EarFun Uboom L review

Finest Costs In the present day: EarFun Uboom L

You’ve most likely heard of Sonos and JBL. You may presumably know of Anker, however will nearly definitely draw a clean in relation to EarFun.

And also you’d be forgiven for that. There are actually a whole lot of audio manufacturers competing in your hard-earned money: simply search Amazon for Bluetooth speaker and also you’ll see web page upon web page of outcomes from manufacturers that sound like they got here from an automated title generator.

EarFun, you’ll most likely agree, doesn’t fare significantly better on this respect, however the excellent news is that the Bluetooth audio system it makes are distinctive.

Its first, the Uboom, wowed us with its nice sound and construct high quality for a surprisingly low value.

The follow-up, the oddly named Uboom L, improves in each respect and though a bit costlier, it nonetheless makes rival audio system from the massive manufacturers look ludicrously overpriced.

Options & design

• IPX7 waterproof & floats
• 2x 55mm drivers, 28W
• Bluetooth 5.0
• As much as 16 hours of battery life

Just a little bigger than the Uboom, the Uboom L measures 8.3 x 3.1 x 3in (210 x 78 x 72mm) and weighs 2.1lb (650g).

Jim Martin / Foundry

It has the identical black woven material masking and rubbery coating over the plastic body. In contrast to the Uboom, and Sonos Roam, it’s designed for use horizontally and has two 55mm drivers and two passive bass radiators, one on every finish.

Buttons are on high and are the identical as on the Uboom. Which means quantity management, energy, Bluetooth, play/pause and the sound mode button.

Jim Martin / Foundry

The latter switches between indoor and out of doors mode, however we’ll get to sound high quality in a bit.

On the rear is a rubber cowl with a 3.5mm aux enter and a USB-C port for charging: a cable is included within the field, however not a charger.

Jim Martin / Foundry

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EarFun’s surprisingly named Sweatshield expertise merely implies that the Uboom L is successfully waterproof and, as a result of it floats, you can even put it in a pool and take heed to it on the water. That isn’t advisable, although, particularly when you care about sound high quality.

The purpose is, you should utilize it outdoors with out worrying it’ll be broken by the rain, or an unintentional drop into the ocean.

EarFun claims a most Bluetooth vary of 15m, and this is applicable even when you use the Uboom L’s celebration trick, which is true stereo playback. For this you want two Uboom Ls, however in addition to costing lower than a single Sonos Roam, it’s supremely straightforward to get stereo sound from them.

So long as one is paired along with your cellphone, you possibly can activate the second and press the Bluetooth button on each audio system for 2 seconds. They’ll beep to substantiate and sound might be instantly performed in stereo (assuming no matter you’re streaming is in stereo, that’s).

There’s another characteristic: with a built-in microphone, the Uboom L can be utilized for hands-free calls.

Sound high quality

One of many huge sights is that EarFun has turned to Olaf Lubanski, an Austrian music producer, to ‘tune’ the Uboom L.

I hadn’t heard of him earlier than, however he clearly is aware of what he’s doing. His transient was to create an “trustworthy and pure sound copy in all environments and in any respect sound ranges”, and that has definitely been achieved.

If you wish to know extra, it’s value watching Oluv’s 45-minute video.

Initially, I used to be upset with the dearth of bass, however taking part in the identical take a look at tracks on the unique Uboom and Uboom L aspect by aspect proved that the newcomer’s low frequencies are a minimum of pretty much as good.

For those who actually need thumping bass, you’ll have to go for a a lot bigger speaker than these small, transportable fashions.

Jim Martin / Foundry

What’s spectacular is the readability and separation of the Uboom L’s soundstage. And as Oluv states, the indoor sound mode has a pleasant, flat response which implies bass, mids and highs are equally represented and none is emphasised over one other.

Even with a single Uboom L, the soundstage is wider than the unique Uboom’s with excessive hats and different high-frequency sounds seeming to come back from different elements of the room and never instantly from the speaker itself. This was significantly noticeable in Le Flex’s rendition of Clouds throughout the moon, and is because of the truth that the 2 drivers are very barely angled outwards.

The bass radiators are, apparently, tuned to 65Hz. This implies there’s no sub-bass in any respect, which is probably going one cause why it wasn’t as bassy as I had anticipated. However of the bass notes it could ship, the Uboom L is extraordinarily tight and well-defined.

There’s definitely no muddiness to the sound: vocals are bitingly clear as is percussion, but with none scratchiness or harshness that makes a speaker fatiguing to take heed to. I significantly loved listening to Moonchild’s The Remedy on the Uboom L, the place Amber Navran’s dreamy vocal is entrance and centre, with backing vocals, keyboards and bass are simply as clear and properly outlined.

For those who actually wish to push the boat out and use the financial savings (in comparison with the Roam or JBL Cost 4) to purchase a pair of Uboom Ls, you’ll love the additional quantity you get from 56W of energy from the 4 14W drivers.

Jim Martin / Foundry

However, actually, it’s the stereo sound that places a smile in your face. We’ve grown too used to listening to mono sound from Bluetooth and good audio system and have, most likely, forgotten how a lot stereo can improve a bit of music.

Listening to Toto’s Rosanna, for instance, demonstrates this properly. An additional dimension is added to every little thing from the lead vocal to the piano and guitar. However Radiohead’s The Nationwide Anthem is maybe even higher with devices and vocals clearly coming from completely different sides of the soundstage. Bass is surprisingly potent on this observe, too.

Thus far, that is all in ‘Indoor’ mode. However press the sound mode button and a white LED will gentle to point it’s now in Outside mode. This boosts bass and sure increased frequencies to enhance the sound in noisier out of doors environments. It really works, too, and though the comparatively low energy output means it’ll sound greatest when there isn’t a great deal of background noise, the Uboom L once more excels in comparison with a lot pricier rivals with wonderful readability.

You may, in fact, use out of doors mode whereas indoors when you like, and I appreciated the additional bass. However, actually, this isn’t what it’s designed for.

Jim Martin / Foundry

One of many bugbears of Bluetooth is latency. This can be a downside if you wish to use a Bluetooth speaker to look at movies in your cellphone, say, as a result of the sound might be out of sync with the image. Fortuitously, EarFun considered this, and urgent the Bluetooth button twice allows ‘video mode’.

This shortens the connection distance a bit, however the principle disadvantage is that stereo sound isn’t potential on this mode. It reduces latency to a degree the place movies are completely watchable with no noticeable lip-sync points.

Value & availability

Formally, the Uboom L goes on sale on 11 July and prices $79.99 / £69.99 / €79.99. You should buy it direct from EarFun’s web site, however it will likely be offered by Amazon as properly.

For those who learn this evaluate earlier than that date, it can save you 25% off these costs by signing up for a reduction code on EarFun’s web site. That might be emailed to you and you should utilize it as soon as the Uboom L is on sale both on Amazon or EarFun’s web site.

Even on the regular value, the Uboom L is great worth and makes most of its big-name rivals appear vastly overpriced.

But when even that is too wealthy in your pockets, listed below are the very best low cost Bluetooth audio system, a few of that are even cheaper, together with the unique Uboom.

Verdict

EarFun has performed it once more. The Uboom L punches properly past its value and may make you query why Sonos, Bose and others cost considerably extra for the Roam, SoundLink Flex and different similar-size and spec Bluetooth audio system.

For those who can afford it, it’s properly value shopping for two and utilizing them as a stereo pair, however simply bear in mind you possibly can’t do that within the low-latency video mode.