This is the review of the comparison between two Bluetooth speakers from different brands, those are the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 and the JBL Flip 5. There is around 20 dollars difference in their price range currently, so both are nearly budget-friendly. To know which one is worth buying, go to the detailed review.

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2	JBL Flip 5
BUY NOW	BUY NOW
PROS	PROS
IP67 dust and water-resistant. Pair to another Wonderboom 2 for stereo sound. Two-year warranty. Portable and floats.	Simple design, Excellent sound,11 color options, Able to pair multiple JBL speakers. Good sound quality, waterproof, long battery life excellent sound quality, very loud, long battery life excellent sound quality, water-resistant, great battery life good overall sound, great volume, great battery life, waterproof good sound quality, waterproof.
CONS	CONS
No microphone. Distortion increases with volume. Micro USB charging.	Need compatible models to use PartyBoost, Checking battery life requires you to press the top buttons, No speakerphone or voice assistant functionality. Not the best sounding nor most portableExpensive, relatively large and heavy expensive, relatively heavy not the strongest bass, a bit priceyLarge and heavy.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Detail Review:

INTRODUCTION:

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2

The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 claim to be super rugged, claim to be bigger and bass your audio. This one retails for $99 and comes with a two-year warranty. The Wonderboom 2 is the updated version of its predecessor the Wonderboom. There is not any huge difference between the new one and the original one but there are changes that have been made in the new one which makes it even better than the original.

JBL Flip 5

The Flip 5 from the JBL is a latest updated version Bluetooth speaker in its line-up. The biggest change made here is USB Type-c charging, till Flip 4 there were only micro USB for charging, so its really a great change to see in this. The JBL Flip 5 is retailing for around seventy dollars. 

DESIGN: 

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2

As far as the physical features, this thing is indeed small and portable weighing in at about 420 grams. Ultimate Ears at least in the past from my tests have proved to be one of the most rugged and durable speakers out there. As far as the button controls, up on the top, they’re simply Bluetooth pairing button, power button, and right in the center is a pause, play, and skip forward button, unfortunately, you can’t go back on a song with this.

At the bottom and behind, there is a water-resistant flap for the charging port which is not USB-C but micro USB instead. Not a deal-breaker because this speaker functions obviously but there’s also no 3.5-millimeter port for physical audio connections either. The last button which is on the underside is the outdoor button which is unique as the icon of a forest tree there. Ultimate Ears is claiming this button does enable louder and crisper sound and it’s a pre-adjusted equalizer meant for outdoors.

JBL Flip 5

As far as the physical features, you still get a very durable fabric mesh wrapping majority of this speaker, the rubber ends to stem the speaker up, to absorb any kind of bumps and such. We get those passive bass radiators that are very common on the JBL speakers and it pulsates in relation to your volume levels. Overall, the design is still a quality build.

If we get a closer look, the buttons are pretty much straightforward pause and play, volume up and down, the pause and play can go back on your music or skip forward with a double press or a triple press respectively. On the very far left there, that is the new JBL party boost feature allowing you to connect other party speakers, so they can play in sync and you could have multiple speakers play at the same time as well.

Power and Pairing are lit, a new power indicator is featured below which is super nice here that can instantly shows how much charge I got left in this thing, and last there is a USB-C connection. As a side note, the USB-C port is exposed, no more flaps which is convenient though and considering its IP7 certified, you can dunk this into water and your speaker still works fine but the exposed port would need to be dry before charging, so it’s somewhat of a trade-off of convenience.

FEATURES:

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2

The Wonderboom 2 has that same water, dust, and drop-proof claims as to the last model. I did several quick drop tests and also, I put this into water then I did confirm that it floats. After those tests, after those drops, submerging it into the water, the speaker barely leaves a scuff if anything that’s very minor indentation but overall this speaker is still working perfectly fine.

Touching base on the internals, I didn’t see a Bluetooth rating on their website but Ultimate Ears did claim up to a hundred feet worth of Bluetooth performance which is on the very high-end. Testing this around I was able to get a full 100% coverage, no matter what corner I went to around I never lost connection, and the connection never even stuttered. Testing this with video and audio played perfectly fine on both YouTube and Netflix. For some reason on the iPhone, YouTube was off sync quite bad but Netflix on iPhones works perfectly fine.

I do appreciate this for the thing that you can pair up to two devices at the same time to one of these speakers, no need to unpair it and then repair through the new device when you want to switch sources. This does have the ability to double up so you can play to these speakers at the same time, Ultimate Ears improved on this and offering true stereo separation. You can hear left and right audio channels from these but the previous model only played audio in sync which is still good but stereo is even better.

The battery life here is acclaimed up to 13 hours which is improved from the last models which are only 10. This is better than JBL’s 12 our claim and still better than Sony’s XP32 or 22 actually which claims 12 hours without extra bass. I tested this at 50% of volume like all my other Bluetooth speakers and I was able to get 14 hours in two minutes which is really impressive.

JBL Flip 5

This speaker does float and with the IP7 rating this can be submerged up to 30 minutes and up to 3.3 feet of water. As much as I like it without the flap for daily use, if you’re a bit more rugged if you probably gonna be around the sand dirt particles might get into there, and it might prevent the USB-C cord from making full contact. As far as the battery life, this is rated at 12 hours. Other competitors have been getting this number as well, so the Flip 5 is good yet, nothing class-leading. Testing this at 50% volume from a full battery to dead, I was able to achieve 8 hours and 44 minutes to be exact.

JBL doesn’t disclose if this has fast charging or not but the recharge time from dead to full is two and a half hours, this is an improvement over the previous model. The physical 3.5 millimeter port is what missing in this. Wireless is obviously the future here but I know some uses these speakers for their TV, some uses it with their PlayStation PC those basically who don’t have Bluetooth.

As far as Bluetooth, we still don’t get Bluetooth 5.0. JBL with a new piece of tech here doesn’t offer this, so this comes with Bluetooth 4.2. Bluetooth 4.2 is still technically good but a better connection all around is something that helps tremendously. Testing this with video with iPhone YouTube did have a minor delay, you had a scrutinized but there is a little bit of a delay, Netflix played perfectly fine, testing this with a android phone same exact thing YouTube had a micro delay there, Netflix again fine. Last that we we don’t have is a speakerphone, so you can’t take phone calls on this and we don’t have voice assistant.

The only problem though the party boost feature is not backwards compatible with JBL Connect Plus. If you have the older speakers to JBL Xtreme 2, Charge 4, Pulse 3, etc you can’t connect them. Since this is very similar to JBL Connects going to JBL Connect Plus a few years ago, at first the new speakers didn’t work with the old ones but eventually a firmware update makes them compatible. The only let down her is the Flip 5 can only pair to another Flip 5.

SOUND QUALITY:

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2

You get very even 360-degree audio, you just place this in the center for entertaining and everyone’s experiencing a very similar level of audio performance. This Wonderboom 2 is loud and pressing that outdoor button under the speaker actually helps big-time. It’s not gimmicky with the outdoor button press, in person I can tell you the vocals are pushed very much forward without sounding off or weird that’s quite impressive.

JBL Flip 5

The Flip 5 still gets loud for a small bluetooth speaker class. It’s able to fill up small rooms and somewhat medium-sized rooms for larger open areas it’s more, so for generic audio listening is really jamming out. If you’re listening or entertaining this at the pool, getting two of these and pairing them together is ideal or stepping up to a medium-size speaker had a minimum would be my recommendation.

You get nice punchy bass that’s enough to make pop and EDM, and some hip-hop songs here very much enjoyable. In the audio sample, Sony this year is an excellent alternatively improved over the previous generation. But comparing to the Flip 5, they’re playing very close very similar but the JBL is a little bit deeper, a little bit better, and also a little bit less muffled bass.

WHICH ONE IS WORTH BUYING?

In my opinion, JBL Flip 5 is worth buying if you don’t have the JBL Flip 4 already and if USB-C matters a lot to you. Otherwise you can go for the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 because it is also worth buying for its lower price range.

Expert Reviews of Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2:

By TechHive
This tiny speaker is entirely unimpressive, with thin, closed-in sound and wimpy bass. It’s hardened against the elements, but that doesn’t make up for poor sound quality.

By Craving Tech
Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 2 is a wonderful piece of compact, portable, Bluetooth speaker that can withstand some punishment while letting out loud, clear sound even outdoor. While most small portable speakers can struggle in the midst of wind and chatter,…

By TheStreaminBlog
The original Wonderboom was already a well-designed speaker that delivers high-quality audio, and this newer version comes with enhanced features. The Wonderboom 2’s design has slight changes, while its 360-degree sound has a better bass response. It…

By MobileSyrup
“Its compact size, 100 percent passable sound, battery life, and waterproofing has made it the perfect speaker for me — and likely you as well depending on what you’re looking for from a portable…

BY TrustedReviews
With the Wonderboom 2, UE succeeds again – delivering a superb, big sound, with some useful features to boot – for the same price as the original at launch. Even though that model is now available at almost half its price, the Wonderboom 2’s refinements make it a choice pick.

Expert Reviews of JBL Flip 5:

By Tech Radar
The JBL Flip 5 is a simple soul – perhaps too simple for some in this world – but that minimalist approach has allowed JBL to focus on performance and create one of the best-sounding budget portable speakers around. Thanks to its neat design and IPX7…

By What Hi-Fi?
JBL’s latest offering sounds great for the price. If you don’t mind the lack of in-app EQ settings, aux-in port, battery life, inbuilt microphones, or partnering with older JBL speakers, it’s an excellent proposition for the money. It may be low on added…

By Pocket-lint
If you’re looking for a small, portable, and waterproof Bluetooth speaker then your options are many. The JBL Flip 5 delivers ample audio output and ticks all those boxes too, making it a tempting little portable. It also updates the design over the…

By TheStreamingBlog
JBL is a company known for producing affordable yet durable audio devices that deliver excellent sounds, and the JBL Flip 5 is not an exception. It may not be the perfect speaker, but for its price, it offers a lot more than what we expected. The JBL…

By techgearlab.com
Finding a reasonable balance between sound quality/volume and portability/ruggedness, the JBL Flip 5 is the quintessential jack of all trades, master of none. It’s melodious enough that you’re almost certainly going to enjoy listening to any type of…