Experts recommend Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 more than UE Boom 3
As of 3 Jan 2025, experts prefer Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 over UE Boom 3, but both Bluetooth Speakers have solid expert endorsements.
As per this month's meta ranking, Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 received 1 recommendation: from Digital Trends (6 Jul 2024). UE Boom 3 was also endorsed 1 times: by Popular Mechanics (2 Dec 2022). However, experts generally ranked UE Boom 3 lower than Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 in their articles, which caused it to rank lower in ReviewFinder ranking.
| Rank | Change | Price | Bluetooth Speaker | TechHive  | PCMag  | SoundGuys  | WIRED  | Tom's Guide  | Popular Mechanics  | Rtings.com  | TechRadar  | What Hi-Fi  | Digital Trends  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | N/A | $89 |  Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 is a highly portable and durable Bluetooth speaker with well-balanced sound quality, long battery life, and an environmentally friendly design, making it perfect for outdoor activities, travel, and parties. | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7 |
| 58 | N/A | $96 |  UE Boom 3 A Bluetooth speaker good enough for any user. Portable, protected, and loud. | - | - | - | - | - | 9 | - | - | - | - |
Curious to see this month's entire Portable Bluetooth Speakers ranking? It's here
Endorsement summary:
- On 2 Dec 2022 Popular Mechanics ranked UE Boom 3 as #9
Rank Bluetooth Speaker Comment ... ... ... #9 out of 10 UE Boom 3 Great Pool Speaker... ... ... Source: www.popularmechanics.com - On 6 Jul 2024 Digital Trends ranked Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 as #7
Rank Bluetooth Speaker Comment ... ... ... #7 out of 16 Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 Best floatable speaker for the pool... ... ... Source: www.digitaltrends.com
After counting and adding up the 108 expert endorsements of the January rankings, Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 outranks UE Boom 3. This is not to say that UE Boom 3 is a bad option. Like Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3, it is recommended by experts, but less.
| Rank | Change | Price | Bluetooth Speaker | TechHive | PCMag |
SoundGuys | WIRED | Tom's Guide | Popular Mechanics | Rtings.com | TechRadar | What Hi-Fi | Digital Trends |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | $167 |  Sonos Roam 2 The Sonos Roam 2 is praised for its sound quality, durability, and versatility, but criticized for its battery life, connectivity issues, and high price point, especially for those not fully invested in the Sonos ecosystem. | - | - | - |
2 | 8 | - | - | 1 | - | 4 |
| 2 | - | $180 |  JBL Charge 5 The JBL Charge 5 is highly praised for its improved sound quality, robust design, and long battery life, though it faces criticism for lacking an AUX port and having connectivity issues with the JBL app. | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 6 | 1 | - |
| 3 | - | $100 |  Beats Pill The Beats Pill (2024) is praised for its portability, impressive battery life, and robust design, but criticized for sound quality issues at high volumes, lack of EQ settings, and its price point considering the features offered. | - | 8 | 3 | 13 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 4 | - | $130 |  JBL Flip 6 The JBL Flip 6 is a durable and powerful portable Bluetooth speaker with a long battery life, PartyBoost feature, and water and dust resistance. | - | - | - | - | 6 | - | - | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Show all rows | |||||||||||||
Expert reviews [23]
- with a score: 18
- without a score: 5
| Highest score by Old Time Music | 100 |
| Average score based on 23 reviews | 87 |
| Lowest score by Gadgets 360 | 70 |
Score distribution:
| 80-100 | |
| 60-80 | |
| 40-60 | |
| 20-40 | |
| 0-20 |
Expert reviews [15]
- with a score: 12
- without a score: 3
| Highest score by Trusted Reviews | 100 |
| Average score based on 15 reviews | 83 |
| Lowest score by Digital Trends | 60 |
Score distribution:
| 80-100 | |
| 60-80 | |
| 40-60 | |
| 20-40 | |
| 0-20 |
- ULTIMATE SOUND: Super portable wireless Bluetooth speaker with 360° bold, immersive, crystal clear sound and up to 15 hours of battery on a single charge. It brings your music to life wherever you take it.
- Read more
- Bigger, longer, more efficient: That bigger 360° sound in a petite package - the UE WONDERBOOM 3 mini party speaker features boosted sound for 14 hours of audio and music playtime.Waterproof : Yes
- Booming bass, bigger 360-degree sound: WONDERBOOM 3 is engineered to deliver full stereo audio; tap the Outdoor Boost button to get great sound that’s specially tuned for outdoor environments
- Read more
Speakers range from not being able to handle even a drop of water to being able to be fully submerged in water for several minutes. Do you plan to take your speaker outside? To the beach? To the pool? In the shower? Then you definitely need to verify the level of water resistance before purchasing. You can tell the water resistance by the IP rating—the higher the rating, the more resistant the speaker is to the elements. For reference, the first digit refers to dust protection and the second digit refers to water protection. It reads as: IP68. Anything higher than IP66 will be dust- and splash-proof, meaning it can handle some contact with water, but cannot be fully submerged or soaked.
Battery life for Bluetooth speakers is measured in milliampere hours (mAh). Manufacturers will report the battery life of a speaker in the average number of hours it takes to empty from a full charge. Keep in mind this number is based on medium levels of usage. If you play the speaker on full volume, it will drain the battery faster. Some specialty features like using the speaker to charge your phone or casting an LED light show will also drain the battery faster. The manufacturer reported number is just an estimate, and may be slightly different based on your usage.
It’s also important to consider is the type of battery. Rechargeable lithium-ion (LI-ion) batters are ideal, but some speakers only take standard or rechargeable AA/AAA/C/D batteries. You may even find Bluetooth speakers that recharge via solar power—great for outdoor use!