Ultimate Ears BOOM 3 And MEGABOOM 3 Get Tougher And Cheaper
Ultimate Ears has revealed its new BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 Bluetooth speakers, making them more rugged, longer-lasting, and more affordable than the old pair. It's also taken the opportunity to give the two new speakers an aesthetic revamp, with the result being a cleaner and more modern-looking design.
Gone is the thick rubber bar running down the front of each speaker, though the sizable – and easily-squeezed – volume control buttons remain. The fabric, too, has been updated, with a tighter weave and a more iridescent look. It's the same material as used for clothing for emergency services personnel, Ultimate Ears says, underscoring its ruggedness.
In fact, the resilience of both the BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 is improved all-round. They're now IP67 dust and waterproof, versus the IPX7 of the old BOOM 2, and they also float, too. A new hanging loop has been added to the back.
Even if you're not hurling them into swimming pools, the other design tweaks make a lot more sense too. The charging port – still microUSB, since Ultimate Ears tells me it's not convinced USB-C is mainstream enough yet – is now on the back, under a rubber flap, rather than on the bottom. It comes after owners of the old speakers said they'd prefer not to have to invert the whole thing in order to charge it.
A full charge lasts up to 16 hours on the BOOM 3, and up to 20 hours on the MEGABOOM 3. With the optional POWER UP charging dock, launched alongside the Ultimate Ears BLAST and MEGABLAST last year, you can top up either speaker by just placing it atop the base station. Charging takes around 2.75 hours.
On the sound side, MEGABOOM 3's bigger passive radiators should make for a louder-sounding speaker with implements in the low-end. Having spent some time listening to the speaker myself, I can say it definitely pumps out more bass than you'd expect, given the 8.9-inch height. Happily that's without sacrificing on treble, though.
Bluetooth range has been increased by 50-percent, now coming in at up to 150 feet. There's a new app, too, which now consolidates Ultimate Ears' BOOM and MEGABOOM models into one place. You still get all of the old features, including a custom equalizer, remote on/of, and PartyUp to sync up to 150 speakers together to play the same thing.
New, though, is the Magic Button on the top of the BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3. As with the old speakers, you can tap it once to toggle between play and pause, and double-tap it to skip forward a track. However, you can also long-press it to power up the speaker, connect to your smartphone, and start playing a preselected favorite playlist – either in Apple Music if you're paired to an iPhone, or Deezer Premium if you're using an Android device.
You can configure up to four playlists in the Ultimate Ears app, and then long-press again on the Magic Button to cycle between them. Ultimate Ears tells me it's working on adding support for remote playlist access for other apps and streaming services.
As for colors, the BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 will be offered in Night (Black), Sunset (Red), Lagoon (Blue), and Ultraviolet (Purple). Apple Stores will also have two exclusive finishes: Denim (Dark Blue) and Cloud (Light Blue). The BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 will go on sale in the US, and select countries in Europe and Asia, in September. It'll be priced at $149.99 for the BOOM 3 and $199.99 for the MEGABOOM 3 – each $50 less than their predecessors – while the POWER UP will be $39.99.
