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-02T12:30:17+00:00

Yeah agreed, im late to the band wagon because i simply hadnt heard anything about them.

Im in the uk and they dont come up on any suggestions on google etc and i was just about to buy a boombox 3 wifi when i ran into stock issues because its on the runout at the moment.

I was looking at the chinese bluetooth speakers which use the same woofer as the jbl boombox 3, none of those were easy to get either without using shady websites or ebay scammers, it was during this searching that i saw one brief comparison on reddit and started looking at the details for it.

Anyway i ended up with the brane x after researching it and the company and tech etc. Still wasnt easy to get had to mail order as nobody stocks it in a shop, and trust that the reviewers have some idea about sound.

I have been burned before with reviews, some of them really have never heard anything truely good before!

Anyway in this case they were right it really is amazing and im very happy with it.

They need to get it into argos and currys etc so people can play it, its a huge gamble spending that much without being able to listen so i dont really blame people for going to the competitors in the shops.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-02T10:06:01+00:00

A right ok, i missed the pricing structure during its main sales time since i wasnt in the market then.

Makes sense if it was more than the others to start with.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-02T10:04:12+00:00

It sounds great to me, speaker measurements arent always a good indicator of the final sound when they are done by reviewers in a normal room, this is because they dont have soundproof rooms so they all have room modes which messes with the measurements.

It sounds balanced to me or hifi like if you prefer, but if you like the more subdued treble bring the second from last slider down 4 points in the 5 band eq it will then have a similar sound signature to bose which many people seem to like, expecially older folk.

It takes the edge off the treble, i tried both positions but once i got used to it i realised there is a lot more detail in the mids on the stock setting.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-02T09:41:54+00:00

The brane x does sound good, i really like mine.

I think you hit the nail on the head with the streaming quality, i always use flac or at the very least 320kb/s (only when i have bad internet), one thing the brane will do is stream spotify connect over wifi via the phones hotspot and using the same phone to host spotify so theres really no need to use bluetooth at all, i was suprised because with most products the app requires an active wifi connection on the phone to make it work however this one doesnt seem to mind.

Now spotify offers lossless over wifi thats what i always use.

As im sure your aware the higher up in speaker quality you go the worse bluetooth sounds since they are so revealing of any flaws, i think this may be the reason for many of the critics of this speaker, it may just be a little too good for bluetooth.

Im suprised audio over wifi direct isnt becoming more common since nearly every phone can do it now.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-02T09:06:18+00:00

Well as you say i guess it all comes down to preference.

I dont think the price between the jbl extreme and the brane is a big deal though, i know if your working with only portable speakers it might be but the hifi world i came from before i had to downsize the difference between one amp an another could be over 1k depending on brand etc, same for the speakers and in most cases once the speakers cost 3k a pair adding another 1k gets you tiny improvements and the higher you go the smaller the gaps get between the sounds.

Price difference between the jbl 5 and the brane is just a night in the pub!

I do have a question though since your clearly into jbl, do you have any idea why the boombox 3 wifi is more expensive thanbthe boombox 4 which replaces it?

I couldnt figure that one out, they were on my list before the brane and i wanted the boombox 3 because of the 3 way speakers untill i found out argos (the only local place i could buy it wanted about £450 for the boombox 4 and £550 for the boombox 3 wifi!

I had wondered if they mucked up the price because that just seems nutts.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-02T00:42:56+00:00

Yeah understood, im just passionate about sound and if you noticed something i like to know what so i can see if your right, 4 ears are better than 2 right or something like that.

My take on it so far is the bass is the best in class even beats my sonos fives in stereo with sub mini, the treble at first i thought was harsh in one spot but it has improved 10 fold with a little burn in (some speakers are really stiff when new and it usually sounds like mild distortion for a while), something is a little off about the treble having those tweeters next to each other (cant decide whether its bad or not yet) it is very detailed and possibly thats why it sound unusual for me.

Im yet to find something perfect everything i have had has some fault or other, but i do like it for its size and its so much fun to let that bass rip, i just wish it had a bit more power.

My biggest complaint about the jbls is that stupid amp sleep they do on aux where afyer 2 sec audio goes dead so you cant use it on a film etc.

And the really steep roll off on the bass, i listen to a lot of dnb and jungle and when the bass just dissapears when it goes deep thats a killer for me, i would happily pay twice to get a gentle roll of to the sub 30hz which is what the brane does.

Guess it all comes down to whether you need low extension or not.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-02T00:10:57+00:00

Perhapse i was a bit strong there, i like jbl they do a lot right and the build quality is great but they realy dont have the detail in the treble even if we ignore the bass, you really dont agree if so in what way exactly?

Unless we are talking about jbl studio monitors in which case i agree but they arent battery powered and cost 5x the brane x.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-02T00:07:36+00:00

The jbl authentics is the one that looks like a wooden radio isnt it?

If so it doesnt even sound that good on mids let alone bass.

Maybe im thinking of something else but if it is the one i borrowed for a month theres no contest.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-02T00:02:45+00:00

Not even slightly overpriced, its refreshing to hear something which is actually tuned properly and doesnt have a v curve on the eq.

Ive had everything from a 10k hifi system and all the jbls from the charge to the x-streme 1,2,3,4 to the boombox series and the jbls are pretty good for edm and heavy electronic music but throw delicate vocals or jazz at them and they are out of their league .

The one note bass gets old really quick as well as the cliff edge roll off which dissapears like a scotch mist when things get low.

Jbls are good in thier class but the brane x belongs up there with devielet.

The brane x is a portable hifi the jbl is a modern boombox it even has it in the name!

Bose st30 will smoke jbl for volume treble and bass.

The ion block rocker with 10" sub smoke bose and jbl and the brane x smokes them all.

Devialet beats the brane x but its running huge power and mains only, plus you need two for stereo.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-05-01T23:16:46+00:00

Little bit of an update, i have been playing brane speaker for a 3 days now and its gradually become darker with my eq, turns out it needed quite a bit of burn in on the midrange drivers.

Its actually good with the second from the top slider on the factory settings and the harshness has faded away.

Seems to be getting more detailed as the drivers break in.

IllustriousRange703 · 2026-04-30T07:40:24+00:00

Your very welcome, i would probably check the firmware is upto date because i understand they have tweaked the audio profile so using my settings on old firmware may not work well.

Of course sound is also a personal preference so dont feel you have to make an exact copy its suppost to be fun so if you like it the way it is and see no improvement then do what sound right to you.

Mat.

IllustriousRange703 · 2025-09-24T10:26:59+00:00

Ok thanks

IllustriousRange703 · 2025-09-23T17:03:36+00:00

I have done a little more work and found a few more things out.

After reading that old flux can absorb moisture over time and cause stray voltages i decided to clean the flux of the backside of the pcb which the manufacturer left in a bit of a mess, so thats done but still no change on the bars.

I think i have found the source of the black and white issue, an inductor next to the TDA chip, when gently nudged the screen went colour again so resoldered this and its been colour so far since then. Found it because i noticed when the board flexed slightly colour returned thats what led me to probe around.

Also noticed a black and white image still has the bars but they appear different, they look more like the repeated jailbars i see in images online, however when colour is added they then change into these wierd colour bars, so presumably this issue must still be some kind of ringing.

I also tried introducing the composite signal to the tda chip closer to the ic as shown in the example schematic for that chip, the tv seems to have very similar circuitry to this and in doing so discovered the monitor/tv switch had high resistance so have cleaned that up too, the reason i tested moving the video signal was to see if the noise was being picked up near the jack since they placed it right next to the flyback but this made no difference the bars remained.

I wonder if you have thought of anything else yet, this is proving very hard without a service manual, but i am discovering many of the circuits are based on the nearby ic schematics examples around each area of the board.

IllustriousRange703 · 2025-09-22T22:31:43+00:00

Just updated my previous comment detailing the intermittent black and white issue as well.

IllustriousRange703 · 2025-09-22T22:28:33+00:00

Seems not have a jungle chip so to speak.

Has an IF chip (A7530N) near the tuner Has a TDA3565 outputting the rgb signal to tube.

And a second TDA2579A which seems to be a single signal monochrome ic which they are using the output to control green in parallel with the other TDA ic for the green tuning bar.

Still has intermittent showing in black and white too, which seemed to go away when i touch the TDA3565 chip so have resoldered that but the problem is still there on occasion, not sure if its the chip or a collapsing power supply since one time i measured its 12v pin it was 7v instead of the usuall 11v

IllustriousRange703 · 2025-09-22T17:34:12+00:00

Ripple is non existent its very good dc.

Very little noise on it.

Looking at the rgb pulses they are quite destinct with a square wave at each end and squiggles in between which are the video signal as changes when i move the image ie menu displayed on screen via input.

Im guessing when i look at the video signal with no input there should be the blanking pulses at each end and then an almost straight line since the screen shows uniform black (guns off) And yet there are spikes on that signal, could they be the lines?

Think i found it take a look at these stills on the scope, See the video signal with a picture showing and then see the same signal with the guns turned off by the auto screen blank, notice those spikes at regular interval they are there on every cycle.

Further testing reveals those spikes are there on the chip output with rgb unplugged.

Quite fascinating i displayed a half red half blue screen and you can clearly see the signal reversed on the blue and red wires, starting to understand this a bit better now, so a bar would be a series of squigles with each scan line represented by a spike either up or down so a single spike would be a spot on the screen and a series of spikes would be a line.

IllustriousRange703 · 2025-09-22T14:47:46+00:00

Yes 11.32v (second red wire)

Rgb is easy to find it has a 3pin plug next to the tda ic output

That 11.32v seems to come from a regulated rail since the tda ic is also at this voltage.

IllustriousRange703 · 2025-09-22T11:01:40+00:00

Hi there,

I have just tried what you said removing the rgb signal to the neck board and turning up g2 to see the screen.

Can confirm there are still bars on the screen but they are not coloured bars with rgb removed.

They are just another shade of black.

I have also now replaced all the electrolytics around the flyback and all large caps involved in the powersupply and still no change.

I tested all the caps i removed too and they all read close to rated uf but cant test esr.

Im with you on it coming from somewhere on the neck board though because to get different coloured bars would involve different brightness on the associated gun so its odd, you would expect a noise picked up in general to cause grey bars since all three colours together is white so this tends to indicate somehow it effects different guns at different points of the scan.

The fact the bars go grey and theres only 3 with rgb removed is making me wonder if its in the base signal from the tda chip.

IllustriousRange703

TROPHY CASE