UE WonderBoom review – Perfect party companion only has one real flaw

• Pros – Great Sound, Great Bluetooth Range, Turns Up To 11, IPX7 Waterproof – And It Floats, Solid Battery Life
• Cons – Can’t Take Phone Calls

It’s worth prefacing this review by saying that the UE Boom 2 is one of our favourite portable Bluetooth speakers on the market.

UE Boom 2 has a great 360-degree sound, stellar 15 hour battery life, and is IPX7 waterproof. It’s a must-buy for anyone looking for a Bluetooth speaker to take out-and-about.

So, when Ultimate Ears announced the UE WonderBoom – a smaller, squatter version of the trusty Boom 2 – we were intrigued.

Express.co.uk has been blasting music through the WonderBoom for a few weeks now, and here’s our verdict.

Review –

Thankfully, UE Wonderboom lives up to the name – and more than earns its place alongside the UE Boom 2 in the company’s online store.

The Wonderboom is essentially a smaller, squatter version of the flagship Boom 2 and Megaboom.

As a result, it ships with a very similar feature-set.

UE Wonderboom has the same drop-proof design and 100ft (33 metres) wireless playback range.

Granted, the latter does take a bit of hit once you start introducing brick walls into the equation.

Our signal dropped-out a few times when the paired phone was at the opposite end of the house to the Wonderboom, but that’s to be expected.

The Wonderboom didn’t break a sweat when streaming from a device one or two rooms over.

Unlike the Boom 2, there’s no 3.5mm aux port to play music over a physical connection. Wonderboom is also lacking the microphones present in the UE Boom 2, so don’t expect to take any phone calls or summon Siri anytime soon.

On the plus, UE Wonderboom sounds great.

Despite its diminutive stature, the Wonderboom is perfectly capable of turning it up to 11.

The Wonderboom is certainly no slouch when it comes to volume, but more importantly, it also holds its quality remarkably well – even when it’s filling a room with sound.

Ultimate Ears says it has worked hard to ensure the Wonderboom has much more bass than its previous speaker at this price point, the Roll 2.

That undoubtedly shows – songs have a much fuller sound when played from the Wonderboom compared to the latter.

Performance does vary from track to track, and the Wonderboom does sometimes struggle with the midrange, which can be a little muddy.

But that’s nothing unusual for Bluetooth speakers at this price range.

UE Boom 2 is not quite as bass-heavy, but has a greater overall clarity. It’s also almost £100 more than the Wonderboom, although it is frequently discounted in sales.

If you run into someone else with a UE Wonderboom, two speakers can be paired together for a bigger sound.

This is a brilliant feature and is handled with aplomb by the UE smartphone app.

The mobile app lets you turn-on the speaker remotely, customise the EQ, and play music from up to three different devices with a feature dubbed Block Party.

Unfortunately, Wonderboom doesn’t support PartyUp – a nifty feature that lets you pair more than 150 Boom, Boom 2 and Megaboom wireless speakers together to make sure the neighbours don’t get any shut-eye.

Ultimate Ears claims a 10-hour battery life for the Wonderboom and is our time with the speaker, that holds up.

It is also rated IPX7, which means that it can be immersed in water up to one-metre for up to 30 minutes.

That provides a real peace of mind when the Wonderboom is precariously placed by the side of the pool.

In fact, UE designed the Wonderboom to float – so there’s nothing to worry about should it accidentally fall in.

It’s a clever feature in an otherwise somewhat annoying speaker design.

The Wonderboom is fairly squat and round, which makes it a little cumbersome when travelling.

Unlike the svelte design of the UE Roll 2, the Wonderboom is a little bulkier and will take up quite a bit of room in your backpack.

It’s a small nitpick but one that’s worth mentioning – especially for those considering the UE Wonderboom as a durable, lightweight travel companion.

Where the UE Wonderboom design does excel is personality. From the loud colour schemes, to the science-fiction sounds effects programmed to let you know when it has found a paired bluetooth device and connected.

It’s a nice touch, and helps differentiate the UE Wonderboom from the plethora of other Bluetooth speakers that all use the same lifeless beeps to try and communicate. 

Final Verdict 

It’s safe to say that UE has continued its winning streak with the latest addition to its stellar Bluetooth speaker line-up.

The UE Wonderboom lives up to its namesake, with a beefy sound – especially from such a compact design.

The IPX7 waterproof design lets the Wonderboom DJ your showers, pool parties or hot tub relaxations.

Unfortunately, it’s Bluetooth only – with no Wi-Fi streaming or good ol’ fashioned 3.5mm aux port in sight – which might put off some people.

Still, these are a very minor quibbles with an otherwise brilliant £89.99 speaker.

It’s not quite as good as the UE Boom 2, but it’s phenomenally close.