Ultimate Ears Hyperboom Review: A Simple & Sleek Speaker

Matthew Cox | October 29, 2024

Looking For The Loudest Bluetooth Speaker?

The Bottom Line

The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom is a unique offering that blends high-quality audio with a discreet design that doesn’t feel the need to sell itself with flashy lights. Instead, the Hyperboom lets the audio do the talking. There is room for improvement in the low-end bass response and there are louder competitors on the market, but few look as good as the Hyperboom when placed inside of your living room.

DimensionsH 14.33” x D 7.5” x W 7.5”
Weight15 lbs.
Volume98db
Battery Strength24 Hours
ConnectivityBluetooth 5.0
Water-Resistance IPX4
Virtual AssistantNo
Lighting EffectsNo
Simultaneous PairingYes, up to 4 devices

With this Hyperboom, Ultimate Ears ignored the classic yet somewhat overused pill-shaped design style adopted by brands like JBL, Treblab, Bose, and Sony, and housed the Hyperboom in a cubic enclosure, measuring 14.3 x 7.5 inches. Not only is it refreshing to see some other designs out there, but this design means the speaker can’t be knocked over easily, and won’t ever roll off a table or into the pool. 

The Hyperboom’s black color scheme means it can blend in easily to any home décor, and although it’s a little heavy at 13 pounds, the built-in carry strap makes for easy transportation.

The UE Hyperboom has an IPX4 water resistance rating, meaning it can withstand some gentle splashes. While the speaker feels to be built fairly well, and the speaker grille doesn’t seem like it’ll tear too easily, the waterproof pull-away tab for the inputs and outputs doesn’t quite feel tight enough for me to comfortably use it around wetter or dusty environments. 

The Controls

The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom’s control panel is found on top of the speaker, where they work off a unique design style, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. You’ll find two very large buttons labeled + and – which control the output volume of the speaker, and all other controls are found next to these buttons.

All buttons are easy enough to press and actually feel pretty good to use. Aside from volume adjustments, you can play/pause music and toggle between Bluetooth sources, and most of the buttons can execute multiple commands by long pressing, double pressing, or using them in combination with another to perform tasks such as getting audible feedback on the battery level, skipping tracks, and entering playlists.

UE Hyperboom Controls

Connectivity Options 

The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom supports a versatile range of connectivity options, starting with Bluetooth 5.0, which provides a strong connection range up to around 330 feet in a line of sight environment. The UE Hyperboom also allows two devices to be wirelessly connected simultaneously- a feature I really enjoy on louder, party-focused speakers. When using the Hyperboom to watch videos I didn’t experience any latency, which is also great. 

One thing we really like about the Hyperboom is the ability to pair up to 4 devices at the same time, meaning you and your friends can be in control of the music without needing to unpair one device and repair it with another.

As for wired inputs, the Ultimate Ears Hyperboom has a 3.5mm auxiliary port, another favorite feature of mine, and an optical input. While it’s nice to see unique I/O options available, I would have preferred a USB charger for cell phones over an optical cable input, which I don’t see much use for, to be honest.  

How Does The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom Battery Perform? 

The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom is advertised with a potential continuous runtime of 24 hours, while I didn’t test this speaker for 24 hours straight, I estimate this figure to be more or less correct. This spec will vary depending on how you use the speaker, but still, it’s one of the most impressive batteries I’ve seen on a Bluetooth speaker, and it can fully recharge within 2 and a half hours. The UE Hyperboom also employs a power-saving feature, which shuts the speaker down after 15 minutes of inactivity. 

How Does the Hyperboom Sound?

The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom operates on a frequency response between 55Hz and 17.5kHz, which is pretty decent for a Bluetooth speaker. While I found that practically all music styles sound great through this speaker, bass heads may be a little disappointed, as the UE Hyperboom struggles to reproduce ultra-low-frequency energy. 

The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom has an adaptive EQ feature, which analyzes the speaker’s surroundings and tweaks the sound signature to best suit the room you’re in. With this feature activated, I found midrange and high-end frequencies to ‘pop’ a little more, creating greater clarity and definition, while maintaining a balanced sound throughout. 

Aside from the adaptive EQ function, there is a graphic EQ feature, along with several presets available in the companion app, which we’ll chat about in a bit. The soundstage of the UE Hyperboom is extremely good for a portable Bluetooth speaker, as stereo content provides a more immersive listening experience.

Volume-wise, I measured an average reading of 98dB with the speaker playing at full volume, and I’m seriously impressed by how the Hyperboom maintained tight, clear, and punchy sound across the volume spectrum.

The sound quality is really what makes the Hyperboom such a popular choice. With most Bluetooth speakers we find that although they offer plenty of nifty additions to their designs, the sound quality always just feels lacking, especially in the clarity and soundstage. This is not the case with the Hyperboom.

Ultimate Ears Hyperboom App

The Apple & Android compatible Ultimate Ears Hyperboom companion app gives you control over some deeper features of the UE Hyperboom Bluetooth speaker. As mentioned, there is a user-adjustable graphic EQ with fixed bands that you can tweak to find your ideal sound signature, or choose from one of the available presets: Bass Boost, Game/Cinema, and Podcast. The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom app also allows you to pair two or more UE Hyperboom speakers to form a stereo pair, or a more extensive speaker network for your party. 

The app is available on both Google Play Store and the Apple Store.

Top of Hyperboom speaker

So Is It Worth Buying?

The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom is an impressive portable Bluetooth speaker that sounds great out of the box, while its graphic EQ and presets offer the option of customization to the existing sound signature. The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom can get rather loud without sacrificing any sound quality, and its battery life is one of the best I’ve seen on a portable Bluetooth speaker. 

Whether or not the Hyperboom is for you, depends on what you’re looking for in a Bluetooth speaker. Ultimate Ears make no secret of the fact that the Hyperboom is intended to be a social speaker, which can be used to give life to the party. What separates the UE Hyperboom from

If you’re after something you can take around with you to the beach, this isn’t the product. Instead, the Hyperboom serves best as a dedicated home speaker that provides reliably good sound.

The UE Hyperboom is an excellent choice if your focus is on audio quality. It’s a speaker that is loud in volume but not in appearance. The reality is that a lot of speakers on the market don’t fit particularly well into one’s home décor, especially outside of personal assistant home speakers.

Other Products To Consider

While the UE Hyperboom is pretty loud for its size, there are louder speakers in this market space that offer their own benefits over the Hyperboom, including loudness.

Because the UE Hyperboom fits so well as a Bluetooth home speaker, we feel it necessary to consider looking at the Sonos Move if you’re looking for something that offers more traditional home features. The Sonos Move has the benefit of having wifi capabilities as well as a voice assistant. You will, however, be sacrificing audio quality if you opt for the Sonos – so do keep that in mind.

If you’re looking for something that is designed closer to your typical LED-focused party speaker, we recommend taking a look at the JBL Partybox 310 which offers better low-end bass response and extra volume. The 310 lacks the discreet design of the Hyperboom and instead offers the types of light effects you’d want for a party speaker.

If money isn’t an issue for you, something else to consider is the newer JBL Partybox 710, which comes in at almost double the cost, but offers a lot more in terms of volume and bass response. Again, as with the older 310, the JBL 710 focuses more on providing a flashy party speaker than a discreet audio solution.

Liked

  • Loud enough for most situations
  • Excellent audio quality
  • Unique design

Disliked

  • Only IPX4 waterproofing
  • Lacks a little in low-end bass response

What’s In the Box?

  • 1 x Ultimate Ears Hyperboom Bluetooth Speaker
  • 1 x Power adapter and power cable
  • 1 x User manual
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Author: Matthew Cox

A sound engineering student and musician, Matthew enjoys writing and performing music, working in the studio, and geeking out over anything audio-related.

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Originally Published: June 28, 2022

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