Tribit Stormbox Flow

On this crisp Santa Fe morning, starry sky above, I’m particularly aware of the apparent contradiction of thinking about and writing about material ‘stuff.’ Surely, the thought goes, that the few things I have with me here at the Zen Center are simply more impediments to realizing the “quintessence of life” (Matthieu Ricard). And that may very well be true. However, in these early solitary hours, before it feels like the world has awakened to a new day, I so enjoy the little desk in my cabin, the flickering candle, the notebook and pen with which this is drafted, the steaming black coffee, and the soft ambient music coming from the Tribit speaker. The name “Stormbox” suggests I should be playing something more aggressive, but “Flow” gets closer to the environment its helping to create.
Music is an indispensable element of most days, whether here in the cabin or accompaniment on a drive or a run. It’s such an apt analogy for life—if there was some future point of arrival, as we tend to expect, then the best symphony would be one that played the fastest, hurrying to the finale (Alan Watts). Of course, to really listen to music is to arrive at the point in each moment.
I’ve previously sought out and assembled substantial music setups—fine speakers and components, quality cabling, etc.—and while there’s a place for this effort (music can come to life as intended by the artist through subtle detail), there’s something quite satisfying and intimate about the simplicity of this little speaker sitting on the corner of the desk. Although relatively diminutive, its fullness and depth of sound portrays a system quite a bit bigger. The low-end response is particularly appealing; a quality which is the first to go as the physics of smaller components render deep bass tones impossible to reproduce. Tribit is a fairly new discovery for me and they seem to be taking the inexpensive bluetooth speaker market by storm (sorry). The Flow is certainly in the inexpensive category, relative to the myriad options out there. However, having listened to many of them, Tribit has managed to design and engineer a speaker that performs well above its price, going speaker-to-speaker with models significantly more expensive, and physically larger. The size and weight of the Flow is approaching the upper end of what I’d consider a suitable backpack/travel speaker, but, for me, the enhanced musical reproduction is worth the extra weight. Tribit also clearly thought through interactions with the speaker. Specifically—and this sounds incredibly minor—I really dislike pushing and holding a button to turn a device on/off; just give me an easy to locate/see/feel power button that I can quickly tap. They’ve done so, along with large, embossed buttons for volume and play/pause. The Flow connects seamlessly fast to the playing device and has a remarkable 30-hour battery life at moderate volume (USB-C charging, thank you).
Taken together, this little speaker is such a joy to use and inconspicuously contributes to creating a satisfying environment, whether of the ‘flow’ or ‘stormbox’ variety.