Here we have selected Charge 3 JBL vs UE Boom 2 Bluetooth speakers for review considering the budget of around $100 and tested both the speakers for mainly Sound quality performance versus features and cost, to find out which one is the best Bluetooth speaker brand & why ?

Well the market of portable speakers is revolving around brands like JBL, Ultimate Ears, Amazon, Bose where all these big brands are trying to deliver decent, portable wireless Bluetooth speakers that sound pretty good, last long in single charge, used as USB charger, Waterproof so as to use along poolside party or on beach party. They are shaped trendy & available in multiple colors that suits your party mood. Not only this they can be easily paired together, sometimes even 100 at a time to get extra loud party sound ! Wow !! simply amazing !!!

Surely in a range of $100 you will find a number of portable wireless Bluetooth speaker options, both branded and non branded. We researched for the best ones in budget of $100 and come up with Top Two popular speakers that comes from JBL and Ultimate Ears. Yes we are comparing here the top 2 best wireless speakers JBL Charge 3 vs UE Boom 2

Charge 3 JBL vs UE Boom 2 : Which is the Best Speaker ?

Well we tested both the UE Boom 2 and JBL Charge 3 to find out which is the BEST.

Here now we are going to review & compare JBL Charge 3 vs UE Boom 2 for the following aspects –

1. Price
2. Sound Quality performance
   – Bass
   – Volume (Loudness)
   [Don’t forget to listen the video to determine sound quality]
3. Design
4. Features
5. Battery life
6. Bluetooth range

Do not forget to listen the video embedded in this post, which provides you comparison of Sound Quality of both speakers, listening to which you will be surely able to make out which one is the best suit for your taste. (Since sound is subjective matter, its only you can decide which one is best)

Lets begin with a detailed comparison based on our testing, get into depth of each feature for these two Bluetooth speakers and at the end of post look at comparison table showing glimpse of technical specifications, strengths and weaknesses of each speaker against each other.

Head to Head comparison, which is the best?

JBL Charge 3 vs UE Boom 2 review

Charge 3 JBL vs UE Boom 2 – Design

First and foremost requirement of any electronic gadget is function and looks.

Both the JBL Charge 3 and the UE Boom 2 have attractive design quotient using high quality fabric & rubber materials. Both of them offer a Cylindrical shaped design and have almost similar sizes — though in our opinion the UE Boom 2 looks to be slightly more minimalistic and simple, we mean not trendy like Charge 3. Both speakers offers similar looking but slightly tweaked designs, but as said looks and style are completely persons preferences, so we leave it upto you to decide which speaker wins the battle of design !

Colors:

Both companies provides different trendy color options to their customers.

The JBL Charge 3 comes in six colors, while the UE Boom 2 comes in a hefty 10 colors. Specially I love the camouflage color from JBL which suits to my outdoor hiking trails.

Charge 3 JBL SIX colors : : Red, Grey, Black, Teal, Blue and a special edition color – Squad

UE Boom 2 TEN colors : : BrainFreeze, CherryBomb, GreenMachine, Tropical, Yeti, Marina, AfterHours, CityScape

Anyway we would say that both JBL and UE have created wonderful Bluetooth speaker designs which comes in beautiful colors and skin designs, which make them absolute favorites.

Controls:

The JBL Charge 3 isn’t as minimalistic as UE Boom 2, but it is shaped to look contemporary. This speaker is designed to be placed horizontally, and features volume, power, and playback controls on the top, as well as battery indicator lights along the bottom. You can easily see the prominent play control buttons on the speaker top, whereas UE Boom 2 has tap controls. Its personal choice though which one you like.

Coming to the UE Boom 2, On the top you’ll find two large Volume up, and Volume down buttons. They look pretty large compared to JBL Charge 3 buttons ! Similarly you’ll find a power button and a Bluetooth pairing buttons too. Now the fun is if you wish to control the music, you don’t have to touch any real buttons but you’ll tap on the speaker ! Something really different and intuitive way to control the music !

Tip : Tap the top of BOOM 2 once to play or pause a song and twice to skip songs.

Remote voice control : Locate your speaker wherever you wish to !

Both the JBL Charge 3 & UE Boom 2 have great feature of using voice commands to start music with Siri, Google Now, and Alexa integration, now this is a boon while you are in a swimming pool or beach side party, simply control the speaker from a distance to change and play your favorite music tracks !

Further UE Boom 2 App can be used from smart phone to control the music on bluetooth speaker, this is an added advantage and a reason not to reach speaker to play music.

Pairing:

Both the speakers can be paired with other speaker to provide you a stereo experience, which makes the pool party much more interesting and louder.

3.5 mm Jack: Connect to MP3 player or laptop or old music system

In case you wish to have direct connection to the speaker, which might be say output from your laptop or a MP3/MP4 player, then you can do so using a standard 3.5 mm jack, both speakers have that facility.

Battery Life:

Now coming to one of the important determining factor to buy a speaker, which is battery life.

Here JBL Charge 3 clearly wins the battle delivering continuous 20 hours of music playtime as against only 15 hours in the UE Boom 2. Remember that the playtime is totally dependent upon the type and volume of music being played.

Well its your call though if you really like to give more marks to JBL for the extra 5 hours of battery life ? Mostly if you are outdoor lover then surely JBL wins the time battle. But again point to be noted here is that UE Boom 2 has only 2.5 hours of charging time which is quite less than 4.5 hours of JBL Charge 3’s time.

Tip : JBL Charge 3 has USB port which allows you to charge your mobile on the go.

Waterproofing ?

Mostly our weekends goes along the beach side or pool parties, where the speakers are ought to face the music of water !

In line with latest trend in the market, both the speakers are waterproof to the level of IPX7, meaning they will survive even after being submerging into water upto the depth of 1 meter till 30 minutes.
[Read more on IPX7 water resistance here]

JBL Charge 3 vs UE Boom 2 – Sound

While one of the above speaker wins the battle of trendy and contemporary design, second and most important part comes is the Quality of Sound it can deliver. What if the speaker looks great but sounds bad ?

In the battery life section we saw that JBL wins the battle by providing 20 hours of music playtime, similarly one more battle it wins, which is loudness. Yes, JBL Charge 3 is much louder than UE Boom 2. So if you are considering mainly outdoor use, JBL clearly wins the race.

With its 45 mm drivers the JBL Charge 3, offers plenty of bass, you can say Mega-Bass, still retaining a decent sound quality in the mid range to high end. As compared the UE Boom 2’s delivers pretty balanced sound, especially the mid range to high-end, but for a bass lover surely UE Boom 2 is lacking a bit.

Both speakers are powered with 45 mm active drivers and two passive radiators, which is pretty standardized design for such type of Bluetooth speakers in market.

360-degree Omnidirectional sound !

The UE Boom 2 comes with a 360-degree omnidirectional sound feature that the JBL Charge 3 doesn’t have !

360-degree Omnidirectional sound means, while you place the speaker in an upright position, you get to listen decent sound all around, good for an outdoor party as against the JBL Charge 3, which delivers directional sound, which means it will perform well when placed near a wall or facing the group of people. 

In general, on sound levels both the speakers sound pretty good, you will have to decide what’s suits you, a 360-degree omni-directional UE Boom 2 sound or the Mega Bass loud sound of the JBL Charge 3 ?

While you are inside a room or hall, JBL needs to be located near a wall against UE boom can be placed almost anywhere due to its omni directional capabilities.

Echo-cancelling Speakerphone:

Both the speakers has speakerphone facility which allows you to get your calls without reaching to your phone. We think this basic feature is pretty useful while you are swimming in a pool or getting your volleyball on the beach !

So what we feel is that you should listen to both speakers, either by visiting the showrooms or listening to below video on headphones.

Listen & Compare the sounds of JBL Charge 3 vs UE Boom 2

We strongly suggest to see below video review showing the real sound comparison in between JBL Charge 3 vs UE Boom 2, remember to listen to it using earphones, this will give you fairly descent idea on which one of both do you like in terms of sound quality.

JBL Charge 3 vs UE Boom 2 Comparison table

Which one is best JBL Charge 3 vs UE Boom 2 ?

From time to time with slight fluctuations in price, both these speakers sell around $100 mark and hence we have looked into the features rather than the price [may be $10-15 difference during different times of the year]

Considering all the aspects of design, quality of sound, battery life, portability, & finally price we have a clear winner here, yes in out view its JBL Charge 3.

Although the UE Boom 2 is packed with descent features, the JBL Charge 3 offers a practical implementation of truly portable speaker design.

Still, we do not say completely NO to buy the UE Boom 2, surely it has its own specialties like a 360-degree omnidirectional sound delivery with a simplistic design, good to be packaged in to your backpack. But for more reasons than this we would love to go with the JBL Charge 3.

Hiking, Trekking, Travelling : You need light weight & small speaker that goes well in your backpack, then maybe you should choose UE Boom 2. [One plus point of JBL Charge 3 is USB port for mobile charging which plays vital role during trekking & travelling, do not forget this smart feature]

Pool side Party, Beach Party :
You need Mega Bass extra loud sound with lot of battery power, in that case go for Charge 3.
[ Both the speakers uses voice commands to start music with Siri, Google Now, and Alexa integration which is most important when you are in a swimming pool or beach side party ]

Hope this helps !

Cheers !!

Finally some knowledge base for our HozBuy.com readers :

How to pair JBL Charge 3 ?

Pairing JBL Charge 3 with your iPhone or iPad or Android phone is pretty simple process. It takes only few minutes to pair Charge 3 with any Bluetooth compatible device.

Please follow these simple steps to pair JBL Charge 3 :

1. Power ON your JBL Charge 3 speaker.
2. Press the Bluetooth button for a few seconds, this will switch your JBL Charge 3 speaker into a pairing mode.
3. Now turn on Bluetooth in your smartphone, laptop or tablet
4. In the list of Bluetooth devices list, locate & select JBL Charge 3, press connect.
5. In few seconds you will pair both devices and you are ready to play music.

For your convenience we have provided a detailed video on how to pair JBL Charge 3 with your iPhone :

How to pair UE BOOM 2 ?

Pairing UE Boom 2 with your iPhone or iPad or Android phone is exactly same as the JBL Charge 3, so simply follow the same steps mentioned above to pair it and listen to the music.

For your convenience we have provided a detailed video on how to pair UE Boom 2 with your iPhone :

Which Apps I need to download for JBL Charge 3 ?

Both these Bluetooth speakers provide mobile applications (App) to enhance its capabilities and make it easier to use.

JBL Music App features:

• Audio Equalizer :
  Tweak and tune sound performance to suit your taste.
• Download the JBL Music App for JBL Charge 3 from Google Play – Android devicesDownload the JBL Music App for JBL Charge 3 from Apple store – iOS devices

JBL Music App download for FREE

JBL Connect App features:

• For connecting two Charge 3 speakers to each other download & use an app called JBL Connect.
• Now enhance your music by connecting several devices to each other.
• Download JBL Connect – Apps on Google Play
• Download JBL Connect on the App Store – iTunes – Apple

JBL Connect App download for FREE

Which Apps I need to download for UE Boom 2 ?

Boom & Megaboom are the Apps you can download and use for your UE Boom 2 speaker to create the amazing music experience.

UE Boom App features:

• #PartyUp Lets you to connect 150+ speakers
• Siri Integration
• Controlling Sound & Equalizer
• Remote ON & OFF Function
• Block Party
• Alarm
• Subscription for Updates
• Download UE BOOM App on the App Store – iTunes – Apple
• Download UE BOOM App on Google Play

UE Boom App download for FREE

Summary

Reviewer

Smita

Review Date

2018-06-17

Reviewed Item

Charge 3 JBL vs UE Boom 2

Author Rating

5