UE Wonderboom 2: Keep the party afloat with this little beauty

You’ve probably been inundated with the irritatingly invasive pop-up adverts on your social media feed, all vying for you to buy their portable speaker.

And why not? With summer almost here, the warmer weather begs for a poolside soiree and the opportunity for you to show off your recently downloaded playlist to your envious guests.

However, with so many options to choose from and a 500-page encyclopaedia of technical jargon, where does one even begin when it comes to selecting a speaker that matches your lifestyle?

I’ve gone through four portable speakers in six years and only one (the Bose SoundDock Series III), in spite of its lack of Bluetooth capability, really impressed me.

But if you don’t have the budget to splurge on a Bose then the latest Ultimate Ears (UE) Wonderboom 2 may be just what you’re looking for.

UE Wonderboom 2 range. Picture: Ultimate Ears

This little firecracker, in addition to boasting awesome 360-degree soundstage effect with really big bass and crisp audio, is as rugged as a tank and can withstand multiple drops.

I was a tad hesitant to see if it is as tough as it claims but, with my audience of slightly nervous friends, I did the drop test … not once but three times.

Just to lend some perspective and height to my claim, I am 1.87 metres tall and dropped the speaker from chest level (about 1.5 metres) and then, just to garner a few more wide-eyes gasps from my spectators, I tossed it into our saltwater splash pool.

Without missing a beat, the speaker bopped to the top where it floated and kept throwing out the Black Eyed Peas’ Boom Boom Pow track – which I deliberately chose from my playlist to add drama to my abuse of the speaker and to test the speaker’s bass capability.

Having just a few months ago spent her generous tax rebate of almost double the current retail price of the Wonderboom 2 on one of the other brands of speakers, one of my buddies could hardly conceal her buyer’s remorse.

All in all, when it comes to dynamite in small packages, the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 lives up to the hype and really flies in the face of that old adage: “That just won’t float.

UE Wonderboom 2. Picture: Ultimate Ears

Info

Aside from the fact that the charging port and cable is not USB-C but micro USB, and that I get nine solid hours (still pretty impressive) instead of the advertised 13 hours of playtime after a full charge, I found more pros than cons in this little party starter.

Here are just a few:

It’s bassy-er 360-degree sound can also go wherever you go thanks to its Outdoor Boost that creates more powerful audio that’s specially tuned for listening outside.

With an IP of 67, the speaker is super waterproof and dustproof.

Unlike some of its current competitors, the speaker can pair to two devices and does away with the inconvenience of having to first unpair in order to share.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.