Here’s at Ibiza Club News, we’ve got a bit of a thing for speakers and sound systems, just as well really, seen as we’re a clubbing publication. Could you imagine if we had a fear or phobia of speakers and sound systems? That would be almost as ridiculous as the time our sister publication Wunderground claimed that David Guetta had chorophobia, an irrational fear of dancing, and as ridiculous as it sounds, a lot of people believed it so you just never know.
Anyway, enough about Guetta, we were talking about speakers and sound systems and this week we’ve been having a little look at the Ultimate Ears Boom 2 portable bluetooth speaker and, we have to say, we’re really impressed by what we’ve seen.
There are currently about 26 billion different types of bluetooth speaker available on the market, which means there are almost four different kinds of bluetooth speaker for every man, woman and child on this planet. Now, we’re no mathematicians, we normally count on our fingers, but with so many options, it must be hard to know if you’re buying the right one, especially when so many of them are rubbish and come with the same sound quality as a potato.
Over the last couple of years, we’ve insulted our ears with many of these different types of bluetooth speakers, some of them have been alright-ish but the vast majority of them have been shit, we should really stop buying them off the Looky-Looky Men. So, when we got our hands on the brand new Boom 2, we were pleasantly surprised.
Lots of really shitty bluetooth speakers, look really cool. Some people will buy a speaker based on nothing other than how it looks, we call these people morons and we’re sad to say we’ve definitely fallen into this category on way more occasions than we care to remember, and our first impressions on the Boom 2 was that this is a very sexy looking speaker.
It’s about the size of an averagely big pencil case, or a large can of beer, two things we’re very fond of thanks to all the drinking we did in primary school, The Marina version of the speaker we got blends blues and greens to give off some really lovely sea tones. It’s the kind of speaker I could totally imagine mermaids using to listen to a bit of Beyoncé when they’re getting ready to go out on a night out dancing or whatever the mermaid equivalent of dancing is, probably some sort of fancy swimming, like that stuff you see at the Olympics.
The fact that the Boom 2 is probably so popular with mermaids, and other manlike creatures who live under the sea, is likely something to do with the fact that all Ultimate Ears portable speakers are completely waterproof. Now, if you’re anything like us, you’re probably thinking “it’s not really waterproof, did I turn the oven off, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck, orange is a funny colour, I’d like a donut” or something along them lines, and you’d be right to be skeptical. We’ve lost many a “waterproof” phone by dipping them in pints of beer to see just how waterproof they actually are.
Most of the time, when a brand says a product is waterproof, they’re talking bollox, but we can confirm the Boom 2, and all of Ultimate Ears speakers are genuinely waterproof, beer proof and any other liquid you can throw at them proof. So, you can actually play music with them underwater, we’ve even heard, if you play Aqua Barbie Girl at the bottom of the deep end of a swimming pool, it sounds just like Solardo, which is both amazing and frightening at the same time.
So, it looks good and it’s waterproof, but does the Boom 2 sound good? Or, does it make you feel like you’re being punched directly in the ear drum by thousands of tiny little UFC fighters? While we like the sound of having a miniature UFC army living inside our ears, we’re happy to confirm that the sound quality on the Boom 2 is good, it’s actually really good. If we were to try and describe it in a way that resonates best with Ibiza Club News readers, we’d say it sounds as clean and crisp as a polished Pringle and, coincidentally, it would probably fit in a Pringles tin too.
It’s loud too, it packs way more punch than you would expect from a speaker of its size. It’s definitely loud enough for you to get numerous noise complaints in San Antonio Bay hotel so if you’re getting one of these speakers for a party, it’s definitely got enough umph to get the place rocking. The Boom 2 has 360° sound, with noise emanating from every part of it, which probably makes the sound round, like a ball, and bouncy, or something.
Another great feature of the boom 2 that we haven’t seen with many other bluetooth speakers is the free app you can download with it. There are loads of cool features on it, you can customise the EQ, ise touch control from your phone but the coolest feature is Block Party, which lets you wirelessly connect a bunch of ultimate ears speakers. So, if you’ve got some neighbours you really want to piss off, this is the perfect speaker for you.
The Boom 2 is also really easy to use, it’s got big clear buttons so no matter what stage of the party you’re at, you’ll still be able to figure it out. It’s also got all of the relevant holes you need to be able to plug stuff into so it’s got you tech nerd and cable enthusiasts covered on that side of things too.
So, the question on everyone’s lips, how much does the Boom 2 cost? Well, you can get your hands on one of these brand new bad boys for a little under £150 (€165) and while this is on the expensive side for a bluetooth speaker, you definitely get what you pay for. It looks good, sounds good and it’s tough, durable and waterproof. So, if you’re buying it for a holiday, festival or even just a party, it’s going to last the distance and beyond.
Final verdict; great speaker, definitely worth the money, 100% would buy.