Gadgetory

I feel the new Ultimate Ears blast a mega blasts are two steps forward and one step back for Yui on one hand I think it's awesome companies are starting to incorporate voice assistance into their products but on the other hand these speakers are missing very basic functions that even the predecessors boom and mega boom have and as a result these speakers are for a very specific type of consumer so are the blast and mega blast right for you let's find out don't forget to Like comment and subscribe and you go watch some of my other videos here after they're done what's in this video well that these speakers are very similar to one another and the main differences between them are size battery life in price the smaller Yui blast currently retails for $230 and the larger Yui mega blast currently retails for $300 and they both come in the same colorway options blue red black or white and they both come included with their own wall adapter and micro USB cable for charging if you want to pick either of these speakers up I'll have a little description below and I'll keep them updated so you can get the best deal possible first up let's go over build quality and design there's no denying both of these speakers are very well built and are super rugged their designs were very similar to JBL speakers they both have fabric and softest rubber bodies that can take a beating they both have very prominent volume up and volume down buttons on the front a power button and Bluetooth line on the top i'll deering on the bottom there you can also remove and there's a rubber cover that keeps the microUSB port safe from water and dust but the blast and mega blast both have gotten rid of their aux jacks which could be a deal-breaker for some people both speakers are also ip67 rated which means they're both water and dust proof but unfortunately they do not float and that's partly because they're pretty freakin dense compared to other speakers the UE blast weighs in at 652 grams and the UE mega blast weighs in at 1,100 91 grams one of the biggest features of both of these speakers is Alexa integration after you've connected either of these speakers to your home Wi-Fi and sign in to your Amazon account from the Ultimate Ears app you'll be able to tell Alexa to control your smart home gave Alexa commands ask her questions and you'll also be able to control your music playback all by just speaking Alexa what's the weather like in New York City today you can look for mostly sunny weather with a high of 38 degrees and a low of 24 degrees basically either these UE speakers will behave like Amazon echo dot or standard echo but not an Amazon echo Plus which has a built in hubs for your smart gadgets can talk to one another and the microphone array on these speakers is pretty good Alexa has no problem hearing me when I'm far away or even in the next room which is a little creepy honestly Alexa can you hear me yes I can hear you yes I can hear you but unlike the Amazon echo show I test out a few months ago which could still hear me even when I called for Alexa when I was playing music at full volume the UE speakers will only hear the Alexa hog word when music is playing at a moderately low volume yes I can't hear you so this could be a problem if you're playing music and max volume and you want to skip to the next track or positive music you can't tell Alexa to do it because she can't hear you so you have to use your phone instead and it's also very important to keep in mind that these Alexa voice controls for your music playback will only work if you're streaming from Amazon music I Heart Radio or tuned in but you he says there's more services to follow but if you're playing music directly from your phone or another source or streaming service personally I prefer Google Play then the Alexa voice controls will not work and oddly enough these speakers don't have a multi-purpose button to control your music playback or active in a different voice assistant you can't manually play pause or skip a track with the older mega boom if you tap or double tap the top you could control your music playback but that's not the case with these speakers they want you to do is strictly with voice controls but if the speaker's themselves aren't connected to Wi-Fi and the voice controls won't work period and not having a way to manually control you music playback directly from the speaker is a bigger deal than you might think personally I like to listen to music while I'm in the shower so voice controls don't really work and skipping or going back a track by pressing a touchscreen with wet hands doesn't always work flawlessly if there was a third button I could easily just skip a track by double pressing like I did with my flip for if you have a few Fred and you're playing music your friend can't simply just pick up the speaker and pause or skip the track themselves if you're using an unsupported streaming service or if the speaker isn't connected to Wi-Fi they would have to tell you to do it directly from your phone I just feel alternate ears a third party manufacturer is severely limiting themselves by relying so much on Amazon Alexa and as a result you the customer aren't getting the best product if you're not using the right streaming service or voice assistant under the ideal circumstances because again in order for the blasts or mega blast to work to the fullest extent they need to be connected to Wi-Fi and you have to use one of the supported streaming services but let's say all of the previously mentioned stuff isn't a deal breaker for you you probably want to know about their other tech specs and so on first off Bluetooth range on these speakers is pretty freakin impressive I was able to get about a range of 120 feet with direct line-of-sight before the Bluetooth started to starter out but unfortunately these speakers cannot be connected to two devices at the same time so you can't ha swap so this means if you're playing music off of your phone and you want to switch to your iPad you need to go into your Bluetooth settings and manually connect from the device you want to use and the speaker will disconnect from the previous device it's not the most streamlined but it's okay because the speaker's can save up to eight different devices regarding battery life I feel it's okay even with Alexa turned off I found myself charging these speakers more frequently than other speakers I've tested UE advertises the battery life of 16 hours on the mega blast and I'd typically average about 10 hours of playback time with the volume set to moderately high and UE advertised as a battery life of 12 hours on the blast and I typically average about 8 hours of playback time these speakers are also 360-degree speakers and Ultimate Ears did not lie when they said they have thundering bass I'm assuming they have similar but improved speaker setups from the lesson counterparts dual drivers and dual passive radiators and for the most part the blast and mega blast performed the same both the speakers have a lot of base but I feel the mids are a little weak the soundstage is pretty narrow and the highest end to crash rather frequently a max volume the blast likes to hover in the mid to high 70s decibel range whereas a max volume the mega blast likes to hover in the mid-eighties decibel range what this really means is that when the blast is that max volume is like the mega blast is that 75 percent volume so obviously the mega blast gets louder and there's more wall shaking bass in general but overall sound quality doesn't improve but still since these are bass heavy speakers I think they're best suited for rap hip hop or EDM but not so much everything else because the mids are just so freakin weak essentially if you decided to go with the mega blast or with the blast you're getting more bass in general and a speaker that gets louder but another feature that's missing on both of these speakers which should be pretty standard is being able to chain them together as right now the UE blast and mega blast can't be paired together she can't play music simultaneously with them I tried to pair them together through the app and I was even on the phone with tech support for over two hours trying to figure this out Yui also doesn't make any mention of being able to connect these speakers together in their marketing material so if you already have a boom 2 or mega boom and you were planning on chaining the blast or mega blast to them as of right now you can't but Josh from tech support hi Josh did offhandedly mentioned that maybe they were still waiting for an app to be released that would allow the blast and mega blast to pair together but this under no circumstances means there's such app in the works but still pairing speakers together is pretty standard and these speakers should be able to do so from day one so in conclusion although these speakers are a great option for bass lovers I can't really recommend them first off battery life isn't that good for speakers of their size but my biggest problem is their over reliance of Alexa like I said unless they're connected to Wi-Fi and you're using a supported streaming service they won't work to their fullest capacity and not having a play/pause button directly on these speakers is a major annoys that you shouldn't have to deal with when you're paying upwards of $200 I think it's great that manufacturers are embracing voice assistance but their products should be able to fully function as speakers first and voice assistance to be an add-on that you choose to use not be forced unless you are heavily invested in the Amazon ecosystem I suggest you pass on these speakers they're better options out there for much cheaper Alexa what's the weather like in New York City in New York there's a freeze warning in effect Friday November 10th six six pm to Saturday November 11th 8:00 a.m. the current weather is 35 degrees we're partly sunny skies today today's forecast has mostly sunny weather with a high of 38 degrees in a low of 24 degrees Alexa can you hear me yes I can yes I can hear you hey if you enjoyed the video please like and subscribe it helps out more than you realize for more product reviews and deal alerts check out Jim Kennedy that net if you want us to put the channel pick up a shirt and I'll catch you next time