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. So if you’re looking for a speaker for summer 2024 lets see how the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus compares to both JBL Boombox 3 and my current favorite speaker, the Sony ULT Field 7.
Regarding pricing, Both the JBL Boombox 3 and the Sony ULT Field 7 retail for $500 where as the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus retails for $250… or half as much. And personally I am very impressed by the Boom 2 Plus cause your get a lot of sound out of it for half as much as these big boys. Nonetheless, 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 first theres the design of these speakers. Simply put, the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus is tiny when compared to these other two speakers. The Sony ULT Field 7 is pretty big… and even though the JBL Boombox 3 is noticeably smaller… its a lot more dense cause it weighs in at 14.7 pounds. Now dont get me wrong. Both the Sony and JBL are great options to take on the go with you and they both have built in carrying handles… but the Boom 2 Plus is noticeably smaller and lighter cause it weighs in at 8.3 pounds… AND it comes included with a shoulder strap… making it much easier to lug this speaker around to where ever youre going. Now when it comes to durability, all of these speakers are water proof, so if they get rained on or if a drink gets spilled on them, they’ll be fine. But both the more premium speakers have mostly fabric wrapped bodies which can stand up to constant abuse from bumps and scrapes much easier than the mostly plastic body that found on get Boom 2 Plus.
However, something that the Boom 2 plus does have over these other two speakers is its built in light feature thats tucked into the passive radiator. And this light feature in fairly dynamic and you can customize it through Soundcore’s app. Now I know the ULT 7 has a built in light feature as well… but its not as impressive as the light feature found on the Boom 2 Plus. So personally I dont use the light feature on the Sony and instead I enjoy the improved battery life. But just keep in mind, if you do decide to use the light feature on the Boom 2 that is going to take its toll on the battery life.
Now when it comes to battery life, the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus has an advertised battery life of 20 hours… but thats with this speaker playing at 50% volume, with the light feature turned on but with the bass up feature turned off. Real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, with the light feature turned on and with the bass up feature turned on it going to be good for about 7 hours of playback time.
But then there are these two larger speakers and real world use with these two speakers playing at 80% volume… they’re both going to be good for about 8 hours of play back time. And 80% volume is noticeably louder and fuller than 80% volume on the Boom 2 Plus, and 80% volume on the ULT Filed 7 is noticeably louder than 80% on the JBL Boombox 3.
Now when it comes to charging these speakers, both the Sony and JBL charge via a double barrel AC port… which is nice cause this way you don't have a power brick to worry about. But with the Boom 2 Plus, this speaker charges via a USB C port which is super convenient. But the really cool thing about this USB C port is that you can also use it to charge your own devices…
Where as with both the Sony and JBL they dont have USB C ports to charge your own devices. Instead they have USB A ports… but personally I really wish that both the Sony and JBL had a USB C port to charge your own devices cause most phones these days comes with USB C to USB C charging cables.
But something that all of these speakers do have are audio jacks, so you can use them with a wired connection. And I know this sounds very basic but I do have to point this out cause audio jacks are rare on smaller speakers now.
But something that is unique to the Sony ULT Field 7 here is that it does have a quarter inch input so that you can either plug in a microphone for karaoke, or you can also plug in a guitar if you want. But personally, I like that you can use this speaker with a microphone if you want.
But finally 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. Latency is not an issue for any of these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone. And when it comes to audio codecs, both the JBL Boombox 3 and Boom 2 plus have support for SBC… where as the ULT Field 7 has support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC which is Sonys own in house high res audio codec.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set up, both the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus and Sony ULT Field 7 have dual frontier firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Except, on the Sony it is larger. Where as with the JBL Boombox 3, this speaker has a frontward firing subwoofer, dual frontward firing woofer, dual frontward firing tweeters which are stacked on top of the woofers and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Now with all of these speakers you can go into their apps and you can adjust their EQ to your liking… And the Boom 2 Plus has your bass up feature and the ULT 7 has your ULT feature. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. All of these speakers are playing at 87% volume, they’re all using their Stock EQ’s and bass up is turned on on the Boom 2 plus and the ULT field 7 is set to ULT2 which is my preferred ULT setting.
Sound Test
So when it comes to sound quality, the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus does a really good job of keeping up with these two larger speakers and it also has an impressive amount of bass for its size. However when it comes to the overall sound quality, the Boom 2 Plus leans towards a warmer sound signature and it doesn’t sound as open as these other two speakers. The mids on the Boom 2 Plus aren’t as defined as the mids on both the JBL and Sony… and I have noticed that the Boom 2 Plus can get a little distorted at time on the high end. The Boom 2 Plus is going to be better suited for someone that like a lot of bass and listens to a lot of hip hop. But then theres the max volume performance on their speaker. Again, the Boom 2 Plus gets surprisingly loud for its size and it does a great job of keeping up with these larger speakers. However these larger more premium speakers just get louder than the Boom 2 Plus and the mids are a lot more defined. I feel that both the JBL and Sony are good for like 15 people get togethers and the Boom 2 Plus is good for like 10 or 12. But also, with the both JBL Boombox 3 and Sony ULT Field 7, if you use them while they are plugged in you are going to get a performance boost out of them. They are going to get louder and they are going to have more bass, where as with the Boom 2 Plus, if you use this speaker while its plugged in, you’re not going to get a performance boost out of it. Overall, the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus does a great job of keeping up with these more premium speakers cause it gets very loud and it has the bass to match. However when it comes to sound quality, the Boom 2 Plus doesn’t sound as open, the definition in the mids isn’t as good and there can be a little distortion in the highs.
But with all of that being said, 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 Boombox 3 which is using Partyboost and you can pair it up to other party boost speakers like either another 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 ULT Field 7 which is using Sony’s Partyconnect and you can connect it up to other Partyconnect speakers like either another 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 give you a lot of value in a small package and it does a great job of keeping up with its larger and more expensive competitors. The Soundcore Boom 2 Plus get almost as loud as these other two speakers and it has almost as much bass. Plus I also really like the built in light feature which looks very dynamic, and I like it smaller size and should strap making it a great option to take on the go with you. And its price is great as well. The Soundcore Boom 2 Plus is a solid pick up. However, with these larger speakers you are going to get improved sound quality cause they sound more open, their mids are a lot more defined and the highs dont get distorted. And also if you use these speakers while they are plugged in, you are going to get a performance boost out of them.