This is the review of the comparison between two portable speakers from two popular brands in the audio industry. The comparison here is between the JBL Charge 3 and the Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3. There is only forty dollars difference in their price range. Top know does the difference in their prices brings any difference in their features and performances or not, and to know which one is better for the price, go to the detailed review.

JBL Charge 4	Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3
BUY NOW	BUY NOW
PROS	PROS
Powerful audio performance with rich bass. Gets quite loud for its size. Waterproof. Long battery life. Can charge your portable devices. USB-C charging.	Class-leading battery life. Gets incredibly loud. Punchy sound.
CONS	CONS
No speakerphone function. Basically the same sound as the Charge 3. The buttons that aren’t lit up are hard to see in the dark.	Recessed mids. Bass sounds loose at high volume. Charging dock not included.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Detail Review:

INTRODUCTION:

JBL Charge 4

Like most people, I enjoy taking my music with me no matter where I go. So, people like me are thankful for advancements in Bluetooth and smartphone technology that’s easier than ever. I’ve had several portable speakers over the years and I broke almost every single one of them until now. But the JBL’s Charge 4 not only takes a beating but it produces a great sound while it does. This speaker is retailing for around a hundred and eighty dollars.

Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3

The Megaboom 3 is an updated version speaker of the Megaboom 2 from Ultimate Ears. There are only a few changes made in the previous version that made the Megaboom 3. This speaker produces great sound quality and gives heavy and punchy bass. This speaker is retailing for around a hundred and forty dollars.

DESIGN: 

JBL Charge 4

The beauty of portable Bluetooth speakers is that they can go anywhere. The drawback is that anywhere is where anything can happen. Spills crashes, and drops are how most portable speakers meet their end. JBL made sure that the same fate would not happen to Charge 4. This speaker is available in a variety of colors. The exterior is made up of a very durable fabric and an extremely rugged rubber. You can notice that there’s an extra layer of rubber around the sides to protect against hard impacts like dropping.

This speaker is definitely slightly bigger than its predecessor the Charge 3. As far as the dimensions of the speakers, the JBL Charge 4 is 22 by 9.5 by 9.3 centimeters, so it’s definitely a thick speaker. As far as the button controls, on the top of the speaker is where you have got some of the buttons as same as any other JBL speakers. it has the play and pause button, volume up/down button, Bluetooth button, and the JBL Connect button and for those of you that don’t know what it is for, it allows you to connect your JBL speaker with another compatible JBL speaker. On the bottom of the speaker, we of course got our charging port, we’ve got a headphone jack for the aux, and something interesting is a USB-A out, so you could charge your phone through the speaker, which I think is pretty good to have.

Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3

The color on this speaker shifts with the lighting which is really nice. This speaker has really a nice Premium quality built and the design. It’s clean, it’s sleek, and it looks good. This speaker looks like a bottle and it becomes easy for you to keep this in a bottle stand of your cycle. This speaker also comes with a loop that you can use to hang this. 

As far as the design of this speaker, on the front of the speaker, you have got the plus and minus buttons that can be used to control your volume. On the backside of the speaker, there is a rubber strap that goes from up to bottom and that has the Ultimate Ears logo on the top and a flap open at the bottom which contains the charging port and also an LED indicator that shows your battery status. It advisable to keep the flap closed the not in use in order to keep this speaker waterproof. On the top, you have got the power button, Bluetooth button, and your magic button and at the bottom, you have got the wireless charging point to charge this wirelessly.

FEATURES:

JBL Charge 4

The JBL is a great brand, their speakers are excellent top of the line to the best Bluetooth speaker you get currently. This speaker comes in a nice package, and in the box, you get the speaker itself, then you get your USB Type-C charging cable and the instruction manual, that’s it you get in the box. The reason why I say this the Charge 4 is one of the best because they’re all good depending on what you’re looking for. I have used a lot of different JBL speakers and the Charge 4 is the most common one just because it makes a good bookshelf speaker.

The Charge 4 also has an IPX7 waterproof rating, which means it can survive and one meter of water for up to 30 minutes. I checked out how waterproof the Charge 4 really is by submerging this in a bucket of water. Even when it was fully submerged, I can still hear the sound coming out of it. If you experience a little bit of sound distortion after removing it from water if by mistake it dropped in the water, just shake it off and make sure you dry it thoroughly.

The radiators on the sides also keep the speaker waterproof by singing out the water from the sides. The Charge 4 uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery it gives you up to 20 hours of playtime, which means chances are your smartphone or tablet will run out of charge before the JBL does. If that happens, there is a USB charge out, too quickly charge your device. Unlike many Bluetooth speakers, the Charge 4 has the ability to connect up to two smartphones or tablets at a time, making things a lot easier if you want to switch devices while listening. If you want to kick up your listening experience, the Charge 4 future JBL Connect Plus will let you pair two speakers for stereo effect or you can kick it up to an epic level in party mode and connect over 100 speakers at once.

Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3

You get an app that you can get with this speaker. Inside of this app, that is inside the Ultimate Ears Boom or Megaboom app, it shows you which speaker you have and also the color of this speaker. Inside the app, you get an option of EQ setting where you can set your EQ level to however you want, and also, they do have different presets that you can set it down. I got a set to the bass jump because I want to hear bass on this thing, and the bass representation on this speaker is amazing, it’s booming. Other than that, you can also go to the custom, the standard, and so on it has these different EQ.

Also, you can do the volume from here and also turn it on and off from here. Then there’s another good feature where you can set up with the magic button that is how the Ultimate Ears call that button on the top of the speaker right there. With that magic button you can play, pause, skip, and there’s a OneTouch Apple music playlist feature too. So, if you have the Apple Music playlist, you set it up in there, and from one touch you automatically play your favorite Apple music playlist. That gives you less of a need to have to pull out your phone to get started with.

As far as the Bluetooth on this speaker, you got up to a hundred and fifty feet is where it can reach. As far as charging, it comes with a fast-charging brick. I love that anything that comes with fast charging bricks and also, you can get the power up charging dock to charge this wirelessly and it has a max volume of 90 decibels. As far as the water-resistance with this speaker, you got an IP67 rating and float, so if you were to accidentally knocking into the pools, it will float up to the top so that you can quickly grab it and get it and then shake it out and you’re good to go and also, this speaker features drop resistance. 

SOUND QUALITY:

JBL Charge 4

As far as the sound quality on this speaker, it can certainly handle the elements and sound good doing it. For a small speaker that only weighs a little over 2 pounds, the Charge 4 has an impressive amount of bass, which’s new to the dual passive radiators on each side. These are used to amplify the deep pitches and the sound without having to use up valuable energy.

Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3

I love the fact that I can customize the EQ for the sound coming out of this. I’m big into the audio I play with EQ and frequencies and so forth. As far as the frequencies, this has a frequency range from 60 Hertz all the way up to 20 kilohertz. From 60 all the way up to 20 kilohertz is really good because the bass is in around that 40 to 60 Hertz up to 100 Hertz, actually from 40 up to 100 Hertz is about where the bass frequency is starting at 60 is just fine. The human ears are capable of hearing only 20 Hertz to 20 kilohertz. The audio representation on this thing is great. My ears were pleasantly surprised and I was delighted by the audio that you get out of this thing. It’s awesome, it’s amazing, and it’s a pleasure that’s how you could describe the sound quality of this speaker. 

WHICH ONE IS BETTER FOR THE PRICE?

In my opinion, the JBL Charge is worth buying than the Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3 for the price because the Charge 4 sounds better than the Megaboom 3, it has better battery life than Megaboom 3, and also it has better features than the Megaboom 3.  

Expert Reviews of JBL Charge 4:

By Expert Reviews
Despite cutting a couple of handy features, the Charge 4 is an impressive fourth entry into JBL’s mid-range Bluetooth speaker series…

By What Hi-Fi?
Great sound plus rugged design and handy features equal a top Bluetooth speaker…

By TheStreamingBlog
JBL’s Charge series just gets better with every new release. With Charge 4, we’ve seen that its audio quality has highly improved compared to the previously released Charge 3. It delivered cleaner, clearer, and more refined sounds with mids and…

By Tech Radar
For the money, the JBL Charge 4 is a definite no-brainer. For just $150 (£160, AU$200), you get a speaker that lasts all day, sounds great, can put up with all kinds of abuse, and tops your phone up in a pinch. Yes, there are better-sounding speakers…

By PC Mag
The JBL Charge 4 is an excellent option for those who want a waterproof, powerful-sounding portable Bluetooth speaker in a moderately sized frame.

Expert Reviews of Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3:

By Tech Radar
The UE Megaboom 3 doesn’t stray from the company’s tried and true formula but it doesn’t have to. The Megaboom 3…

By What Hi-Fi?
Punchy, exciting, and full of fun, the Megaboom 3’s design tweaks, and new features make it even more exciting to use than before.

By PCMag
The wireless Ultimate Ears UE Megaboom 3 speaker improves upon its predecessor with a sleeker, more rugged design and a lower price tag.

By Tom’s Guide
The UE Megaboom 3 has what you want in a portable Bluetooth speaker: good sound quality, long battery life, ruggedness, and more.

By Forbes
The Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3 isn’t a smart speaker. If you want Alexa to get involved without using your smartphone, the company has that covered with the Megablast (reviewed here). But if you’re looking for a portable Bluetooth speaker…