JBL Xtreme 4: https://amzn.to/4guALRw
Bose Max: https://amzn.to/41NCb52
EarFun UBOOM X : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D53P1PQ8
Get $30 Off With Code UBOOMXGC
So this is the Earfun UBOOM X, its a very affordable large bluetooth speaker that gets imrpessively loud and it has some extra useful features as well. And today we’re going to see how this speaker compares to both the JBL Xtreme 4 and Bose Soundlink Max which are much more popular and much more expensive.
Regarding pricing, the Earfun UBOOM X has a retail price of $190 which is extremely reasonable if you ask me, and it can also be found on sale for $160 from time to time. Where as the Bose max has a retail price of $400 and the JBL Xtreme 4 has a retail price of $380… but they both like to go on sale for $300. 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, now the Earfun UBOOM X is noticeably larger than both the JBL Xtreme 4 and Bose Max… but this speaker is still relatively easy to take on the go with you. But more importantly, the UBOOM X comes included with a shoulder strap just like the Xtreme 4, so you can throw it over your shoulder which makes it a whole lot easier to take it on the go with you. But the biggest design difference between the UBOOM X and these other two speakers is that it has a built in light feature… now this light feature works best while indoors or at night and its a nice feature to have… but its not the best looking light feature out there. But its there if you want it. Overall, the Earfun UBOOM X is portable and durable… but these other two speakers are more portable cause they’re noticeably smaller, and they also feel more durable and premium cause they are using finer materials.
Now when it comes to battery life, the UBOOM X has an advertised battery life of 30 hours… which is a lot. However this advertised battery life of 30 hours is with this speaker playing at 50% volume, with its stock EQ and with the light feature turned off… which is still good. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, which is already very loud, and with the light feature turned off, its good for about 10 hours of playback time… not bad at all.
Where as with the Bose Max, it has an advertised battery life of 20 hours while its playing at 65% volume. But real world use with this speaker playing at 85% volume, its good for about 10 hours of playback time. And this is a speaker that you’ll might want to use at a slightly higher volume on a regular basis cause its a little quiet for its size.
Where as with the Xtreme 4, this speaker has an advertised battery life of 24 hours while its playing at 50% volume which is similar to the Bose max playing at 65% volume. And real world use with this speakers playing at 80% volume, its good for about 14 hours of playback time. And 80% volume on the Xtreme 4 is noticeably louder than 85% volume on the Bose Max.
But one of the biggest things about the Xtreme 4 is that you can fairly easily remove the battery. Now its fairly easy to remove cause you have to unscrew some bolts. But the important thing here is, if after 3 or 4 years, your speaker battery doesn’t last as long, then you can just replace it… or if you have multiple batteries than you can keep the party going cause honestly, swapping out this battery isn’t all that hard.
Now when it comes to charging these speakers, they all charge via a USB C port, which is great… but with the Xtreme 4, if you use it with its included chargning cable, then you are going to get a performance boost out of it, its going to get louder and you’re going to have more bass. And that doesn’t happen with these other two speakers.
But the good thing about all of these speakers is that you can use their USB C port to charge your won devices, which I feel is extremely useful. But just keep in mind, you cant use these USB C ports as a wired connection. But both the Bose and UBOOM X still have an audio jack, where as the Xtreme 4 doesn’t.
but then 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. But when it comes to audio codecs, the Xtreme 4 only has support for SBC where as the UBOOM X has support for SBC and AAC and the Bose has support for SBC AAC and APTX Adaptive
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, theres a single frontward firing tweeter and there are dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Where as these other two speakers have dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Except on the Earfun UBOOM X, its larger. And with all of these speakers you can go into their apps and adjust their EQ to your liking of you can choose from a few premade EQs. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. All of these speakers are playing at 75% volume with their stock EQ’s.
Sound Test
So sound quality wise, I think the Earfun UBOOM X performs very well. From a max volume and bass standpoint, this speaker does get louder and it has more physicality in its bass than these other two speakers cause it is larger. However, I have noticed that at higher volumes, there can be some distortion in the highs… it doesn’t happen super often, but it does happen enough to were I need to mention it. Where as distortion is not a problem with these other two speakers. I honestly think that the Earfun UBOOM X sounds best when its below 80% volume. But overall, the UBOOM X sounds and performs very well for its size and price. Now if you were to compare this speaker directly to the Bose max… first off the Bose max just doesn’t get as loud as these other two speakers, and it does like to leans towards a warmer sound signature. And then theres the JBL Xtreme 4 which leans towards a brighter sound signature, so you’ll might want to go into its apps and reduce the highs on this speaker… but more importantly it does have better instrument separation. But overall, the Earfun UBOOM X performs very well for its size and price.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now with all of these speakers, if you have two of the same speakers then you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode. But with the bose you can only have a total of 2 speakers wirelessly paired to one another, and you can pair it up to the Flex 2 and get them to play in sync.
Where as with the UBOOM X, you can pair a total of 50 speakers together and get them to play in sync.
But then theres the JBL Xtreme 4 which is using aura cast. So you can wirelessly pair it up to any other aura cast speaker, and aura cast is a universal speaker pairing protocol. So you can pair you JBL speaker to any other speaker regardless of brand as long as it has aura cast. But personally im not the biggest fan of aurcast right now cause it is very slow, and echos happen a lot.
But thankfully, the JBL Xtreme 4 is backwards compatible with JBL’s older speakers that are using party boost. So you can pair your Xtreme 4 up to other party boost speakers like either a Boombox 3, a Boombox 2, an Xtreme 3, Charge 5, a Pulse 5, a Pulse 4 a flip 5 or to a flip 6 and get them to play in sync and you can pair up to 100 speakers together.
So if you plan on getting more than two speaker then you’ll want to go with the Xtreme 4… now aura cast gets the job done and its the future… but I still prefer JBL’s own speaker pairing protocol Partyboost cause its a lot faster, and a lot more stable than aura cast.
But with all of that being said, the Earfun UBOOM X gives you a really big bang for your buck. It sounds good, it gets loud and it has a lot of bass for its price. But just be warned, you can get a little distortion at higher volumes on rare occasions. The UBOOM X also have a decent battery life, it has a built in light feature and you can use its USB C port to charge your own devices. Overall, the Earfun UBOOM X is solid affordable option to consider, but with both the JBL Xtreme 4 and Bose max, these speakers do offer a more premium feel. But more importantly, with the Xtreme 4 you get important features like a removable battery, aurcast and better instrument seperation.