The second-generation Anker Soundcore 2 has impressed us with its great sound, build quality, and surprisingly excellent app. For this third outing of the popular speaker series, they’ve taken an “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach retaining everything we loved about last year’s model while adding some extra niceties too.
Whether you’re looking for a speaker to use around your home or office, the Anker Soundcore 2 is one of our favorite options. It has an understated design that will allow it to fit in better than other speakers with more rugged features like those from UE Wonderboom 2 and Sonos Move while still being great at providing quality sound output.
Pricing
Whether you’re looking for a kitchen appliance, workout accessory, or just want to make your living space more lively – the Anker Soundcore 2 has something that could be perfect. The speaker comes in at $80 (£64.99, Aus$140) but if we where you are coming from it may seem expensive considering other speakers on this list go as low as $60. However, what puts its price into perspective is how versatile of an item this really seems compared with others out there today.
We compared the Anker Soundcore 2 to other speakers in its class and found that it is mid-pack. It’s not one of the lowest-priced offerings but definitely doesn’t beat out more expensive ones as well either. The sound quality for this product sits at around $100 which makes them compete against competitors such as Ultimate Ears or Sono who offer similarly styled products without having too many features added to their designs.
Design
The Soundcore 2 is the follow-up to our favorite Bluetooth speaker, with more bells and whistles than ever before. For starters, it has a glowing LED ring around its top that gives off an incredibly vibrant color display when you want or need some extra light in your day! Additionally, there are new features like being able to control all aspects of music playback from another device via the remote app which was specially made just for this model – no longer will we have trouble finding tunes because they’re only accessible through external sources like Spotify Connect.
The Soundcore 2 features the same cloth exterior of its predecessor, giving it a modern yet rugged look. The speaker still sports an IPX7 rating which means you can take this around one meter underwater and enjoy 30 minutes without issue! Around the back there’s a rubber flap covering up the USB-C port as well as micro-USB from previous models – meaning they’ve made sure that your devices will live longer than before with this new design change.
You can control the speaker’s lighting and features using Soundcore’s excellent app. You will find that there are several modes to choose from or you could create your own custom setting for any occasion, which gives this product even more potential uses.
The sound is surprisingly good for such a cheap speaker, and the BassUp feature really helps when listening to low-quality music or podcasts. There’s also an equalizer inside of this app which most people may not use but it’s there if you want to adjust your frequencies.
- Excellent value for a Bluetooth speaker
- Rugged, yet stylish design
- Loud and clear sound quality with deep bass at any volume level
- User-friendly app that allows EQ adjustments
- No 3.5mm Audio jack
- Higher volume distort sound
Perfomance
The sound is surprisingly good for such a cheap speaker, and the BassUp feature really helps when listening to low-quality music or podcasts. There’s also an equalizer inside of this app which most people may not use but it’s there if you want to adjust your frequencies.
The sound quality of the Soundcore 2 is best when it’s below 70% volume. This small wireless speaker lacks amperage, so you might need to crank up your favorite song or TV show for optimal results in a larger room with more powerful speakers.
The bassUp feature is a great way to get more boom-bip out of the speaker quickly and it isn’t overwhelming. However, those looking for even deeper responses will want to go with something like JBL Charge 4 or Pulse 4 which have much louder speakers that can really shake your whole house.
The Soundcore 2 is great for users who want to take their music with them everywhere, be it the beach or poolside. It comes equipped not only as a speaker but also features an integrated mic so you can use this device like any other phone when necessary.
