Thanks to the Boombox 3’s new speaker set up, the Boombox 3 now has an impress amount of bass, and it no longer sounds nasally and flat at higher volumes like its predesscors did. Now overall, I like and recommend the Boombox 3… but today we’re going to see how it stacks up to my personal favorite large bluetooth speaker… the UE Hyperboom… and we’re also going to compare it to the Sony XG500. Can the Boombox 3, finally dethrone the Hyperboom?
Regarding pricing, there have been some changes over the last couple of months. Currently the Hyperboom has a retail price $450… a $50 price from when it first came out. The XG500 currently has a retail price $500… a $50 price increase from when it first came out… but its currently on sale for $400. And finally there’s the Boombox 3 which has a retail price of $500. Nonehtheless, if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first, lets talk about the design of these speakers. Now all of these speakers are meant to be large enough to bring big sound… but still, easy enough and durable enough to take them on the go with you. All of these speakers have fabric wrapped bodies which are going to have no problem standing up to constant abuse from bumps and scrapes… all of these speakers have built in carrying handles making them easy to carry around, they are all relatively light weight, all weighing in less than 15 pounds, and all of these speakers aren’t afraid of a little bit of water cause they are all water resistant. But personally, the Hyperboom is my preferred looking speaker here and my preferred speaker to travel with here cause of its rectangular design. Personally, I really like that this speaker takes up the least amount of surface area if placed on the floor or table… the Hyperboom’s simple design also allows it to disappear when not in us. But also, with this rectangular the hyperboom isn’t going to roll all around in the trunk of your car when you’re driving. Where as with these other two speakers… you gotta secure them down some how. These are just simple observations that I have made after using the Hyperboom for the last 3 or so years.
However, something that the XG500 does have over these other two speakers is that it has a built in light feature. But the thing about this light feature is that its tucked in between the passive radiators, and its not super bright. So personally, I never really use the light feature on this speaker… cause you can barely even see it. So personally, I just use the XG500 with its light feature turned off and I enjoy the battery savings.
But now lets talk about battery life cause this is an area where the XG500 really shines compared to these other two speakers. Now the XG500 has an advertised battery life 30 but thats with this speaker playing a little below 50% volume, with its mega bass feature turned on but with its light feature turned off. Where as, both the Hyperboom and Boombox 3 have an advertised battery life of 24 hours with their volumes set to 50%
However real world use with the XG500 playing at 80% volume, with its mega bass feature turned on and with its light feature turned on im getting a very healthy 8 almost nine hours of play back time before the battery is fully drained. But the thing about the XG500 is that if you use it with its light feature turned off you can extend its battery life a little bit and if you use it with its mega bass feature turned off then you can extend its battery life even more. But if you use this speaker with its mega bass turned off… its going to sound super flat. And all stamina mode is on this speaker is having it with both its light feature and mega bass feature turned off.
Cause for comparison, at 80% volume the hyperboom is good for about 8 and half hours which is also very good and the Boombox 3 is good for about 8 hours. So both the Boombox 3 and Hyperboom can hang for long use sessions. But the XG500 is hitting 8 to nine hours of playback with all of its features turned on… but if you use it with its light feature and or mega bass feature turned off or while in stamina mode, you can extend its battery life even more.
However, when it comes to charging these speakers…both the XG500 and Hyperboom have an external power brick that you have to worry about. Where as the Boombox 3 no longer has an external power brick that you have to worry about, and you can just plug in any universal double barrel AC power cable. And personally, I do find this to be a plus, cause if you were to take the Boombox 3 to a friend’s house, and if you have to charge it up, its very likely that they will have one of these cables lying around.
Now, since we’re on the topic of ports, the hyperboom is the only speaker here with an optical port… so if you want, you could always connect the hyperboom to your TV or gaming console and use it as a sound bar… and perhaps this could help you justify this purchase.
But then there’s the XG500 which has a quarter inch input so that you can plug in a mic microphone or guitar. And this could be useful either for hosting events or for karaoke… and personally, I do find this to be more useful than the optical port on the Hyperboom… and I think this could be a deciding factor for some people.
Now all of these speakers have USB A ports on them so that you can plug in your own devices and charge them up. But with the XG500, its has 2 USB A ports… and you can also plug in a USB stick into one of these ports and play music off of it. Now im glad that all of these speakers have USB A ports on the them, and the XG500 goes the extra mile here… but I still really wish that these speakers had USB C ports on them that would allow me to both charge my phone and us it as a wired connection… like I can with the USB C port found on the Xtreme 3.
But at least all of these speakers still have a 3.5 millimeter audio jack so you can always use them with a wired connection. Now I know this sound very basic… but all of these manufactures have already removed the audio jacks on their smaller speakers
But more importantly, when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, all of these speakers can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so that you and a friend can both be DJ. All of these speakers have zero latency across the board when watching movies or video on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… but when it comes to audio codecs, both the hyperboom and Boombox 3 only have support for SBC. Where as with the XG500, it has support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC which is Sony’s own in house high res audio codec. However, if you want to take advantage of LDAC you do have to be an android users… but regardless, whether you’re an iPhone or an android user, SBC is going to work perfectly fine.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these speakers. The XG500 has what I feel is the most basic speaker set up here. It has dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters, and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Pretty standard. Now the hyperboom also has dual frontward firing woofers and dual frontward firing tweeters… but its dual passive radairots shoot out its rear. So with the Hyperboom, you can always amplify its bass by simply placing it against a wall, cause that way the bass has something to bounce off of. Now you can achieve the same effect with both the XG500 and Boombox 3, but with these, you gotta place them in a corner. But then there’s the Boombox 3… now the boombox 3 also has dual frontward firing woofers… but its woofers are a little smaller than the woofers found on these other two speakers. You’ve also got dual frontward firing tweeters, but these tweeters are stacked on top of the woofers. Now don’t be alarmed, the boombox 3’s doesn’t sound muffled cause the tweeters are stacked on top of the woofers… but JBL did this so that they could squeeze in a new frontward firing subwoofer to compliment the dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. But overall, I do feel the Boombox 3 has the most unique speaker set up here. But now lets jump into the sound test, all of these speakers are playing with their stock EQ’s. However, the Boombox 3 is playing while at 75% volume, the XG500 is playing at 81% volume, and the Hyperboom is playing at 87% volume.
So when it comes to sound quality, I feel that we have a spectrum here. The XG500 is the warmest speaker here. The mids and vocals aren’t as pronounced as these other two speakers and at times it can sound a little shallow. Where as with the Boombox 3, this speaker is the brightest here and at times, the highs on this speaker can sound a little harsh. But the vocals on the Boombox 3 are much more pronounced and the boombox 3 has better instrument separation than the XG500. But then, there’s the Hyperboom which I feel is the best sounding and most balanced sounding speaker here. Just like the Boombox 3, the Hyperboom has good instrument separation and the vocals are well defined and easy to hear… but unlike the Boombox 3, the highs on the Hyperboom don’t get super harsh. And in general, the bright EQ on the Boombox 3 is problematic, and its just not the Boombox 3, all of JBL’s newer speakers have been coming with a brighter stock EQ. But thankfully, the Boombox 3 now has an adjustable EQ, a rather new concept for JBL’s speakers. And I feel that if you want to get the best sound out of the Boombox 3, you have to go in and raise the bass by two clicks, and lower the treble by one click. Now the Hyperboom also has an adjustable EQ… but personally I really feel that the Hyperboom sounds best with its stock EQ. And finally there’s the XG500 which also has an adjustable EQ. And with this speaker, I would go in and raise the mids and treble a little bit… but still with both the mids and treble being increased, there’s still this muffledness to the XG500. Now when it comes to the overall physicality in the bass of these speakers… one of the main drawbacks about the Boombox 3’s predecessors is that they would sound flat and nasally at higher volumes… But that is no longer an issue with the Boombox 3. The Boombox 3 now does a much better job of linearly increasing its bass as you increase its volume… plus thanks to the new frontward firing subwoofer… you’re really going to feel that bass. And overall, the Boombox 3 has the most amount physicality in its bass here, finally dethroning the hyperboom. So overall, if you want the most fun sounding speaker here with the most amount of bass… then you’ll want to go with the Boombox 3. But if you want the best sounding speaker… I still maintain that the Hyperboom is the best and most balanced sounding speaker.
However, performance wise the boombox 3 is also the best option here cause it gets the loudest here. But part of the reason why the Boombox 3 is able to get so loud is cause of its brighter stock EQ. But even if you were to use this speaker with my recommended EQ… its still going to get louder than these other two speakers. Where as, with the hyperboom it does a decent job of keeping up with the Boombox 3’s… but then there’s the XG500 which doesn’t seem as loud… but that is partly cause of its warmer EQ. However, with both the XG500 and Boombox 3, if you were to use them while they are plugged in, you are going to get a noticeable performance boost out of them. They are going to get a little louder and they’re going to have more bass. Where as with the Hyperboom, you don’t get a performance boost while its plugged in. But with all of that being said, I still feel that the hyperboom has the best sound quality here cause its sounds the most balanced. But performance wise the boombox 3 is the winner here cause it also has good instrument separation, it has more bass, and it gets louder. The issue here, is the Boombox 3’s super bright stock EQ which can make it sound harsh. But thankfully there’s now a customizable EQ, so you can fix that. So for that reason, I do prefer and recommend the Boombox 3 over the Hyperboom… cause I feel that you’re going to get more out of it. And finally there’s the XG500… now this speaker sounds fine and it gets the job done… but personally I am not a fan of its warmer nature.
But finally, lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now the Hyperboom is using UE’s party up, meaning that you can pair it to other party up speakers, like either another hyperboom, a megaboom 3, or to a boom 3 and you can have up to 150 speakers paired together which is obviously over kill.
But then there’s the Boombox 3 which is using JBL’s PartyBoost, meaning that you can get pairing up to other PartyBoost speakers like either another Boombox 3, a Boombox 2, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Pulse 4, Flip 5, or flip 6, and you’ll also be able to pair it up to the upcoming Pulse 5 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together.
And finally, there’s the XG500 which is using Sony’s party connect, meaning that you can pair it up to other sony speakers that are also using party connect like either another XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33 or XB23 and you can have up to 100 speakers paired together. But the cool thing about Sony’s Party connect is that you can also pair your XG500 to any of Sony’s larger box speakers that are also using Party connect like either an XP500 or XP700.
Where as with JBL, you can not pair any of your smaller Partyboost speakers, to any of JBL’s larger Partybox speakers.
Now even though sony’s party connect is very accommodating and its gets the job done, it is not my favorite speaker pairing protocol cause it can be a hassle to use sometimes. Sometimes it takes forever for your speakers to get paired up, sometimes all of your speakers won’t get paired, so you have to go through the pairing process multiple times, and sometimes echoes do form. So even though party connect gets the job done, it can be a hassle sometimes.
Where as Party Up is much easier to use and I never have any issues with is. The problem here is that UE doesn’t have as many speakers to choose from… I currently don’t have any high hopes for any of UE’s future speakers… cause its been years since UE updated these speakers… and UE’s newest speaker, the wonder boom 3 was a bit of a disappointment. It still doesn’t have Party Up and its still using a Micro USB port for charging.
Personally, I feel that if you plan on getting multiple speakers, and if you plan on constantly pairing them together, I feel JBL’s PartyBoost is the way to go. Its super easy to use, it just works, and you have a healthy eco system of speakers to choose from.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between any of these speakers… then I do feel the boombox 3 is going to be the choice here. From a performance standpoint, the Boombox 3 gets the loudest here and has the most amount of bass here. Now yes, this speaker does sound very bright and harsh with its stock EQ… but you can easily fix that with your own EQ. And also, if you plan on getting multiple speakers and constantly pairing them together… then Partyboost is the best option here cause it just works and you have a healthy ECO system of speakers to choose from. Now don’t get me wrong, I still think the Hyperboom is the best sounding speaker here cause it doesn’t get harsh… But personally I am hesitant about getting the hyperboom right now cause of its age, I don’t have high hopes for its predecessor if the wonder boom 3 is anything to go off of… and if you plan on getting multiple speakers… your options are a lot more limited. But finally there’s the XG500… this speaker has the most amount of features here. You can plug in a microphone, you can plug in a guitar, you plug in a USB Stick, you can pair it up to a good amount of portable Bluetooth speakers and you can pair it up to Sony’s box speakers as well. But sound quality wise, the XG500 can sound a little shallow and muffled. But if you can get a good deal on it, you should pick it up, cause it still sounds good enough.