Ultimate Ears Boom 2 – Wireless Speaker Review
The Ultimate Ears aka UE Boom 2 is a compact but durable wireless Bluetooth speaker. It’s perfect for the outdoors or crazy parties as it’s shock-resistant and fully waterproof. The battery life is also pretty impressive, lasting up to 15 hours on a “normal level” of sound (E.g: not too low but not super loud). Lets look more into this cool little speak in the below review.
Design
As mentioned above the Boom 2 is waterproof and can be submerged in 1m of water for up to 30 minutes, so no need to worry if you accidently drop it in the pool or if its tarts to rain while outside. It also has a very strong Bluetooth connection, with a mobile range of play of up to 33m. Being Bluetooth, it means there are not pesky wires which we have experienced in some of the high end speakers.
A protective fabric covering surrounds the speaker except for plastic bits that makes up the top, bottom, and front of the speaker. The speaker can either be controlled by your phone or on the speaker itself, you will find the control + and – buttons on the front that control volume. On the top of the speaker you’ll find the power button and another smaller button above which is the Bluetooth pairing button. The bottom of the speaker has two rubber flaps”, they open up to reveal the micro USB input for charging and the 3.5mm input.
Our Boom 2 has indeed survived a few drops from the table or the top of the fridge with not even a scratch, so they are true to their word that it is indeed shock-resistant.
The App has some cool little features such as the app shows you a smaller cartoon version of your speaker and lets you increase or decrease the volume by clicking on the + and – symbols on the cartoon speaker as well as being able to power the speaker on and off in the app. The app can also tell how much battery life is left in the speaker, set alarms and even customize the sound with EQ settings all in the app.
Battery Life
The Battery in the Boom 2 is a non-removable lithium-ion battery which UE claims a battery life of 15 hours, we tested it out and got 14 hours of continuous play which was pretty impressive but when you think about it, how often are you going to need 15 hours of continuous play? If its for a party at home you can always plug it in when it starts to go flat. If you don’t have the app open and need to check how much battery life is left you can just hold the + and – buttons down on the speaker, at the same time and it’ll tell you.
The Sound
Boom 2 aims to provide the user with 360 degrees of sound and mentioned above you can change the sound with the EQ settings in the app and we were able to customize some of the settings that made the speaker sound way better.
Given the size of the speak the sound is pretty god and fairly clear on a low volume setting ad you get high is does become a little distorted and on the loudest setting it was a tad crackly at times and fairly distorted however we rarely used it on the loudest setting as it packs quite a punch! You can make manual changes with the EQ settings which do help the distortion if you want to use your speaker over 75% of its volume by changing the level of bass or treble.
Overall considering its size it puts out a pretty good sound!
Colours:
Cherry Bomb (Red)
Phantom (Black)
Tropical (Orange & Purple)
Brainfreeze (Blue)
Specs
DIMENSIONS – Diameter: 67mm or 2 3/4 inches. Height: 180mm or 7 1/8 inches. Weight: 548g or 1.2lbs
WATERPROOF – IPX7 rated: UE BOOM 2 can be immersed in water up to 1m for up to 30 minutes.
AUDIO – Maximum Sound Level: 90dBA Frequency Range: 90Hz – 20kHz Drivers: two 45mm (1 3/4″) active drivers and two 45mm x 80mm (1 3/4″ x 3″) passive radiators.
POWER – Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery for up to 15 hours of battery life between Micro USB charges. Actual battery life will vary with use, settings and environmental conditions. Charge time: 2.5 hours
WIRELESS CAPABILITIES – Pair up to 8 Bluetooth ® enabled devices – Connect up to two source devices at the same time. Wirelessly play (stream) to 2 UE BOOM 2s from one source. Mobile range of play is up to 33m (100 ft). NFC (passive) enabled – (works with active NFC enabled source devices * Android Jellybean and higher).
COMPATIBILITY – For Audio Playback – Smartphones, tablets and other devices that support Bluetooth® wireless audio profile [Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)] or 3.5 mm audio output. Phone Calls: Phones that support Bluetooth® Hands-Free Profile (HFP1.5)
2-YEAR LIMITED HARDWARE WARRANTY
What you get in the box
In the box you’ll get the speaker, a bright neon wall charger and micro USB cable, the instructions of how to set p and use your speaker and the warranty information.
RRP: $249.95 AUD
Buy it here at a discounted price
Disclaimer: UE sent me a Boom 2 for review. All opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced in any way.
