Flexound HUMU Smart Cushion review
The Flexound HUMU Smart Cushion is at the most basic description, a wireless speaker in a cushion and on first glance I was tempted to dismiss it as a pillow-based Woojer, but I wanted to try it out.
A Flexound HUMU Smart Cushion makes it feel like you’re in a theater that spent way way too much on their sound system and is now charging an extra $8 to enter. The way it produces the sound is something to be experienced and is actually kind of amazing for a light little device. I felt the same awe with the HUMU as I did with the first JAM speaker I reviewed. This is something new and interesting.
That said, the amazement can quickly fade if you suddenly hit a Spotify commercial, or switch music types. There’s something about feeling the music to the point you become one with it that drops you completely flat once an ad pops on or the wrong song pops into the shuffle.
I guess the more attached to the music you get more jarred. This is something that on a regular speaker I find myself pressing skip and on the Flexound HUMU Smart Cushion I find myself cursing the streaming advertising model.
My 4yo decided to sit and listen to the music one day as she could feel it. The HUMU isn’t loud enough that I worry about her hearing however it did seem to so immerse her in the Trolls Soundtrack that I had to drag her back to reality.
I don’t have a lot of situations I can sit and listen to the HUMU however. It takes some dedication to body positioning and not moving which is something you don’t get a chance to do a lot with kiddos running around, it’s not the most comfortable for my head (although no complaints from anyone else who tried it,) and I worry a bit that if I fell asleep on it I might be blasted awake by a phone notification I could feel down into my soul.
That said, it’s nearly the perfect personal home theater solution for someone who doesn’t want a home theater setup, the elastic vibrating element (EVE,) will make you feel the thumps, the high quality speakers will let you hear that pin drop. Unfortunately my TVs don’t have a way to connect a bluetooth device as their outbound speaker, so I’m stuck with a 20 foot audio cable if I want theater quality sound off of my upstairs TV. That’s not the HUMU’s fault however.
I think the HUMU will probably have a lot of people looking for some audio-jack to Bluetooth devices, or 1/8th->air->1/8th devices they can use to get their TV audio over to the HUMU.
I very much dig it.
Things I wish it had because I’m picky:
- Something to belt it onto a chair so it wouldn’t slip.
- Volume control for when a commercial that’s six times as loud as the music comes on.
- Greater than 8 hour battery life.
Specs I have
- 15Hz-20kHz
- Bluetooth: 4.2, A2DP, 10m distance
- About 18.9″x10.6″x5.7″
- ~3.2 pounds
The Flexound HUMU Smart Cushion is a little less available in the US than we generally cover. You currently can purchase it at b8ta stores in the US/online, and from Amazon in the UK. The price is currently $299 US or £269.00 and Paul’s cheapskate side is saying that’s about $100 more than I want to see the price point at. Prices change however,
