Ultimate Ears, today, announced two new speakers for its lineup of 360-degree speakers in the BLAST and MEGABLAST. The BLAST will offer about the same experience, at least audio-wise, as the BOOM 2, and the MEGABLAST is actually about 40% louder than the MEGABOOM. Now the big differences between the BLAST, MEGABLAST and the BOOM 2 and MEGABOOM is the fact that these have WiFi connectivity, and the Bluetooth range has been tripled. Bluetooth range is now 150-feet, and WiFi range is about 330-feet, which means your speaker can be far away from your device and still play music without any issues.
Inside the Ultimate Ears BLAST you’ll find two 35mm active drivers, along with two passive radiators which work to deliver some crystal clear mids and highs, with some very bassy lows. Ultimate Ears says that the sound level is around 90dBC, and the frequency goes from 90Hz – -20kHz. Outside of the specs, the BLAST does have WiFi support which supports 802.11 a/b/g/n but no ac support unfortunately. Since it has WiFi support, you can not only stream over WiFi which will allow you to stream higher-quality audio, but the BLAST can also get updates from Ultimate Ears without interrupting the user. The BLAST lasts around 12 hours of continuous playback, and it is also still IPX7 waterproof, so you can still take it to the pool in the summer.
Now the MEGABLAST is larger and has two 25mm tweeters inside along with two 55mm active drivers as well as two passive radiators. So the drivers are larger than in the BLAST which gives it louder and better sound. As far as the sound level, it can get up to 93dBC, which Ultimate Ears does say is 40% louder than the MEGABOOM, which was already a loud speaker. Like the BLAST, the MEGABLAST also supports WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n and is IPX7 waterproof. However it does have a larger battery that lasts a bit longer, coming in with 16 hours of continuous playback.
The feature that really sets these two apart from the other speakers in Ultimate Ears lineup, however, is Alexa. So Ultimate Ears has incorporate Amazon Alexa into the BLAST and MEGABLAST speakers here, making these the only announced portable, Alexa speakers besides the Amazon Tap. Ultimate Ears did state that you will have access to all of the skills that Alexa already has, however it did also explain that Amazon gives third-party Alexa products fewer options for music than first-party options like the Amazon Echo and the Echo Dot. So the BLAST and MEGABLAST will have support for Google Play Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and a few others. One of the more notable absences here, however, is Spotify. But since there is still Bluetooth available here, you can still stream over Bluetooth with your favorite music service. Ultimate Ears did note that more services will be supported soon.
Ultimate Ears has also announced a charging dock that will work for both the BLAST and MEGABLAST speakers, it’s the Ultimate Ears POWER UP. This will attach to the bottom of your BLAST or MEGABLAST speaker and allow you to charge the speaker easier. Instead of having to lay it down, or use it upside down to charge it. And with POWER UP, you can simply set the BLAST or MEGABLAST down and have it begin charging immediately and continue listening to your music. This is going to cost $39.99, and is available today.
The BLAST will be priced at $229 with the MEGABLAST available for $299 both speakers will be available in Graphite, Blizzard, Blue Steel, Merlot, Mojito and Lemonade colors. Both the BLAST and MEGABLAST are available for pre-order today on Ultimate Ears website and will be available at other retailers later this month. Those that purchase the Ultimate Ears BLAST and/or MEGABLAST speaker will also get three months of Amazon Music Unlimited for free. However, this promotion is only available to those that are new to Amazon Music Unlimited, and not current users.
Ultimate Ears BLAST
Ultimate Ears MEGABLAST
Ultimate Ears POWER UP
