Bose Soundlink Max Vs JBL Boombox 3 & Sony ULT 7

July 19, 2024 Alexis Herrera

Get Them Here:

Bose Soundlink Max: https://amzn.to/3y1zBfj

So the Bose Soundlink Max is a very premium feeling speaker, I really appreciate that it still has an audio jack and I like that you can use its USB C port to charge your own devices. However relative to its size and price and overall performance, I feel the Bose Soundlink Max is over priced and hard to justify. But today we’re going to see how the Bose Soundlink Max stacks up to both the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony ULT 7 which aren’t far off from the Bose Soundlink Max.

Regarding pricing, the Bose Soundlink Max retails for $400, very up there if you ask me epically relative to its sound performance. And if you want a shoulder strap, thats going to be sold separately for $45. But then there are both the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony ULT 7 which both retail for $500, but they do like to go on sale for around $400, so do you see why im saying the Bose is hard to justify. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these speakers, they’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.

Now first theres the design of these speakers. One of the main selling points of the Soundlink Max is just that its small and durable, so you can easily take it on the go with you… and if you want you can get a shoulder strap for it. However, there are plenty of other speakers out there that come included with a shoulder strap. Personally I dont think that its cool that bose is selling the shoulder strap separately. Now, both the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony ULT 7 are portable and they are easy enough to take on the go with you, however these speakers are larger and they are heavier cause the Boombox 3 weighs in at 14.7 pounds and the ULT 7 weighs in at 13.9 pounds… where as the Bose weighs in at 4.9 pounds. So the Bose is a lot smaller and portable, but all of these speakers are equally as durable, and they’re all water proof.

However, there is one thing that the ULT 7 has over these two JBL speakers and thats its built in light feature that’s tucked away in its passive radiator. Now its there if you want it, but personally I dont use this light feature cause its hard to so and it does take an additional toll on the battery life. So personally I just use the ULT 7 without the light feature an instead I enjoy the improved battery life.

Now when it comes to battery life, the Bose Soundlink Max has an advertised battery life of 20 hours, but this advertised battery life of 20 hours is with this speaker playing at 65% volume, which is not bad, but this speaker is a little quiet for its size and price. But real world use with this speaker playing at 85% its good for about 10 hours of playback time.

But then theres the Boombox 3 which has an advertised battery life of 24 hours but this advertised battery life of 24 hours is with this speaker playing at 50% volume. Real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume its good for about 8 hours of playback time.

But then theres the Sony ULT 7 which has an advertised battery life of 30 hours, but that’s with this speaker playing at 32% volume but with the light feature turned off but with the ULT feature turned on, which is good. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume and while set to ULT 2 it good for about 8 hours of playback time as well. And the ULT 7 gets a little louder than the Boombox 3 and obviously, these two larger speakers get significantly louder than the Bose Soundlink Max.

But when it comes to chargning these speakers both the Boombox 3 and ULT 7 charge via a double barrel AC port and there are no external power bricks that you have to worry about. Where as the bose charges via a USB C port so you can either charge it with your phone’s USB C charging cable, or you can use the included chargning cable. But with both the JBL and Sony, 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.

But then there are the ports on these speakers, now with all of these speakers they still have an audio jack so you can use them with a wired connection, and this is a big deal for the bose, because smaller speakers like these are starting to remove the audio jack. But the thing that I really like about the bose here is that you can use its USB C port to charge your own devices, which I feel is super convenient. Where as with these other two speakers, you can only charge your phone with their USB A port… and I think thats pointless cause most phones these days come with USB C to USB C charging.

However, with the ULT 7 you can plug in a USB Stick and play music off of it.

But something that the ULT 7 has over both the Boombox 3 and Xtreme 4 is that it has a quarter inch input so you can either plug in a microphone for karaoke or you can always plug in a guitar. But more realisitcly I think its great that the ULT 7 can be used for karaoke, I just hope that you’re decent at it and not just getting gassed up cause your aunt is clapping in the background saying how great you are.

And when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, all of these speakers can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so 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, the Boombox 3 only has support for SBC and AAC where as the ULT 7 has support for SBC AAC and LDAC which is Sony’s own high res audio codec… and the Bose has support for SBC AAC and APTX Adaptive. However if you want to take advantage of either LDAC or APTX you do have to be an android user.

But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set up, the Bose has dual frontward firing woofers which are angled out a little bit, there’s a single frontward firing tweeter and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. But then theres the ULT 7 which has dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. But then theres the Boombox 3 which has a frontward firing subwoofer, dual frontward firing woofers, 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 in and you can adjust their EQ to your liking… But with the ULT 7… you can either adjust its EQ to your liking, or instead you can use either of its 2 ULT Settings. Theres ULT one which is going to give you more bass and then there’s ULT 2 which is also going to give you more bass but its also going to amplify its mids. And like I mentioned earlier, with both the Boombox 3 and ULT 7, if you use these speakers 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. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest, the bose is playing at max volume so that it has a chance of keeping up, and its playing with my preferred EQ settings of the Bass raised by 4 clicks and the treble raised by 5 clicks cause im trying to help it out. Where as both the Boombox 3 and ULT 7 are playing at 75% volume while unplugged and the ULT 7 is playing while in ULT2.

Sound test

So obviously, either the Boombox 3 or ULT 7 are going to get louder, they are going to sound more open and they are going to have more bass than the Bose simply just cause they’re larger. Thats a given. But if we simply focus on the Bose, personally I feel that this speaker doesn’t get as loud as you’d expect for its size and price and also, I cant help but feel that with its stock EQ and in real life, the Bose sounds hallow. Yes it has a lot of bass and the vocals are very pronounced… but the instrumentals feel lost. So this is why I have said that the Bose is hard to justify for me. But then theres the max volume performance, the Bose is good for like an 8 persona party where as the Boombox 3 and ULT 7 are good for like a 15 person party. But also theres the fact that with both of these larger speakers, if you use them while they are plugged in you are going to get a performance bump out of them. So if we strictly think about price, I would much rather go with either the JBL or Sony here over the Bose. But I understand that these speakers might be too big for you depending on your needs. But if I had to choose between the Boombox 3 and ULT 7, I am going with the ULT 7 cause it sounds more open, has more bass and gets a little louder.

But finally lets talk about spring this speaker up with other speakers. Now with the Bose Soundlink Max, pairing is very limited. All you can do is use simple sync with your other bose products and get them to play in sync… but simple sync works with any Bluetooth product. So theoretically, you can connect a JBL Xtreme 4 or Soundcore boom 2 plus to your Bose smart soundbar and get them to play in sync.

Where as with these other two speakers, if you have two of the exact same speakers then you can get them and have them play in left and right stereo mode. But then, theres the Boombox 3 which is using party boost and you can pair it up to other party boost speakers like either another Boombox 3, a Boombox 2, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Pulse 5, Pulse 4, Flip 5, or flip 6 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together and get them to play in sync. But also, you can connect your Boombox 3 to JBL’s newer speakers that are using Aura Cast like either an Xtreme 4, Clip 5 or Go 4.

The only thing is, you can not wirelessly connect your Boombox 3 to any of JBL’s larger Partybox speakers… even the new Partybox 120, 320 or Ultimate, cause even though these speakers are using aura cast like the Xtreme 4, the Boombox 3 does not want to talk to the Partybox 320.

But then there the Sony ULT 7 which is using Sony’s Party Connect, and you can pair it up to other Party connect speakers like either another ULT 7, or to an XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200 or to an XB43, XB33 or to an XB23 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together and get them to play in sync… or you can also pair your ULT 7 to any of Sony’s larger box speakers that are also using Party connect like either the ULT Tower 10, XV900, XV800, XV500 or XP700 or XP500. The only sad thing here is that you can’t connect the ULT 7 to Sony’s ULT Field 1.

Overall, both JBL and Sony give you a lot of options if you plan on growing your speaker collection, but I personally do prefer Sony here cause I am starting to notice a lot of dropouts with Aura cast. And sadly, this is and area where bose really dropped the ball here.

But with all of that being said, the Bose Soundlink max is a very premium feeling speaker… however due to its price to performance ratio, I find it very hard to justify this speaker. It doesn’t sound as open as id expect, it doesn’t get as loud as id expect, and its pairing capabilities are very weak. Quiet honestly, if you need a small and loud speaker you’ll be much better off going with the JBL Xtreme 4 or Soundcore Boom 2 Plus. But if size isn’t an issue, then I highly recommend that you spring for either the Boombox 3 or ULT 7 over the bose. Personally I do lean towards the ULT 7 cause it sound more open, it has more bass, it gets louder and it can be used for karaoke.