UE Wonderboom 2: improved sound performance, improved ergonomics

Presentation

After the Boom, the Mini Boom then the Megaboom, Ultimate Ears launched in spring 2017 the Wonderboom, a compact speaker very easy to use, powerful and extra-resistant. Despite many qualities, it was criticized, however, for a very high latency for a speaker devoid of analog input, non-exhaustive controls and the absence of a hands-free kit. Let's see if the subsidiary offers improvements on these lands.

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Ergonomics

Aesthetically, the WonderBoom 2 and its predecessor look like they are mistaken: the small bottle in bright colors always displays with disdain its disproportionate buttons, its control panel in crown and its tightly woven fabric in dress.

The diameter of the speaker, more or less equal to that of the palm of a hand, makes it an extremely easy model to handle. The non-slip rubber that adorns the base and top of the Wonderboom gives way to a soft-touch material, considerably less sensitive to traces (fingers, fibers ...). The 2 is also equipped with an elastic strap, much more practical than the rope handle that preceded it.

Like its predecessor, the Wonderboom 2 is IP67 certified: it is therefore not only waterproof, but also protected against dust, sand and other fine solid morsels.

On the control side, if the main button is no longer hidden in a cryptic way under the brand logo, the layout and possibilities are identical to that of the Wonderboom - failures included. We therefore find the power on / off (displaying a ream of light more careful than the previous one), pairing in Bluetooth, the possibility of coupling two stereo speakers directly from the speaker, adjusting the volume, the indication Drum volume via a jingle by simultaneously pressing the + and - buttons, pause / play and skip to the next track - but still no return to the start of the track / to the previous track or hands kit - free.

The latest feature, called Outdoor Boost, is hidden below the enclosure. We will return in more detail to its action in the Audio section.

Beside him is the small hatch protecting the connectors, which has never worn his singular pronoun so well. The micro-USB port sits there alone, still deprived of the company of its mini-jack companion.

As promised, the battery goes well from ten hours to just over 13 hours (14 hours measured at 75% of the maximum level), but requires a long charging time to reach its maximum autonomy (about 4 hours). The user still has no precise indication of the battery level (musical jingles).

Bluetooth latency is very slightly better than that of the previous model, but still displays a considerable value which, added to the absence of analog input, disqualified it for any viewing of videos or any synchronized use - unless going through software to adjust the image / sound offset.

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Audio

Ultimate Ears announced a more powerful and subdued sound. To be more precise, the bass is not more present - and so much the better, they already suffered from a fairly marked local overweight -, but a little deeper, the puince descending less painfully up to 80 Hz. Distortion is considerably better, on both sides of the spectrum: pushing the speaker to its limits no longer causes this unpleasant acid peak around 4.5 kHz. The sound is generally richer on the Wonderboom 2, less narrow around the mids. The lack of precision in the low mids that we noted on the previous model is still noticeable, but much less problematic.

The Outdoor Boost mode certainly adds a little power to the whole - nothing astounding however - but delivers a rendering much closer to that proposed by the first of the name - namely a tighter frequency response on the mids. The maximum power of the speaker is already very satisfactory given its size, we see little use.

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Conclusion

If the Wonderboom 2 is more autonomous, more powerful and offers better sound performance than the first of the name, Ultimate Ears persists and signs on ergonomic shortcomings that we already blamed its predecessor, such as the absence of analog input, the absence of a hands -free kit or the impossibility of returning to the start of the track, and did not take advantage of this little expense to offer it multipoint Bluetooth.

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