MusicRadar Verdict
It might not be the most refined of listens, but the Boom 2 Plus is built for power rather than subtlety, and could easily be the life of your next party - indoors or out.
Pros
- +
It's loud.
- +
There's plenty of bass (if that's what you want).
- +
It's got lights!
- +
Waterproof and floatable.
- +
Easy to carry and decent battery life.
Cons
- -
It might be a little too big and heavy to take on a plane.
- -
The bass can be 'a lot' sometimes.
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Anker Soundcore Boom 2 Plus: What is it?
While the trend in recent years has been for small yet powerful Bluetooth speakers, Anker’s Boom 2 Plus very much bucks that by looking more like one of the ‘80s boomboxes that (almost) give it its name.
It’s a chunky thing with a big and proud handle (plus a detachable shoulder strap), but then this isn’t a speaker that’s here to mess about. Its 4-driver combination delivers a maximum of 140W of output - there are dual 50 woofers and dual 20W tweeters - and the large capacity battery promises up to 20 hours of playback (volume depending, obviously).
The Boom 2 Plus offers 30W of fast charging, too - meaning that it can be fully loaded up in three hours - and if your other devices are running short of juice, you can use it as a power bank.
And then we come to a couple of bonus features: the Boom 2 Plus has lights on either end that will sync to the beat of the music it’s playing, and as well as being IPX7 waterproof, it can float. So, not only do you not need to worry about it getting rained on, but you can also invite a good drenching by chucking this thing in the pool.
Anker Soundcore Boom 2 Plus review: Performance and verdict
Pairing the Boom 2 Plus with your phone or other device is easy - press the Bluetooth pairing button on your speaker and then select it in your Bluetooth settings. Other self-explanatory physical buttons include power on/off, volume up/down and play/pause.
Three’s also a button for turning on (or off) the light show, while the PartyCast button enables you to pair the Boom 2 Plus with one or more other Soundcore speakers that have this function, meaning that audio and video can be synced on all of them (you only need to connect your phone to one speaker).
If you happen to own two Boom 2 Pluses, you can also put them into TWS (True Wireless Stereo) mode, which sets one to play the left channel and the other the right. The final button is used to trigger the BassUp 2 feature, more on which in a moment.
You can dive a little deeper into the Boom 2 Plus’s settings via the clean and concise Soundcore app. It’s worth installing this right away as it’ll enable you to download the latest firmware update, and also to adjust the EQ and light modes.
Which brings us to the Boom 2 Plus’s sound, which is meaty, to say the least. It screams ‘party speaker’, with a definite focus on bass; but not, happily, at the complete expense of detail.
In fact, we actually preferred the sound when we switched to the Balanced EQ preset - you can also create your own custom profile across nine bands - which does away with any bass boosting and offers a clearer picture across the frequency spectrum.
If you do want the music to hit a bit harder, pressing the BassUp button takes the low-end level skywards while keeping the rest of the selected EQ profile the same. It can feel a little overpowering and unrefined at times, but there’s an impressive absence of distortion (and with a name like ‘BassUp’, you can’t say you weren’t warned).
We can confirm, too, that not only is the Boom 2 Plus waterproof, but it does indeed float. It was quite happy bobbing about in a hot tub, though standing it on solid, dry ground is definitely preferable for optimal sonic performance.
Cranked up, the Boom 2 Plus can fill a small-to-medium sized room nicely and, while no substitute for a dedicated rig, the lights certainly add something to the atmosphere. There’s also a 3.5mm aux input - plug in a portable DJing setup and you’ve got yourself a one-box house party setup.
The only downside is that, while the Boom 2 Plus is great to chuck in the back of the car and carry around - the handle and shoulder strap definitely come in handy - its comparatively heavy weight means that you may think twice about packing it in your suitcase and taking it on a plane. We considered it over the summer, but doing so would definitely have meant an excess baggage charge, so we opted for something smaller.
As such, the Boom 2 Plus might not be the best choice if you only want to buy one Bluetooth speaker, but if you already own a smaller device but fancy something with a bit more grunt for those times when you want to make a bigger musical and visual statement, it’s great.
MusicRadar verdict: It might not be the most refined of listens, but the Boom 2 Plus is built for power rather than subtlety, and could easily be the life of your next party - indoors or out.
Anker Soundcore Boom 2 Plus: The web says
"With its durable build, customizable light show and plenty of low-end on tap, the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus makes for an excellent party speaker, rain or shine." SoundGuys
Anker Soundcore Boom 2 Plus: Hands-on demos
Patrick Rambles
Max Tech
Anker Soundcore Boom 2 Plus: Specifications
- KEY FEATURES: 140W output (Dual 50W woofers and dual 20W tweeters), 30W fast charging and built-in power bank, IPX7 waterproof and floatable, BassUp feature, beat-synced lights, 3.5mm aux input, shoulder strap
- CONTACT: Anker
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