If yesterday’s wireless speaker was complex and tried to do a whole lot, today’s is a much more direct affair. It also happens to be the follow up model to one of the best-reviewed and most-respected portable Bluetooth speakers on the market. But technology doesn’t stop, and it turns out that some sequels can in fact be better than the originals.
The Logitech UE Boom 2 looks a lot like it’s sibling- a tubular, brightly-colored, tall-can-sized 360-degree wireless speaker that weighs just over a pound. But there is a major surprise- the family went from being water-resistant to fully waterproof and shock-resistant, with a true IPX7 rating. Flaps over the ports are a tell, but the sound quality isn’t- it doesn’t sound at all muffled or much different from the former edition, and in fact can even play louder and boasts improved bass. The battery life is solid too, lasting about 15 hours between charges, depending on the volume. And the same big volume controls that we liked in the past are still present.
Bluetooth has come a long ways- the Boom 2 will remember up to eight paired devices and even accept connections from two source devices simultaneously so you can trade off DJ duties. There’s NFC support as well, and it can work across longer distances than most competitors, up to twice as far or even further. they added an interesting feature too- a sort of gesture control that allows you to tap once to pause your music and twice to skip tracks. Plus, you can grab two of these and turn them into a synchronized stereo setup.
Overall, the UE Boom 2 is a sensible, logical step forward, a nice advance on the UE Boom which we checked out back in 2013. There aren’t really any rough edges- it has a speakerphone and a 3.5mm minijack input as you’d expect, and the same variety of friendly colors (red, blue, black, white, and ‘tropical’ as well as a green/blue combination). Like all Bluetooth speakers, it has limits, but the Boom 2′s are further than most- it can be tossed in the water and setup on the sand to no ill effect. Most everything we threw on sounded great with deep and rich sound, and you can get your own Logitech UE Boom 2 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker for around $175 online and in stores.