Massive boom | Soundcore Boom 2 vs the Motion Boom speaker

Soundcore released a new speaker in their boom lineup, which is the Boom 2. The closest competitor of the Boom 2 is the original Motion Boom within the Soundcore family. The Motion Boom was a banger when it came out and kicked a lot of other similar category big-brand speakers out of the water. It has pretty deep bass (50 Hz) for that size and the Motion Boom is still an excellent recommendation. The Soundcore Motion Boom and Boom 2 are similar in size. The new Boom 2 has a totally different configuration and design. Today I will compare their frequency response, sound quality and features in great detail.

Inside-the-box Comparison

Even though their cardboard packaging looks pretty similar from the outside, there are significant inside changes. For the Boom 2, it is now foam inserts to hold the speaker inside, but previously it was cardboard/pulp molds for the Motion Boom. The new black foam inserts look cool and add more protection. With the speaker, you will get a user guide and charging cable on both - minimal. However, the new Boom 2 has a Type-C to Type-C cable when old Motion Boom has a USB Type-A to Type-C cable. Overall, the new packaging is slightly better in terms of protection. Check out the manuals for Boom 2 and Motion Boom.

Design & Build Analogy

Only their size is pretty similar, but there are a lot of changes in the Boom 2’s design. The original Motion Boom doesn’t have a premium build but the design was pretty simple that works for speakers. The old design has a more rounded body, but the corners are less rounded. With the new design, the Boom 2 has a boxy-looking body with more rounded corners. I think the old design was more clean when the new design is bold in a good way and has a lot of characters. I like both designs, but both have some characters that I don’t like.

They both look plasticky and don’t feel premium. But because of the new design with rounded corners and all of its design characteristics, the Boom 2 looks less plasticky and cheap. I think they have different colors, coatings and textures over their body, which is why even the black ones look different from one another. The Boom 2 is heavier at 1700 grams vs 1547 grams of the Motion Boom. I like the Soundcore logo, which looks like a musical note. And I really like it when the passive radiators have that logo - represents quality.

Unfortunately, the new passive radiators don’t have the Soundcore logo like the Motion Boom has, but they look more fancy with the semi-transparent stripe design. The Boom 2’s passive radiators can glow now - how cool is that ..? The handle design is also changed and the back side has Soundcore branding with USB ports. I like to see the drivers through the front grille, which is not possible anymore with the Boom 2. Overall, the speakers are built well but don’t feel premium in hands because of plastic materials.

Configuration Check

The Motion Boom has 2 full-range woofers on the front side and 2 passive radiators on the left-right sides. But the new Boom 2 has only 1 big woofer to handle the bass and mids, then 2 tweeters to handle the highs. This new configuration has benefits and drawbacks. The stereo separation will not be noticeable when all the mids are coming from the single woofer. But it’s better than just using full-range drivers - reduces loads.

Technically the new configuration with a woofer and tweeters should have better frequency / instrument separation but less stereo separation. More in-depth details about that are in the sound quality section. The big woofer is a racetrack kind, which is circular with the Motion Boom speaker. The woofer on the Boom 2 is 120 mm x 90 mm in size and the tweeters are 20 mm in diameter each. Maximum output power is 80 watts on battery.

The Motion Boom has 2 x 65 mm woofers, but no tweeter. The max output power is 30 watts. Both speakers charge via Type-C port and they have a Type-A port for power bank feature. But none has the 3.5 mm AUX-in support. On Boom 2, the tweeters will play left/right channels separately but the single middle woofer will not be able to play channels separately. However, the Motion Boom’s 2-woofer configuration will play proper stereo.

Sound Quality Comparison

Let’s check their frequency response first, and I am comparing them in default signature mode with “Bass Up” turned on. Between Boom 2 and Motion Boom, the old Motion Boom has an exceptional frequency response. It is not very flat but the bass keeps increasing relative to the rest of frequencies when you turn up the volume. This is a big deal if you like to listen at higher volume. The high-end is little boosted and bass rolls off before 90 Hz.

The Boom 2’s frequency response is more like a slightly v-shaped curve. On average 60% volume, Boom 2’s bass response rolls off before 70 Hz. Overall, it has a lift in the low-end and high-end. The mids are a bit reduced relative to bass and highs. So I like the Motion Boom’s frequency response more as it has a more rounded bass response and mids are not recessed. The Boom 2 can sound very bass-heavy. At max volume, Boom 2 has way more bass as it gets way louder than Motion Boom. However, Motion Boom has more deep bass when normalized. Also, it holds on to its bass at max when Boom 2 drops a chunk.

Low Volume Check - 50%

In the track analysis image below, the white curve is Boom 2 and Motion Boom is the blue one. There is huge difference in how they handle bass at lower volumes. Boom 2 has a very boosted bass, which is mid-bass not deep-bass. Even though the bass is not cheap sounding, it can get tiring. But the Motion Boom has a sweeter relaxing sound that sounds slightly deeper, not over-boosted like the Boom 2. The mids are recessed quite a bit on the Boom 2 compared to the Motion Boom. So that heavy bass on the Boom 2 makes the sound muddy. Both have high-end boosts too. If you like punchy heavy bass, the Boom 2 is the one. The Motion Boom is more natural sounding which I like about the speaker.

Average Volume Check - 70%

On average listening volume, the Boom 2’s bass doesn’t make the overall sound muddy that much. Now the Motion Boom starts to show its weakness by being only a 30-watt speaker. Boom 2’s boosted bass helps here. Also, the Boom 2’s high-end boost is helping the sound with clarity at higher volumes. The vocals on both speakers pop well.

Motion Boom has less bass impact than Boom 2, which makes the Boom 2 a very good outdoor speaker. Even though people may prefer the punchy bass of the Boom 2, it has less depth, space and imaging because of that single woofer. The Motion Boom is still a good listen with a sense of deeper bass but it sounds less powerful than the Boom 2.

The mids are more detailed on the Motion Boom. But at these higher volumes, Boom 2’s mids don’t sound as recessed as at lower volumes. This is because mids and highs increase more at higher volumes relative to bass, which make the sound less muddy. Both speakers have good characteristics that you may prefer one over the other.

Max Volume Check - 100%

The Boom 2 is insane at maximum volume, it shows its power. Around 3 dB louder than the Motion Boom in average loudness measurement LUFS. It’s not like a 1.5 dB difference like we saw in the JBL Xtreme 4 vs Xtreme 3 article. 3 dB more loudness is a huge difference, like doubling the power. By 3 dB, I mean -13.6 LUFS for Boom 2, and -16.4 LUFS for Motion Boom. 3 LUFS increase is not exactly a 3 dB increase. Also, it’s significantly louder, but may not be 2 times louder. Mids are slightly louder but bass and highs are significantly louder on the Boom 2. It’s like 4 LUFS louder in terms of bass, 1.4 LUFS increase for mids and 5 LUFS louder for highs. LUFS is average measurement and it’s perceived loudness.

So yeah, like the measurements, results are pretty much similar in real life. The main takeaway here is that the Boom 2 produces way more powerful sound and is very good for outdoor listening where environmental noise is present. There is way more bass impact but not particularly deep-bass, more like mid-bass. I think when bass is normalized, the Motion Boom has deeper bass and it’s more noticeable at lower volumes. Anyway, the Boom 2 is a clear winner, miles ahead and feels like a real upgrade over Motion Boom.

BassUp ON / OFF

The previous comparison was both on BassUp turned on. I think most people will use them with the feature enabled. But I want to talk about some key points when comparing BassUp turned on vs off. It’s a huge difference for the Boom 2, even at max volume. For the Motion Boom, it’s more noticeable at lower to moderate listening volumes and the bass gets increased quite a bit. For the Boom 2, BassUp has different effects at different volumes. So at lower volumes, it increases the bass response but at higher volumes, the highs also get increased. This makes the overall sound a lot louder like we saw 3 LUFS louder.

Overall, turning the BassUp on makes the sound more bassy as well as louder. But the Motion Boom doesn’t have that much noticeable effect at higher volumes. Boom 2 can sound very bass-heavy at lower volumes. So I prefer the Motion Boom for indoor lower to moderate listening and Boom 2 for higher-level outdoor listening when BASS is on. If the bass is too much, turn it off for indoor listening on the Boom 2. Motion Boom has a good balanced sound when this feature is enabled, but lacks bass otherwise.

Custom 9-band EQ

The crazy thing about Soundcore speakers is that they have app support with custom 9-band EQ there. So if you don’t like the default sound signature, you can tailor the sound to your personal taste using the EQ sliders. The Boom 2 has a heavy bass boost when BassUp is on. So you can use the custom EQ to bring the bass down a bit. Also, the mids and highs can be changed too - lots of flexibility for 130 USD. The image shows a custom EQ that produces close to flat frequency response. But remember, the Motion Boom will lose some upper bass in custom because of some bug probably, over 80% volume. This is a slight issue that Alan Ross’s video shows, but the sound is heavily customizable on both.

Features & Battery Comparison

The new Boom 2 has a lot of cool features. The passive radiators can glow with lots of lighting effects. Also, the new BassUp 2.0 makes a huge impact on the sound. A lot more bassy and louder sound with that enabled, even at max volume. They say it bumps up the power output from 60 to 80 watts. Old BassUp didn’t have much impact on bass at max volume, but now it’s a nice effective upgrade. The speaker is IPX7 rated, which is only waterproof. But this new one can float on the water. Soundcore is saying it has a subwoofer and it’s a 2.1 channel setup, which is not correct - the subwoofer is actually a woofer.

Bluetooth version is BT 5.3 on the Boom 2 vs BT 5.0 on the Motion Boom - SBC only. Both speakers have TWS pairing support, but only the Boom 2 has PartyCast 2.0 support. I forgot to mention that the old Motion Boom is also IPX7-rated and floats. Both have the Soundcore app support and the app has 9-band custom EQ to tune the sound. The original Motion Boom didn’t have any lights, but the Boom 2 does with beat-synced LED lights.

Both speakers have similar-capacity battery packs, 37 Wh on the Motion Boom vs 37.8 Wh on the Boom 2. They’re advertising 24 hours of playback time on both. But that’s a pure lie, how can the Boom 2 have the same playback time with more than 2 times the power with additional lights ..? Oh wait ..! the Boom 2 needs to be played at a similar sort of loudness (around 50%) with bass and LEDs off. Both have power bank feature. The charge-in is via Type-C at around 5V / 2A and charge-out is via Type-A at around 5V / 1A rate.

Conclusion | ✅ Boom 2

When the Motion Boom came out, there was nothing like that, that could produce some deep 50 Hz like bass. It’s still a great speaker, but when you can have more power in a similar body, then why not ..? There are enough improvements and upgrades that make the Boom 2 a very good recommendation, even if you have the old Moton Boom. For the lights, loudness, bass impact and power, you can upgrade if you want. And you don’t need to choose between the two, the new kid Boom 2 is a clear winner and miles ahead at higher volume.

I highly recommend the Boom 2 for everyone as it’s not an expensive speaker like the JBL Xtreme 4. Also, the Xtreme 4 loses it big time to the Boom 2. Boom 2 is too powerful to kick the Xtreme 4 out of the water. The Motion Boom has deeper bass but this new Boom 2 has powerful mid-bass boom, which makes more sense now with the naming. It’s not boomy in a bad way though. Anyway, rapping up, check Boom 2 and Motion Boom’s official pages.

IF you are interested in even smaller speakers - check out my Soundcore Motion 300 vs Bose Soundlink Flex article. Both did well in a head-to-head comparison.

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