The UE Wonderboom 2 is a step up from the original Wonderboom, and it does come with some significant upgrades. For starters, it’s outdoor boost feature fine tunes the audio for outdoor listening, and this coupled with a battery life that’s 3 hours longer than its predecessor makes it a very tempting offer. If you’re looking for a speaker that would work better indoors, take a look at our review of this transparent speaker too. The portable speaker retails at about $100, and is definitely one of the best Bluetooth speakers in the market if you’re looking for something that’s got good battery life, great sound and is fairly durable. For another portable speaker, take a look at our AudioEngine A2 Speaker review.
Why We Like It – UE Wonderboom 2
The Wonderboom 2 from Ultimate Ears is a perfect pick for outdoor or pool partying thanks to its strong durability against the elements. If you prefer a speaker set, check out our Logitech Bluetooth speakers Z600 review. This is similar to our Tunebug Shake Portable speaker review in that both of these speakers are primarily for outdoors. The UE Wonderboom 2 also boasts of a 13 hour battery life, and a stereo pairing feature that lets you pair with another Wonderboom speaker for a much louder sound volume. For perfect sound indoors, take a look at our Creative Labs Inspire T6300 5.1 speaker system review too.
- Floats on water
- Longer 13 hour battery life
- Outdoor Boost for outdoor listening
- No microphone
- No pairing with other UE speakers
Performance
The Wonderboom 2 delivers a big sound in spite of its size, and has an impressive 30m wireless range for music playback. If you are talking about one of the biggest and loudest speaker, read the Ultimate ears hyperboom review. The wonder boom 2 has an IP67 rating that is even better than the original’s IPX7, as it means that the speaker can withstand being submerged up to a meter in water for about 30 minutes just like the JBL Charge 4. This makes the portable bluetooth speaker ideal for beach parties, or even being handled in the rain. To get the speaker louder when outdoors, you might be tempted to press its outdoor boost button which is in the form of a pine tree and is at the speaker’s bottom. Switching to outdoor mode increases loudness by up to 87dBC, though at the slight expense of its sound quality. While the bass may be better on the Wonderboom, take a look at the Tego Audio NOVA mini portable speakers review if you want a loud speaker.
Design
There’s little difference between the designs of the original Wonderboom portable bluetooth speaker and its 2nd iteration. This would be the two-tone fabrics that the newer Ultimate Ears Wonderboom can boast of. You get to choose between 5 color combinations that all look quite good, but other than that, everything else is pretty much the same. The small speaker features a strong rubber grip at the top and bottom, as well as a hang loop that can be used to hold on to it or hang wherever it may be convenient. It may not look as sophisticated as the Bose Soundlink Revolve, but then again, there’s not much need for sophistication if you’re going to be using it outdoors a lot.
Value
As mentioned before, the UE Wonderboom 2 has a stereo pairing feature dubbed “Double Up”, which allows you to pair with another Wonderboom 2 speaker for more sound. With two Wonderboom speakers linked together, you’ll get a stereo sound with both speakers taking either the left or right channel. When playing music outdoors, you shouldn’t feel afraid to take the Wonderboom speaker (another example you can take is in the UE roll bluetooth speaker review) to the pool since it can float just like the UE Boom 3. To add to that, the speaker may earn a lot of praise for its considerably high bass levels, but unfortunately, sound may get distorted if the volume is turned up by more than 70%. If you have a bit more money to spend, you may want to take a look at our Altec Lansing inMotion Air IMW725 review too.
UE Wonderboom 2 Wrap Up
If you happen to own the original Wonderboom, the only advantages you’ll get with the new one are an outdoor equalizer, a longer battery life, a higher durability rating and a more diverse range of fabric combinations to choose from. Is it worth it? We think so, especially if you tend to take your music outside a lot.
