In my short time at DRN I have reviewed a surprising number of speakers. While each has been interesting in its own way, there’s not a lot you can do to make a speaker unique. When I was offered a chance to review the Ultimate Ears Boom 4, I didn’t exactly jump at the chance. From the picture, it looked like any other portable speaker. Perhaps a little more streamlined and classy than most, but still – just a speaker. However, when I got it home I realised there was so much more than met the eye.
First Impressions
Minimalism is in vogue in tech at the moment and the Boom 4 box takes that aesthetic very seriously. Inside the box there are only 4 things: a charging cable (USB-C to USB-C), a single double-sided page for an instruction manual, a tiny slip of care instructions and the speaker itself. I miss the days when tech came with its own power adaptor. Fortunately, I already had a power adapter with a USB-C port but I imagine most people who purchase this are going to get caught out by it.
The speaker itself is really nice to look at. One solid black cylinder with huge volume markings on the side. From a distance there are no gaps or bumps, nothing to break the cohesiveness of the form. Up close you can see there are three buttons on the top (push not haptic, thank goodness!) and a covered USB charging port. I expect this cover is there to do more than look fancy. According to the specifications, the Boom 4 is dustproof and waterproof to almost 1m of water pressure for 30 minutes (IP67). With that much protection, I did wonder if the sound was going to be muffled.
At this point it’s also worth noting that, as well as being impenetrable and built to last, it was also built with sustainability in mind. Each speaker features a minimum of 52% recycled plastic and is Certified Carbon Neutral. There is no soft plastic in the packaging and very little cardboard waste. It is definitely the most sustainably designed product I have ever reviewed.
Set Up
Setting up the Boom 4 was very quick. When you connect via Bluetooth, there is an automatic prompt to encourage you to download the app. If you’re like me then your phone is drowning in single use apps. It isn’t necessary to download this app in order to use the speaker. However, there are a few notable benefits that the app provides.
Firstly, it comes with a basic equaliser and some sound presets that help you create the sound you want. Amazingly, the app claims to enable you to merge with over 150 other Ultimate Boom brand speakers at the same time. I wasn’t able to test this functionality but I’ve never heard of anything like it. I also can’t think of any possible situation where you could want that many speakers, especially since the wireless range of the device is a respectable but not infinite range of 45 metres. I guess someone with unlimited money and a love of sound could drown themselves in a pool of synchronised speakers. Realistically, this is probably a useful function if you and friends all have Ultimate Ears speakers and want to fill every room of a house with the same beats.
The app also comes with an ‘intercom’ feature that broadcasts from your phone’s microphone. Great for pranks or informative broadcasts in the middle of a party. You can also use the app to turn all synced speakers on and off. There’s an alarm function, with a few different alarm sound presents and you can change the language of the voice in the speaker. Overall, a good balance, not a waste of phone space but not necessary if your friends want to sync up and play their music.
In Use
Before talking about the sound of the speakers, Ι do need to talk about some of their more unusual specifications and design features. Inside the Boom 4 are two 40mm active drivers and two much larger ‘passive radiators’. These are speakers that aren’t activated by magnets but by the sound pressure created by the other speakers in the case. Passive Radiators are designed to reduce the intensity required from active drivers and to enhance the quality of deeper frequencies. This means that the Boom 4 has been specifically designed to enhance and optimise the quality of bass sounds.
The cleverness of this design choice is reflected in the specifications of the device. Most speakers measure their decibel limits in dBA – which is a common test of how loud a device can be in the upper middle pitch range. My child is screaming at the moment, which is a perfect demonstration of a dBA test – how loud can he scream when he is most angry. Ultimate Ears chose to measure the Boom 4 decibel limits using dBC. This is a test of how loud it can be across the spectrum of all frequencies that are audible to the human ear. Continuing the example, dBC is a measure of both how loud my son can sing ‘Chocolate Rain’ up to chipmunk impersonations. On this test, the Boom 4 was able to reach the level of 85 dBC which is comfortably past the range of being safe for human ears. This afternoon when I went outside to test the volume limits of the Boom 4, I was very quickly met with angry neighbours – a good sign for any speaker. Even at the top volume levels, there was no buzzing or issues with the quality of the sound.
In terms of overall sound quality, the Boom 4 is generally pretty good. There are no shaking or mechanical noises at low or high frequencies and they come through nicely. There is a slight change when sounds are directed through left or right speakers. I imagine this effect would be more pronounced if I were connected to more speakers. The sound quality is much better in mono than stereo and the speaker is not great with binaural sound. For a portable speaker, the sound is overall pretty good but not remarkable in comparison to other, larger speakers I have tested this year.
Another impressive quality of the Boom 4 is that its impressive power and indestructible shell still fit into a tiny, lightweight product. The Boom 4 weighs less than a kilogram and can be carried very comfortably in one hand. It has an impressive battery life of 15 hours. It also provides 360 degrees of sound with almost the entire body of the device functioning as a single fabric speaker grille. After trying for a while, I couldn’t find a reliably weak point in the sound coverage.
The magic button on the top is also an interesting design feature. There are three buttons on the top of the Boom 4 – one to turn it on, one to prompt a bluetooth connection and one ‘magic button’. Short touches of the magic button stop and start music. A double tap skips to the next track on a playlist and triple tap goes back. Pressing and holding the magic button allows you to skip to another playlist. The first few functions are excellent but personally, I’m not sure if I want people at my parties to have this much control of the music. However, I am a control freak and I do like the idea of putting away my phone or computer and using the speaker to toggle tracks when necessary.
Gripes
I don’t have much to add to this section, my gripes are very minor and petty. I miss the days when devices came with power adaptors and feel like some people won’t have an adaptor for a USB-C cable on hand. I don’t like downloading apps but this one at least adds to the device’s functionality. I personally could have done without the magic button function that skips to different playlists but it’s unlikely that someone would do that by accident. The magic button functions best on Apple Music but it does well enough on Spotify. The equaliser in the app is a little basic with only five sliders and five presets but that would probably be appealing to most people trying to set up a party atmosphere.
My biggest concern is that the price is a bit more than I would expect to pay for a portable speaker. There are many good reasons for this and it is a steal given the specs. However, at $229.95, I think there are a lot of people who will want to choose something cheaper and much worse in quality.
Conclusion
The Boom 4 is the gold standard of portable speakers. It is more durable, sustainably designed, powerful, and attractive than most other portable speakers currently available. If you have the cash and really want good sound everywhere you go, it’s hard to imagine anything better than the Ultimate Ears Boom 4.
The Ultimate Ears Boom 4 is available from their website in Active Black, Enhanting Lilac, Raspberry Red and Cobalt Blue (no Matthew Reilly reference here!). DRN would like to thank UE for providing the review unit.
