Ultimate Ears Roll 2: always more power

Ergonomics

We liked the whimsical side of the first version with its variation in several colors and the possibility of choosing geometric patterns. The Roll 2 adds a new color to its catalog, as well as a new motif. For the rest, the youngest from EU retains the style of its predecessor, with huge touches "+" and "-" happily embedded in the heart of the rounded shape. These allow you to adjust the listening volume or to find out the battery status by pressing the two buttons simultaneously. However, it is always impossible to switch from one song to another directly from the speaker and no hands-free kit is present.

In terms of robustness, this little one remains almost indestructible, so have no fear of taking it to your favorite playgrounds. The upper part is always covered with a thick, braided and stain-resistant fabric while the lower part is made of rubber, allowing it to hold securely in place and not slip on the supports on which it is positioned or hung. This construction also gives it level 7 water resistance (see box). Its weight (336 g) and its small diameter (135 mm) allow it to always claim the adjective "ultra-portable"; which is also confirmed by the presence of this famous elastic strap allowing it to be hung on any type of coating. However, we must admit that after regular use of the first Roll, we have used this system very little.

Behind the rubber hatch located below the speaker is the connector, consisting of a mini-jack input and a micro-USB port for charging. This same side accommodates the power button as well as a pairing key in Bluetooth Smart - allowing it to be powered on remotely. On the other hand, we still note some faults that bother us such as the lack of hands-free kit and NFC chip.

The autonomy was measured - with a pink noise, in Bluetooth - around 15 hours at 75% of the maximum volume. A performance which is within the good average of the speakers tested.

Also, the Roll 2 still offers the possibility - like the rest of the range - of pairing two Rolls for more power - keeping the mono - or even switching to stereo through the UE Roll application available on Android and iOS. An efficient and simple twinning to set up. This same application also allows access to an equalizer, to use it as an alarm clock, or even to deactivate / activate alert sounds ... (see below).

Last point, the Roll 2 is now supplied with ... a small buoy. Eh yes.

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Audio

Characteristic common to all the UE range, the elliptical shape of this ultraportable speaker allows to diffuse a sound on 360 °, and thus to overcome the problems of directivity that other models can meet. A choice that seems judicious for this category of nomadic products. For this, the Roll has a 50 mm central transducer and two 19 mm tweeters placed symmetrically. On the technical sheet, everything seems identical, but the manufacturer announced a sound performance of 15% ... but at what level? At the expense of what? This is what we will try to determine ...

As the curve above shows, the frequency rendering is very uniform over 360 degrees. Low frequencies are not present, which is entirely consistent with its size. The audible frequency band begins around 150 Hz. The midrange is present, even if the voices are a little too prominent, even slightly nasal. The sounds of trumpet type instruments are just as much. Overall, the sound is pretty clear with the standard EQ, the cymbals are also a little too hard. The sound rendering remains correct at low volume. However, it degrades when you arrive at high volume (more than 90%) with wheezing (wheezing) or the appearance of many faults, such as buzzing and other appearances of flashy frequencies. We agree with more power ... but not at the expense of audio quality.

The total power of this speaker remains as impressive for its size as ever. Indeed, the Roll 2 can even rub against other more imposing models, while containing the level of distortion. Despite everything, apart from coupling it to other speakers in the EU range via the application, the stereophonic rendering is not present and the width of the soundstage very limited; necessarily, given the arrangement of the speakers.

According to the manufacturer, the range of Bluetooth has been improved from 20 to 30 meters, which seems to be at the expense of latency which increases from 210 ms to 240 ms; a value too large to watch a film without being disturbed by the image / sound offset.

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Conclusion

In the end, the Roll 2 does not really change from the first of the name, in addition to its slight higher power which is summed up in a rather garish sound at very high volume. For the rest, it retains its very practical appearance, its excellent resistance to water and falls while retaining a surprisingly powerful omni-directional sound for its size.

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