You'll find more consistent results if you simply use your smartphone for playback control, and you can disable the gesture controls from the app. This worked about half the time when I tried it. With the Boom 2 upright, you can tap the top with your hand to play or pause tracks, or tap twice to skip. The speaker also adds tap-based gesture control, but it was inconsistent in our tests.
You can adjust the speaker's EQ settings, set an alarm, and even pair it with a second Boom 2 for stereo sound with the free UE Boom app for iOS and Android. According to Ultimate Ears, the Boom 2 can last up to 15 hours on a charge, though that of course depends on how loud you play your music. We didn't have a problem with any of our cables, however. The charging port is buried in a recess behind a rubber door on the speaker, and while the cable it comes with can connect easily, you might have trouble using a different micro USB cable with a particularly thick connector. Like the first Boom, the Boom 2 can function as a speakerphone even without the telltale pinhole indicating a microphone anywhere on its rugged body.īattery and AppA micro USB cable and wall adapter are included in the box. The original Boom was capable of taking the occasional splash, but it wasn't guaranteed to handle an outright drop into a pool. It's now IPX7-rated, which means the speaker can take handle complete submersion in water without damage. Ultimate Ears made the Boom 2 even more rugged than the first one. The UE tag on the rubber strip is now also rubber rather than cloth, and the cloth surrounding most of the speaker is much more finely woven. However, the ports are now covered by thick rubber doors built directly into the speaker, instead of the awkward rubber protector that stretched around the D-ring on the original.
And it still has Power and Bluetooth pairing buttons and lights on one end of the cylinder, and a D-ring sitting over a micro USB power port and a 3.5mm audio input on the other end. It still has a prominent rubber strip down the side holding large + and - symbols representing the volume controls (with a hidden NFC zone for pairing with compatible phones with a tap locatd lower on the strip). It's still a rubber-and-cloth-covered cylinder (available in a variety of bright color combinations) that measures 6.9 inches high and 2.6 inches wide and weighs just 1.2 pounds.
With a charge time from completely empty to full of just 2.5 hours, it is pretty unlikely to run out of charge even when used for a full day. In our tests with a full charge, we managed to do so with a normal mix of music at moderate in-door-type volume levels. Fortunately, performance between these is pretty balanced since using the mini-jack in gives you roughly the same sound quality as going with Bluetooth and normal quality source material.Īnother thing that is quite interesting with the BOOM 2 is that it will give you 15 hours of play time.
UE's BOOM series speakers only feature Bluetooth (A2DP) and a mini-jack in. The midrange is less muddy on the BOOM 2 with even an odd EQ, and the fact that the BOOM 2 is largely unaffected by the shape and quality of the surface it stands on makes it a much better performer on the go. The Roar 2 has the legs up in terms of how much deep bass it can pump out, but the benefits in projection and balance with the BOOM 2 make it a winner in all other categories. For a unit you want to carry with you, the UE BOOM 2 is pretty perfect as it is smallish at just 67mm Ø and 180mm high, which makes it very bag friendly.Ĭompared to the Creative Roar 2, the UE BOOM 2 is generally much better in terms of projection, and so is the MEGABOOM.
Sound-projection-wise, the BOOM 2 equals the older model, which puts it a bit behind the bigger and badder UE MEGABOOM that is also way less wieldy.