The UE Boom has been a mainstay at the top of CNET's best portable Bluetooth speakers list the past couple of years, so we were very curious to see what UE (Ultimate Ears) had in store for its successor, the UE Boom 2, which retails for $200 (£170; AU$250).

The UE Boom 2 is a compact, durable wireless Bluetooth speaker that plays louder than the original Boom and sounds a little better; It's stain-resistant, shock-resistant and now fully waterproof; Battery life is a strong 15 hours, and it can be paired with a second UE speaker for stereo sound

Somewhat pricey

The Boom 2 represents an incremental upgrade over the original. The best additions are the gesture control that allows you to play and pause music without needing your mobile device, and the improved toughness.

Waterproof and drop-proof; App extends functionality; Vocals sound full and clear

Muffled speakerphone

Ultimate Ears proved it can put out capable Bluetooth speakers with the UE Boom  a couple of years ago, and its output has gotten steadily better with the larger UE Megaboom  and the tiny UE Roll ( at Amazon) . Now the original Boom is getting a refresh, and it's the company's best speaker yet. The $199.99 UE Boom 2 is almost visually indistinguishable from the original, but it's now completely waterproof, and has a few tiny, welcome design changes. More important, it sounds better than the first Boom. The same-price Editors' Choice Bose SoundLink Mini II ($170.00 at Amazon)  is still an excellent-sounding speaker with more crisp high-end, but the Boom 2 produces a fuller sound and more satisfying bass. Ultimately, your own musical tastes will determine which speaker is the better choice for you, but the Boom 2's rugged build pushes it over the top in the functionality department, making it our new Editors' Choice for portable Bluetooth speakers. DesignThe Boom 2 ($159.99 at Ama...

The new UE Boom 2 Bluetooth speaker from Ultimate Ears packs powerful sound in a colorful, rugged, waterproof build.

Full-sounding bass; Get impressively loud for its size; Waterproof

Tap-based gesture controls aren't very reliable; No playback controls besides tapping

Back in 2013, we were blessed with the launch of the UE Boom -- a small, portable, waterproof speaker that sounded great for its size and had enough battery life to last a full day at the beach.

Ultimate Ears has become more of a household name since its inception by then-Logitech (now just Logi), since releasing a variety of Bluetooth speakers to the market. The first UE Boom, released back in 2013, was one of the best small-scale portable speakers we'd ever heard, all things considered,...

Great 360-degree sound for this size; Decent battery life; Full-on waterproofing (now including ports; Colourful design; Stereo pairing possible; Great app with preset equaliser settings

Bass has its limits; Not dramatically different from first model; It's pricey; Would like more equaliser controls

Despite these niggles, the UE Boom 2 is a decent Bluetooth speaker, with plenty of things to recommend it. It's tough, looks great, goes very loud and, for casual listening, the sound quality is fine. The speaker is packed with features, too.

This one is quite loud and sounds awesome too

Good music is indispensable, but what good is it if you have poor quality audio devices Ultimate Ears (UE) which is owned by Logitech released its Boom speaker in 2013 to rave reviews. UE has updated the Boom to the UE Boom 2 and I requested it to review.

Great volume; Wonderful audio quality for its size; Great Bluetooth range; Block party app feature allows 3 users to alternate playing music to the speaker; Waterproof up to 1 meter for 30 minutes

Does not pick up much of the bass frequencies; Setting the alarm to work properly is not intuitive; Periodic problems with connectivity within the app; Periodically the remote "Power On" button was missing in the app; Expensive

UE has a fabulous Bluetooth speaker here. In my opinion, this one is gonna be hard to beat. I love how ruggedized the build is. A portable speaker should be able to withstand life's perils. The 360-degree sound output is also well-thought; it just makes sense.

I am very happy with this bluetooth speaker, I can use it to answer my phone

Easy to connect and to use; good sound quality; right size; long battery time; exterior uses

Higher price range; cannot recharge my phone