So last year when the Soundcore Motion X600 came out, I was very impressed by just how open this speaker sounded thanks to its upwards firing driver. And in general, the Motion X600 is a great speaker for at home use. But if you’re looking for something to take on the go with you this summer 2024, then maybe you’ll be interested in the new Soundcore Boom 2. So if you’re trying to choose between these two speakers, lets see which one is right for you.
Regarding pricing, the Soudncore Motion X600 has a retail price of $200 but it likes to go on sale for $180. But then theres the Soundcore Boom 2 which has a retail price of $130, and in general, I feel that you get a lot of bang for your buck because of how loud this speaker gets relative to its price. Nonetheless, if you want to picker either of these two speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now first theres the design of these two speakers. Size wise these speakers are very similar to one another they have the same surface area and the same foot print. In general these two speakers are about the same size as either the JBL Xtreme 3 or Sony XG300. But whats really different here are their materials. The Motion X600 has a mostly metal body which I feel looks very elegant… but personally I would hate to take this speaker on the go with me cause I would hate to scratch this body up. Where as the Boom 2 has a mostly blast body, but it still has a metal face plate on the front… so the plastic body on the boom 2 is going to collect a lot more scratches than the X600, but given the Boom 2’s price, I dont mind as much. Now both the Boom 2 and X600 are very water resistant… but the main difference here is that the Boom 2 also floats… making this speaker a lot more pool or boat friendly. Overall you can take both of these speakers on the go with you… but I feel the boom 2 is much better designed to be used while at the beach or park.
But something the boom 2 does have over the Motion X600 is that it has a built in light feature in the passive radiators. And this light feature is fairly dynamic and bright. Peronsally I like this light feature.
But just keep in mind, if you do decide to use this light feature, it is going to take a toll on the battery life. Now when it comes to battery life, the Boom 2 has an advertised battery life of 24 hours… but this advertised battery life of 24 hours is with this speaker playing at 50% volume, with the light feature turned off and with the bass up feature turned off to.
Real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume and with the light feature turned on and with the bass up feature turned on, its going to be good for about 6 hours of playback time… which is not bad. However you can always extend the battery life on this speaker by using it with its light feature or bass up feature turned off.
But then theres the Motion X600 which has an advertised battery life of 12 hours, but real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, with its spatial audio turned on and with bass up turned on, its good for about 8 hours of playback time. So yes, the Boom 2 can have a longer battery life and the X600, but you have to turn off the fun features.
But when it comes to charging these two speakers, they both charge via a USB C port as they should… but the additional ports on these two speakers are a little different. Now the Boom 2 has a USB A port so that you can charge your own devices where as the motion X600 doesn’t. Now I think its great and all that the boom 2 has a USB A port, but I dont think many people are going to use this port cause most phones these days come with USB C to USB C charging cables.
But then, the Motion X600 has an audio jack where as the Boom 2 doesn’t. So you cant use the Boom 2 with a wired connection which could be important depending on your set up. But when it comes to wireless connectivity, both of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time so that you and a friend can both be DJ, latency is not an issued for either of these two speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone… but when I comes to audio codecs, the Boom 2 only has support for SBC where as the Motion X600 has support for SBC, AAC and LDAC.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set, the Boom 2 has a single frontward firing woofer with dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides… and this is a fairly unique speaker set up. But then there the X600 which has dual frontward firing woofers, dural frontward firing tweeters, and dual passive radiators that shot out the front and back off this speaker. But when makes the X600 really unique here is that it has an upwards firing driver which really helps this speaker sound a lot more open when you turn on spatial audio. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. Both of these speakers are playing at 87% volume and they are both running this signature EQs and bass up is turned on.
Sound test
So these two speakers sound and preform very differently from one another. With the motion X600, this speaker has better instrument separation and sound more open than the Boom 2 thanks to the additional upwards firing driver but also, its has dual frontward firing woofers instead of just having one frontward firing subwoofer like the Boom 2. However, the boom 2 does get louder than the X600 and it also has more bass than the X600… but the mids aren’t as well defined. Overall I think the X600 is a great at home speaker cause it does have that better instrument separation… but if youre looking for a speaker to use outdoors than you’ll might want to go with the Boom 2 cause it gets louder and it has more bass… and I think loudness and bass is more important for an outside speaker rather than detail and separation.
But finally lets talk about pairing these two speakers up to other speakers. Now with the both of these speakers, if you have two of the same speakers you can pair them up and get them yo play in left and right stereo mode. So one speaker is going to be your left channel and the other speaker is going to be your right channel. However, with the boom 2 I cant help but feel that one speaker is a few milliseconds behind so there is a slight echo going on… but its good enough to get the job done.
But unfortunly, you can not pair an X600 with a Boom 2 like I have here, and you cant pair your X600 to any other speakers from soundcore… however, the Boom 2 also has Party Cast 2.0 so you can pair it up to other Soundcore Speakers that also have party cast 2.0… but sadly, soundcore’s motion family of speakers dont have Party Cast.
But with all of that being said, both of Soudncore’s speakers are very imrepssive and they give you a really big bang for your buck… but if youre trying to choose between the Boom 2 and X600… the Boom 2 is a great party speaker to use on the go with you. Its fairly durable and very water resistant. It also has an impressive looking light feature. But more importantly when it comes to sound this speaker get louder than the Motion X600 and it has more bass, which I feel matters more for an outdoors speaker. And if you really need to, you can extend its battery by using it with its light feature or bass up feature turned off. And then theres the Motion X600 which I also think is a good speaker, but I feel this one is better off to be mostly used while at home.