12 Best Bluetooth Speakers 2023

Weight: 0.94 pounds | Dust and water resistance: IP67 | Battery life: 14 hours

UE’s Wonderboom speakers have long been a Strategist favorite, and the Wonderboom 3 is no different. Pairing is simple: All you have to do is hold the pairing button and it shows up in your phone or tablet’s Bluetooth menu immediately. It will connect immediately when powered back on. You can easily pair two Wonderbooms together for a stereo experience with a couple button pushes.

For its size, the Wonderboom sounds surprisingly good, even at lower volumes. At louder levels, usually around 80 percent or higher, sounds can start to feel muddled, especially with genres like hip-hop or metal (I tested with Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter II and Lamb of God’s Sacrament), and the vocals can drown out instrumentals. It’s not enough to detract from how good the Wonderboom sounds, though. When kept below that threshold, songs sound as clear and vibrant as on other UE speakers such as the Boom.

The Wonderboom 3 is larger than the Clip 4, so it’s slightly less portable, and its elastic loop is less effective than the JBL Clip 4’s metal clip for attaching it to things, but the speaker also produces clearer sound, likely owing to its larger size. Like the previous versions, the Wonderboom 3 is waterproof, so you can use it in the shower or even float it in the pool. It has a plastic door that covers the charging port when not in use to prevent water from sneaking in and mucking things up. It’s rugged enough to withstand the rough and tumble of being carried with you on your next vacation, or just getting moved from room to room.