There is no shortage of budget options if you’re looking for a Bluetooth speaker that sounds bigger than it looks — although this new one from Soundcore manages to up the ante for Bluetooth speakers everywhere. This new speaker, called the Boom 2, packs in some super heavy bass, a crowd-pleasing volume level, and some sweet-looking pulsating lights on the side — but is it any good?
Soundcore Boom 2: Price and availability
The Boom 2 will be available on March 11th, for $119/£119 from the Soundcore website and Amazon. That’s an excellent price for a fully-featured Bluetooth speaker like this, and it brings enough new features to justify its price bump over the previous version.
Soundcore Boom 2: Build
The Soundcore Boom 2 isn’t going to blow you away with mythically rare and expensive materials, but it does bring some thick, chunky plastic to the table that makes it feel good and rugged. There is a hefty seamline across the whole speaker, but it’s not sharp and it doesn’t detract from the overall feeling of the speaker.
It does mean that the speaker feels a little plasticky — although you can’t ask for much more at this price point. It perhaps could use a soft touch coating that you might find on the similarly priced UE line of Bluetooth speakers, but it’s no massive detractor from an otherwise sturdy and well-built speaker.
The buttons on the speaker are kind of rubber material, and they all click positively when pressed. There are seven buttons across the front of the speaker (we’ll get to their functions later), and they’re laid out simply. All the logos on the buttons are clear for lights to beam through, so there is some concern that the rest of the color on the button could rub off with use — although my other Soundcore speakers with similar buttons are yet to suffer this fate so there’s likely no cause for concern in the long run.
The charging port and USB output are covered with a massive, thick rubber bung/cover thing, and it makes me confident in taking the speaker out and about. In fact, the IPX 7 waterproof rating goes a long way in building confidence too — Soundcore even says that you can float it in a swimming pool, although I’m yet to try that out. Given that I don’t have a pool and most public pools would frown at me tossing my speaker in the water while blasting Converge’s latest, it’s unlikely I’ll ever find out. Good to know I can though.
Overall, the Boom 2 is a lovely speaker with great build quality — although it is very heavy on the plastic.
Soundcore Boom 2: Features
As a Bluetooth speaker, you don’t need it do much more than hook up to your phone's Bluetooth connection and then play music. The Boom 2 does this very well, connecting easily, and, with the selection of a streaming service or on-device track, plays sounds over the air. The Boom 2 also, however, packs some very cool extras.
The most noticeable are the cool lights on the passive bass radiators on the side of the speaker. They react to the music that’s playing, shifting color and flickering along depending on the mode you’ve got going. You can turn the lights on and off by heading into the Soundcore App — which remains a highlight of the company's offerings.
On the app, you can play around with the aforementioned RGB lighting modes, turn them on and off, and then choose an EQ — one that you’ve made yourself, or one that Soundcore has produced for you. They are all good, and you can even shift between them with a button on the speaker itself. The app also lets you turn the speaker off remotely, and change the volume with a slider.
The buttons on the front are the other way to change things like volume. The seven buttons, from left to right, turn the speaker on and off, change the Bluetooth connection, volume down, play/pause, volume up, EQ changing, and then finally the Bass-up button.
That last button might as well be called the ‘fun’ button. With it turned off, the speaker is fairly sedate. The sound profile is a little bass-forward, but otherwise decently neutral. Hit that Bass-up button, however, and things get low. There’s more thump, more low end, and more bounce. The fun button!
There’s a cool feature on the inside as well. You can use some of the (very good) 24-hour battery life to charge your phone as if the speaker were a battery bank, something that will be great for camping trips away.
Soundcore Boom 2: Sound
At its core, the Boom 2 is a bassy, party speaker. If you’re expecting Hi-Fi sound signatures from a light-up speaker that costs just over $100, then you’re looking in the wrong place with the Boom 2. If you want something that’s big, silly, and loads and loads of fun, then you’ve just found your Bluetooth speaker.
Get something heavy playing and you’re in for a blast — Mastodon’s Stormbreather brings pummeling percussion and thick, heavy riffs, and the Boom 2 gets your head banging. Cymbals and the really high stuff can get lost to the rest of the ensemble, but it’s a big, powerful performance from the speaker. Loud, too, with loads of volume headroom available for those outside listening sessions.
MeatLoaf brings the best out of the Boom 2, bringing a boost to the vocals and the dancing basslines. Paradise By the Dashboard Light is always a highlight, and that’s no different in the Boom 2 — and while it’s not the most dynamic experience, it will get a living room full of people jiving around the table.
Drum and bass is another highlight of the Boom 2, and Chase and Status’s Badaddan is some of the best drum and bass around. The pumping bass line is all-encompassing — just as it should be. The lights flash along to this one as well, for a slick club-style vibe too, making for even more fun.
Soundcore Boom 2: Competition
There is some big competition for the Boom 2. There are the Ultimate Ears options, which have a similarly excellent app and have the unique feature of being able to connect 100 of them together — they don’t light up, however. There’s JBL’s light-up options as well, which come in at a similar price point.
In other words, if you’re looking for a Bluetooth speaker that comes in at just over $100, then you’re spoilt for choice — but the quality and precision of the bass here is nearly unrivaled by the Boom 2’s competition. This is easily one of the best Bluetooth speakers that money can buy.
Soundcore Boom 2: Should you buy this?
You should buy this if…
- You want a speaker that lights up
- You want loads of bass
- You need a small party speaker with big volume
You shouldn’t buy this if…
- You don’t like too much bass
- You want a premium-feeling speaker
Soundcore Boom 2: Verdict
The Soundcore Boom 2 is a super solid speaker. There’s not the Spatial audio of its Motion X series brethren, but there are some wicked lights and some truly epic low-end frequency response. I really do love this speaker, and if you’re looking for a wicked-sounding and bassy party speaker for college (or for those dinner parties you keep saying you’ll have) then this is the way to go.
Loads of fun
The lights, the bass, the volume — the Boom 2 screams 'party!' It's a super solid Bluetooth speaker, and brings the fun in reams.
