Need Advise : Bluetooth Speakers

[adnank77]

Hi .. 

 

Need an advise for Bluetooth Speakers .. 

 

To be used in parties to play songs .. Not Professional Grade (don't think any bluetooth ones are anyways :)) ..but Strong enough to make an impact .. 

Budget is around 200-250 USD 

 

2 or 2.1 is enough .. size to be small enough for casual portability .. 

 

Ideas anyone ? 

[King_of_Oz]

UE Megaboom

[toasty6776]

The best allround usecase bluetooth speakers (imo) are UE's Boom lineup. Whether you need the extra umpf of the megaboom over the normal boom is up to you, but I would definitely recommend it. Also they're all waterproof (which is awesome for trips to the beach and stuff) and you can link multiple UE speakers (doesn't matter if Roll Boom or Megaboom afaik) together so you get even more loudness for your party.

[Guest Kloaked]

I prefer JBL's personally. I was impressed with how good the Flip 3 sounded when I bought it for my mom.

[kirashi]

1 hour ago, King_of_Oz said:

UE Megaboom

1 hour ago, toasty6776 said:

The best allround usecase bluetooth speakers (imo) are UE's Boom lineup. Whether you need the extra umpf of the megaboom over the normal boom is up to you, but I would definitely recommend it. Also they're all waterproof (which is awesome for trips to the beach and stuff) and you can link multiple UE speakers (doesn't matter if Roll Boom or Megaboom afaik) together so you get even more loudness for your party.

You've got two choices for that price range @adnank77: Logitech's UE Boom speakers or Bose's SoundLink speakers.

There are pros and cons to each set of speakers. Depending on your needs, neither Logitech's or Bose's come out on top for everything.

I used to work in a retail office supply store that sold technology, so I've had a chance to try both brands side-by-side.

(Full disclosure: I may or may not have done most of my testing by blasting the speakers at full volume from the middle of the store and walking around whenever there were no customers around. They probably would have been better to test in a smaller more realistically sized room, but then were bolted to the demo display so I worked with what I had...

 

Logitech's UE Boom series (the Boom 1/2 and the MegaBoom, and even the Roll for that matter) are hands down the best sounding rugged outdoor water-resistant speakers currently on the market. They beat out offerings from BRAVEN in both sound quality and durability, despite how much stronger the BRAVEN speakers appear on the outside.

Plus, Logitech allows you to pair 2 or more MegaBoom speakers (maybe Boom 2's as well) together for stereo left and right channels, or to play the same sound on all speakers in a large room. They make the best party speakers if you're trying to impress friends, or just have a good time without worrying about the speaker being destroyed.

 

Bose's SoundLink series (the SoundLink Mini 1/2 and the full size SoundLink) are not technically water-resistant, however their construction is rock solid and they handle a bit of moisture no problem. (Definitely didn't find this out by accident when I left my speaker outside on the back lawn overnight. Worked fine the next day after having a chance to dry off for a few hours. Still works fine today.)

Now Bose's main focus is and has always been sound quality - you won't find apps to fart around with or the ability to pair multiple SoundLink speakers here. The SoundLink Mini is also the best sounding compact Bluetooth Speaker on the market. My laptop bag was already FULL to the brim and I still found room for it.

What they lack in audio features they make up for in quality - the SoundLink speakers can easily fill a room with ZERO distortion on maximum speaker volume from an iPad also near maximum. (Phones and tablets should NEVER be turned up beyond about 85-90% volume over Bluetooth since the DAC inside starts to clip the audio.)

 

 

Between the two options, I settled on a Bose SoundLink Mini 1 (the 2 wasn't available at the time, neither was the Boom 2) because of clearer audio quality, smaller size, and because I'm not hard on my electronics. And at parties, my friends are mostly tame. Sort of.

I listen to almost everything you can think of, from your usual selection of heavily compressed and overly autotuned Top 40 Pop Hits to Linkin Park's Hip-Hop/Rock/Metal soundscapes, to everything in between. 90's Country, Acoustic Covers, 70's/80's Classic Rock, Adult Alternative, Drum&Bass, Progressive House, Folk Pop, Indie Rock, GlitchHop, etc.

Because of my wide listening taste, I found the Bose's SoundLink speakers reproduced the best sound for a wide variety of Genres. You can hear the highs of strings and hi-hat hits, and for such a small speaker with only a passive radiator in place of a woofer, you get extremely impressive bass response in the low-end. It's especially noticeable if you throw on something like James Taylor's Fire and Rain track - all the low notes of the acoustic guitar come through clean on the Bose, where as Logitech's Boom series couldn't reproduce without some clipping and distortion.

However, I'd like to note that where Logitech's UE Boom series excels is for repetitive bass drops and hits. If you're an EDM freak, then you'll want the Boom 2 or MegaBoom instead, since they handle repetitive beats better in terms of battery life.

 

I've also had a chance to test out JBL's Charge 1/2 speakers, which sound just about as good as the Logitech UE Boom Speakers, but are slightly smaller, yet not as small as the SoundLink Mini. A friend bought his JBL Charge since it also doubled as a backup battery for his phone because it has a USB Type-A port for charging devices. I found the sound quality became quite distorted whenever he pumped it beyond about 75-80% speaker volume though, although the Charge 2 may reproduce sound better than the Charge 1, so you'll want to test that out. (It could have also been his ... questionable choice of the same autotuned rap that took 2016 by storm and makes me throw up a little inside whenever I hear it.)

 

What sold me on the SoundLink Mini 2 was the mid range reproduction. So many Bluetooth speakers that reproduce bass notes well end up muddling the mids - vocals are drowned out and snare drum hits fall short. Somehow Bose kept the clarity of the mid range notes intact and clear, even at high volumes. Logitech's UE Boom series were decent in the mid range, but you could definitely hear snare hits fall short during any kind of heavy bass reproduction, so keep that in mind.

 

 

In no way were any of my tests scientific, nor were they objective - they couldn't be, since sound quality is always objective to the listener. You're right in that Bluetooth Speakers are not (and won't be) Professional Grade, so the best way to pick one is to try it out for yourself with a variety of music. See if you can visit a store that has a lot of speakers on demo and bring your phone loaded with some music (Spotify, anyone?) to try them out.

[toasty6776]

4 minutes ago, kirashi said:

You've got two choices for that price range @adnank77: Logitech's UE Boom speakers or Bose's SoundLink speakers.

There are pros and cons to each set of speakers. Depending on your needs, neither Logitech's or Bose's come out on top for everything.

I used to work in a retail office supply store that sold technology, so I've had a chance to try both brands side-by-side.

(Full disclosure: I may or may not have done most of my testing by blasting the speakers at full volume from the middle of the store and walking around whenever there were no customers around. They probably would have been better to test in a smaller more realistically sized room, but then were bolted to the demo display so I worked with what I had...

 

Logitech's UE Boom series (the Boom 1/2 and the MegaBoom, and even the Roll for that matter) are hands down the best sounding rugged outdoor water-resistant speakers currently on the market. They beat out offerings from BRAVEN in both sound quality and durability, despite how much stronger the BRAVEN speakers appear on the outside.

Plus, Logitech allows you to pair 2 or more MegaBoom speakers (maybe Boom 2's as well) together for stereo left and right channels, or to play the same sound on all speakers in a large room. They make the best party speakers if you're trying to impress friends, or just have a good time without worrying about the speaker being destroyed.

 

Bose's SoundLink series (the SoundLink Mini 1/2 and the full size SoundLink) are not technically water-resistant, however their construction is rock solid and they handle a bit of moisture no problem. Now Bose's main focus is and has always been sound quality - you won't find apps to fart around with or the ability to pair multiple SoundLink speakers here. The SoundLink Mini is also the best sounding compact Bluetooth Speaker on the market. My laptop bag was already FULL to the brim and I still found room for it.

What they lack in audio features they make up for in quality - the SoundLink speakers can easily fill a room with ZERO distortion on maximum speaker volume from an iPad also near maximum. (Phones and tablets should NEVER be turned up beyond about 85-90% volume over Bluetooth since the DAC inside starts to clip the audio.)

 

 

Between the two options, I settled on a Bose SoundLink Mini 1 (the 2 wasn't available at the time, neither was the Boom 2) because of clearer audio quality, smaller size, and because I'm not hard on my electronics. And at parties, my friends are mostly tame. Sort of.

I listen to almost everything you can think of, from your usual selection of heavily compressed and overly autotuned Top 40 Pop Hits to Linkin Park's Hip-Hop/Rock/Metal soundscapes, to everything in between. 90's Country, Acoustic Covers, 70's/80's Classic Rock, Adult Alternative, Drum&Bass, Progressive House, Folk Pop, Indie Rock, GlitchHop, etc.

Because of my wide listening taste, I found the Bose's SoundLink speakers reproduced the best sound for a wide variety of Genres. You can hear the highs of strings and hi-hat hits, and for such a small speaker with only a passive radiator in place of a woofer, you get extremely impressive bass response in the low-end. It's especially noticeable if you throw on something like James Taylor's Fire and Rain track - all the low notes of the acoustic guitar come through clean on the Bose, where as Logitech's Boom series couldn't reproduce it as cleanly.

However, I'd like to note that where Logitech's UE Boom series excels is for repetitive bass drops and hits. If you're an EDM freak, then you'll want the Boom 2 or MegaBoom instead, since they handle repetitive beats better in terms of battery life.

What sold me on the SoundLink Mini 2 was the mid range reproduction. So many Bluetooth speakers that reproduce bass notes well end up muddling the mids - vocals are drowned out and snare drum hits fall short. Somehow Bose kept the clarity of the mid range notes intact and clear, even at high volumes. Logitech's UE Boom series were decent in the mid range, but you could definitely hear snare hits fall short during any kind of heavy bass reproduction, so keep that in mind.

 

 

In no way were any of my tests scientific, nor were they objective - they couldn't be, since sound quality is always objective to the listener. You're right in that Bluetooth Speakers are not (and won't be) Professional Grade, so the best way to pick one is to try it out for yourself with a variety of music. See if you can visit a store that has a lot of speakers on demo and bring your phone loaded with some music (Spotify, anyone?) to try them out.

 

I actually agree as to what speaker I would buy (I own a Soundlink mini myself) but OP asked for something

 

1 hour ago, adnank77 said:

To be used in parties to play songs

And for that, I think the Boom lineup just takes the prize. The sound quality, though inferior to Bose's offerings, is definitely packing enough of a punch to power parties (especially if you opt for the Megaboom) and the waterproofing makes up for the sound quality (which really isn't bad, just not as good as the Bose) because we all know what happens at parties and it would be a real shame to be out $200-$250 everytime someone knocks over a beer.

[kirashi]

11 minutes ago, toasty6776 said:

I actually agree as to what speaker I would buy (I own a Soundlink mini myself) but OP asked for something

 

And for that, I think the Boom lineup just takes the prize. The sound quality, though inferior to Bose's offerings, is definitely packing enough of a punch to power parties (especially if you opt for the Megaboom) and the waterproofing makes up for the sound quality (which really isn't bad, just not as good as the Bose) because we all know what happens at parties and it would be a real shame to be out $200-$250 everytime someone knocks over a beer.

Exactly why I gave him my opinion on both speaker series - maybe he wants it for both parties and personal listening too.  The Bose sounds better as a personal speaker, but at a party, you want a good reliable speaker that sounds good, but also won't get destroyed. Couldn't agree more with your attribution of beers (and drinks) getting knocked over at parties - no matter where OP puts his speaker, someone is going to find a way to douse it in alcoholic liquid as if it were on fire. So I too recommend OP grab a couple of UE Boom 2's, or a single MegaBoom and start DJing.  If you are a lazy DJ like me, you'll want to check out both the Pyro app by Serato, and the Pacemaker DJ app in the Apple App store. Sadly, neither are available for Android, so your options there are limited to Algoriddim's Deejay 2 app.

Video quality is a bit lacking, but at 1m10s this guy chucks the UE Roll across a pool like skipping a rock. No big deal.

 

I also own a Creative SoundBlaster Roar2, but that's a slightly different class and use-case for a Bluetooth speaker as it has a lot of non-standard features.

[kokakolia]

I would strongly recommend going to a nearby shop and trying them out. For Bluetooth speakers, especially the main brands, prices are consistent.