Detel Carvan and Sargam: Ultra-affordable speakers with decent performance

You might like to overlook their plastic design, uneven colour tones and lack of audio output clarity, given their Rs 700-750 price tags

Home-grown manufacturer of mobile phones and accessories, Detel, is best known for its ultra-affordable feature phones and entry-level earphones and speakers. The company recently launched half a dozen wireless speakers, including the ultra-affordable portable Detel Carvan and Detel Sargam.

Detel Carvan

Priced at Rs 700, this portable speaker has a rectangular tubular design that makes it easy to fit on flat surfaces like table, floor, television cabinet, etc. The speaker has a plastic build and comes in multiple colour options. The front is covered with a metallic mesh with speakers behind it and the back side covers connectivity ports, such as USB, TF card slot and AUX port, along with a charging port and power key. The speaker’s utility buttons — previous, play/pause and next — are available on the top and these buttons also double up as volume up, mode selection and volume down keys, respectively.

The Detel Carvan is loud, but lacks clarity and the audio output is far from perfect. However, for its price, the speaker’s audio is satisfactory. The speaker connects with Bluetooth easily and the built-in voice commands confirm the connection and disconnection.

Detel Sargam

This portable speaker, priced at Rs 750, has an oval tubular design. Though the speaker has a thin flat line at the bottom, its curved body makes it roll if not properly placed on a flat surface. Like the Carvan, the Sargam is also made of plastic and comes in multiple colour options. The front is covered by a metallic mesh with speakers behind, and the back side has connectivity ports — USB, TF card slot and AUX port — along with a charging port and power key. The speaker’s utility buttons, such as mode key, volume key, next and previous key and call key to receive calls are available on the top side.

In terms of performance, it is not much different from Detel Carvan. This speaker’s output is also loud but lacks clarity. However, with dedicated keys for volume, it is easier to operate than the Detel Carvan.

Overall, the Detel Carvan and Detel Sargam speakers have a sturdy build, but the plastic design, uneven colour tones and lack of audio output clarity give away the speakers’ ultra-affordable character.