The Tribit StormBox Micro 2 arrived in early 2022 with a flat, coaster-shaped body, a silicone strap on the back for bikes and bags, 10W of output, 12 hours of battery, IP67 protection and a power bank function, and showed how much a small, affordable speaker could offer.

The Micro 2 had its limits. The strap was the only way to mount the speaker, and with no adjustment beyond the stretch of the silicone, it suited a fairly narrow range of things to wrap it round. Twelve hours of battery was fine, if slightly unremarkable.

Four years on, the StormBox Micro 3 keeps the shape and the strap, then adds a magnetic base, IP68 protection, 13W of output and a rated 24 hours of playback. The price has barely moved.

Tribit sent us two blue units, free of charge, so we could test stereo pairing properly. The question to settle is whether the Micro 3 is a real step on from the Micro 2, and who should buy one, or two.

Side by side with the Micro 2, the Micro 3 looks almost identical at first glance. It is the same flat, squarish slab, now with softer, more rounded corners and a slightly larger footprint: 112 x 103 x 45mm, against 99.8 x 99.8 x 42.9mm for the older model. A woven fabric grille covers the top face, and a rubber shell wraps the base and edges, which keeps it planted on a worktop and cushions the odd knock.

Our pair came in blue: a mid-blue grille with teal lettering and controls, on a teal rubber base and strap. Black and a finish Tribit calls Grayish White are the other options. Three large buttons on the top face handle volume and play/pause, while four smaller ones along one edge cover power, Bluetooth pairing, XBass and stereo pairing. The USB-C port sits under a rubber cover.

The biggest change is one you cannot see. The rubber base now houses a magnet, so the speaker will hold itself to a steel surface with no strap involved. The magnet is our favourite thing about the Micro 3: our two review units are fixed permanently to separate metal surfaces on either side of our kitchen, and there they stay.

The strap carries over from the Micro 2, and so does our one real (yet minor) complaint about it. Tribit designs it for poles of around 30mm in diameter and warns that stretching it round anything much thicker can wear or deform it over time. There is no buckle or adjustment beyond the give of the silicone, which limits what you can attach the speaker to. We found exactly the same with the Micro 2, and a strap with more adjustment would open up far more places to use it.

The other physical change worth naming is weight. Tribit lists the Micro 3 at 0.73lb, about 331g, which matches independent measurement, against 0.64lb, about 290g, for the Micro 2. That is roughly 40g more. Stuck to a fridge, the extra 40g makes no difference; hanging off a rucksack strap all day, the extra weight is worth knowing about.

Here is the full specification sheet, drawn from Tribit's own listings:

Against the Micro 2, most of the numbers move the right way. Output rises from 10W to 13W. Rated playtime doubles from 12 hours to 24, which is striking because the battery has only grown from 4700mAh to 4800mAh. Tribit has not said where the extra hours come from, and a 100mAh increase does not account for them. Charging is quicker, at about two hours where the Micro 2 needed upwards of two and a half. Bluetooth moves from 5.3 to 6.0, and the stated low-frequency limit drops from 70Hz to 63Hz.

Protection steps up from IP67 to IP68. The first digit, 6, means fully dust-tight on both. The second is the water rating: IP67 covers immersion to 1m for 30 minutes, while IP68 covers immersion beyond 1m, to a depth and time the manufacturer sets. For the Micro 3, that is 1.5m for 30 minutes. We are sticklers for this sort of ingress proofing, and in a kitchen, where splashes and steam are a daily fact, IP68 is the specification we value most after the magnet. One practical note from Tribit: the rating relies on the rubber cover over the USB-C port being tucked in tightly, so check it after every charge.

A few things have gone the other way. The Micro 3 is roughly 40g heavier. On Tribit's own figures, the power bank output has halved, from up to 10W on the Micro 2 to 5V/1A (5W) here, so the Micro 3 will still rescue a flat phone, just more slowly. Stereo pairing only works with another Micro 3, so an existing Micro 2 cannot join in. And the range figure is inconsistent: Tribit's spec table quotes 45m, while its own product page elsewhere says 100ft, closer to 30m. Either figure is more than a kitchen needs.

Tribit pitches the Micro 3 first as a cycling and outdoor speaker, and the specification backs that up. The strap is sized for handlebars and poles of around 30mm, IP68 and the 1.22m drop rating take care of mud, rain and the odd dunk in a puddle, and 24 hours of rated playback covers a long weekend away from a plug socket. The Micro 3 would sit comfortably alongside the kit in our guide to five festival essentials worth packing.

One rule for riders: use the strap, not the magnet. Tribit says the magnetic mount is for static metal surfaces only and should not be used on anything that moves, such as a vehicle, because the speaker can come loose. Tribit also advises anyone with an implanted medical device to check with their doctor before using the magnetic attachment.

The case for home use is just as strong, and it is how we have used ours. The magnet turns any steel surface into a speaker mount: the side of a fridge, a metal shelf, a tool cabinet in the garage. No brackets and no drilling. In a kitchen, IP68 means cooking splashes are not a worry, provided the port cover is shut.

Buy two and the pair becomes a small stereo system: our two sit on opposite sides of the kitchen, one playing the left channel and the other the right.

Where the Micro 3 falls short is scale and fidelity. A single 13W driver is built for personal and small-room listening, so anyone looking to soundtrack a garden party should look further up the range. SBC and AAC are the only Bluetooth codecs, with no aptX or LDAC; that is normal at this price, but critical listening on the move is better served by our pick of the best wireless earbuds for serious listeners.

Setup is quick. Press the Bluetooth button, pick the speaker from your phone's Bluetooth menu, and you are playing. Adding the second unit is just as straightforward: the TWS button links the two, and once they are paired, a press of the same button on either speaker switches between Stereo and Party mode. That simple pairing is one of the things we like most about the Micro 3, because getting a stereo pair running takes no menus and no app.

The Tribit app is there if you want more control, with a nine-band EQ, six presets, a sleep timer and a setting for the auto shut-off, which powers the speaker down after 15 minutes of inactivity by default. The built-in microphone handles calls and voice assistant commands, so the speaker doubles as a kitchen speakerphone.

Battery life has been excellent in our use. Tribit rates it at 24 hours with the default EQ at 50% volume; louder listening and XBass will bring that down, as they would on any speaker. When the battery does run low, a 15-minute top-up gives around three hours of playback by Tribit's figures, and a full charge takes about two hours from a 5V/3A USB-C charger. There is no charger in the box, only a USB-C to USB-C cable, so you will need your own plug.

The Micro 3's sound comes from one 48mm full-range driver working with two passive radiators. The driver is the only powered part: a cone pushed back and forth by a voice coil sitting in the field of a neodymium magnet, a material that packs a strong magnetic field into a small space. The passive radiators are unpowered diaphragms. As the driver moves, it changes the air pressure inside the sealed cabinet, and the radiators move in response, adding low-frequency output that a driver this size could not produce alone. Passive radiators do the job a bass port does on a bigger speaker, while keeping the cabinet sealed against water.

The changes from the Micro 2 all point towards the low end: 3W more power and a stated floor of 63Hz against 70Hz. The 63Hz figure marks where Tribit says output begins, not where it is strongest, and much of the sub-bass in techno and dub sits below 60Hz, beneath the quoted range. Cabinet size sets that limit on any speaker this small. XBass, switchable from its own button or the app, uses signal processing to lift the low frequencies further, at the cost of some battery life.

Stereo mode, which we love, is where a second unit changes things. On its own, each Micro 3 plays a mono mix through its single driver. In Stereo mode, the two speakers split the signal, one taking the left channel and the other the right, which restores the stereo field most electronic music is mixed around: hi-hats panned to one side, delay throws bouncing between the two. Party mode sends the full mix to both, which suits two speakers in different rooms.

For a Bluetooth speaker this size, the sound quality is great. As with every Tribit product we have used, the bass is emphasised but never overbearing. Lifting the low end in the tuning is how a small speaker makes up for a cabinet too small to move much air, and XBass accentuates it further.

The midrange sits a little back in the mix as a result, so vocals, pads and synth leads, which live mostly in that range, take a small step behind the low end. Treble is clear, with no noticeable sibilance: the harsh hiss that can build up on 's' and 't' sounds when a speaker puts too much energy into the upper frequencies.

Stereo imaging is good for speakers of this size, and ours are not even mounted level. One of our pair is stuck to the side of a small fridge; the other sits about 3ft (90cm) higher on the opposite wall, on the side of the boiler. A stereo image is most precise when both speakers are level and the same distance from the listener, so a pair mounted at matching heights should place sounds more precisely than ours.

Against the Micro 2, the obvious improvement is the bass. The extra 3W and the lower 63Hz floor help, and XBass now has a dedicated button on the speaker itself, so switching it on for a bass-heavy record takes a single press.

At full volume, the bass distorts slightly. That is a common problem with small speakers and not unique to the Micro 3: at maximum output, the driver and passive radiators approach the limit of how far they can physically travel, and the low frequencies, which demand the most movement, are the first to break up.

Yes. The Tribit StormBox Micro 3 sounds great for a Bluetooth speaker, it is easy to set up, the battery life is excellent, and the magnetic base is the reason two of them are now fixed permanently in our kitchen.

At £62.99 in the UK at time of writing, or $64.99 in black and $66.99 in blue or Grayish White direct from Tribit in the US, the Micro 3 costs only $5 more than the Micro 2, which Tribit still sells for $59.99 in the US. We think the price is justified: double the rated battery life, IP68, the magnet and more power, for next to no increase.

The sound quality makes the Micro 3 a competitive option against similar speakers, and on paper it has clear advantages. The JBL Go 5 is the obvious rival and costs less, at around £40 on Amazon UK at time of writing. The Micro 3 gives you three times its rated battery life, 24 hours against 8 (10 with JBL's bass-reducing Playtime Boost mode), and more than double its output power, at 13W against 4.8W.

The Micro 3 suits riders and walkers who want a speaker strapped to a bike or a bag, and anyone at home with a steel surface to stick it to. If stereo appeals, budget for two, which comes to £125.98 at current UK pricing. The one thing we would change is the strap, which needs more adjustment to widen the list of places it can go.

The Tribit StormBox Micro 3 scores 8/10 and earns a Waveform Wavemaker editorial award: it improves on the Micro 2 in most of the areas that matter, at almost the same price.

If £62.99 is more than you want to spend, the Tribit StormBox Micro 2 is still on sale, at £45.99 on Amazon UK at time of writing. You give up the magnet, IP68 and half the rated battery life, but keep the strap, the power bank and stereo pairing. The Micro 2 is also the right buy for anyone who already owns a Micro 2 and wants a stereo pair, because the two generations will not pair with each other.

Tribit supplied the two StormBox Micro 3 units reviewed here free of charge. Free products are only provided to aid our testing and do not affect our honest opinion.

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