The Vaia storm (a.k.a Tempesta Vaia) wreaked havoc in the year 2018 as winds of up to speeds of 200 km/h, flattened 42 million trees in a matter of minutes. This catastrophic natural disaster left behind a trail of fallen trunks shattered branches, and a charred landscape in the Italian Dolomites. Deemed as the most devastating natural disaster of the last 50 years in Italy, Vaia was an eye-opener for the whole world.
Federico Stefani deeply impacted by the event, set out to restore the forests while also reviving the circular economy by bringing together local artisans and budding youngsters. For this mission, he decided to reuse these felled trees and the bark of beetle-infested wood into useful home accessories. He also plants new trees for every purchase made to reinforce sustainability. The result – a suite of gadget accessories that simplify life and helps infuse the region with new life.
The lineup of accessories in the Italian startup VAIA includes a screen amplifier for phones, a charging dock, and of course a sound amplifier for your smartphone. Dubbed VAIA Cube, the sound box is handcrafted out of reclaimed spruce wood. Each unit is unique in its own right with varying textures achieved from the randomness. The glaring advantage of this acoustic design is the lightweight aesthetic and pure raw form of nature. Federico chose to keep the form raw with no color touchups or varnish and lacquer touchups.
You can carry it in your backpack, keep it on the living room shelf, or show it off on your desk setup. Measuring a perfect 10 cm on each side, the Cube has a dry weight of just 1 lb. making it ideal for travel or camping trips. According to the maker, the accessory can output up to 50 decibels of sound amplification in the resonating wooden body. Of course, the amplification will also depend on the size of the room and the objects placed in it.
In our testing with the review unit, I found the vocals to have a respectable kick, and higher frequencies to be amplified significantly. The upper treble and top octaves were amplified a bit too much for our liking, to the extent that during extended listening sessions, the shrill hurt the ears. The lower end of the spectrum had little or no amplification. The 40-50Hz sounds were not amplified at all, while the 200-250 Hz bass had some amplifications. The overall sound is weighted too much in favor of the higher-end frequencies.
The identified reason is the design of the dock housing which could have been a bit deeper to prevent sound leakage. I couldn’t fit my Galaxy S24 Ultra in the housing without taking the case cover off. The hole for the charging cable, that’s positioned just below the bottom speakers doesn’t help the cause either. My suggestion would be to make the dock housing a bit deeper and the charging cable hole positioned sideways for sound to come straight out of the hollow section of the powerless amplifier. That would take care of the low-end frequencies and balance out the audio output for more volume and depth in sound.
That said, the accessory is very useful for minimalists who want a respectable level of amplification, if their phone’s built-in speaker is a bit frail in delivering audible sound, especially in the outdoors or bigger rooms.