Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been meaning to make a review on this speaker as it's the overall winner of all the BT speakers I've tried the past couple months. Here are the following speakers I've tried in order and I will conclude at the end why the Anker SoundCore Boost won: - 1 Anker SoundCore Sport XL ($45 - Amazon Deal of the Day) - 1 Refurbished JBL Charge 2 ($50 - Frys) - 2 JBL Flip 4 ($70 each - Frys) - 1 Vava Voom 20 ($40 - Frys) - 1 Sony SRS-X55 ($100 - Costco) - 1 Sony Sony XB30 ($100 - Frys) - 2 Refurbished JBL Flip 3 ($33 each - Frys) - 1 JBL Charge 3 ($140 Walmart) - 1 Anker Soundcore Boost ($80 Walmart) All the speakers I tried was measured against my friend's *Bose Soundlink Mini II* which amazingly, still sounds fantastic despite being so long in tooth, But it still cost nearly as much as it did during its release many years ago (~$170) which is pretty pricey. I use a bluetooth speaker not just for listening to music (mainly mid-bass heavy EDM) but also as my laptop speaker(s) so fast BT audio latency matters which is something most bluetooth speakers reviews don't talk about very much, if at all. This is important because if you enjoy watching online videos on your laptop/tablet, the lagginess of the BT signal is distracting, especially for lip sync'ing... well, if you're like me anyway. Most of the speakers require you to use the aux cable if you don't want to experience its horrible latency with the exception of two speakers: The Bose Soundlink Mini II and the Vava Voom 20. You may have noticed I didn't mention the Anker Soundcore Boost right there - I'll get to that. But without further ado, here is my summary of each speaker: Anker SoundCore Sport XL: I made a review on Amazon about it but the summary is that it had lackluster mid-bass production and heavily compressed the signal starting at mid volume levels. I quite disappointed at its sound quality. However, as I noted in my review, it's insanely rugged so that's what you're paying for. There's a video on Youtube where skaters are literally dropping it head high and beating on it for a day and it survives without issue. Refurb JBL Charge 2: Coming from the Anker SoundCore Sport XL, this felt like quite an upgrade as far as sound quality - especially the bass output. I would have been happy with this at the time but this refurb unit seemed pretty worn (had visible wear marks - like a used product which technically refurbs are but their condition varies greatly). 2 JBL Flip 4s: What sold me was the advertised feature being able to link two for stereo output. But OMFG JBL's app is complete and utter frustration to use. It's so flaky with its speaker detection and the speakers go back to "party mode" when powered off so you're forced to always use that terrible app to set it to 'stereo link mode' again. On top of that, ugh... that treble is so harsh. It hurts my ears to be directly in front of it. The plus side to such a bright treble though, if you're not sensitive to it, is it's much more forgiving to listening off-axis and makes it more omni-directional. I didn't need that for my purpose and would rather have the better sound stage of being directly in front of the speakers and not hurt my ears. Bass was clean and capable of going surprisingly low but the actual volume of that bass is pretty weak. also, all the JBL speakers suck when it comes to latency. Watching videos online, I never got used to the delayed audio and poor lip syncing. I pretty much always had to use the aux cable. The latency is still just as bad if you leave it in stereo mode while using an aux cable to the primary speaker of the stereo link. The speaker also certainly feels nice in hand and looks pretty sweet too (styling). It being fully water proof gives it bragging rights but it wasn't for me. Vava Voom 20: This speaker has so much potential but unfortunately is plagued by its poor power management. The speaker's volume constantly turns back down after use in order to "save power" but it just becomes annoying. This is actually designed in, on purpose! It produces a surprising amount of bass, but is almost too aggressive in its goals in doing so by producing sub-woofer level hz (lower than 70hz where most bt speakers drop off) but at such low volume levels, it doesn't provide any value but to vibrate the poor little speaker in to oblivion (and probably unnecessarily drain the battery). Seriously - the thing could double as a vibrator - it will turn your hand numb. The outstanding positive though is that it had virtually no discernible latency! You can watch your videos over BT and the lip sync'ing is just dead-on like an aux cable! However, when you compare music listening against the Bose Soundlink Mini, it becomes very obvious how outclassed it was by it. If they could just fix their weird power management system and tweak the tuning of the speaker to bring out the mids/highs for better sound stage and not have it try to play sub frequencies it can't produce at any respectable volume level, they would probably be a Bluetooth speaker to contend against - especially given the extremely low price. It's also crazy they have such a bad review on Fakespot. They really have an outstanding product that wouldn't need fake reviews if they just tweaked those negatives out. Sony SRS-X55: Out of all the speakers I've tested, this is the only BT speaker that actually definitively beat my friend's Bose Soundlink Mini II. It has a dedicated driver just for bass (an actual 2.1 system) so it's not trying to have 2 drivers do everything, so both the highs were cleaner and the bass was deeper & louder than the Bose. So why didn't this win as my keeper? It was 3 things really: The form factor, the latency, and the proprietary charger. Having a tall and skinny speaker that's prone to falling over just wasn't practical as a portable speaker. The thing produces so much bass that it can literally walk itself off a shelf and commit suicide. The latency is just as bad as the JBLs so it required an aux cable and the proprietary charger just sucks, especially when you pack your speaker for a trip and forget it. But if all you care for is pure sound quality for music listening, this is your speaker... even over the Anker Soundcore Boost. Some people say the bass is tuned too heavy but for me and my bass-heavy music, it was perfect. You can always use a EQ to lower the bass I suppose. Sony XB30: Basically, this was my attempt at seeing if the latest version of a Sony BT speaker of the same price range will have the amazing sound quality of the older SRS-X55, without all the drawbacks of it (better form factor, micro USB charger, better audio latency). It didn't. In fact I was surprised at how crappy this speaker sounded. The weak bass of a flip 4 but with the muted clarity of the Charge 3. What were they thinking? I did like the soft touch plastic housing but the LED lighting is pretty "meh". It's also probably one of the most unforgiving speakers for listening off-axis. You really have to be directly in-front of it for it to even sound half-way decent which makes it worse for backyard listening. Lame. 2 refurb JBL Flip 3s: After my surprise dissatisfaction with the Flip 4, I had read that the Flip 3, when compared to the Flip 4, has less harsh highs and is tuned slightly more bass oriented, though cannot produce tones quite as low. Better yet, the Flip 3 actually *retains* its stereo paring settings after power off so once set, you don't have to deal with that god-awful JBL Connect app all the time. Frys puts these on sale for only $33 dollars each occasionally and at that price, it's simply outstanding. Nothing comes close to it at such a low price range. Being paired in stereo mode makes an exponential positive difference in sound quality. Poor latency still requires you to use an aux cable for videos, but for backyard music enjoyment, two of these for $66, just beautiful! You get such better sound stage when you can have two BT speakers paired in stereo mode 20 feet apart over any other BT speaker... I can't stress this enough. You don't know what you're missing until you hear it compared to a single BT speaker, even against a good one. But alone, if you only plan to buy the single Flip3 at 'normal price' (not refurb price), the Soundcore Boost is a much, much better speaker. Turns out, these two Flip 3s are the only other BT speakers I kept besides the SoundCore Boost. JBL Charge 3: I don't know why I bothered trying this speaker. I guess just for completeness - I tried JBL charge 2, Flip 4, Flip 3, I should see what the latest Charge can do. It surprisingly doesn't produce *that much* better bass than the Flip3 but with odd muffled highs! I like how it is fully waterproof and can float (great for taking it out on a pool floaty) but compared to the Bose Soundlink Mini II, it doesn't match it (never mind the Sony SRS-X55!). Honestly, I think the Anker Soundcore Boost is targeted against the Flip 4 but I think it beats the Charge 3 by way of being equal in bass but much cleaner highs and better sound stage. The Soundcore Boost really makes the JBL Charge 3 a poor value *IF* you don't need waterproofing or the ability to link multiple BT speakers. TL:DR Anker Soundcore Boost: So we are finally here with the Soundcore Boost. I sort of unfairly wrote Anker off after my experience with Anker SoundCore Sport XL but after I found it on display at Walmart and listened to it (though I find listening to BT speakers retail displays never gives the full story), and then later heard "clavinetjunkie" thoughts on it (look him up on YouTube - Great Bluetooth speaker reviewer), I decided to give it a chance and bought it at Walmart. I was blown away! This is easily a JBL Flip 4 killer with much better bass, 'easy on the ears' highs and surprisingly good sound-stage. It would say it's on par with my friend's Bose SoundLink Mini II and in some ways, beats it! Mainly in how it doesn't compress the signal as much at higher volumes as the Bose does (though does stop raising bass at the higher levels as all of them do however). The form factor is compact, and has a soft touch feel with a low key, all black styling that feels modern and functional. All this goodness for only $80 dollars? Win. Latency? OK so here's the deal: if you have read my whole review up to this point (I don't blame you if you hadn't), you would have learned that the only BT speaker that had awesome latency over Bluetooth signal was the Bose Soundlink Mini II and the Vava Voom 20. All the other speakers required the aux cable or the lip sync'ing will be quite off. The Anker Soundcore Boost falls somewhere in the middle. By that I mean, the latency is just low enough to not be annoying when watching online videos, but it's not fast enough for video games like FPS games - When you click the mouse button to fire your gun, you'll notice the delay. For that, you still need to use an aux cable and is indeed a compromise. I place the Soundcore Boost in front of my laptop and the compact form factor allows me to tilt it up pretty easily (see picture). To conclude, I just love this speaker. Very happy with it and out of all the speakers I've tried, this speaker, weighing the totality of all the factors against the reasonable price tag of $80, it beats them all. But there's one caveat I must mention: I like this speaker enough that I bought another one for my wife but noticed, when compared against mine, it had a slight rattle/buzzing sound under heavy bass hits. Almost like as if there was a little piece of plastic loose and not securely glued down with resin, somewhere inside. Not something you'd hear from a distance but up close. TBH, I think it bothered me more than it bothered her, lol! Regardless, we had to go back and exchange it. Maybe that one was "built on a Monday/Friday" for those of you who are familiar with that saying. ;) So ... there maybe sort of a QA issue or "lottery" with these Anker speaker products. It's worth exchanging though - it really is an outstanding product if you have a good one! Edit (7-31-17): Another speaker that's outstanding at a very similar price point as this is the Doss SoundBox XL. In beats this speaker in sound quality for only $10 more but requires a proprietary charger and is about twice this size. Latency is the same. Personally, I feel the Anker is more practical overall but you should at least check out the Doss for the incredible value. The sound quality to price ratio may be the best on Amazon.