Gadgetory

for those who were unfamiliar the UE boom was one of the most popular Bluetooth speakers for most of 2015 in here again Ultimate Ears offers the follow-up with the boom - the name is similar the look is practically identical but there are some notable features and upgrades on the inside now I personally paid for this at the retail price of one hundred and ninety nine dollars but you can always click on the link in the video description below for updated pricing to see where it is today again I'm Jimmy Wynn Jim's review room be sure to subscribe and follow me on Facebook Twitter or Instagram for more reviews like these I'm here to help you make your purchase decision welcome everyone to another review going over the physical features first this thing is 7 inches tall two and three-quarter inches in diameter and weighs in at just 1.2 pounds the exterior looks and feels identical to the original boom with a solid exterior and this nylon like ruggedized shell last year's model was splash proof but this new model its ipx7 rated this means you can fully submerge this up to 1 meter of depth or three point three feet of water up to 30 minutes that is and from my tests this works perfectly fine the only hurdle though if you do bring this on the boat and let's say accidentally drop this into the lake or maybe the deep end of the pool here the speaker does not float unlike the bigger UE mega boom that I tested earlier this year however this is also dirt proof as well from my testing I also spray this down with a horse a high-pressure hose here and again no problems whatsoever now looking at the very cliquey and rugged buttons power on and off with a bluetooth pairing button top sliding to the front of speaker volume up and down and a feature that I love that's on all of the UE Bluetooth speakers currently pressing both of these buttons at the same time will give you a much more precise reading of how much battery life is remaining 80 percent charge now going to the bottom here there is a small metal loop to hook this anywhere a flap that covers the 3.5 millimeter ports if you ever decide to connect this physically to your device in a 3.5 millimeter cord is not provided so just a heads up on that and very last a microUSB port to connect with the supplied wall charger but speaking of charging here better life is claimed to be up to fifteen hours of use the same as last years and with 50% volume during my testing here leaving this from full and all the way down to a dead battery the boom - lasted me 10 hours in two minutes a bit less than what was claimed but decent life in most cases when compared to the other big and small Bluetooth speakers respectively now other features that we cannot see the range on the boom - also has doubled at least that's what they claimed making this a class-leading industry standard for Bluetooth speakers but with my tests outdoors here using a digital laser measure to verify distance I was able to achieve a maximum 70 feet from the speaker until the connection crackled however if I turned around while holding my smartphone here having the connection go through my body essentially the audio would crackle as well I could only get as far as 30 feet away from the speaker again with the phone on the other side of my body now testing this indoors Alice don't know if this is just my unit only but with my standard test that I do in all my speakers I was not able to reach the other side of the house and downstairs again like the other Bluetooth speakers that I've tested previously my connection could only go through about one wall my phone had to be stationary for the connection to be stable it has a side note this distance test was before I did my water test that you've seen earlier new to the boom - you can tap on the top of the boom to pause and play and a double tap will skip to the next song with my experience you do have to pick it up with your other hand here and tap away leaving this on the table this feature won't work but touching based on the free app here available for both Apple and Android devices this does open some additional features that other Bluetooth speakers don't have on the market double up as the first option offering you two pair another UE speaker at the same time allowing for two speakers to play from the same source offering stereo separation an equalizer is available if you don't plan on using your own built-in equalizer on your phone and last is an alarm that basically wakes you up with your music that's stored on your phone unfortunately in shock they haven't addressed this yet the alarm is only set to go off everyday or not at all you can't select individual days or exclude weekends but now to the moment that you've been waiting for hear the sound test I'll play several songs and give you my verdict after words oh yeah cuz I got it like that slow so smooth like I got it on chair yeah and I'm sick of being a good night while I'm on my game and there you have it folks now sound recorded at my end and then play through your speakers or not the best depiction of audio quality hence my review here now first off the boom - and the mega boom are one of the few speakers on the market that does give full 360 degrees sound no matter which side of the speaker is standing out you'll receive the same loudness per uese website the loudness of this particular speaker here has increased and it surely shows this speaker is loud very loud that is for small to medium-sized rooms and now it can fill up larger sized rooms at full volume but at full volume I did notice that bass does drone a bit once you reduce the volume slightly then the bass levels are a little bit more appreciated then vocals and mid-range are decent but lacks authority and not as crisp and bright as some of the other speakers I've tested at the market specifically the JBL charge 2 and B both sound like mini - and as for the highs despite offering louder vibe output the highs for some songs do become distorted now I want to emphasize though at lower volumes this does well when it's not pushed to its limits the sound sensor is good providing I believe a more flat yet balanced tone but if you're looking for a speaker to fill up a room for entertaining the sound quality and I want to emphasize that key word there the quality in this case I don't think it's there if you're looking for one hell of a rugged speaker to bring this on your trips bring it outdoors on a camping trip or so this has to be one of the best in that aspect so I hope this review helped you in some way remember to follow me I'm Jimmy with Jim's review room and thank you for watching I'll see you guys next time bye