UE Hyperboom review: A jumbo portable Bluetooth speaker that rocks

Ultimate Ears Increase speakers arrive in a handful of diverse dimensions, but none as major as the Hyberboom. A supersize wireless speaker that ideas the scales at a hefty thirteen kilos, the Hyperboom helps make the Megaboom 3 appear unquestionably puny. Available in black only at launch, the Hyperboom expenses $399 (399 euros, AU$599). That is not low-cost, but it appears greater than a good deal of the jumbo moveable speakers on the sector appropriate now. (There’s no phrase still on Uk pricing or when it will be unveiled in the Uk, but it’s going to likely match the euro rate.)

Ultimate Ears reps told me the Hyperboom was made right after the business bought responses from its clients seeking for a even bigger speaker that could participate in loud ample and have deep ample bass to ability a social gathering. The speaker can do just that — Ultimate Ears suggests it can be a few occasions as loud and has 6-and-a-half occasions the bass of Megaboom 3 — and has no difficulties filling a reasonably massive place with audio. 

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Of course, this speaker is “moveable” — battery daily life is rated 24 several hours at reasonable quantity ranges. But if you actually crank the quantity, that quantity will fall more like a few several hours. Adequate to get you by means of a social gathering? Possibly. But you can normally plug it in (you have to charge it with its have AC ability adapter) if you happen to be around a ability resource. The battery is not replaceable but ought to final a number of several years.

The speaker supports 4 enter resources — two Bluetooth wireless, one 3.5mm auxiliary and even an optical enter if you want to link a sport console, Tv set or Laptop. With a push of a button you can change among the resources and have two phones related by way of Bluetooth at the exact same time so you can trade off taking part in tunes with a mate. There’s also a USB-out port for charging devices. But to be clear, this is a Bluetooth-only speaker — there is no Wi-Fi.

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UE added Alexa voice-assistant aid to its scaled-down Blast and Megablast speaker, equally of which are equally Wi-Fi- and Bluetooth-enabled. This speaker has no wake-phrase voice manage, nevertheless, for either Alexa or Google Assistant. I don’t think that’s a major deal, but some persons may possibly hope a $400 speaker to have voice manage. Of course, you could connect an Echo Dot by way of the auxiliary port to obtain Alexa aid when you have the speaker at house.

The Hyperboom is splashproof with an IPX4 rating, and an built-in microphone instantly reads the environment and calibrates the audio to fill any area, indoors or outdoor. As I reported, it can be very hefty, so you in all probability don’t want to have it much too significantly. But the retractable rubber tackle seems strong and is securely mounted to the speaker. I lugged it close to for a number of blocks during our movie shoot.

As a solitary speaker, it appears a great deal greater than any UE Increase or UE Blast speaker I have read right before. The bass goes deep and continues to be perfectly-outlined, even at larger volumes, and there is decent clarity (it won’t distort at max quantity). I compared it to a Sonos Shift, a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth speaker that also expenses $400 but is scaled-down. The Hyperboom did audio even bigger, with greater over-all clarity and more impressive bass. It unquestionably has more kick to it.

This has even bigger, more refined audio with more bass than the JBL Xtreme 2, a preferred jumbo moveable Bluetooth speaker that lists for $350 but is presently on sale for $250. And soundwise this measures up perfectly to the JBL Boombox, which lists for $500. For out of doors use, I do favor the type of the JBL Boombox, but the Hyperboom’s just black box structure is able to mix in greater with indoor decors.   

While it has a number of drivers, the Hyperboom does have its audio constraints it are not able to pretty escape sounding like a solitary speaker. If you want to choose it to the future level, you can pair two of these fellas and get true stereo audio (they do audio pretty fantastic paired collectively but that will established you again $800). Or you can wirelessly link it with any other Increase, Megaboom ($110 at Amazon) or Hyperboom speakers working with the PartyUp aspect in the companion application for iOS and Android to distribute the audio throughout more area.

In the end, this is the moveable speaker for a person who’s tired of sacrificing audio top quality for size. Of course, it can be even bigger, heavier and pricier than all those compact Bluetooth speakers out there. But it looks and appears more like a “true” speaker in your house and is nevertheless moveable when you want to choose it on the go. 

Right here are the Hyperboom’s critical specs, in accordance to Ultimate Ears:

• Proportions (H/W/D): 14.33 inches (364mm) x seven.five inches (190mm) x seven.five inches (190mm)
• Weight: thirteen kilos (five.9kg)
• Enter resources: Two Bluetooth, one 3.5mm auxiliary and one optical audio
• Bluetooth array: 150 ft (46m)
• Battery daily life: Up to 24 several hours (3 several hours max quantity)
• Charge time: 2.6 several hours
• Drivers: Two four.five-inch (114mm) woofers, two 1-inch (25mm) tweeters, two 3.five-inch (89mm) x seven.5inch (191mm) passive radiators
• Utmost Seem Stress Stage: a hundred dBC
• Frequency array: 45Hz-20KHz
• Drinking water-resistance: IPX4 rated (splashproof)
• Guarantee: Two-12 months restricted components
• Value: $399 (399 euros, AU$599)