Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 Bluetooth Speaker


Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3

To understand this concept much better, we have chosen to look at one Altec Lansing Speaker LifeJacket 3 and see how they are made in terms of the specs, design, and features. This will also enable us to understand better what performance they provide and the price range of Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3. 

We have chosen to look at the Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 Bluetooth speaker for its design, features, and performance. By the end of this article, we hope you will understand Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 features and how it performs. 

Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3

The Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 speaker is not only waterproof but also floats on water which is a feature that most Altec Lansing speakers possess. Its Bluetooth audio is controlled mainly by digital signal processing. Life Jacket 3 speaker can pair with up to three devices, the battery life can last up to 30 hours and it can deliver much louder sound and provide a stronger sense of bass response

This new Altec Lancing life Jacket 3 speaker updates the life jacket speaker lineup. It is a waterproof speaker and floats on water which is a signature for most Altec Lansing Speakers. In addition, this speaker can project audio at reasonably high volumes, which makes it well suited for outdoor use. 

In addition, it also comes with a solid array of accessories, plus a mounting kit for bikes. The digital signal processing used by the speaker is dialed up to such a high level. You do not need to be a sound snob to notice the dynamics of tracks getting squashed as the volume seems to rise and dip dramatically. 

Suppose they emphasized digital signal processing; it would have been a tremendous and different listening experience. But as it stands, what makes this speaker stands out is the rugged design and useful accessories while having at least a good sound performance. 

Design

The design has dimensions 4.7 x 8.6 x 4.2 inches (HWD). The rugged rubber-lined Life Jacket 3 is also available in dark gray, blue, teal, and red highlights. The Mini life jacket 3 costs around $110.58 on Amazon; you can not easily differentiate them; the only way to distinguish them is the size. 

Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 vs. Life Jacket 3 Mini

The mini version of the Life Jacket 3 has to be smaller; hence it uses smaller drivers; the only thing is that the contours and layout are nearly identical. Both the Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 speaker and the Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 Mini version speaker are rated IP67, which means they are waterproof up to 1 meter. Beyond this, water can be able to penetrate through. The Mini life jacket 3 costs around $110.58 on Amazon. To mention it again, the mini version of the Altec Lansing Life Jacket can also float. 

Behind the speaker’s grille of the Life Jacket 3, you will see a dual 2-inch neodymium driver and a rear-firing passive bass radiator. Looking at the top of the panel, you will notice a power button that doubles as the play/pause control, and if you want to power up or power down, you need to hold it; if you choose to control playback, you need to tap it. 

Calls can also be answered or ended with this button, or you can choose to go into voice mode when you tap it twice, and this option summons Siri on iOS devices. In terms of volume control, you use the plus and minus buttons by tapping them to adjust volume, and this works hand in hand with your mobile devices’ master volume. 

You can also navigate through tracks by simply holding them. The unfortunate thing about the Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 speaker is that you can effortlessly skip track to adjust the volume when you are not paying close attention. 

Connectivity and Pairing

Different combinations of the buttons allow you to pair the speaker with another Life Jacket 3, and you can assign the left and right channels to each or go into pairing mode. The other fantastic thing about these speakers is that the Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 speaker can pair with up to three devices, giving you the option to listen to one and take calls from another. The panel at the top acts as an NFC pairing zone for compatible devices.  

The back panel has a snapshot compartment that protects the micro USB port for charging, a micro USB cable, a 3.5mm aux input, a short cable, and a USB port used for charging mobile devices. The bottom panel has a threaded hole that connects to the included mount system, allowing you to clamp the Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 speaker to any number of cylindrical surfaces like a Bike’s handlebars. 

Battery life

The Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3’s battery life can last up to 30 hours, although the results will differ according to how you mixed the wired and wireless playback, not forgetting the volume levels. 

Performance

The digital signal processing is not subtle. It prevents distortion at higher volume levels by limiting the dynamic peaks of louder moments in tracks, especially the heavy bass. The final result sounds like volume is dipping when things are loud and raised when there’s a quieter moment. 

The audiophiles will drive insanely, but they are enough to irk those who are less picky. When it comes to tracks with intense sub-bass content like the Knife’s silent shout, the Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 is known to flirt with distortion at top volume levels. 

Sound quality

In some instances, it can deliver much louder and provide a stronger sense of bass response than the Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 Mini speaker, but if you are looking for big bass, you will need more money. On the other hand, when you play your music at moderate volumes, in a sense when the drivers are on the edge of distortion, the Altec Lansing Life Jacket 3 provides a clean, mids-focused sound.

A song but with much less bass in the mix provides a much better understanding of the sound signature of the Altec Life Jacket 3. Subwoofer speakers can infuse the beats with far too much deep low-end. Instead, it provides the drums with a slight sense of bass depth and a hyperactive subwoofer in Life Jacket 3.

We observe that the speaker vocals get a solid, rich low-mid presence balanced with a high-mid edge which brings out their contour. However, DSP volume drops occur when the dynamics of this music change—for example, at the bridge or chorus and then back into the verse.

Pros

  • These speakers provide a decent audio performance when they are listened to at relatively moderate volumes.
  • It has a rugged design and is attractive, plus it is waterproof, which is a great feature. 
  • It is equipped with speakerphone functionality.
  • It has a mounting kit for bikers.

Cons

  • The Audio performance is hampered by digital signal processing, which is a bit of a turn-off.
  • It provides distortion on tracks that have deep bass at top volumes; hence you won’t enjoy such tracks on high volumes.   

Conclusions

The lifejacket 3 specs and features are similar to most Altec Lansing speakers. However, the price range of this speaker is in the $150 range, and most of the speakers in this range are equipped with digital signal processing to limit deep bass Dynamics, which tends to cause distortion. Altec Lansing speakers are indeed a masterpiece when it comes to design, but they can do better in their sound performance. 

Eddie Mcfarren

Eddie Is no stranger to technical writing after spending years in Networking, IT Infrastructure management, and online content marketing. He is an avid researcher, Software and apps dev tester who spends hours solving problems behind the scenes. Get in touch with him via social media and you can email him via contact@gawkygeek.com

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