The original Wonderboom made an impact as a punchy go-anywhere speaker with a striking design and use of materials. It could take rough treatment but reliably pushed out bouncy satisfying sound, with enough bass to get your feet tapping. The Wonderboom 2 hasn’t messed with this winning formula, although the colour schemes have got more adventurous, it’s slightly more rugged (IP67 waterproof and dust proof) and UE claims it’s got more bass too. To us it sounded as satisfying as the original, with ample bass for a grapefruit-sized speaker.

We always prefer control buttons on the top, so you can control playback by pressing down with one finger. The Wonderboom has power and play/pause buttons on top, but the volume buttons on the side, so you need to grasp the whole device to adjust volume and make full contact with the fabric covering, which is not ideal for kitchen- or braai hands.

The newly evolved Wonderboom is still a great party starter for any kind of social scene. It’s good value at the price, reliably delivering exciting sound on pop, dance and acoustic tracks.

IP67 waterproof, 104 x 95 mm, 420g, R1500