I recently bought the rave party 2, after doing some diligent research in to replacing my lacking in volume motion boom.
I had owned a Motion boom plus, and it was close to the perfect car stereo for me, but lost the speaker. I later replaced it with a cheaper motion boom (non-plus), however the 80W vs the 50W on the non plus made a big difference in sound and volume.
The motion boom left me a bit wanting for more volume and battery life.
So I ended up with the Rave Party 2.
Initially I tested it out in the living room and I was extatic about it! All the instruments, voices, bass, and treble were very clear. The speaker didn’t sound boomy at all, but was a bit large and heavier than the other models.
I loved how linear the sound was from about 30% to 100%, with the exception of the low end that seemed to remain the same the last 25%.
It was truly the best mono Bluetooth speaker for the price, for the living room.
Stereo spectrum of a single speaker is nearly non existent, so I want to buy another one to see if they work on the TV in stereo.
They’re not audiophile speakers, but sound very good from 30-75% of volume!
One of the few speakers I don’t even bother adding the xbass, as the sound is too boomy.
I then took it in my company sprinter van, and the sound became quite unbearable. Too boomy inside confined spaces around 100Hz, nothing you can eq out.
Battery life is also comparable to the motion boom. I used it about for 4 hours at 50% volume, and battery indicator just dipped below 50%.
That’s not phenomenal, especially considering many of these batteries will lose capacity over time.
Overall, I’d say this is best as an indoor living room speaker, or if you have a slightly larger living room than the average person, 2 of these will fit.
For a work speaker that’s portable with long battery life, in a truck or car, you’re better off with the motion boom plus.
The shape of this speaker also doesn’t allow it to sit still on the floor unanchored. It rolls all over the place while driving.
Lastly, this speaker sounds best on the floor (as a mono speaker). However, the drivers aren’t facing upward, and the bass port is in the way for placing it against a wall. The stereo spectrum is nearly non-existent, due to the drivers being so close to one another. And the app does not have controls for the flash drive playback, other than play/pause.
No next/prev, or ff/rew controls.
Despite all the cons, this speaker is superior sounding to the JBL Xtreme 3, due to it being larger and sounding more linear. Despite the JBL being very good as well. The high frequency sizzle you hear on compressed mp3 files is less audible on this speaker than on the JBL.
Overall it’s an 8.5 out of 10 for me, well priced below other speakers!
My fear though, is when the battery runs out. It’s too bad these speakers don’t have battery replacements or upgrades available. I would have upgraded to a 60% larger battery.
Still, it’s one of the better speakers for home use, exceeding many speakers on the market in quality and price, and definitely worth buying!