Big props for giving a shoutout to Oluv's channel, even though you guys have somewhat different opinions and perspectives. You both are the best with your own honest styles of reviews! 👍
It's interesting to see how they change the speaker as time goes, but people have no way to tell which version they get unless they order from soundcore themselves..
@@alanrossreviews i guess they improve certain parts or materials on the speaker, and those changes that affect the sound are being adjusted by different firmwares to make it sound as much as identical to the older models with slight tuning changes
@@shoerice5083 there are some minor almost un-noticeable changes in the design on the new one. The font on the buttons on top is slightly different, the additional info on the bottom is at least re-ordered. And the little soundcore logo plate in the front is made of a different material
Brilliant review as always. Please keep them coming. I have a quirky tech question: if the passive radiators do loosen up over time, wouldn't that drop the low frequencies a wee bit more? I would think so from my tinkering with car audio speaker boxes many decades ago, but not entirely sure anymore.
@@yostix im not diyer take my reply with a pinch of salt. My understanding is that a higher compliance means resonant frequency will go up not down, its the opposition of adding mass. I may be totally wrong, if you get a different answer elsewhere please correct me.
Thanks for the heads up Alan. I've used my OG Boom pretty heavily over the last 3 years. I don't know how much more life it has left but its a disheartening knowing that a replacement won't be the same.
I bought the actual boom last christmas for my parents and i've noticed that it hasn't that amount of nice deep bass like my unit a few years ago. I was thinking that it is because of a different apartment so it sounds thinner! But now i have the answer.. 🤦😂
Just yesterday we had a party with 20 people and an old boost, I was impressed again from the speaker. Hadn't heard it for a long time. Its a pitty what they did with new version.
Alan, thank you for another informative and entertaining video. I’m happy to say I got the older motion boom when it was your pound for pound champion. It’s one of my favorite speakers of all time, and I have a ridiculous pile of speakers. Btw, as to the age of your viewers, I will turn 60 in a couple months. I am just as cheesy as you, and share your warped sense of humor! Keep up the good work!
In my small country (Hungary) I used to recommend Boom and Motion+ on the forums there, but now I don't dare to use the former. I don't know what has happened to Soundcore, but seeing what kind of speakers they release and what they do to the old ones, I have less and less confidence in the brand. Thanks a lot for the test! Now that Oluv is out (I know your relationship wasn't perfect, but I still feel sorry for him) practically you are the only one left among the "old bikers". Among those who can still be trusted and whose words are still worth paying attention to.
Yeah that's a real bummer too because that was I think arguably better sounding than the motion boom it just didn't have quite the volume or deep base or battery life. But I was struggling to decide which one to keep ultimately the battery life was the big seller for me. It was hard to give up the 3.5 jack and the tweeters and I thought the nicer looking design and the apt-X. But the battery life was like 7 hours on the motion plus compared to like 20 on the motion boom or whatever. Moot point now though that was 3 -4 years ago.
@@michaelcorcoran8768 I have not given up on any of them. I prefer to use the Motion+ indoors for listening to music, while the Boom (the old version) is good for barbecues in the garden or when I'm listening to EDM music. Unfortunately, to this day, Soundcore hasn't been able to turn these two speakers into one really punchy one. And, as things stand, they never will. The only hope right now is the Oluv tuned UBoom X. Since the YT deleted his channel, I don't know what will happen with their collaboration (I mean between Earfun and Oluv). There may not be anything from the previously mentioned speaker.
@@alanrossreviews I think the SE is not a fully global product. Yes from aliexpress, Lazmall Anker Global. Boom 2 SE is without any rgb lights and using two full range speakers but muffled to sound bass heavy
@@GavinMufclee Thanks. will look out for Alan's review on this new version as Soundcore was able to fix the low volume dsp processing problem on the boom 2 which may be possible with the motion boom as well
Truly the end of an era. When soundcore was offering the best budget speakers. I still have a pair that's almost in mint condition. I got them in like January 2021 I think. This is disappointing because if they broke today I would be tempted to replace them with the same speakers since I don't think anything at that price point has surpassed it. That options out the window now Truly an end of an era
@@alanrossreviewsThat'll may be possible if they do listen to their customer's feedback & secondly if the masses know well the differences between deep, mid, upper bass, bright, warm etc & can point it out immediately in which they either change or start having decline in sales
As a happy Motion Boom owner, I find it sad. Why change a winner? My MBoom was the joy of a dinner party last weekend, playing all afternoon and evening, everything from baroque to pop to jazz. Indoors. Over all the conversation and fuss.
@@alanrossreviews good to hear. I love my blast but I find myself using the boom more often and i never find it lacking. (I never listen at huge volumes) so I think the boom is still my favorite. but I keep hoping for something better.
Fascinating to watch manufacturing processes stealthily change with none of the important impacts captured in the spec sheets. This phenomenon is pretty familiar to people who buy, for instance, XBox game consoles which have components manufactured from a variety of suppliers even within a given model -- but for a first-party manufacturer like Anker you'd think they'd control their supply chain more directly! So it seems like this was intentional, either to make things cheaper to build or to intentionally tune it higher.
🤷 I don't know if its intentional or how widespread but i could take a good guess given that for months people have been telling me the new boom has lost its bass
Aww.. at 70% and the OG sounds lovely, the 2024 sounds shite. Edit, now I've watched the rest, yeah the same can be said for. 100%. Thank you Al, great work again
Question regarding RU-vid latency: Can I do anything to fix this? I got two of the original ones and they‘re awesome but the 160ms latency makes RU-vid pretty much unwatchable? Is there any chance to somehow fix this?
I've never owned the older model but the 2024 version doesn't sound bad, they actually gave bass up to be used with EQ. With sounds distorted in custom mode. But when it's off the bass is somewhat deep depending on the track I'm playing
How would you know if you have the 2021 version or the 2024 version alan? Does it give you a different model number on the bottom? Ive just got mine and i could instantly tell it didn't have the deep bass your first video had.
We need to find out how to tell which version is which because it's a totally different speaker now the 2024 version that deep bass has gone hasn't it Now it's basically the same as the boom plus that was missing the deep bass. So annoying what they have done. Do you think you can fix it on the eq Alan??
@@siddique409 hk go play 3 is more of a hifi indoor speaker with a warm sound signature and lots of bass and the tribit is more of an outdoor speaker and its pretty harsh at higher volumes
Is there an easy way to identify the older ones like model #, or other print on the speaker? The ones on the soundcore site say "100% Pure Titanium: Motion Boom’s drivers have pure titanium diaphragms to reproduce high frequencies up to 40kHz for sound that has noticeably higher clarity." Are these the older ones? Thanks!
@@alanrossreviewspeople are saying boom 2 plus had firmware change, could you check if it did anything?, i mean you probably had enough with soundcore firmware updates😬
I purchased my SOUNDCORE MOTION BOOM in September of 2023 and it still sounds excellent to my ears. Everywhere I take it I get compliments of how good it sounds. BTW, You are the best speaker and audio reviewer on RU-vid in my humble opinion. Keep up the great work.
@alanrossreviews I just checked the firmware on my SOUNDCORE MOTION BOOM and it is running 00.44 and the application says it's the latest as of today (Monday July 29th 2024). My digital scale is to small to weigh it.
to answer your question kinda still mid bass dominant but it has much deeper bass now and sounds clear and more open idk how much deeper bass it got but for me when i use tone tester its more like 5 or more hz deeper then previous
Thank you for your reviews. I spent two weeks choosing a speaker for a gift for a music lover, I already chose Motion Boom ($70 at resellers without warranty), but after watching this video I am thinking about Boom 2, but the price in our country is $140 which is twice as much.... Will it be better twice as much? Not likely... Tribit Stormbox Blast is beyond my budget, here it costs about $200. In Ukraine now there are problems with electricity, so we are changing all the equipment that is possible to battery powered. The most difficult thing for me is to choose a speaker, even with the choice of a laptop there were no such problems.
Glad I watched this. Was thinking about picking up a couple refurbs of these up for about $50 each. I can hear the obvious difference and I need that bass. Now I'm 😢
This means there's really no speaker on the market from soundcore that I would recommend to somebody. I honestly don't even know what I would recommend to someone who has 200 bucks and they want two speakers to pair. Tell him to try to find one on the resale market but then you don't know what year it's coming from.
That new revision has no deep bass... At 75% the difference is actually massive. Old model was rumbling so nicely, meanwhile 2024 model sounds like any other cheapo speaker... How sad...
Another video review from Alan Ross is another major major go!! Truly want a good review you heve to see the Alan Ross review for yourself on the inforwars in the Bluetooth speaker game!
Yeah, glad that you finally did It! As I said in my past videos comments, the new Boom "firmware" 0.44 sounds totally different. I bought the one with 0.43 to match my older one, thanks for you to confirm!
Is there any way of going back a version of the software because I think it has something to do with updating to 44 version. Id like to try and test if it is.
I have two 2024 Boom's now. I ordered them for TWS. What's you advice - should I return them and replace them with something (I don't want to go over 200$) or just keep them? (With low bass maxxed in the EQ.)
Hello Alan! Long time listener of your reviews, and also long time lover of soundcore products. Have a question for you... out of all soundcore products (Proud owner of motion boom plus), which will you recommend me to buy now in 2024? looking for a good Moderate sized speaker.. will greatly appreciate any recommendation! Thanks and big fan of your reviews!
@@alanrossreviews I’m a big motion boom plus fan ever since it came out. Has never let me down! But it’s a bit on the hindrance to carry around spectrum! Was looking at Boom 2 myself, thanks for your input! Will def check it out! Much love and keep doing you!!
Ive never owned the original boom. I have the boom2. Is the original sound better? My boom 2 sounds off now , i believe i busted it by playing at max volume too long. The bass makes a weird popping noise.
The 2021 sound better for sure. Thanks for letting us know. Sad to hear they deleted Oluv's channel. When I checked out some of his videos a few weeks ago. I remember he complained that he had gotten strikes on videos from using music tracks he got the license for. And he could not get them to reverse the decision. So I bet that was the issue he got into. He used licensed music but got strikes anyway and he continued to do it and got more strikes. And 3 strikes and they deleted your channel. The latest RU-vid AI automatic moderation have gone crazy. I even got automatic strikes for comments that was 100% innocuous. For the first time on a 12 year old account. It is not me who have changed, it is RU-vid who have gone crazy with the moderation.
Hello! What about Motion Boom Plus? I was going to buy as one with good quality/money ratio but fact about radiators stoped me for a while. Thanks for sharing this!
@@alanrossreviews I bought two used MB. In compare to 2024 the sound is really different. Serial number of the old one is started with ACC…, the weight as you reported, firmware is 0.43. I also took one MB+, which is passed the hairdryer test, with the custom EQ it sounds pretty good but I like more two MB in TWS. My plan is to buy one more MB+ for TWS
My black motion plus version 2020 and red 2021 have different tuning, the black slightly more bass a bit dull compared to the 2021 red have a bit less bass but a bright tuning,, im lucky i have a motion boom 2021😊
What about a motion boom bought in 2022 or 2023 running firmware 0.43 - would that be an old version or not? Someone here commented having both motion boom models, but only 3 gramms difference between them, not 13 gramms like you had. Any news Alan? 😢 Any statement from soundcore?
I'm that guy. If it's still running 0.43 and no update is ready in soundcore app, it's the old version. And indeed my old and new version don't have that 'big' difference in weight. I asked to push 0.44 to my 2021 version, so volume difference, especially annoying in TWS stereo mode, was really annoying. Now both run the 0.44 version, sound almost the same and volume levels are the same. I also asked to push a new firmware 0.45(for example) version for all motion booms, that is based on 0.43, so at least all versions (old or new) have the same firmware. I hope they still do that, but you can ask support to push 0.44 to your old with supplying its serial number (copy from app info) (don't upgrade while not having 2 motion booms for stereo (TWS), because 0.43 is the better firmware)
There *may* still be a way to get the old sound in a new speaker, with the Soundcore Select Pro. I was debating whether to buy the the Select or the Boom and literally just yesterday I bought the Select, mainly because of the lights (fully knowing it doesn't have TWS, titanium drivers and a smaller battery), and because the only somewhat comprehensive comparison between the two on RU-vid said that the bass was similar (although the Select is less clear due to worse drivers). So I was wondering if maybe you could compare the Select Pro with the old and new Booms? Im measuring the radiators to be tuned at around 64hz which doesn't really match any of the booms, and I also notice a bit of distortion/farting when pushed too loud, but you also said that happens on the booms as well. Also the highs seem to interfere a bit with the plastic thing that holds the LEDs in front of the woofers. I'd be really nice to get a good A/B comparison like the ones you do between these 3 similar looking but different speakers, and what you can do with a custom EQ. P.S. Really sad what happened to Oluv. I wasn't a fan of his personal sound preference nor his attitude, but no one deserves to get all that hard work destroyed just like that
@@alanrossreviews I bought mine in August 2023, software version is 00.44, weight 1553 grams. I thought I had an older version, but now I don't know...
Happy to still have my TWS with two 2021 Booms. Although... I recently relegated them for two Tribit Stormbox Blast also in TWS but... you know something, Alan... I can't get the fine, crystalline treble of the Boom out of them... and that has me upset. They should have used those... TITANIUM SPEAKERS!!!
Another little thing i observed that may help differenciate between old & new boom is in serial number(i don't know if that counts), i bought both old & new ones from Aliexpress, i don't know if serial numbers are region specific or not, others can check theirs & see if it's same, if it's thesame, perhaps one can look at the book & know whether it's old or new one immediately as serial numbers are written on the box My older OG Boom serial number starts with ACCU... I bought one in 2023, serial number starts with AP9U.... I bought another one in 2024, serial number starts with same AP9U....
Im confused. So they have updated the original A3118 model to a 2024 spec. Can’t see the new version for sale anywhere unless it’s the same model number etc.
Recently going to Walmart I saw that they were selling an “SE” version of the Boom 2, without the lights and advertised at 30W (same as the Motion Boom, which makes it seem like it’s being sold as a direct successor) instead of 80W like the regular Boom 2. With that in mind seeing what’s happened with the Motion Boom definitely seems a bit more deliberate. On the other hand, the Soundcore Select Pro is still being sold and is pretty much just a Motion Boom but with lights in it and that’s it. I wonder if Soundcore nerfed that with firmware updates too or if they hopefully left that one alone at the least.
@@alanrossreviews Considering how wild it is to sell an “SE” version of a speaker that’s dropped by 50W with the same build as the regular one that’s probably what you can expect from it lmao
Hi Alan, didn't you think the difference in bass extension should be a "run in" issue? Drivers loose their suspensions and spiders with the age. Sometimes differences in Fs are quite big...
of course which is why i specifically mentioned that in the video. i did 48 hours break in and one of my originals hasnt had that much playtime, the one without a grill. and that doesn't explain the rest of the differences including weight.
Nice speaker! wonder If the passive Radiator is more loose in the old Version because of use. Then you get deeper Bass and less Sharp Panch. I would let the new Version a burn in process and then compare again.
I have a 2021 and 2024 model. They are almost identical, only 2-3 grams weight difference, stiffness of the passive radiators is the same almost, while 2021 not being used that much yet (maybe 20H of playtime). It's the firmware v 0.44 that has the most impact on the sound difference. Old models have v 0.43 and not automatically getting v0. 44 for whatever reason. I asked to push 0.44 to my 2021 version, based on serial number they can do. So now I'm at 0.44 on both and both versions almost sound the same, volume levels are also the same again now, so happily using TWS. V0. 44 does sound different and is slightly the worse firmware because of that.
So I sold my motion boom to my friend and he used it for like 2 months and it doesn't turn on anymore lol. Soundcore is sending a replacement free of charge and I don't have to send back the defective model. Even though they make mid products these days they still have always had good customer service.
Hey Alan, do you have any idea when the change was made for the material used in the passive radiators? I have a version that was apparently produced in June of 2023 (according to Soundcore support), but Soundcore also completely denied that the material was changed or updated...seems like they don't want to admit to any changes, but I'm still trying to figure out if I have the new or old version. Tbh sounds good to me so far, so maybe it's a moot point for me
@@alanrossreviews awesome, thanks, man. I knew you were the right person to ask. I had totally forgotten that you mentioned the weight and firmware difference in the video. I was hoping to get the original version when I ordered one renewed from Amazon, but it seems I did in fact get the newer version. Still sounds good once I played around with the EQ, though I'm sure I would notice the different if I played them side by side like you did in the video. Wish I could figure out a way to purchase the old version, but it seems like only the newer ones are available. Oh well. Thanks again for being so helpful!
Alan, what's the best volume to burn in a new speaker and does it really improve the speaker's performance especially on bluetooth speakers, you said you did burn in at moderate volume for 48hrs, is 60% volume(with EQ)ok for burn in and how long is ideal?
@@alanrossreviews Ok, i have been playing my new speakers at around 60-75% volume(with EQ)for around 7 hrs at a time for few days before blasting them at high volumes, hope my past practices wouldn't have caused damage to the speakers, now I've known better from you, I'll keep new speakers burn in below 50% Doing this burn in few hrs each day, say 6 hrs for around 1 week and plugging in new speakers and allow them play for over 24hrs straight, will it achieve the desired results? Thanks Alan!
Is there an easy way to visually tell which version is which? I probably have two of the newer one, I bought one last year and one this year. They have been going dirt cheap lately so I'm not complaining.
@@alanrossreviews another user mentioned that the button font is different and the certification logos on the bottom are in a different order. If that reflects the internals then I would have one version 1 (bought for $110 AUD) and one version 2 (bought for $80 AUD).
well the obvious is the boom 2 but its not like when the og boom came out, then there was nothing like it, now there are many options. none of which are ground breaking bass wise as the motion boom was.
Hey Alan aber thank you for the video! I have two questions: 1. Would you still recommend the Motion Boom over the Motion Boom Plus if one likes the original Motion Boom sound or is there any EQ that makes the Boom Plus sound like the Boom? 2. If not: What is the closest alternative to the Motion Boom at the moment?
@@alanrossreviews Thank you for the quick response! I've got currently the problem that I ordered the X600 which is already packed to send it back and the Boom Plus. Now my brother borrowed me his OG Boom and I don't see it to have a bigger speaker that sounds (a little bit) worse than the smaller one 😂. I'm thinking of sending the Boom Plus back also and wait for a real alternative to the Boom. Are there any other recommendations maybe from other brands? I really like the neutral sound with the deep bass even at very low volumes combined in a quite small speaker like the Boom. The plus is, it is even loud enough to make a little party inside and outside but that is probably a rare scenario I will have.
I recently purchased a 2nd motion+ to pair with my existing one however turns out the can't be paired due to different firmware versions. Pretty disappointed as I always intended on buying that 2nd one
I'm curious. i have both BOOM . I take my BOOM 00.43 2021 and in the customized equalizer i set step down first 2 bars (80hz and 150hz). The bass results cutted but it doesn't sound bad for rock music. Is it similar sound of the default soundcore signature of the BOOM 00.44 (that you have measured less bass responsive)? What do you think? Byeee
Mine is a question for you😁,if for you the sound cutted with 80 hz step down in 2021 give the same bass sound in default eq of the boom 00.44 version(?)
Thanks for spreading the truth Alan about the horrible new model. I'm so disappointed as I've just got into speakers and seen alot of your videos and wanted to get it as a good starting point :( Do you know if the motion boom plus has had the same treatment?
Soundcore up to hijinks again. 🙄 Sounds to me like they're intentionally handicapping the og Boom. Perhaps to make their more recent models look like more appealing options? 🤔 Nobody would know the truth behind the changes if not for your testing and measurements. Thank you for another great one, Alan! 😁👍👏
