In March, long after all the deals, the Boxing day, the Cyber Monday, and Black Friday deals were done; I stumbled upon a Bestbuy deal that was too good to pass up, for 199.00 (Reg 350+ taxes) I could own a Megaboom!
Albeit it was the Holiday Edition so it was missing the travel pouch, and the black with yellow trim wasn’t bad; but everything else besides that was the same. I immediately reserved one that morning and I picked it up ASAP. The anticipation was killing me, I loved portable speakers and having tried many of them over the years, the Megaboom was one of the speakers that was priced just a bit too much for me to justify purchasing it.
Upon unpacking it, I noted that it was actually lighter than I expected; additionally when I started carrying this around I actually found it bulkier than preferred. I do have to admit though bringing a Megaboom to the beach or to a BBQ and being able to just play music on a proper portable speaker is just a great, great, awesome feeling.
Here’s a quick run down of the things I found about the device that I think all of you should know.
Battery Life. The Megaboom has a monster battery pack, I’ved used it 8 hours 3 days straight no charging (at work) and it just keeps pumping out music. That’s a solid 24 hours of battery life. Once it’s drain though, the battery will need to charge for 3 hours using the cable and charger that comes with it. I suspect the charger/block is 2.4 amp and allows it to charge quickly also when charging make sure the little LED light is blinking rapidly for a fast charge..
APPs. I downloaded the UE Megaboom app for both iphone and android, and found the android version severely lacking in only one area, the equalizer. On iOS the equializer works well, there are presets for you and if needed, you can customized the the 5 band EQ to suit your needs. The android version, does not work; you get the standard setting (which is flat) and that is it. I’ve tried to reinstall the app but to no avail. There is also an alarm feature that will let your Megaboom + Iphone/android turn into an alarm clock, it’s a great handy little feature but truth be told, I only use it when paired to the Iphone because bluetooth has to be enabled for it to work and my main phone (android) rarely has the bluetooth turned on. Also, the battery life is shown as a percentile on the app which is super handy.
Link up. I’m not sure if this is the right term but Ultimate Ears/Logitech has created a feature that allows you to chain/cascade/link mor ethan one Megaboom or boom together. I have yet to try this but if I ever got the chance to, I am for sure going to give this unique ability a proper test.
Waterproof. I did not test this out, to be honest, I baby the crap out of my electronics, so putting it through a waterproof test for me is a bit silly. If it dropped in water however, I will update this blog. *update: I do know it is at the very least splashproof… someone split a glass of water on it, and it wasn’t even phased.
Sound Quality. Even with the standard setting (flat) the Megaboom outperforms the Sony SRS-XB40 by a lot. The XB40 sounds too heavy on the bass and sloppy throughout the mid and high ranges, and while it is portable speaker I expected better sound quality from Sony as they are my personal favourite when it comes to portable audio devices. Also the difference in the way sound is projected may have an impact on how the sound is received. The Megaboom produces 360 degrees of sound while the XB40 pushes sound directly in a linear fashion much like a convetional soundbar/speaker. The thing to note about the Megaboom and portable speakers in general though, is that technology has come a long way and to be very honest the sound quality in both of these speakers are amazing. I did however put it up against a pair of in-ear, 4 driver earbuds (Sony xba4ip) and it was lacking a depth of tone and warmth especially while playing classical music.
Worth it? YES. because at the end of the day, if I want to be playing EDM and POP-y even classical/orchestral music (think wedding party that kinda deal) outside, this speaker allows me to do that very well. Also, if i have a bunch of them together they can link up and now it’s a mini Sound festival wherever I am.