To my ears, the Boom 2 offers the same sound as the original at normal volumes. Neat, especially if your hands are wet or your phone is across the room. You have to pick up the speaker (to prevent accidental taps?), but once the Boom 2 senses you're holding it, smack the top. There's an innovative trick to this speaker: UE added an accelerometer, so you can pause or skip songs by tapping the Boom 2. Once it senses you're holding it, just smack the top. I put mine on the floor of the shower a few times, and even threw it into the Pacific Ocean. The entire gadget is sealed against water and sand. The speaker grille is different, too: Hold the Boom and Boom 2 side-by-side and you'll see a tighter weave on the material enclosing the Boom 2.
The charging and auxiliary ports are sealed with rubber gaskets and little flap-doors the volume, power, and Bluetooth pairing controls are chunky buttons with no seams. The Boom 2 meets the IPX 7 standard, meaning you can dunk it in water a few feet deep without a problem. I never worried about taking it to the park or the pool, but I'd get a little nervous if rain or cocktails were expected. UE sent me a loaner, and I've spent the past few weeks using it as my primary speaker. The new UE Boom 2 speakers ship before the end of September in the U.S., and everywhere else soon after.
And for that money, I can't recommend it highly enough. It even does a new trick: Pick it up and whack the top, and it skips to the next song. The sound quality is just as good as the original, and the new Boom is waterproof, more rugged, and offers more wireless range. It's called, appropriately, the UE Boom 2. Now, Ultimate Ears has gone back to the well, producing an updated version of the Boom. After the product became a hit at launch, UE (owned by Logitech) began iterating on the design, offering a larger version called the Megaboom, and two smaller designs with similar DNA, the Mini Boom and the UE Roll. It stands vertically, spreading stereo sound over a w-i-d-e arc, and has a footprint about the size as your morning beer. The compact $200 speaker sounds amazing and goes more than 15 hours on a charge. You can also tell how much battery life is left in the speaker, pair a second UE speaker for double the sound, set alarms, and customize the sound with EQ settings all in the app.For the last few years, our favorite Bluetooth speaker here at WIRED-really, one of our top tech products overall-has been the UE Boom.
You can even power the speaker on and off in the app which is actually really useful in practice. The app shows you a smaller cartoon version of your exact speaker and lets you raise or lower the volume by clicking on the + and – signs on the cartoon version. The best part of the BOOM 2 when it comes to its connection is the extra features that you get when using the app. Should you get the BOOM and MEGABOOM app? Still, that’s very impressive and besides that, the speaker was never more than 30 feet away from me resulting in no dropped audio. UE claims a range of 100 feet but when we really put this to the test we couldn’t get past around 60 feet without the signal being dropped completely, and that was in a wide-open space with nothing in the way. It also gives the speaker a more durable feel and even though it doesn’t look it, it survived a few drops with not even a scratch.Ĭonnection strength is fairly standard for this speaker, and I experienced minimal issues unless testing range.Īs far as connection goes these never had a dropped signal in average usage. Naturally, this now makes it perfect if you want to bring it to the beach or a pool party. This means that instead of being just splash-resistant, it’s entirely waterproof and can be submerged for up to 30 minutes at a depth of one meter. The rubberized plastic gives it a great grip and the fabric covering makes this one IPX7 waterproof, giving it a one-up on the original which only had an IPX4 certification. Start here: What makes a good Bluetooth speaker? On the front is also where you’ll find the signature UE Boom + and – buttons that control volume. A fabric covering surrounds the speaker save for the plastic that makes up the top, bottom, and front of the speaker. In fact, it’s almost identical to the original. Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the original UE Boom will find this one very familiar. We’re looking at the “Lost Time” special edition speaker by James Reka, but whichever one you get will have the same build and design just with a different color fabric. UE does plenty of collaborations with artists for limited edition speakers, and this one is by James Reka.