It’s simple, uncluttered and a breeze to operate. The app itself provides a pleasingly simple platform through which to connect with other speakers, navigate your Epicboom’s settings and adjust your EQ, and while it’s not as in-depth or as feature-laden as the Sonos app, it will do the job for the Epicboom’s Bluetooth-only speaker. Accessing the app lets you pair up with multiple other UE models such as the Boom 3, the Megaboom 3, the Hyperboom or even another Epicboom. What you do get with the Epicboom is compatibility with other Ultimate Ears products. However, the Sonos Move 2 will furnish you with a rather impressive 24 hours of listening time, whereas the more diminutive Dali Katch G2 (also around £300) will take things further to a whopping 30 hours. Seventeen hours of playtime sees the Epicboom score a win over the chunky JBL Xtreme’s 15 hours. Handy.īattery life, meanwhile, is okay, but it’s certainly beatable by some similarly-priced rivals. Speaking of source players, a useful one-touch NFC feature (available for compatible Android 8.0 smartphones, sorry Apple fans) allows you to pair your device with a single tap. This gearing of the Epicboom towards outdoor play doesn’t stop there, as a Bluetooth range of 55 metres should ensure you don’t lose connection from your source player. That aforementioned IP67 rating obviously adds to the speaker’s usability as a durable outdoorsman, with a handy Outdoor Mode further boosting the Epicboom’s roaming capabilities by offering up an extra 1dB of power via a less bassy, more forthright sound profile. Featuresįor north of £300 / $300 we’re expecting a portable speaker that’s well-furnished with features, and to be fair to the Epicboom it does a good job in earning its high-end price tag. Ultimate Ears’ latest is satisfyingly made overall, though, and we’re pleased that this model can be charged via a USB-C connector, especially after the disappointment of the Wonderboom 3's reliance on an outdated micro USB port. Maybe we’re used to the bolder colourways of the Boom, Megaboom and Wonderboom models (the latter resplendent in pink and green), but this latest addition to the family isn’t quite as funky as we’d have liked. Yes, those distinctive ‘plus’ and ‘minus’ signs (used for adjusting the volume) are proudly emblazoned upon the front of the unit, but if anything this latest speaker feels just a smidge conservative to our eyes. If we had any real gripes, they would be that the Epicboom actually looks a little restrained for an Ultimate Ears speaker. Although, you might want to opt for the black and lime colourway option as opposed to our easily-dirtied white and red test model in order to hide a hard day’s grime. With that solid rubber bass and some pleasingly taut polyester speaker fabric, we’re confident that our pill-shaped companion could have weathered anything we threw at it for many, many more outings had we been given the chance. Sink-based dips aside, we took the new model outside the confines of our testing room into the great wide world, exposing it to garden fitness sessions, a patio meet-up, even a pitchside cameo at a hockey match, and not once did it feel fragile or even particularly cumbersome as we hauled it around like a newborn infant. Mains-powered or battery-powered: Battery-poweredįeatures 360-degree sound, Party Up speaker pairing, Outdoor Boost, Adaptive EQ, IP67 ratingįinishes x2 (Cotton White & Lipstick Red, Charcoal Black & Lime) That said, we did notice that the unit retained just a little water for a few minutes after it had been for its impromptu swim, so maybe err on the side of caution before you start dunking your new toy with gleeful abandon. With an IP67 rating and the ability to float in water, this is still very much a go-anywhere unit, with the Epicboom surviving a dunk in our office sink without fizzing like a malfunctioning toaster or ominously smoking at the edges. Like much of Ultimate Ears’ portable gear, ruggedness and durability have been placed high on the agenda. Not that the Epicboom isn’t willing to join in on the action. Think picnics, parks, pitchside warm-ups, outdoor Zumba classes, that sort of thing. Could you take it out on a walk? Yes, but it’s better suited as a semi-stationary speaker that can be carried to a location and then set down for the day, rather than as a handheld that quite literally goes wherever you go. At a similar size to the Sonos Move 2, the Epicboom is a robust mini-monolith that pushes the bounds of what you’d consider portable without entirely straying from its brief. The chunky, pill-shaped Epicboom is hard to miss.
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