Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2
Here’s a concept that Ultimate Ears nailed first time round with the robust, strongsounding original Wonderboom, then reinforced later on with the bigger, better and more heavily featured ‘2’ that we have here.
This second generation model has been with us for a couple of years now but, even in the fast-moving Bluetoothspeaker market, it can still hold its head high among the best of its rivals.
A chip trick
As well as bringing crisper sound and longer battery life, a new chipset in the ‘2’ provided 10 per cent more bass than from the original Wonderboom. It also introduced a ‘boost’ button on the underside of the unit for using the Wonderboom 2 outdoors. When pressed, this restricts the bass frequencies, allowing the UE to play louder through the midrange and upwards. This is claimed to make the sound easier to hear when the unit is used outdoors.
Battery life was increased to 13 hours, from the 10 hours of the original Wonderboom, and a full charge takes just under three hours. Not only is the Wonderboom 2 waterproof and designed to float, as the original was, it’s also sand- and dust-proof, thanks to a full IP67 rating. Handy if your Wonderboom ends up being half-buried on your picnic or beach party.
Stereo option
The design on the top of the speaker was also tweaked, Ultimate Ears introducing a circular button where the branding used to be. Press this to ‘double up’ the sound by pairing two Wonderboom 2s. Crucially, and unlike on the original Wonderboom, this feature supports stereo so that if you pair two Wonderboom 2s you can get full stereo sound. You can still pair a ‘2’ with an original ’boom but only in mono.
There’s a stretchy loop of cord on the top of the speaker – reinforced with a rubber slider in the middle – for carrying your Wonderboom or attaching it to a belt or similar.
The Wonderboom 2 is available in red, black, blue, grey or a millennial pink, which UE calls ‘Just Peach’. It also has an unusually premium feel for such a modestly priced device, and sports a contemporary design aesthetic that is sure to blend in with its surroundings – whether indoors or out.
There’s still no voice assistant built-in, or microphone, and in terms of ports, there’s just a micro-usb for charging purposes. As with the first model, you can’t operate the Wonderboom 2 via an app. Ultimate Ears has chosen not to over-egg the portable speaker pudding, but as it’s such a winning recipe, that shouldn’t be a problem.
A sonic step forward
We cue up our iphone and listen to The Waking by Kurt Elling on Spotify
Premium. The first thing to note is that the extra bass promised by UE is here, and it pays dividends in the mix. Elling’s voice is as forward as we’d expect, but thanks in part to that extra bass injection, it never dominates.
The Wonderboom 2 delivers a sound as cohesive and detailed as we could hope for at the price, and still shows a number of newer rivals the way in this regard. There are discrete musical nuances available in the twang of the double bass that weren’t obvious with the original too.
We switch to Aerosmith’s Water Song and the glass harmonica, wind gong and bullroarer instrumental at the top of the track is suitably spine-tingling, as is Janie’s gun – a strike of simultaneous drums that comes through crisply, brimming with attack. For such a small speaker, the fact that Stephen Tyler’s vocal flourishes and detailed riffs are apparent is no small achievement. The outdoor mode is a welcome addition, making the Wonderboom 2 a viable option for the beach or picnic. It’s certainly more than a gimmick, allowing the speaker to focus on the sound frequencies you can best hear outside.
Budget dominance
The Wonderboom 2 is every bit as precise as the original model (to which we awarded five-stars), yet it delivers a weightier sound while losing none of the core musicality.
The Wonderboom 2 offers an impressive level of bass on top of a very balanced, pleasing tonality. It also offers decent battery life, increased durability, stereo pairing and an outdoor option thrown in to boot. For under a ton, this is where the wise money goes.