Tag: Bluetooth Speaker REview

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Soundcore Motion Boom Review (30W, Bluetooth 5, USB-C)

Today I have one of Anker’s newer larger bluetooth speakers with the Soundcore Motion Boom. This thing reminds me of an old school boom box, and sorry if I just dated myself for knowing what a boom box is. The Motion boom has 30 watts of power, and a 10,000mAh internal battery to keep the tunes going for up to 24 hours. Thanks to Anker for sending this to me to take a listen and tell you more about it.

 

Pickup the Soundcore Motion Boom at Amazon at https://amazon.com/dp/B08LQNL42Z?tag=liquidretro0a-20 

 

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Packaging & Accessories

Packaging here is basic,  It’s a retail box with quite a bit of information on the outside about the specs, features, and it gives pictures and ideas of possible uses of the speaker. Inside accessories are pretty minimal, you get the speaker, a small manual, and a 3ft USB-A to C cable. 

 

Physical Description

The speaker itself is larger, I measured it at about 11.5” long, 6.5” tall and about 4” wide. It has a large handle on top thats molded into it’s overall shape, with a piece of branded rubber grip in the top. I found this handle super nice when moving the speaker around my house. Weight was 54.38oz so it’s got a bit of heft to it. That said one of the neat feature is that it’s IPX7 water rated and floats on water, so this could be a nice addition to your boat, beach parties, or backyard pool sessions too. It sounds decent when wet but it seems to want to balance face down in water so it would be best to keep it on shore. 

The front features a large traditional speaker grill with metal mesh, inside you can see the two 2.5” silver colored titanium speakers that do the bulk of the sound output. On the sides of the speaker you have the two bass reflectors, now when playing these move a decent amount but there is little protection for them. I would like to see grills here for added protection from sharp objects, or kids fingers as a hole here would affect the sound quality.

Internally there is a 10,000mAh battery that allows for up to 24 hours of playback time, depending on the volume being used and if the baseup sound enhancement feature is turned on. You can also charge your phone or other device from the USB-A port on the back of the unit when it’s turned on. The port cover in the rear is large, and fits quite tightly. USB-C is power in, USB-A is power out. Anker says the charge time is about 4 hours which I can confirm. 

 

Sound

The Motion Boom features 2 decently sized titanium drivers, I would guess they are about 3” in size along with 2 bass reflectors on each end of the speaker. Anker quotes it as having 30W of total power. This is a speaker designed for outdoors and I did some brief testing outdoors but the weather here has been below zero Fahrenheit for the past 2 weeks so it was minimal. I had no trouble with sound out on my deck, and it was plenty loud to hear in my moderately sized yard. 

 

Inside the sound quality was more than enough for a large sized room for music or youtube content. I didn’t notice any delay when synced up to video on my Ipad,l thanks to the Bluetooth 5 technology. The speaker can also pair to another Motion Boom to provide true stereo sound which I think would be really cool in a party situation. 

 

Personally I left the bassUP technology turned on, and noticed a difference in sound quality especially when playing music or a movie. It’s not as good as a real subwoofer but it’s better than most similarly sized bluetooth speakers. 

 

You do want to download and use the soundcore app with this speaker. It has 4 built in EQ settings, Soundcore Signature, Voice, Treble Boost and balanced, as well as Custom EQ settings that you can adjust and setup yourself. See my video for more on the app. 

 

Pro’s 

  • Pretty loud and decent bass with no distoration
  • Customized EQ settings via the Soundcore App
  • Handle is nice

 

Con’s

  • No Auxiliary port for connecting to an outdoor projector or laptop easily.
  • Bass reflectors lack protection on the sides.

 

Conclusion

My conclusion on the Soundcore Motion Boom is that it’s a nice speaker for both indoor and outdoor use. Sound quality was better then I expected, and the BassUP feature worked better then I expected. Mids and Highs are clear, and bass was decent for it’s size. I think it’s my best sounding Anker speaker to date. 

 

It has very solid construction, the handle was more useful than I expected. While the speaker does float, it tips forward putting the speakers in the water so it’s not practical to use while floating. This is ok, at least it doesn’t sink if it was to go into the water. 

 

Battery life here is great, I have no doubts it would last 24 hours. I do wish the USB-C port could be used for power out as well and that the speaker could be used as a powerbank when off but those are pretty minor issues.

 

Let me know what you think of the Anker Soundcore Motion Boom in the comments below! 

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Anker Soundcore Flare 2 Review (20W, USB-C & A Water Test!)

Anker has a new portable Bluetooth speaker out with the Soundcore Flare 2. This is a reasonably large speaker that features 360 degrees of sound, 20W of power, Sound reactive LED light rings, USB-C, it’s waterproof and linkable to up to 100 other Flare 2 Speakers. Thanks to Anker for sending this to me to look at, I have been enjoying it during these long stay at home times. For the best version of this review check out the video version for the water test, sound test, and light demonstration.

 

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Packaging

Anker always does a great job with it’s packaging and the Flare 2 is no different. The outer sleeve is where all the pictures and information are, and it has the hanger tag so maybe we will see these in retail too. Inside is a blue box where the speaker is nicely nestled along with the manual, happy/not happy card and a standard Anker USB-A to USB-C Cable that’s about 3ft long. 

Physical Descriptions

The speaker itself is an attractive design. It’s a cylinder shape that tapers out at the bottom a bit. The middle has a cloth mesh fabric covering it that’s black but with little flecks of gray woven in. At the top and bottom are 2 RGB LED light rings that are super smooth when they color change and are very evenly diffused. On the bottom there is a rubber pad to keep the speaker firmly in place, and at the top, it’s concave a bit. There is a power button, volume up and down, a button to change the LED modes, and then a multifunction button in the center that I use for play and pause. On the rear of the speaker there is a bluetooth pairing button, a bass up button and the cover for the USB-C port used for charging the speaker.

Physically the speaker is larger then a standard US pop can, at 3.4” at it’s widest, 2.9” at it’s narrowest, and 6.3” tall. I measured the weight at 1.33lbs. The speaker is IPX7 water rated, meaning it won’t be harmed by splashes or rain. It can even withstand complete submersion to shallow depths. I did test this and can agree but sound quality does suffer till the speaker dries out a bit. As a bonus the speaker does float.

It features a 5,200mAh batter inside which is good for 12 hours of playback time and in my testing I got at least this if not more. From empty to full the speaker took 3.5 hours to charge, and is capable of charging via USB-C to C and or with a USB-C PD charger which is great to see. 

 

The App & Lights

You wouldn’t think that a bluetooth speaker needs an app, but to get the most out of the Flare 2 you really do want to download the Soundcore app, available both on iOS and Android. The app can be used to change any of the defaults for the 5 preset equalizers, including making your own via the custom setting, turn the bass boost, on or off, as well as changing all the lights. You can also use it to adjust the volume, turn the speaker off, pair it to other Flare 2’s and even do firmware updates. I demonstrate this is the YouTube version of this review so make sure you check that out. 

 

There are 5 different light modes that are all sound reactive when the speaker is playing sound, within each you can further define the colors you want to use to better suit your mood or content. Imagine watching your favorite sporting event on your tablet and making your teams colors come through the speaker, Or having a party where you connect multiple Flare 2 speakers together to create a light show. 

 

Depending on what I was using the speaker for I found the LED’s to be a little distracting and annoying. For a party or out by the pool I think they make a lot of sense and there are a number of options in the app to change the colors and patterns for your liking. However when I was at home during quarantine and using the speaker for more volume of podcasts or watching netflix and YouTube while cooking it was a little distracting and I mostly turned them off. 

 

Sound

So how is the sound quality of the Flare 2? First it truly is 360 degree, I used this a lot in my kitchen while listing to YouTube and Netflix while cooking and one of the things i hate about other bluetooth speakers I have is when I would move around to maybe go get something in the pantry I would miss dialog because I was off axis of the speakers. The Flare 2 totally solves this. The same principle applies to music too. Here is a little demo I did walking around my dining room table trying to capture that there are no dead spots.

 

I did notice a small amount of delay when watching YouTube and Netflix with this speaker on my iPad, more so then my Android phone, not a major deal but definitely something to mention. Hopefully future firmware updates continue to improve this. 

 

Using the soundcore app to get the right sound for you is important I feel like as well. I enjoyed the default setting with the Bass Up feature turned on and thought it was great. I used the voice mode a bit for some podcasts, it turns up higher frequencies and minimizes bass. There is custom too where you can create your own.

 

I also listened to it out on my deck and it gets plenty loud enough here but I did notice on especially bass heavy music at high volumes the bass was tuned out a bit and it made more of a splat instead of being clean. That said this is a small speaker and I don’t expect subwoofer level performance. Here is a clip I took of it outside as well.

 

Pro’s

  • Great sound quality at reasonable volumes for its size.
  • True 360 degree sound 
  • Impressive water resistance (IPX7) and battery life (12 hr)
  • Great integration and customization with the Soundcore app

 

Con’s

  • Doesn’t always seem to remember the last LED setting you used like Off.
  • No 3.5mm jack which I am ok with.
  • Bass does fade and get muddy at higher volumes.
  • I did notice a little delay on some youtube/netflix content but it was small.

 

Conclusion

Overall the sound quality here exceeded my expectations for the size of the Flare 2. I wish I could have tried the feature allowing you to link up to 100 speakers as I think that could really be impressive surround sound and light show capabilities. For me the lights are not a feature I was needing in a bluetooth speaker but given this is designed for parties, out at the pool etc I could see it being a feature people would like.

 

I was impressed with the Soundcore App’s integration with the Flare 2, it’s a must have for any Flare 2 owner to dial in the sound profile and light patterns that you want, and to get those important firmware updates over time.Overall I am impressed with the Flare 2 and look forward to using it for many more years.

 

Pickup the Anker Soundcore Flare 2 on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3dIUsoL 

View the full image gallery: https://imgur.com/a/khqzDR9