Speakers and headphones are an important part of entertainment, especially when you’re a lover of music, movies, and/or video games. Anker, a company known for portable battery chargers, also makes headphones and speakers with its Soundcore label. The Flare line has portable speakers with different models. Nerd Reactor had the chance to test out the Soundcore Flare 2, a waterproof portable speaker with wonderful 360-degree sound, long battery life, and fast charging.
The product is encased in a rectangular cardboard box, which contains a portable speaker and a USB-C cable. The Soudcore Flare 2 (see it on Amazon) comes after the Flare 1 with some changes. The Flare 2 has light rings on the top and bottom, giving listeners a cool light show based on the music beats. If you’re not a fan of the lights, you can turn it off by pressing the light button. The center Soundcore logo pauses and plays music, and the plus and minus buttons are for volume control.
Audio Quality
The Soundcore Flare 2 has 360-degree sound, which allows you to place it in any direction. Since I didn’t want to break it open to see where the drivers were located, I did the next best thing, I placed my hands in certain spots around the speakers. What I found is that the sound is mainly coming out from the sides. If I were to use my hands to cover the sides, the sound would be a bit muffled, even though you’ll still be able to hear music. To make sure you’re hearing the best possible sound, don’t cover the sides.
As a portable speaker, the sound is no slouch, and voices and mids are clear at regular levels. When the volume is turned up in the high levels, the sound won’t be as crisp, but it can still get the party started with its bass and loudness.
It features the BassUp technology, and with the touch of a button located on the back, it will kick up the bass. Having the extra bass come out of a portable speaker definitely enhances the atmosphere for the party animals.
Soundcore App
If you want more control out of your Soundcore Flare 2, you should download the Soundcore app. It comes with settings for the equalizer and light effects. The equalizer is very basic, but you can switch to default, voice, chill or flat.
With the light effect, you can turn the light off or switch to different settings including Party Time, Phasing Beats, Bouncing Beats, Circle Beam, Cool Breath, and Who’s Next?
Who’s Next? is like a game of spin the bottle as the color points toward a different direction. Cool Breath switches to the color blue, fading in and out as if it’s breathing. Circle Boom has the colors rotating counter-clockwise. Party Time brings in all the colors and flashes to the beat of the music. My favorite of the bunch is Bouncing Beats, where the light bounces with the beat without being too colorful.
Waterproof
The product is described as fully waterproof with IPX7. We didn’t go to the extreme by dunking it inside a pool, but we did pour water on it using a sink while it was still playing music. The audio was quickly muffled since the fabric was wet and covered the holes. Afterward, I soaked up water from the speaker using a paper towel and used a hairdryer. In no time, the speaker was back to normal. So don’t be afraid to place it in the bathroom to sing in the shower.
Battery Life
The Soundcore Flare 2 is advertised as having 12 hours of playtime. We weren’t able to check out the exact time, but we never had to worry about low battery life with the music playing nonstop. And with the USB-C cable, the speaker charges quickly. Another great feature is being able to see the battery life from your phone. I’m using a Pixel phone, and I was able to check the battery life under the BlueTooth settings. You can also check out the battery life on the Soundcore app.
At the time of this review, we didn’t have another Soundcore Flare 2 to test the linking since it’s able to link to 100 different speakers. We can imagine how that would sound with a bunch of Flare 2 speakers placed all over the floor.
Final Reaction
Anker’s Soundcore Flare 2 delivers amazing and loud audio in a tiny package, and the light rings are perfect to get partygoers hyped. The long battery life and charging via USB-C is a godsend, allowing users to bring the speaker all over the place for extended periods of time.
Score: 4.5/5 Atoms
The product was provided by Anker for review purposes.
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