UE myBOOM 3 review: Customize the look then sit back and enjoy the sound

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We get more than our fair share of Bluetooth speakers coming across our desks, and it’s safe to say we’ve tried dozens of them. Honestly, the majority of them are great and it really comes down to your taste in sound, design, and price. Well, there’s at least one Bluetooth speaker that gives you control over your design and that’s the UE myBOOM 3.

Recently, Ultimate Ears asked us to use their myBOOM Studio webpage to design our very own UE myBOOM 3 Bluetooth speaker. We gladly accepted the challenge and took the design site for a spin. Since we’ve gotten the UE myBOOM 3, we’ve been testing the sound. Read on for the full review of the UE myBOOM 3 Bluetooth speaker.

Specifications

The UE myBOOM 3 has the following features and specifications:

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  • Magic Button: Play, pause and skip tracks directly on the speaker.
  • Party Up: Pair 2 speakers for stereo sound or 150+ to get LOUD.
  • Battery Life: 15-hours
  • Durability: IP67-rated waterproof and floats, also drop proof from up to 5-feet
  • Warranty: 2-years
  • EQ: Yes, 4 presets and custom in-app
  • Connectivity: Bluetooth and connect up to two sources at the same time, 150-foot range.
  • Maximum Sound Level: 90dBA
  • Frequency Range: 90Hz – 20kHz
  • Drivers: Two 2” drivers and two 2” x 4” Passive Radiators
  • Optional: Wireless charging with purchase of the Power Up dock

What’s In The Box

  • UE myBOOM 3
  • MicroUSB to USB-A charging cable
  • Instructions and documentation
UE myBOOM 3 review
The power button, “Magic Button”, and Bluetooth pairing button are all on top.

Design

The UE myBOOM 3 can be completely customized on Ultimate Ears myBOOM Studio website. The website gives you the option of choosing different colors for different parts of the speaker as well as engraving text on the spine. The different parts of the speaker that are customizable are:

  • The fabric color/pattern
  • End caps
  • Volume buttons
  • Spine
  • Loop
  • Spine text

You can watch our entire tutorial on how to use the myBOOM Studio website to customize your own UE myBOOM 3 Bluetooth speaker below.

Given that we chose the design of this speaker, I can safely say I love how it looks. It also feels great. It’s solid in the hand and feels well-built. The materials used are premium, it is both waterproof and drop proof, and it floats!

The big + and – symbols on the front are your volume keys. The “Magic Button” is located at the top, as are the power button and Bluetooth pairing button. The charging port is on the bottom back and is covered with a dust/water cover.

The back spine has a nice hanging loop on it, which is also customizable, and can be used to hang your UE myBOOM 3 from something.

Overall, this is a well-built speaker and has some advantages with waterproofing, drop proofing, and the ability to float.

UE myBOOM 3
This is what the engraving looks like.
image 8961846 13089987

Ease of Use

Bluetooth speakers have become super simple to use and the UE myBOOM 3 is no exception. First, charge the speaker before your first use. When you power it up, the speaker will go into pairing mode the first time you use it. Look for UE myBOOM 3 in your Bluetooth settings and pair to the speaker.

That’s it, nothing hard at all. There is an app you can use for EQ settings, which we will cover next, but you do not need to use the app if you don’t want to. As far as operation, the volume keys are huge and easy to see on the front, making them very easy to use. The “Magic Button” on top simply controls play/pause and skipping tracks. Click once to play or pause and click twice to skip tracks.

Overall, this is a very easy speaker to use and even easier without using the app at all.

Software/App

The UE myBOOM 3 works with the optional BOOM app from Ultimate Ears, which you can find on the Playstore or App Store. It’s a simple app and also serves to keep your speaker’s firmware up to date.

The app can control your power, volume and EQ. There are four EQ presets to choose from:

  • The Standard: Basically a flat EQ profile with nothing tweaked at all
  • Cramped Spaces: This one is supposed to sound good in small rooms
  • Voices: This brings out the vocals in your songs
  • Bass Jump: This boosts the bass up
  • Custom: This one allows you to tweak 5 EQ frequencies

The app also offers one touch to your playlists. Long press the magic button for 2-seconds to access added playlists and long press again to skip playlists. We could not test this feature because right now it is only available by using Deezer, which we do not use.

Overall, the app is pretty simple. It gives you simple controls but it is far from being mandatory and the UE myBOOM 3 will work just fine without it.

Sound

Ultimate Ears has been known for their great sound and, honestly, the UE myBOOM 3 sounds good. I though the sound was really great at the 30-50% volume range. Everything sounded good and clarity was great. I used the custom EQ setting with the bass and mids boosted just a bit.

I did have some issues when the volume went into the 60-100% range. I felt the speaker went a bit thin and the bottom end fell out. Granted, I rarely used the speaker past 50% volume, but I am sure there will be those who will.

I think pairing the UE myBOOM 3 in Party Up mode with another myBOOM 3 would improve things allowing for stereo sound. None of this is to say that the sound was horrible, it wasn’t. I actually really enjoyed this speaker at my normal volume levels between 30-50%. But it does thin out more than I expected at higher volumes.

Overall, if you’re looking for a booming party speaker this may not be the one for you, unless you get a pair and use them together.

UE myBOOM 3
MicroUSB port
image 8961846 13089987

Battery Life

Ultimate Ears claims about 15-hours of battery life. I didn’t run a straight battery test with the UE myBOOM 3 but it took almost a full week of daily use for the battery to run down. Even more impressive, the battery charged to full within a few hours of being plugged into a wall charger.

Overall, the battery life is good here and I have no problem believing you should get 15-hours or very close to it.

Price/Value

Priced at US$149.99 the UE myBOOM 3 is actually priced about the same range as the competition. I think most people will be very happy with the price to value proposition here.

Wrap Up

Sound is a very subjective thing and not everyone will like the UE myBOOM 3. Good thing Ultimate Ears has a few different models to chose from. I think the customization of the speaker is a cool deal. It’s unique and offers some value. I think the sound could be a bit thicker at the higher volumes, but I still think most people will like this speaker. I would certainly not recommend this for hip-hop or any bass heavy style of music. But most every other genre should sound great through this speaker.

*We received a sample of the UE myBOOM 3 for the purposes of this review.

Last Updated on February 3, 2021.

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