UE Mini Boom

The UE Mini Boom is definitively aimed the kind of people who place a high value on sound quality, even when they’re on the go, and are willing to shell out the cash for it. Read this test review to find out whether what’s in the box is indeed what it says it is – a portable speaker that provides the right music for any occasion, even when you’re far away from home.

First amusing, then amazing…

When you take the Boom (what a name!) out of the box, you’ll be happy to find a compact device whose high-quality design meets the standards we’ve come to expect from Logitech. Fans of sophisticated acoustic systems will feel a little smirk coming on the first time they look at the Mini Boom. All you have to do now is connect to your smartphone or tablet, and you can get going. The Bluetooth connection works without a hint of trouble, and you can rest assured that grin on your face is not about to go anywhere. If you’re like us and forget to turn down the volume on your phone before you try the Mini Boom for the first time, everyone in the office is in for a nice surprise. The explosion of bass and volume will have the coffee mugs rattling across the table, and for the first time you’ll see just how much power this little thing is packing.

A battery time of about ten hours makes the Mini Boom a great choice for long trips, or for setting the party mood at a little get-together on the beach. The editorial staff came up with a lot of ideas here, like using it in a full train car, or hiding it in a colleague’s office as a little distraction from the daily grind, but we wouldn’t want to give anyone any funny ideas. One thing you can’t do is tie the speaker to any one playback device, which means that in a room with several mobile devices, you can’t turn your phone off unless you want that girl in your office who listens to country music to get ahold of the speaker and ruin everyone’s good time.

It’s loud, that’s for sure

Booming volume and thumping bass are the UE Mini Boom’s defining characteristics. And if that’s what you’re looking for, then you’ll be fully satisfied and then some. But if you’re the kind of person who enjoys losing yourself in the subtle harmony of the high notes, or you’re really into classical music, you’re better off staying in and listening to it on your home stereo system. At the higher end of the sound spectrum, the speaker really starts to show its limits, and the bass overpowers any nuance in the music, making it not quite right for genres with a greater range of sound than what you hear in hip-hop or bass-driven hardcore metal. But who really spends an evening partying with friends outdoors because they want to listen to all of Wagner’s Ring Cycle on a portable speaker?

Our test, based on our own subjective tastes, had the following results:

DMX, “Where the Hood At?” – Let the bass pump on this one to bring out the gangsta in everyone.

AC/DC, “Back in Black” – We were listening on a red speaker, but it rocked all the same.

Mozart, The Magic Flute, “Der Hölle Rache” aria (Queen of the Night) – Unfortunately this is where the speaker really showed its limits. It just didn’t do those high notes justice.

Hatebreed, “Destroy Everything” – After playing it at full blast, you could say, “mission accomplished!”