This is my fourth Ultimate Ears (UE) speaker review, and what I can surely say is that the company continues to work on its strength without switching its focus. UE for me stands as a brand that couples audio quality with durability.
Their rugged UE Boom speakers have been my favourite travel music companion, and that says a lot. This here is the UE Boom 2, launched earlier this year in India. It’s good to see that the UE team hasn’t tweaked the speaker’s design, but do we get anything as an upgrade over the UE Boom?
Pros:
- Louder than UE Boom
- Longer Bluetooth connectivity range
- Fully waterproof now
- Long battery life
Cons:
- Control placement needs a re-look
- Lacks heavy bass
What’s Good?
UE Boom 2 retains the best parts about its predecessor, and there’s no harm in that. The cylindrical design of the speaker has been retained, while you get more colour options to choose from.
According to Logitech, UE Boom 2 is 25 percent louder than the UE Boom, and while it would be hard to gauge that to the hilt, we found noticeable difference in the output. The UE Boom 2 is now fully waterproof, with no limits to how deep the speaker can dive into water, and still works as it does on the land.
The connectivity range on Bluetooth with the UE Boom now extends up to 100 feet, but that’s only applicable if there are no disturbing elements between the phone/PC paired with the speaker. You can even pair two UE speakers to get the mono/stereo set-up kicked in.
The loud sound output of the UE Boom 2 will endear it to most heavy music listeners. Be it Jazz, Blues or any other genre, the speaker manages to pack a punch without going overboard.
The sound clarity stays true to the point where you won’t feel the distortion creeping, as long as the sound levels are kept in check. The less bass-heavy nature of the UE Boom 2 works in favour of users who like their music listening experience to be soothing rather than pounding. Fair to say that the UE Boom 2 won’t let you down with its upgraded music prowess.
The company promises 15 hours of battery life on the UE Boom 2, but that’s when you opt between Bluetooth and Aux-cable option. Even then we managed to get the UE Boom running for over 10 hours on a single charge.
What’s Bad?
The UE Boom 2 speaker still continues to be plagued by a small but critical issue. The volume control on these speakers has always been a point of discussion. The control buttons are large, but not very responsive – so much so that adjusting the volume becomes a pain.
Now, if the UE team managed to fully waterproof the UE Boom 2, why couldn’t they refine this aspect of the speaker?
While not everyone would mind the lack of bass on the UE Boom 2, lovers of EDM music will surely miss the thump. Maybe that jigsaw of the UE Boom puzzle will be solved with the UE Boom 3? We hope so.
Why Buy It?
Anybody who’s heard about the UE Boom speaker has been impressed and with the UE Boom 2 we expect nothing different. This year’s version offers full waterproof protection, longer connectivity range, louder sound output and yes, battery life gets better as well.
For around Rs 16,000 the UE Boom 2 is serious competition to the Bose SoundLink Mini, and given the option, we’d prefer the durability bonus of the UE Boom 2. However, users with a taste for deep heavy bass should keep their expectations low.
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