UE MEGABOOM Wireless Bluetooth Speaker

 
 

 
 
 
Logitech’s Ultimate Ears has released some great wireless Bluetooth speakers in recent years, and the most popular of all has to be the UE BOOM. Portable, rugged, 360 degree room filling sound. So how does one make it better? You release a bigger version with better specs and bigger sound. Meet the Logitech UE MEGABOOM. 

The UE MEGABOOM takes the form factor from its smaller sibling and scales it up. Measuring 21.1cm in height and a diameter of 8.4cm and weighing in around 800 grams. The speaker is mostly covered with its mesh cloth grille. Is shockproof and waterproof (IPX7), meaning if you get it wet or even drop it in your pool or bath, it will survive. Looking mostly like the UE BOOM, the speaker has a rubber band running down the front with the volume controls. Up top is the power/Bluetooth connect button and on the bottom it has a handy D ring for hanging, as well as your micro USB connector for charging and your 3.5mm jack. These are covered with a sturdy rubber cover for waterproofing.
 
Like its younger siblings, the UE MEGABOOM itself has very simple controls, but for the most functionality, there is a phone app for both iPhone and Android users that provides several useful features. With it you can adjust sound quality with a handful of equaliser presets, or manually adjust a five-band equaliser, pair MEGABOOM speakers, set an alarm , update the speaker firmware, and even turn it on or off. My only trouble with using the speaker came with the app install. Or should I say the wrong app install. I found out the hard way that there is a UE BOOM app and a UE MEGABOOM app. After installing the correct app everything worked just as it should.
 
The UE MEGABOOM comes packaged in a large plastic cylinder container, that can be used to transport the UE MEGABOOM and also contains the fluoro charger and cable. One thing that I did notice is that it does not have any instruction booklet or manual. You have to download the app to see the list of “How To” to get started.
 
Sound and Performance.
 
Wow. Just wow. The range and quality are impressive. The bass is outstanding. The room filling capability is amazing. The UE MEGABOOM is the best sounding speaker of its size and portability I have yet to hear. Sound is colourful and powerful, and there's loads of volume available, without the tininess associated with some of the more budget Bluetooth speakers on the market.
 
Similar to the way screens have a limited viewing angle, most Bluetooth speakers also suffer from a rather limited cone of sound delivery. Sure, sound can be heard outside of the cone, but not as clearly or with as much definition. Taking advantage of the cylindrical design of this speaker, the UE MEGABOOM 360-degree sound is a great success. There is a minor dead spot in front of the rubber band, but for the most part, its 360-degree awesomeness.
 
Either stood up or laying down on its side, this speaker provides sufficiently deep bass, and it's no slouch when it comes to delivering mids and highs. For also being such a rugged option, I'm impressed with the quality of the sound. Bass is beautiful, and it does fill the room. Maybe not Sub woofer filling, but its there and is nice and punchy. Treble and Mids are smooth and word nicely together with the bass to give an overall warm sound.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
To touch on the rest of the speaker's features, I listened at a wide variety of rather loud volumes and the battery life was pretty spot on to 20 hours. I'm confident that the speaker would have surpassed it at a steady (and generally lower) volume. Bluetooth connectivity is strong, too. In my home, my device was 25 meters away at times and it operated without a hitch. You can go up to 30 meters or just under 100 feet. Connecting to a phone call was simple, yet it still needed to be done on the phone, rather than voice activated.
 
Conclusion
 
If you've been shopping for a Bluetooth speaker for a while now, you already know there are plenty of cheaper options available. But unless you're looking at the UE MEGABOOM's little sibling, you'll be hard-pressed to find this impressive breadth of functionality and spark in speakers even twice its cost. With loads of volume and great clarity, the UE MEGABOOM is an awesome Bluetooth speaker.

Sure the $350 price tag is a little steep, but for the extra cash, you're getting a very capable Bluetooth speaker that will deliver awesome audio and last all day and night.