Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 3 Speaker Review

It's a small portable speaker with a nearly identical design to its predecessor, the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 2. It has the same barrel shape, Ultimate Ears' distinctive oversized volume buttons, and a small, stretchy, built-in strap so you can hang the speaker from a hook or attach it to your backpack when you're on the go. We tested it in 'Joyous Bright', but it also comes in five other colors, 'Active Black', 'Performance Blue', 'Hyper Pink', Spruce Green', and 'Digital Lavender', so you can choose one that suits your style.

The speaker is remarkably portable. It's as lightweight and small as the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 2, so you can easily hold it in one hand and bring it with you when you're out and about. It also comes with a similar, small, built-in strap to suspend it from a hook or attach it to your bag.

It has a fantastic build quality. The speaker feels very solid and robust. The fabric wrap is tight, and the stretchy carrying strap doesn't feel like it'll rip easily. It's rated IP67 for dust and water resistance, meaning it's certified to be fully dust-tight and immersible in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. It also floats in water. The manufacturer advises rinsing the speaker with fresh water after exposing it to pool or beach water.

It has a simple selection of controls that are easy to use. You can access basic audio controls with the big center button on top and the oversized +/-buttons on the speaker's side. When adjusting the volume, the audio fades momentarily to indicate when you've reached the maximum. The power button lights up when the speaker is on, and you'll also hear chimes when it powers on and enters pairing mode. However, it would be nice to be able to skip the track backward instead of just forward. You can't connect the speaker to its predecessor, the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 2.

Centre button:

• Single press: Play/pause audio
• Double-press: Skip forward
• Press and hold: Connect with another WONDERBOOM 3 speaker and switch between stereo and mono modes.

Bluetooth button:

• Press and hold: Enter pairing mode

+/- buttons:

• Single press + button: Volume up
• Single press - button: Volume down
• Press both at once: Check battery status. The speaker emits an audible tone to let you know if the battery is low, medium, or full.

• Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 3 speaker
• Micro-USB cable
• Quick User Guide

Out-of-the-box, its frequency response accuracy isn't bad. Like the WONDERBOOM 2, the sound profile is mostly balanced, and vocals and lead instruments sound clear and present in the mix, making it suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content, from your favorite songs to podcasts and audiobooks. That said, like most speakers its size, it lacks a thumpy low-bass. While it can produce as deep a bass and as high treble as its predecessor, its sound profile is a touch brighter overall, and it sounds subtly fuller.

Also, like the WONDERBOOM 2, it doesn't come with a graphic EQ to customize its sound to your liking, and there's an 'Outdoor' mode button underneath the speaker that makes audio sound a bit crisper for when you're outdoors. Voices seem louder, and the bass is reduced.

This speaker has a fantastic soundstage performance. It has a 360-degree design, and the audio sounds the same from every angle, so if you set it in the middle of a room or table, everyone can hear clearly.

It plays stereo content, so instruments and sound effects in your audio are localized to either the speaker's left or right sides. You can also pair it with another WONDERBOOM 3 for stereo content, although it doesn't work with the previous model, the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 2.

This speaker has decent dynamics. While it doesn't get loud enough to fill a large, crowded space with sound, it still gets loud enough to fill smaller areas like your bedroom with sound. It also has little compression present at max volume, so your favorite songs sound clean and clear when you blast the speaker, and audio quality doesn't degrade much as you bump up the volume.

It has a fantastic battery performance. While it's advertised to last around 14 hours from a single charge, an hour more than the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 2, we measured a battery life that outshines its predecessor, 22 hours off a single charge. Battery life varies depending on your usage habits and chosen volume levels. The speaker also has a power-saving feature that switches it off after 15 minutes of inactivity.

This speaker only works via Bluetooth and doesn't have any wired inputs besides its micro-USB charging port, so you can't use it by plugging it into a computer's audio jack, for example.

It has great Bluetooth connectivity. Like the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 2, you can connect up to two devices to the speaker at once, so you and a friend can control the music without disconnecting and reconnecting your audio sources. It has a much larger range than the WONDERBOOM 2, so your paired devices remain connected to the speaker from further away. It also has lower latency with iOS and Android devices, so the audio you hear stays in sync with the visuals you see on your screen when you use the speaker to watch movies and videos.