360 degree speakers are great for evenly filling a room with music.
And the JBL Pulse 3, UE Blast and Bose Soundlink Revolve are 3 very popular options right now
that all cost about the same.
But they all have very different designs, very different features, and they all produce
that 360 degree sound in very different ways.
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The UE blast is the most expensive, advanced, and rugged speaker in this group.
It currently retails for $230 and comes in 4 color ways.
Red, blue, black or white.
The Bose Soundlink Revolve is the smallest and classiest speaker in this group and retails
for $200.
And it only comes in 2 color ways, black or silver.
And the JBL Pulse 3 is the coolest speaker cause…
come on it has a built in light show.
And it also retails for $200 but also usually goes on sale.
If you want to pick either of these speakers up I’ll have links in the description below
and I’ll keep them updated so you can get the best deal possible.
Now remember, this isn’t a full review on either of these speakers.
I’m just trying to point out the most important differences between them so I can help you
with your purchase decision.
If you want to watch their full reviews search the channel or tap the icon in the top right.
Like I mentioned earlier all three of these speakers are 360 speakers, but they all have
different speaker set ups.
The Bose Soundlink Revolve is the smallest speaker here but don’t let its size fool
you.
It has dual passive radiators, one downward facing full range transducer, and an acoustic
deflector which are all vertically stacked.
The UE Blast is rocking 2 35 mm drivers and 2 81mm by 39mm rectangular passive radiators
which are all housed internally.
And the JBL Pulse 3 has 3 40mm drivers (one at the zero, 120 and 240 degree mark) and
2 exposed passive radiators; one on each side.
Now its important to keep in mind, even though the JBL Pulse 3 is the largest speaker in
this group almost all of its sound is coming out from the bottom portion of the speaker
where the fabric is.
And as you’d expect all three of these speakers sound and perform very differently.
I personally think the UE Blast is the worst sounding speaker in this group.
Even though it has the most thumping bass and gets the loudest it has very weak lows
and mids and ear pericing highs.
The sound isn’t as full or as rich as these other two speakers and theres very little
instrument separation.
The Bose sound link revolve gets the least loudest in this group and really likes to
push the mids and vocals forward just like it big brother the Bose sound link revolve
plus.
It has some really good performing lows but not so much thumping bass.
It sounds good, but its not the best for people who like bass heavy music.
Instrument separation is much better than the UE blast, and the highs are much more
tamed as well.
And the JBL Pulse 3 has the most even sound signature in this group.
But it also has the most treble which is pretty common for JBL Speakers.
The lows and mids are almost as good as the Bose but it does have a little more thump
in its bass.
And highs are a little brighter than the Bose as well.
In general I prefer the Sound of the JBL Pulse 3 in this group.
Its an over all good performer for most music genres.
Regarding battery life on the JBL pulse 3, it really matters on how you use it.
If you play music at max volume and with an intensive light feature mode set at full brightness
then you’ll be lucky if you get 6 hours of battery life.
But if you play music on the pulse 3 at a moderate volume with a less intensive light
mode like jet set at a lower brightness then you can get a battery life of around 15 hours…
well at least I have.
The battery life on the UE BLAST is pretty average, even with Alexa turned off and it
not being connected to wifi (I’ll go into that in a minute) the UE blast is good for
about of 8 hours of playback time at a moderately to high volume.
And the Bose Soundlink revolve is good for about 11 hours of playback time from a single
charge.
Not bad given its size.
And All three of these speakers also charge via a micro USB cable but I do want to point
out the UE blast dosnt have an Aux jack where as the Bose and JBL do.
So with UE blast you can only stream music over wifi from select streaming services or
via bluetooth from your own device.
Where as with the Pulse 3 you can still use a wired connection if you still want to instead
of just relaying on bluetooth.
And the Bose Soundlink Revolve lets you listen to music via bluetooth, the Aux jack, or you
can even get a weird connection through its micro usb port.
All three of these speakers aren’t afraid of little water either.
The Bose Soundlink revolve is IPX 4 rated so it can get wet without any problems, but
you should not submerge it under water.
The JBL Pulse 3 is IPX 7 certified, so its fully water proof down to one meeter of water
for 30 minutes, and it even floats.
But even thought the JBL pulse 3 is fairly rugged, if you drop it or bump it against
something you do risk scratching or even cracking the acrylic top.
Where as the UE Blast is the most rugged rocking an IP 67 rating, which means its both water
and dust proof.
So the blast can really take more of a beating than the other two speakers.
The UE blast also has the longest bluetooth range in the group of about 120 feet.
Where as the Pulse 3 has a bluetooth range of about 70 feet and the Bose has a range
of about 40 feet.
But the UE blast can only be paired to one device at a time where as the JBL and Bose
can be paired to 2 devices at the same time.
Which makes switching from one device to another super easy.
Something you cant do on the Blast.
What really makes the UE Blast stand out is its Alexa voice integration.
After you’ve connected the blast to your home wifi network and signed into your amazon
account the Blast will work just like and Echo Dot or standard.
But you can also only control your music playback
by asking Alexa.
And it is important to keep in mind the Alexa voice commands will only work if you’re
using one of the supported music streaming services and if the speaker is connected to
wifi.
And I’ve been very vocal about this in past videos, but the Blast and megablast not having
a manual way to pause or skip a track is very annoying.
There are just some times where being able to control your music straight from your speaker
is the most convenient.
I just don’t why UE didn’t just add a multi purpose button On the top.
Cause the blast’s over reliance on Alexa can be a burden for people who don’t use
Alexa, don’t have a stable wifi connection, or who don’t use one of the supported streaming
services.
Cause both the Bose Sound link revolve and JBL Pulse 3 let you fully control your music
playback straight from the speaker it self.
And on that note, the Bose has some really well laid out concave buttons thats makes
it easy to know which button you’re pressing by just touch.
Where as all of the buttons on the JBL pulse 3 are flat so you never really know what you’re
pressing without looking.
I just wish the buttons on the Pulse 3 were raised.
But what really makes the JBL Pulse 3 stand out is it 360 degree light feature.
Its the best out there.
You can control it from directly from the speaker itself or you can also control it
from the JBL connect app.
And you have several light modes to choose from, theres wave, jet, fireworks, equalizer,
rave, rainbow, campfire, and you can even make your own.
And if you want you can even change the color by using your phones camera or a color wheel.
Just keep in mind the light feature dosnt do to well with direct sunlight so if you
do decide to use this speaker outside just turn the light feature off by pressing and
hold the light button on the back.
That way you’ll save a little bit of battery life.
And finally lets talk about chaining these speakers together to other speakers.
As of right now the UE Blast can not be chained to any other UE Speakers what so ever.
Which is a bummer cause it is a pretty standard feature these days.
The JBL Pulse 3 can be paired to other JBL speakers using JBL connect plus like another
Pulse 3, the Flip 4, the JBL Boombox, and now the JBL Charge 3 thanks to a firmware
update.
But the Pulse 3 can not be paired to older JBL devices using the older JBL Connect.
But using JBL connect plus is super easy, you literally press one button on each speaker
and you’re done.
You can chain up to 100 JBL speakers together but if you want to get left and right stereo
audio going you need to pair 2 of the same JBL speakers together.
Where as the Bose sound link revolve lets you get left and right stereo audio wth almost
any two Bose speakers that are paired together.
But I do have to admit the pairing process on Bose speakers isn’t as seamless as JBL
speaker.
It dosnt always work on the first try and it does take a little longer.
Personally my favorite speaker in this group is going to obviously be the JBL Pulse 3 cause
of the light feature.
But with the light feature aside I still prefer the JBL pulse 3 because of how it sounds.
Like I said earlier, the UE Blast has some really weak lows and mids and the sound isn’t
as rich or as detailed as these other speakers.
The UE Blast is really only worth getting if you’re heavily invested in the Amazon
echo system.
The Bose Soundlink Revolve sounds really good for its size and its a good sounding speaker
in general.
I just personally don’t like how it pushes the vocals so forward, but some people like
that.
If you’re looking for a small subtle speaker you can’t go wrong with the Bose soundlink
revolve.
But personally I prefer the JBL Pulse 3 cause you’re getting so much for the same price
as the other two speakers.
You’re getting good sound and an amazing light feature.
But remember, this isn’t a full review on either of these speakers, I’m just pointing
out the most important differences between them so I can help you with your purchase
decision.
If you want to learn more about either of these speakers click or tap the icon in the
top right.