Ultimate Ears has been on fire lately…
most recently they released their all new HYPERBOOM.
Its a great sounding $400 speaker thats packs an impressive amount of bass in a relatively
compact package…
And I actually prefer it over the JBL Boombox which has been a fan favorite for awhile.
And last summer UE also released their new Wonderboom 2.
And this has become my favorite $100 speaker cause again it sounds great but its also extremely
compact and extremely durable.
So you can literally take this thing anywhere and not have to worry about it.
So over all I personally think Ultimate Ears is on the up and up and im really looking
forward to their future products.
But for right now lets break down UE’s current product line up.
So ultimate ear’s line up currently consists of their Wonderboom 2 which has a retail price
of $100 but they routinely can be found for around $80.
Up next is the Boom 3 which has a retail price of $150 but if you want Alexa voice integration
then you can go for the Blast which unfortunately I don’t have here but it retails for $180.
Then there’s the Megaboom 3 which has a retail price of $200 and then there’s the
Megablast which has Alexa voice assistant integration and retails for $250.
And then there’s the all new Hyperboom which retails for $400 and its just a freaking monster.
So if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll all be linked down below and
if you want to learn more about any of these speakers please watch their full reviews cause
we’re only going over the main differences here.
So first off lets go over the designs of these speakers.
All of UE’s speakers share the same design principles.
They’re all vertical speakers which I’ve actually found that I really like cause all
of these speakers tend to take up less surface area on a table compared to each of their
direct competitors… they all have fabric mesh bodies so they can stand up to constant
bumps and scrapes and they’re all water resistant so non of them are afraid of a little
bit of water.
But like I mentioned earlier if you need something ultra portable and ultra durable for lets
say your next camping trip… then the Wonderboom 2 is your best option here.
Now the Boom 3, Megaboom 3, blast and Megablast are all compact in their own right… but
the Wonderboom 2 just takes it up to another level.
Now when it comes to battery life all of these speakers except the Hyperboom charge via a
Micro USB port.
So definitely moving forward we would like for UE’s newer speakers to use USB C for
charging.
But for now all of UE’s speakers in today’s line up are all using micro usb.
But regardless all of UE’s speakers should have no problem lasting you a good 6 to 8
hour listening session with their volume set at 80% which I think is reasonable.
But if you’re looking for the speaker here with the best battery life but you’re definitely
not getting the Hyperboom… then the Megaboom 3 has the best endurance here.
But something to also keep in mind here is that Ultimate ears also sells a charging dock
thats compatible with the Boom 3, Megaboom 3, Blast and Megablast.
So if you don’t want to worry about always keeping your speakers charged then you can
always go for the charging dock.
Just keep in mind the charging dock doesn’t work with the Wonderboom 2 unfortunately.
But it be cool if it did.
But another thing to keep in mind here is that non of UE’s speakers expect for the
Hyperboom have an audio jack.
So all of UE’s smaller speakers can only be used wirelessly.
Now personally I don’t mind not having an audio jack on my smaller speakers but I do
think its something to watch out for.
Where as with the Hyperboom there is an audio jack and if you want you can even hook it
up to your TV through the optical port which is pretty rare for a bluetooth speaker like
this.
Now before we jump into speaker set ups and sounds test I do want to quickly explain the
main differences between the Boom line up and the Blast line up.
The Boom 3 and megaboom 3 are just your standard bluetooth speakers.
Where as the Blast and Megablast have Alexa voice assistant integration.
So you can use your Megablast or blast just as you would with any other Alexa smart speaker.
Personally since im not the biggest fan of Alexa and prefer Google assistant I always
tend to lean towards the Megaboom 3 over the the Megablast cause you save money and get
better battery life.
But I’ve also noticed that the microphones on the Megablst dosnt do as of a good job
picking up your voice when you issue a command compared to newer smart speakers.
So for that reason I don’t find myself using the voice commands on the megablast all that
often.
I also want to point out that the megablast dosnt have a dedicated play pause button cause
they want you to use Alexa to control your music playback… which has always been a
petpeeve of mine.
So if you want to skip through your music you either have to use your voice or issue
a voice command and hope that Alexa hears.
But thankfully none of the other speakers here have this short coming.
They all have a fully laid out media control buttons.
Now I know this all sounds simple but its something you miss when you don’t have it
anymore.
But when it comes to speaker set ups, the Megablast is more impressive than the megaboom
3.
The Megablast has dual drivers, dual tweeters and dual passive radiators which all shoot
out of either side of this speaker.
Where as the Megaboom 3 has a similar set up to the Megablast cause it also has dual
drivers and dual passive radiators… but notice that the Megaboom 3 doesn’t have
dual tweeters.
So the highs aren’t as crisp as the megablast’s.
Then there’s the Boom 3 which has a similar set up to the megaboom 3… dual drivers and
dual passive radiators, but just a little smaller.
And then there’s the Wonderboom 2 which also has dual drivers and dual passive radiators
but again its just even smaller than the whats found on the Boom 3.
But then there’s the hyperboom which is in a whole other league.
This speaker has dual four and a half inch woofers, dual one inch tweeters, and dual
three and a half inch by seven and a half inch rectangular passive radiators shooting
out the back.
Now something that all of these speakers have in common is that they all have a lot of bass
for their size… but so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into a
sound test.
Now just so that you know all of these speakers are playing at max volume so that you can
get a since of each max potential.
So just as you’d expect all of UE’s speakers have the same sound signature.
UE’s speakers tend to have a bass heavy sound signature cause UE wants you to physically
feel your music.
Now obviously the quietest speaker here by comparison is the Wonderboom 2 and the loudest
speaker here is the Hyperboom.
But the real comparison here is going to be between the middle speakers here.
So the difference between the Boom 3 and Megaboom 3 is that the Megaboom 3 gets louder and and
has more bass than the Boom 3.
But when we compare the Meagboom 3 to the Megablast… over all the Megablast sounds
better than the Megaboom 3 for a few reasons.
Now yes the Megablast does get louder and it does have more bass than the Megaboom 3
but since the Megablast also has those dual tweeters you get more detail in the highs.
Now something that all of these speakers have in common is that they all have customizable
EQ’s.
The Boom 3, Megaboom 3, and Hyperboom all connect to UE’s app.
And from there you can either choose from a few pre made EQ’s or you can make your
own.
So if you want more bass you can do that or if you want to bring the mids out a little
bit then you can also do that.
Now very quickly while we’re here, I also want to point out that through this app you
can also remotely power these speakers on or off.
A small but very useful feature which isn’t available on all basic bluetooth speakers.
Now the blast and megablast also have a fully customizable EQ but they have their own special
app from UE.
But non the less you can still customize their sound.
But this now leads us to the wonderboom 2.
Unfortunately the Wonderboom 2 doesn’t connect to UE’s app so you can’t fully customize
its EQ.
But the Wonderboom 2 does have 2 EQ modes to choose from.
You have its stock very Bassy EQ but there’s also an outdoors mode which you can active
by pressing the button on the bottom of this speaker.
And what out doors mode does on this speaker is that it reduces its bass and puts and emphasis
on the mids and highs so that this speaker sounds louder and you also get a slight battery
life bump.
But this now leads us to these speaker’s speaker pairing protocols.
Now the Wonderboom 2 can be paired up to another wonderboom 2 or to an original wonderboom.
But at the end of the day you can only have up to two Wonderboom speakers paired together.
Now if you were to get two Wonderboom 2 speakers you can pair them up and have them play in
left and right stereo mode or have them play in sync.
But if you were to pair a Wonderboom 2 to an original Wonderboom then you can only have
them play in sync.
Next up there’s PartyUp so you can pair the Hyperboom up to the Megaboom 3 or Boom
3 or even some older UE Boom speakers and you can mix and match and you can have up
to 150 speakers paired together which is just over kill.
But unfortunately you can’t pair a blast or megablast to a boom or megaboom speaker.
But you can however pair a blast to a megablast.
Ultimately UE does have some fragmentation between their speakers when it comes to pairing
them to one another… but I do like PartyUp for the most part.
But here’s hoping that the Wonderboom 3 will support PartyUp in the future.
But over all, like I said at the beginning of this video the Wonderboom 2 and Hyperboom
are two of my favorite speakers right now.
I absolutely love the Wonderboom 2 cause it sounds bigger than it actually is.
Its also extremely durable and has a long battery life so if you need something small
to stuff in your back pack then I don’t think that you can go wrong with the Wonderboom
2.
Then there’s the hyperboom which is a very rich sounding speaker that just loves shaking
the walls in your house.
But you can just as easily take it on the go with you to you or just move it around
the house.
And even though this speaker sounds huge it doesn’t take up all that much space compared
to its direct competitors.
But now this brings us to the middle offerings of UE’s line up.
Personally I really think that if you’re looking into the mid sized speakers from UE
I think the best bang for your buck here is going with the Megaboom 3.
Even though the Boom 3 sounds good I think you’re better off in the long run going
with the Megaboom 3 cause its gets louder, it has more bass, and it also has a longer
battery life.
Now even though I do prefer the Megablast’s speaker set up over the megaboom 3’s I think
you end up making some compromises with the Megablast.
The Megablast costs $50 more than the Megaboom 3, you do sacrifice a little bit of battery
life, and you also sacrifice PartyUP so if you plan on getting future UE speakers you’ll
might be out of luck.
But if you’re a big Alexa fan than maybe the blast or megablast are more your style.
But at the end of the day, I really think both the Wonderboom 2 and Hyperboom are two
great options that you can’t go wrong with.