A balanced 3600 sound, awesomely portable speaker. With a deep, accurate bass texture with no artificial induction, and it’s water, drop, and dustproof. Blast offers ultimate voice control as it comes with Amazon stand-alone Alexa built-in hands-free voice on Wi-Fi. Also Bluetooth-enabled and charges wirelessly with a battery life of up to 12 hours.
Blast Speaker Battery Life? It’s a little bit expensive, and the battery life can be affected adversely depending on usage. Its vary from 8 to 12 hours depending on the volume of the sound. The bottom of the speaker can be somewhat fat. The application meant for Blast is seemingly disappointing as lots of features are missing, and Alexa features still quite disturbing. Also, the reset unit does not function smoothly.
The Bottom Line Provided you can live with its price, the Blast is genuinely a delight to possess. The portability, rugged, and stand-alone Alexa feature is worth it.
User Experiences:
Good:-
A user from amazon.com says- It has a very secure and professional packaging. Using the App, the set up was seamless, and all the features stated worked perfectly. I have an Echo Alexa, but the quality of sound on the Blast is far superior, well rounded.
Another user on amazon.com says- I wanted a Bluetooth speaker that could work in the shower, beach, office, and everywhere else. It’s perfect. It’s a Bluetooth all-round speaker, but with Alexa, it doesn’t have any use. Given that I audibly use it regularly for book reading, I just tell it to play my book on audible, and it picks up right where I stopped.
Bad:-
A user from amazon.com says- I bought this few months ago and was happy with initial usage. Just a month ago, it ceased coming up. Assuming the battery was dead, I plugged it up for charging. Its lights lit up like it was properly charging. I attempted to put it on after a day’s charge, but it didn’t work.
Another user on amazon.com says- After a few weeks, I can say this speaker has many issues. Requires premium paid subscription services to be used effectively over Wi-Fi and not a guarantee they’ll work. For three days, the new premium Spotify features performed tremendously, and suddenly, it skips every single song. Software issues are serious problems.
Is This a Smart Speaker?
Ultimate Ears, manufacturers of Blast, have gained a reputation for developing top-notch portable Bluetooth speakers having excellent sound quality. They’ve now developed a speaker with smart features.
Blast with its Alexa built-in hands-free voice feature is capable of connecting directly to the cloud. When linked to Wi-Fi, it provides high-quality streaming to Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, and other channels supported by Amazon. Alexa can set the timer, adjust volume, check the weather, even control other smart devices and different growing range of skills. Hence, it is not wrong to classify them under smart speakers.
Blast Speaker Official Video
Alternatives For Blast:
We’ll be considering five alternatives for Blast, using being portable, their price, and if they’re smart speakers as a benchmark for being under the alternative category.
1. Sonos One
Price: $199
Sonos One Features Humidity resistant, Alexa built-in hands-free voice control, Airplay 2 support, battery life of up to 10 hours. Sonos One gives you the option of Airplay2 so that you can connect this smart device with Apple products for online streaming.
Pros
Combines both Alexa and Sonos
Plays music while Alexa is on mute
Supports AirPlay 2
Google Assistant support
Excellent audio quality at that price range
First Sonos to allow voice control of your music
Alexa built-in feature works the same here as on the Echo
For multi-room audio, it connects well to all other Sonos speakers
User Experience – A user from Amazon.com Says: The sound is spectacular. Though not audiophiles, to our aging ears, it’s a massive upgrade over what we had, and it fills our room with deep, rich sound, this gets the Double Senior Discount Seal of Approval from our family.
Cons
Voice commands only functions with a few music services
Buggy voice commands
Complicated setup process
A User from Reddit.com says – A complicated setup experience. One misstep moving between the Sonos and Alexa applications could lead to a loop where the speaker will not work.
2. Jam Symphony Audio Speaker
Price: $74.98
Jam Symphony Features: Contains Amazon Alexa Control built-in. Connects directly to Wi-Fi to access the voice service and stream its music from Spotify, Internet radio, or Amazon Music. JAM Wi-Fi App can stream from TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and more. The application can serve as an intercom to talk through the speaker.
Pros
Able tocontrol your smart devices.
One-touch controls of its preset buttons mean you can quickly program and choose your favorite station
Quick and easy to set up
For multi-room audio, it’s capable of synchronizing with up to 8 symphony speakers
User Experience from Amazon. Com – I now have three Jam Speakers. They work great! Smooth set up and sound’s perfect.
Cons
Very limited in its function
The Aux In on the speaker is a fallback
Has deactivated its most-wanted features
A User from Amazon.com says – As I write this review, I have now wasted 1 hr. on hold for assistance to connect this speaker. Nothing shows you what’s the password for the Jam symphony. Instructions and what is on the App and id do not match. I’m certainly not getting something right but can’t explain to someone what it is. It’s a waste of time.
3. Amazon Tap Speaker
Price: $129.99
Amazon Tap Features: Comes with Amazon Alexa Control built-in. Portable Bluetooth speaker, Wi-Fi enabled stream from Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn. The Amazon tap speaker can have up to 9 hours of continuous playback (8 hours in hands-free mode) of Battery life. Dual speakers which provide 3600 omnidirectional sound.
Pros
Able tocontrol your smart devices.
The hands-free mode can control music and more from a distance
Alexa Voice Service, when connected to Wi-Fi or a mobile hotspot, can play music and read the news.
Alexa getting smarter and adding new features and skills
User Experience From reddit.com – This is an excellent device. I take my Tap all over, to the beach, even to the backyard while gardening. I make use of it as a Bluetooth speaker on my bicycle.
Cons
Doesn’t make use of induction charging
Can’t talk to the Tap remotely via Bluetooth
A User from Amazon.com says – My complaint with the Tap is that the speaker fabric covers it entirely. The material seems to pick at the very least every dust and debris, and I don’t know a way to clean it. I’d love it if it were made of perhaps rubber since the designers had travelers in mind.
4. Amazon Echo Plus (2nd Gen) Speaker
Price: $149.99
Amazon Echo Plus (2nd Gen) Features: Great sound with a built-in Zigbee hub to easily setup and control other compatible smart home devices. The Built-in Alexa feature lets you stream from Amazon Music, SiriusXM, Spotify, and more. Multi-room music play with other compatible devices, turn on lights and lock doors.
Pros
Tocontrol your smart devices.
Alexa Voice Service, when connected to Wi-Fi or a mobile hotspot, can play music, read the news and provide weather reports.
Alexa getting smarter and adding new features and skills
User Experience From Reddit.com-. The Echo 2nd Gen seems to produce quality bass. It is more cost-effective and provides flexibility in smart hub choices.
Cons
Better sound quality needed especially at a high volume
Can’t do without the Hue bridge.
Dies not to support Bluetooth, 3.5mm AUX In and TV/video connections
A User from Amazon.com says -I’m bothered because on the product page for the Echo Plus CLEARLY says compatibility with the HUE system, and even make use of the HUE APP logo. That’s great, but with the condition that you MUST have a HUE BRIDGE to use the App. Which is another $50-60 added to the already expensive investment of these bulbs.
5. JBL Link 10 Speaker
Price: $179.95
JBL Link 10 Features: Built–in hands-free and Chromecast feature, which allows you to stream podcasts, music, and radio from your mobile devices. It comes with Google assistant feature, which flows from Google play music, Spotify, Pandora, and more. The battery life of 5 hours with 4000 mAH, also waterproof and durable
Pros
Multi-room playback across speakers that have Chromecast built-in
High-quality sounds
A simple voice request, OK Google, triggers activation
Easy to set up
Google Assistant feature means its always ready to help, and it is better than Alexa at answering questions
Portable and durable
User Experience from Reddit.com – I love this product, but I desire that it is updated to be like the Google homes/minis.
Cons
The voice recognition and receiving feature is not sharp
The battery life is too short compared with other competition within its price range
Problems with booting being slow to come up
A User from Reddit.com says -Continuous conversation doesn’t seem to work on the link ten even though its been enabled and works on all the minis
Sam has been a Smart Things expert for years and the author of DIY SmartThings. Recently he’s really more into Nest smart devices and has a lot of experience with all sorts of projects from converting a regular Home to completely a smart home with the background degree in Electronics.
