Pros
- Great sound high quality
- Water-resistant
- Can pair two for stereo sound
- Affordable
Cons
- Bass might be deeper
- No color choices: simply black
Our Verdict
If you’re after great-sounding transportable Bluetooth speaker that doesn’t break the financial institution, look no additional than the EarFun Uboom L.
Price When Reviewed
$79.99
Best Prices Today: EarFun Uboom L
You’ve most likely heard of Sonos and JBL. You would possibly presumably know of Anker, however will nearly definitely draw a clean in relation to EarFun.
And you’d be forgiven for that. There are actually a whole bunch of audio manufacturers competing on your hard-earned money: simply search Amazon for Bluetooth speaker and also you’ll see web page upon web page of outcomes from manufacturers that sound like they got here from an computerized title generator.
EarFun, you’ll most likely agree, doesn’t fare significantly better on this respect, however the excellent news is that the Bluetooth audio system it makes are distinctive.
Its first, the Uboom, wowed us with its nice sound and construct high quality for a surprisingly low value.
The follow-up, the oddly named Uboom L, improves in each respect and though a bit dearer, it nonetheless makes rival audio system from the massive manufacturers look ludicrously overpriced.
Features & design
- IPX7 waterproof & floats
- 2x 55mm drivers, 28W
- Bluetooth 5.0
- Up to 16 hours of battery life
A bit of bigger than the Uboom, the Uboom L measures 8.3 x 3.1 x 3in (210 x 78 x 72mm) and weighs 2.1lb (650g).
It has the identical black woven cloth protecting and rubbery coating over the plastic body. Unlike the Uboom, and Sonos Roam, it’s designed for use horizontally and has two 55mm drivers and two passive bass radiators, one on every finish.
Buttons are on high and are the identical as on the Uboom. That means quantity management, energy, Bluetooth, play/pause and the sound mode button.
Jim Martin / Foundry
The latter switches between indoor and out of doors mode, however we’ll get to sound high quality in a bit.
On the rear is a rubber cowl with a 3.5mm aux enter and a USB-C port for charging: a cable is included within the field, however not a charger.
Jim Martin / Foundry
EarFun’s unusually named Sweatshield expertise merely signifies that the Uboom L is successfully waterproof and, as a result of it floats, you can even put it in a pool and take heed to it on the water. That isn’t advisable, although, particularly in the event you care about sound high quality.
The level is, you should utilize it outdoors with out worrying it’ll be broken by the rain, or an unintended drop into the ocean.
EarFun claims a most Bluetooth vary of 15m, and this is applicable even in the event you use the Uboom L’s get together trick, which is true stereo playback. For this you want two Uboom Ls, however in addition to costing lower than a single Sonos Roam, it’s supremely simple to get stereo sound from them.
As lengthy as one is paired along with your cellphone, you’ll be able to activate the second and press the Bluetooth button on each audio system for 2 seconds. They’ll beep to verify and sound shall be instantly performed in stereo (assuming no matter you’re streaming is in stereo, that’s).
There’s yet one more function: with a built-in microphone, the Uboom L can be utilized for hands-free calls.
Sound high quality
One of the massive sights is that EarFun has turned to Olaf Lubanski, an Austrian music producer, to ‘tune’ the Uboom L.
I hadn’t heard of him earlier than, however he clearly is aware of what he’s doing. His transient was to create an “honest and natural sound reproduction in all environments and at all sound levels”, and that has definitely been achieved.
If you need to know extra, it’s value watching Oluv’s 45-minute video.
Initially, I used to be dissatisfied with the dearth of bass, however taking part in the identical check tracks on the unique Uboom and Uboom L aspect by aspect proved that the newcomer’s low frequencies are at the least nearly as good.
If you really need thumping bass, you’ll have to go for a a lot bigger speaker than these small, transportable fashions.
Jim Martin / Foundry
What’s spectacular is the readability and separation of the Uboom L’s soundstage. And as Oluv states, the indoor sound mode has a pleasant, flat response which implies bass, mids and highs are equally represented and none is emphasised over one other.
Even with a single Uboom L, the soundstage is wider than the unique Uboom’s with excessive hats and different high-frequency sounds seeming to come back from different components of the room and never instantly from the speaker itself. This was significantly noticeable in Le Flex’s rendition of Clouds throughout the moon, and is because of the truth that the 2 drivers are very barely angled outwards.
The bass radiators are, apparently, tuned to 65Hz. This means there’s no sub-bass in any respect, which is probably going one cause why it wasn’t as bassy as I had anticipated. But of the bass notes it could possibly ship, the Uboom L is extraordinarily tight and well-defined.
There’s definitely no muddiness to the sound: vocals are bitingly clear as is percussion, but with none scratchiness or harshness that makes a speaker fatiguing to take heed to. I significantly loved listening to Moonchild’s The Cure on the Uboom L, the place Amber Navran’s dreamy vocal is entrance and centre, with backing vocals, keyboards and bass are simply as clear and nicely outlined.
If you actually need to push the boat out and use the financial savings (in comparison with the Roam or JBL Charge 4) to purchase a pair of Uboom Ls, you’ll love the additional quantity you get from 56W of energy from the 4 14W drivers.
Jim Martin / Foundry
But, actually, it’s the stereo sound that places a smile in your face. We’ve grown too used to listening to mono sound from Bluetooth and good audio system and have, most likely, forgotten how a lot stereo can improve a chunk of music.
Listening to Toto’s Rosanna, for instance, demonstrates this nicely. An additional dimension is added to all the pieces from the lead vocal to the piano and guitar. But Radiohead’s The National Anthem is maybe even higher with devices and vocals clearly coming from totally different sides of the soundstage. Bass is surprisingly potent on this observe, too.
So far, that is all in ‘Indoor’ mode. But press the sound mode button and a white LED will mild to point it’s now in Outdoor mode. This boosts bass and sure increased frequencies to enhance the sound in noisier out of doors environments. It works, too, and though the comparatively low energy output means it’ll sound finest when there isn’t a great deal of background noise, the Uboom L once more excels in comparison with a lot pricier rivals with glorious readability.
You can, in fact, use out of doors mode whereas indoors in the event you like, and I appreciated the additional bass. But, actually, this isn’t what it’s designed for.
Jim Martin / Foundry
One of the bugbears of Bluetooth is latency. This is an issue if you wish to use a Bluetooth speaker to look at movies in your cellphone, say, as a result of the sound shall be out of sync with the image. Fortunately, EarFun considered this, and urgent the Bluetooth button twice allows ‘video mode’.
This shortens the connection distance a bit, however the principle disadvantage is that stereo sound isn’t attainable on this mode. It reduces latency to a degree the place movies are completely watchable with no noticeable lip-sync points.
Price & availability
Officially, the Uboom L goes on sale on 11 July and prices $79.99 / £69.99 / €79.99. You can purchase it direct from EarFun’s web site, however it will likely be offered by Amazon as nicely.
If you learn this evaluation earlier than that date, it can save you 25% off these costs by signing up for a reduction code on EarFun’s web site. That shall be emailed to you and you should utilize it as soon as the Uboom L is on sale both on Amazon or EarFun’s web site.
Even on the regular value, the Uboom L is great worth and makes most of its big-name rivals appear vastly overpriced.
But if even that is too wealthy on your pockets, listed here are the very best low-cost Bluetooth audio system, a few of that are even cheaper, together with the unique Uboom.
Verdict
EarFun has accomplished it once more. The Uboom L punches nicely past its value and will make you query why Sonos, Bose and others cost considerably extra for the Roam, SoundHyperlink Flex and different similar-size and spec Bluetooth audio system.
If you’ll be able to afford it, it’s nicely value shopping for two and utilizing them as a stereo pair, however simply keep in mind you’ll be able to’t do that within the low-latency video mode.
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Source: countryask.com
