Ultimate Ears upped the ante on its Bluetooth speaker lineup Tuesday, unveiling the ginormous new Hyperboom. The 13-pound block-rocker comes with features that make it seem like the perfect party speaker. But the $399 price tag might bust your beer budget.
The speaker “gets any party going with its supermassive sound, extreme bass, a wide dynamic range that brings your music to life, adaptive equalizer (EQ) and a rechargeable 24-hour battery,” the company said in a press release.
Hyperboom specs
UE said the speaker pumps out three times the loudness and 6.5 times the bass of the company’s previous heavy hitter, the Megaboom 3. The tech sheet says Hyperboom can hit a maximum sound pressure level of 100 dBC, with a frequency range of 45Hz to 20KHz.
The jumbo speaker measures 14.33 inches high by 7.5 inches deep by 7.5 inches wide. That jumbo chassis encloses two 4.5-inch woofers, two 1-inch tweeters and two 3.5-inch by 7.5-inch passive radiators. Bluetooth range can reach 150 feet. Battery charge time is 2.6 hours.
Hyperboom brings the bass
Photos: Ultimate Ears
The Hyperboom comes with four input sources: two Bluetooth, one 3.5mm auxiliary and one optical audio. That’s good for sharing tunes, since users can quickly switch between four different music sources. It also lets users play Apple Music playlists at the press of a button. (It works with Amazon Music, Deezer Premium and Spotify for Android, too.) And they can play, pause and skip tracks directly from the speaker.
Hyperboom works with the Boom app, which adds advanced features like customizable EQ to many of UE’s great-sounding Bluetooth speakers. And you can connect multiple UE speakers using the company’s PartyUp feature. You also can play, pause and skip tracks directly from the speaker.
Adaptive EQ
The adaptive EQ feature sounds like it functions similarly to Apple’s HomePod smart speaker. “Hyperboom does all the heavy lifting to rock pitch-perfect sound in any space,” UE said. “The speaker’s adaptive EQ reads the room — or patio, or rooftop — then automatically adjusts the sound to whatever space it’s in.”
With an IPX4 rating, it’s not quite as bulletproof as some of UE’s other Bluetooth speakers (some of which float). However, Hyperboom’s “IPX4 rating party-proofs it from drink spills or pool splashes,” UE said. Strangely for a company known for its wildly colorful speakers, the Hyperboom comes in black only (at least for now). The device also acts as a backup battery for dying phones, thanks to a USB charging port on the blocky speaker’s spine.
The Hyperboom ships in early March, UE said.
Preorder from: Ultimate Ears
