It’s fun to ask Alexa about the weather, quiz it about a random fact, or perform one of the thousands of other Skills it has. This means your speakers will quietly continue to improve-and gain new Alexa capabilities-over time. They automatically download over your home network and install (you can opt out, if you want) when you’re done playing music. One of the offbeat achievements of these speakers is that when updates come out that add new features or fix bugs, you won’t have to think about them at all. I had more trouble at first, but things got much smoother after the speakers received a firmware update, silently and seamlessly, some days ago. You have to connect via Bluetooth then Wi-Fi to get Alexa going using the Ultimate Ears app, which doesn’t like to reliably connect. Setup is a little confusing, but you’ll make it through without throwing a tantrum. It’s by a band called Led Zeppelin and they're gonna be huge, I promise you. The new Thor: Ragnarok theme also sounded electric. On my theme song kick, I was also impressed by how well the high-pitch beeps and buzzes blended with the low electro-tronic thuds in the Stranger Things theme. The track popped for me in a way it hasn’t in some time. You don’t need to ask me why I was listening to the Jurassic Park theme alone in my living room the other day, but I was, and I couldn’t believe how freely the high-pitched tin whistle and chimes sparkled out of it without being weighed down or overshadowed by the lower notes of the string section. The Megablast especially, has a beautiful balance to it thanks to a pair of tweeters. Neither have the deep woof of a good home hi-fi speaker, but they hold their own. Both produce an impressive arc of 360-degree audio. With two active drivers and two passive radiators for better bass, they’re two of the clearest speakers you’ll find for their size. For the price of these speakers, they should come with the charger, but I still recommend the $40 wireless charging dock. Oddly, since the charger must plug into the bottom, you have to flip the speaker upside-down while charging it unless you buy the new charging dock. Remove this screw and you can mount the speaker on a tripod, too. Flip the speaker upside down and there’s a rubber flap you can pull back to access the charge port-kept secure by a "D-Ring" screw. Giant volume controls (denoted by + and - signs) adorn the front to make sure you know this is an Ultimate Ears speaker, and light-up power and Bluetooth buttons are on top, where they're barely noticeable. A durable-feeling woven fabric stretches around the outside. Each speaker has the same thick rubber coating on the top, bottom, and in a band that runs down the side. Both speakers are cylindrical, sort of like a beer can, though the larger and beefier Megablast is definitely a 24-ouncer. And judging by the construction of these speakers, I believe it. 200 steps! That’s a score I can live with. A company rep told me the Blast was put in a tumbler to simulate falling down flights of stairs and made it the equivalent of 200 steps before giving out. They look and feel almost identical to their older brethren, but these Bluetooth bombs come packed with Wi-Fi, microphones, and everything else Alexa needs.ĭespite packing more tech, both the Blast and Megablast are as portable and waterproof (IP67) as any Boom speaker. The Boom and Megaboom now have two more explosively-named Alexa-powered siblings: the Blast and Megablast. So it makes sense that the makers of our favorite Bluetooth speaker for two years running decided to get in on Alexa. This year, we’ve hit peak Alexa.Īmazon’s voice assistant is so prevalent, device makers are preloading it on phones, watches, alarm clocks, dash mounts for cars, intercoms, headphones, cameras, streaming sticks, and yes, a bevy of speakers. Back in 2013, WIRED’s Mike Calore said we’d hit “peak Bluetooth speaker” when he reviewed the first Boom speaker from Ultimate Ears.
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