EXCLUSIVE: BOULT CO-FOUNDER VARUN GUPTA SAYS HIS COMPANY NOW WANTS TO MAKE SOUNDBARS AFFORDABLE

Boult is a well-known Indian brand offering affordable TWS products and smartwatches. According to an IDC report, the company holds an 11.9 per cent market share in the TWS category and ranks among the top 4 or 5 positions in the Indian smartwatch market. In fact, the company is known for making TWS more affordable, and now it wants to do the same with soundbars. Today, the company ventures into a new product segment with the launch of two new soundbars: the BassBox X180 and BassBox X120. But why was there a need to expand the portfolio? What sets the new Boult BassBox soundbars apart from the existing offerings in the market? India Today Tech spoke with the co-founder of Boult, Varun Gupta, for the answers.

Gupta says the biggest aim behind foraying into the soundbar market was to be able to offer an immersive TV viewing experience to the company's customers without burning a hole in their pocket. The Boult BassBox soundbars are priced starting at Rs 4,999. The Bassbox X180, in particular, offers 180-watt peak output, it has a wired subwoofer for that extra bass, 2.1 channel, Bluetooth v5.3, AUX, USB, Optical, and HDMI for connectivity, and 4 full range BoomX drivers. 

Why soundbars?

"Indian customers are very focused on bass in terms of sound experience", says Gupta.  

Referring to the product as "India's first bass-transforming soundbar", he explains that during Boult's market research, they discovered that many Indians desire a bass-heavy audio experience. Additionally, the increasing market emphasis on larger TVs has led to a demand for more immersive and cinematic viewing experiences. However, as TVs become sleeker, they often lack adequate sound quality. And especially for bass you need a lot of volume, so with TVs now being thinner than even an inch, sound quality often takes a hit. That's where the need for a good soundbar steps in. 

"With the need for a more immersive and theatrical TV viewing experience, nowadays, it is almost implied that when someone is buying a TV for say Rs 40,000, they will invest another Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 to get a soundbar," says Gupta. That's what pushed Boult into the soundbar category.

India reportedly purchased over 32.7 million soundbars in 2023, and this year the number is expected to expand to 50 million. In the Indian market right now, there are only a handful of options in the soundbar category under Rs 5,000. There are a handful of options in that budget with just a few offerings from brands like Blaupunkt and boAt. Their soundbars, however, offer no more than 100W output and have limited features. With Boult BassBox, the company seems to have packed a number of features that makes it stand apart from its rivals. 

"The BassBox is able to offer an immersive experience. For that, we have channeled the speakers in certain directions so that the sound and audio waves hit the walls in different parts of a room, including elevation, in order to give you a more surround-sound experience which is 3-dimensional. That we believe is also the biggest USP of the product," says Gupta. "We have also added an extra large subwoofer, and extra number of speaker driver, to give consumers not just a bass-heavy, but in general, a better audio output," he adds.

Warranty and sustainability

Boult appears confident in its product, offering a '1-year, no-questions-asked warranty' across all its products. If a customer encounters a faulty product, they can contact the company through online, offline, or telephone channels to have their device replaced or repaired.

Varun Gupta also spoke to us about the company's Make in India efforts. He revealed that all Boult products are completely made in India, barring the semiconductors that the devices use. Gupta also revealed the company's sustainability initiatives and the use of recyclable plastic in some of its products. "We try to use as much paper in our packaging and shipping instead of plastic. It is in our DNA to focused on sustainability," he added.

Boult and AI

Of course, we had to bring up the biggest buzzword in the industry in this conversation –– AI. Considering Boult is an audio-first brand, and companies like Nothing are already working on ChatGPT integration within its TWS earbuds, we asked Varun Gupta if we could expect something similar from Boult soon. "We are working on, as we speak, on bringing more AI in the most ease of use format, so that the customer does not have to type much and can just call out an app name and interact with it" says Gupta. 

Expect a big launch around AI integration into Boult audio products by the next quarter of 2024, he says. "We will be launching a product that is AI enabled," he added.

2024-04-26T06:07:20Z dg43tfdfdgfd