Get Them Here:
Boom 2 - https://amzn.to/3IUzbJr
Boombox 3 - https://amzn.to/3IW2XO3
XG500 - https://amzn.to/3TUdNdO
I have been very pleasantly surprised by the Soundcore Boom 2 cause it gives you a lot of sound in a relatively compact package and its very affordable too… making this a great speaker for summer 2024. Now the Soundcore Boom 2 sounds very impressive all on its own… but if you get two and pair them up, they sound even more impressive… so impressive that they actually give big speakers like the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony XG500 a real run for their money.
Now when it comes to pricing, the JBL Boombox 3 has a retail price of $500, but it does like to go on sale for $450 from time to time. And then theres the Sony XG500 which also has a retail price of $500 but it likes to go on sale for $300. But then theres the Soundcore Boom 2 which has a retail price of $130… so if you get two they’ll cost you $260… still less than the heavily discounted Sony XG500. None the less if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
So before we jump into the sound test, I do want to point out that the Soundcore Boom 2 has a built in light feature that stored in the Passive radiators… and this light feature looks good and both of these light features will sync up to one another. Now the Sony XG500 also has a built in light feature… but I dont think that its worth using causing its rather hard to see… where as I do think that the boom 2’s light feature is worth using. And then theres the BoomBox 3 which just doesn’t have a light feature.
But with that out of the way lets talk about sound. The Sony XG500 has dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And this is a fairly typical speaker set up. Then theres the Boombox 3 which has a frontward firing subwoofer, dual frontward firing drivers, and dual frontward firing tweeters which are stacked on top of the mid range drivers, and there are dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And this set up is fairly unique. But then theres the Boom 2 which has a frontward firing subwoofer, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Now obviously one Boom 2 wont be able to keep up with these larger speakers… but two boom 2’s is a different story. So we’re going to go ahead and jump into the sound test, we’re going to have 2 boom 2’s playing while in stereo mode, they’re going to be playing art 87% volume, and they are going to have their bass up feature turned on and they are going to be running their signature EQ and both the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony XG500 are playing at 87% Volume with their stock EQ’s.
Sound test
So first I have to point out that with the 2 Soundcore Boom 2’s, when you have these two speakers paired in stereo mode there is a very slight eco cause it sounds like one speaker is a few milliseconds behind. But overall, I think pairing two Boom 2’s sounds good enough especially for out doors use. But obviously as you’d expect, echos are not a problem for either the Boombox 3 or Sony XG500.
Now when it comes to sound quality, the Boombox 3 leans towards a brighter sound signature and the Sony XG500 leans towards a warmer sound signature. So with the Boombox 3, mids and vocals are a lot more pronounced than these other two speakers. Now think the dual soundcore boom 2’s sound balanced with their signature EQ’s, but they dont have as much detail in the mids as these other two speakers. And also theres the bass on these speakers, the bass on these larger more premium speakers resonates more and it also hits harder than the bass found on the dual Boom 2’s. So sound quality wise, the dual Soundcore Boom 2’s sound good, but you ware going to get overall better instrument separation and deeper bass with these larger more premium speakers.
However, when it comes to max volume, the dual boom 2’s do a really good job of keeping up with both the Boombox 3 and sony XG500 when they are running off of their internal batteries. However, with both the Boombox 3 and Sony XG500, if you were to use either of these two speakers while they are plugged in, they are going to get a noticeable performance boost. They are going to get louder and they are going to have more bass… where as with the Soundcore Boom 2’s, these speakers dont get a performance boost if you use them while they are plugged in.
So with all of that being said, 2 soundcore boom 2 are more affordable than either a Sony XG500 or a JBL Boombox 3… and sound quality wise, they do a decent job of keeping up. They sound balanced and they get impressively loud. If your looking for a summer speaker for 2024, I can easily recommend the Soundcore boom 2 and if you want lots of sound then you can get 2. However, 2 soundcore boom 2 when they are in stero mode might have a little bit of and echo… but I think that its easy enough to ignore. And even though dual boom 2’s sound good, ultimately you are going to get better instrument separation, deeper bass and more volume with either the JBL Boombox 3 or Sony XG500. Its up to you if you want to pay that premium.