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Ultimate Ears has a past of creating robust and loud portable Bluetooth speakers with capabilities to streamline listening experiences. From the capacity to remotely power down the unit with your phone to a party mode supporting over 100 speakers at once, the company's equipment have always been among the best. Now let me introduce the Everboom ($250), a fresh choice from UE that falls midway in terms of power and size on their portfolio. Those useful Ultimate Ears tools return, but so does the company's lack of clarity and consistency.
Ultimate Ears Everboom
The Everboom ticks a lot of criteria for a UE speaker: small enough to carry easily but loud enough to power a party.
Design
Slightly smaller than the middle of Ultimate Ears' Bluetooth speaker range is The Everboom. The lesser choices are the tiny Wonderboom and cylindrical Boom 4 and Megaboom 4; the Epicboom and Hyperboom are bigger. Though the Everboom is broader and so larger overall, the Megaboom 4 is actually taller than the latter.
The Everboom looks most aesthetically like the Epicboom: an oval-shaped, cylindrical instrument with a rubber base. Other than size, where the two vary is that the Everboom has a loop while the Epicboom has an attached strap around back. You pick a clip or hook or use the provided carabiner. Like all modern UE speakers, big "+" and "-" buttons are part of the appearance and place the volume controls right on the speaker's face. Top level buttons for power, Bluetooth, Outdoor Boost and play/pause. That last control also skips tracks with a triple back or a double forward.
The Everboom is plenty tough, much as most modern UE speakers are. Since the IP67-rated unit floats, you probably won't have to worry about it even if it can survive being completely submerged. Although UE mentioned this in the announcement, I should add note that the Wonderboom floats as well. The business claims to drop-tested the Everboom at heights up to one meter (approximately three feet), hence the occasional trip shouldn't be a problem save for scuffs or bruises.
Features and the UE Boom app
Accessing the advanced capabilities of the Everboom will help you to use them in the UE Boom app. The primary interface shows battery status above buttons for power, Outdoor Boost and a megaphone tool once the speaker is linked. Along with a media player and tabs for PartyUp and EQ, there is a volume slider too. Partyup is Ultimate Ears' nomenclature for grouping several speakers together; the megaphone lets you make announcements using the mic of your phone. Long as they are either Boom, Megaboom, Epicboom, or Hyperboom models, you can actually sync up to 150 units in the same arrangement.
Examining the detailed options menu provides further more useful tools. Playlists from either Apple or Amazon Music can be added here and started straight from the Everboom's play/pause button (long press). You can cycle among as many playlists as you choose without pulling up your phone. One collection will also provide access to media player inside the app playlists.
I will also mention a few more things found in the settings. Changing venues will allow you to enable so-called Sticky PartyUp to keep speakers grouped. You can also limit the capacity for other individuals to add your device to their PartyUp configuration. By default, Bluetooth Standby is on; that is how the app may remotely turn the speaker on or off. However, it affects battery life, hence the business allows you to disable it and thus extend play time.
Sound Quality
The Everboom has one of the best drivers configurations: beams sound 360 degrees. Though the tuning there emphasizes treble over bass, you can plainly hear music while seated on the side of the device. Ultimate Ears speakers irritate me mostly because it usually seems as though the business values volume above fidelity. The speakers usually sound good, and the Everboom is more of the same; yet, competing Bluetooth speakers have more general depth and detail.
Though powerful highs and thundering bass, songs always feel compressed, particularly weak in the mid range. Bluegrass songs from Nickel Creek and the open, atmospheric instrumentation on Phantom's "Come Alive" simply lack general intelligibility. Although vocals always cut through clean, the sound stage only covers the two high and low extremes. One of the better-sounding live CDs I can recall is Saosin's Live From The Garden Amphitheater; yet, the Everboom's poor dynamics in tuning dull the show's intensity.
Of the EQ presets, Bass Boost is the only one that somewhat but definitely improves things. This one does not further muddle the audio quality unlike most bass-heavy profiles. But for some genres, such as the melancholy alt-rock of Balance and Composition, the extra low-end renders the continuous, repetitive bass lines intolerable.
Outdoor Boost can enhance the listening experience in wide open areas. The business claims that this raises the volume by one decibel (between 90dB and 91dB). If you decide to turn it on indoors, though, you will be able to hear that the tuning also varies somewhat. Outside though, all you will find is somewhat louder, better-projected sound. The function clearly changes when you're not in a limited area, solving an issue usually afflicting Bluetooth speakers when used outside.
Battery life
The Everboom has enough vitality to keep the tunes running for a good long time. More than plenty for a full day of music, Ultimate Ears guarantees up to 20 hours on a charge. Unless you're running it at full volume for hours on end (you won't, trust me), I can boldly state after my tests that the speaker will outperform that. The UE app continued to report 70 percent battery remaining after twelve hours. Most of these tests were place inside, where a volume of about forty percent is plenty. Furthermore, I found that battery life as advised by the firm was not affected by the Bluetooth standby mode for turning on the speaker via the app.
The Competition
If you're searching for like traits in a somewhat different package, the Ultimate Ears series offers plenty of choices as I just indicated. For a speaker at this price and size, though, my advice is the Marshall Middleton ($250), a choice from our top portable Bluetooth speakers list. It offers some useful features the UE speaker does not provide and right now you can acquire it for the same price as the Everboom.
Top of the joystick control knob is a visible indication for battery and volume levels. The device allows you to make treble and bass changes as well; wired input is represented via a 3.5mm port. Naturally, you get all the stylings of the legendary Marshall guitar amps, and a Stack Mode lets you employ many units as a more sturdy arrangement. Offering 20 hours of battery life, the Middleton has IP67 for water-resistance. Those two specifications match the Everboom exactly.
Also avoid sleeping on the $150 new Beats Pill. Yes, it is a smaller speaker, but it still produces a lot of sound. Though the album or genre will affect the bass performance, generally the compact unit has good low-end tone. Moreover, angled drivers sound better than earlier models and you can choose lossless tunes with a connected USB-C connection. Possibly best of all is that you'll save $100.
Wrap-up
Though the company's smaller speakers offer the best value, Ultimate Ears are usually a good pick for the price. Maintaining its strong dust, moisture and drop safeguards, the mid-sized Everboom offers the best qualities of the UE to yet another fresh design. A sound profile that is deafeningly loud offsets all of the conveniences; it lacks the polish for thorough, immersive listening. Without mids, the whole audio impression is dark and subdued for all the powerful highs and deep bass. Still, this is a good choice for adventures given the speaker floats and the focused outside sound enhancement. One that will most definitely irritate the residents of the adjoining campsite.