So the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus is a very impressive speaker cause it gets very loud and it has a ton of bass a while being relatively small. The Soundcore Boom 2 Plus is so impressive, it actually does a great job of keeping up with the Big Boys like the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony ULT Field 7… and it really demolishes their smaller counterparts like the JBL Xtreme 3 and Sony XG300. So today, we’re going to see exactly how the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus stacks up to both the JBL Xtreme 3 and Sony XG300.
Regarding pricing, the JBL Xtreme 3 retails for $380 and the Sony XG300 retails for $350. However, the XG300 likes to routinely go on sale for $200 and the JBL Xtreme 3 now likes to go on sale for $220 cause the JBL Xtreme 4 is basically here. Where as the Soundcore Boom 2 plus retails for $250. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below or you can always just press on the YouTube shopping button.
So first theres the design of these speakers. Now the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus is considerably larger than both the Xtreme 3 and XG300. However, taking the Boom 2 Plus on the go with you isn’t as big of a hassle as you’d expect cause this speaker is very light weighing in at 8.3 pounds… where as the Xtreme 3 weighs in at 4,3 pounds. But more importantly, both the Boom 2 plus and Xtreme 3 have built in shoulder straps so taking these speakers on the go with you is very easy. However, the Xtreme 3’s shoulder strap is a little more useful than the Boom 2’s plus cause it has a built in bottle opener. Also when it comes to durability, both the JBL and Sony feel more premium than the Boom 2 plus cause they have a mostly fabric wrapped body which is going to do a great job of standing up to constant abuse, where as the Boom 2 plus has a mostly plastic body. But regardless, all three of these speakers are water proof so if they get dropped in a pool or if a drink gets spilled on them, they’re going to be perfectly fine. But the important thing here is, both the JBL Xtreme 3 and Sony XG300 are good options to take on the go with you cause they’re small and light. But even though the Boom 2 plus is noticeably larger than these other two speakers, taking it on the go with you isn’t a big hassle either cause its relatively light and it has that shoulder strap.
But then theres the light feature on these speakers. Now the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus has a light feature tucked in the passive radiators, and I like this light feature cause it is very bright and its very dynamic and through Soundcore’s app you can go in and choose from a few different lighting modes and you can customize this light feature. Now the XG300 also has a built in light feature, but its not as impressive as the Boom 2 Plus. So with the XG300, I dont use it light feature and instead I just enjoy the improved battery life. However, if you do decide to use the light feature on the Boom 2 plus, that is going to take its tool on the battery life.
Now when it comes to battery life, Now when it comes to battery life, the Boom 2 Plus has an advertised battery life of 20 hours, which is very impressive. However, this advertised battery life of 20 hours is with this speaker playing at 50% volume, and with the light feature turned ON and with the bass up feature turned off as well.
Real world use with this speakers playing at 80% volume, with the light feature turned on and with the bass up feature turned on, its going to be good for about 6 to 7 hours of playback time.
And then theres the XG300 which has a similar thing going on. This speaker has an advertise battery life of 25 hours, but that’s with this speaker playing at 50% volume but with the light feature turned off but with the mega bass feature turned on which is good. And real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, with the light feature turned off, cause personally I don think that its worth using on this speaker and with the mega bass feature turned on, then its good for about 11 hours of play back time.
And then theres the Xtreme 3 which has an advertised battery life of 15 hours… but real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume its good for about 8 hours of playback time. So overall if battery life is very important to you, then you’ll might want to go with the Sony XG300 here.
And when it comes to charging these speakers, they all charge via a USB C port, which is great, however, with the USB C port on both the Xtreme 3 and Boom 2 plus, you can use them to charge your own devices, which is a feature that I really like… and with the USB C port on the Xtreme 3, you can also use it as a wired connection. Now you cant use the USB C port on the XG300 to charge your won devices… but it does have a USB A port and so does the Xtreme 3. But I feel that being able to charge your own devices through the USB C port is a lot more useful.
But also, all of these speakers still have an audio jack so you can still use them with a wired connection. And I know that this sounds very basic but I do have to point this out cause audio jacks on smaller speakers is becoming less common.
But when it comes to wireless connectivity, all three of these speakers can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so that you and a friend can both be DJ and latency is not an issue for any of these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone… but when it comes to audio codecs both the Boom 2 and Xtreme 3 only have support for SBC which is fine, but the Sony XG300 has support for SBC, AAC and LDAC.
But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set ups, all of these speakers have dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeter and dual passive radiaotors that shoot out the sides. Except on the Boom 2 Plus, its larger. Now with all of these speakers you can go into their apps and you can adjust their EQ to your liking. And like I mentioned earlier, all of these speakers charge via a USB C port, which is great. However, with the Xtreme 3 if you use this speaker while its plugged in you are going to get a performance boost out of it. Its going to get louder and its going to have more bass. Where as thats not the case with these other two speakers. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. All of these speakers are playing at 87% volume, they are all using their stock EQs but bass up is turned on on the Boom 2 Plus and the XG300 has its mega bass turned on.
Sound test
So when it comes to sound quality and performance, with the Soundcore Boom 2 plus you are going to get a lot more and its going to get louder as well. However when it comes to quality, the Boom 2 plus leans towards a warmer sound signature where as the Xtreme 3 leans towards a brighter sound signature. But more importantly, both the Xtreme 3 and XG300 have better definition in the mids and they also have better instrument separation. Also the highs on the Xtreme 3 are a lot more pronounced than on the Boom 2 plus and sometimes the highs on the Boom 2 plus can get a little distorted. Overall yes, the JBL Xtreme 3 give you better sound quality than the Boom 2 Plus… however I feel that the Boom 2 plus sounds good enough for your out doors parties, and again, with this speaker its going to get louder and its going to have more bass.
But finally, lets talk about pairing these speakers up to other speakers. Now with all of these speakers, if you have two of the exact same speakers then you can wirelessly pair them together and get them to play in left and right stereo mode.
But with the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus, since this speaker is using Partycast 2.0, you can pair it up to other Partycast 2.0 speakers like the Boom 2 and get them to play in sync and you can pair up to 100 speakers together.
But then theres the JBL Xtreme 3 which is using Partyboost and you can pair it up to other party boost speakers like either a JBL Boombox 3, Boombox 2, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Pulse 5, Pulse 4, Flip 5 or to a flip 6 and again you can have up to 100 speakers together… and you can also connect your partyboost speakers to upcoming aura cast speakers like either an Xtreme 4, Clip 5 or Go 4.
But then theres the Sony XG300 which is using Sony’s Partyconnect and you can connect it up to other Partyconnect speakers like either a ULT 7, an XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, or to an XB43, XB33, or XB23. But the really cool thing about Sony’s Party connect is that you can connect your smaller speakers to any of Sony’s larger speakers which are also using Partyconnect like either an ULT Tower 10, XV900, XV800, XV500 or XP700 or XP500. And this is cool cause you cant connect any of JBL’s smaller Partyboost speakers to any of JBL larger Partybox Speakers.
Nonetheless, I feel that all of these speakers have good speaker pairing protocols, but if you do plan on expanding your collection of speakers, then you’ll might want to go with Sony cause they have a lot more speakers to choose from that you can connect to one another.
But with all of that being said, the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus is a very impressive speaker that gives you a really big bang for your buck. The Soundcore Boom 2 plus gets louder and has more bass than both the JBL Xtreme 3 and Sony XG300. The Boom 2 Plus also has an impressive looking light feature and I like that you can use its USB C port to charge your own devices. However, if you were to go with either the JBL Xtreme 3 or Sony XG300 you are going to get better sound quality, and your speaker is going to feel more premium. However, if youre looking for some loud and durable for summer 2024 without having to break the bank, the Soundcore Boom 2 plus is defneitly a solid pick up.