WONDERBOOM 2 Review: Great Ultra-Portable Speaker Improves on Original

I reviewed Ultimate Ears’ original WONDERBOOM for GeekDad in 2017, and it was a great little portable speaker. It delivered surprisingly robust sound for something that could sit in the palm of your hand, it was both rugged and waterproof, it offered decent 10-hour battery life, and it could double up with a second speaker for improved audio. A few months ago, Ultimate Ears released the second generation, WONDERBOOM 2. The company sent me a pair to try out (more on why there were two later), and I can say the new version is faithful to everything I loved about the original but offers improvements across the board.

And despite the WONDERBOOM 2 being a better speaker, the company kept the $99.99 price tag of the original.

Obviously Descended From the WONDERBOOM, But Better…

Looking at the WONDERBOOM 2 beside an original version of the speaker, there are a few visual cues that something is different. The new model keeps the same form factor but it’s a tad larger. The new speaker is clad in mesh fabric as before, but features a new two-tone knit weave. The multifunction button on top of the speaker is more obvious.

Where the original was IPX7 waterproof and floated, the new version improves on that with an IP67 rating…