The 7 Best Waterproof Bluetooth Speakers - Fall 2022 Reviews

The best waterproof speaker we've tested is the Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 3. This portable speaker is well-built with an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance, meaning it's dust-tight and immersible in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. The manufacturer also advertises this sturdy speaker as floatable, meaning you can float your favorite tunes in the pool. They also advise rinsing the speaker with fresh water after exposing it to pool or beach water. It has a small built-in carrying loop, which you can use to suspend it from your shower caddy or attach it to your beach bag. With its 'Standard' preset, it has a boomy sound profile with a balanced mid-range, meaning vocals and lead instruments in your music reproduce clearly and accurately in the mix, though they sound a bit dark at times. Fortunately, the graphic EQ and presets in its companion app give you some control over its sound, meaning you can tweak it to your liking.

However, like most speakers its size, it lacks the thumpy and rumbling low bass typically present in bass-heavy music like EDM. As a rule of thumb, larger speakers can produce deeper basses and get louder. So, if you're looking for a waterproof speaker that offers deeper bass, you'll have to go for something larger like the slightly cheaper Sony SRS-XE300 or the pricier Sony SRS-XG300. Their soundstages don't sound as open and spacious as that of the Ultimate Ears, and they don't float in water.

The best mid-range waterproof Bluetooth speaker we've tested is the Sony SRS-XE300. This portable Bluetooth speaker comes with an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance that certifies it to be dust-tight and immersible in a meter of water for up to 30 minutes. While its soundstage doesn't sound as wide and spacious as the Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 3, it's a bit larger, meaning it can produce a more extended low-bass.

It has a boomy sound profile with a balanced mid-range, so vocals and lead instruments in your music sound clear and present in the mix, though higher-pitched voices and sounds sound dull and veiled at times. There's a graphic EQ in its companion app that lets you customize its sound to your liking. It's even compatible with Sony's 'Fiestable' app that lets you access extra sound effects for the speaker. While it gets a touch louder than the Ultimate Ears, it has a lot more compression present at max volume that degrades audio quality when you bump up the volume, so the quality of your audio doesn't sound as clean and clear when the sound is maxed out.

Looking for something more affordable? The Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 3, like other speakers on this list, is well-built with an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance, certifying it to be dust-tight and immersible in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. Like the Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 3, it's advertised to float in water, making it great to bring with you to the pool. The manufacturer also advises rinsing the speaker with fresh water after exposing it to pool or beach water. It also comes with a small built-in loop that's handy if you want to attach it to your bag or hang it somewhere in your shower.

Its default sound profile is fairly well-balanced, making it suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content, and there's an 'Outdoor' preset that makes your audio sound crisper and a bit louder for when you're outdoors. However, like most small speakers, it lacks a thumpy low bass. Unlike the Sony SRS-XE300 and the MEGABOOM 3, there aren't any sound customization features like a graphic EQ since it isn't compatible with the Ultimate Ears app, so you can't tweak its sound to your liking. Its battery life of over 22 hours means it doesn't often die on you in the middle of your jam. It also has fantastic directivity thanks to its 360-degree design, resulting in a wide and open-sounding soundstage.

If you like having extra control over your speaker's sound profile but are on a budget, the Anker Soundcore Flare 2 features a graphic EQ and presets in its Soundcore app, meaning you can customize and adjust the speaker's sound to your liking. This well-built portable speaker comes with an IPX7 rating for water resistance that certifies you can immerse it in a meter of water for up to 30 minutes, making it a great poolside companion. Since the manufacturer doesn't specify whether or not you can expose it to non-fresh water, we recommend wiping the speaker off with clean water if it's accidentally exposed to soapy or beach water, for example.

With its BassUp feature enabled, it has a neutral sound profile overall that's suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content. Its mid-range is balanced, so vocals and lead instruments in your music sound clear and detailed in the mix, though higher-pitched sounds sound dark at times. Also, while it lacks a thumpy low bass, it can still produce deeper bass than the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM 3. Its battery life is around five hours shorter, though. It also doesn't get quite as loud and has much more compression present at max volume, so audio quality degrades more as you max out the volume.

Looking for something cheaper? Since the release of the Anker Soundcore 3, the older Anker Soundcore 2 has become a great cheap option. This small, well-built portable speaker is rated IPX7 for water resistance, meaning it's immersible in a meter of water for 30 minutes, so you can drop it in a pool of water without worrying about getting it wet. However, it's best to wipe the speaker off with clean water if it's accidentally exposed to non-fresh water, since the manufacturer doesn't specify whether or not it can withstand exposure to salty, soapy, or chlorinated water.

It has a balanced mid-range making it suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content. Higher-pitched voices and instruments sound dull and veiled at times, though. Unfortunately, unlike the Anker Soundcore Flare 2, it isn't compatible with the Soundcore companion app, so you don't have access to a graphic EQ and presets to customize its sound to your liking. Also, it produces significantly less low-bass due to its smaller size. If you can stretch your budget, you might want to get the Flare 2 instead if you prefer a speaker that can produce deeper bass and want more control over your speaker's sound.

If you're looking for a waterproof smart speaker, check out the Sonos Roam. While connected to a Wi-Fi network, this small smart speaker offers fantastic voice assistant support with Alexa and Google Assistant built-in. It's rated IP67 for dust and water resistance, making it dust-tight and immersible in a meter of water for 30 minutes. That said, the manufacturer doesn't specify whether or not you can expose it to water that isn't fresh, so we recommend wiping the speaker off with clean water if it's accidentally exposed to non-fresh water. It comes with a room correction feature Sonos calls 'Trueplay', which adjusts the speaker's sound according to the unique acoustics of the space it's placed in. With this feature enabled, it has a balanced sound profile suitable for listening to many different music genres. There are also bass and treble adjustments to tweak its sound.

However, its room correction feature is currently only available on iOS devices. Also, like most small speakers, it struggles to reproduce low bass. There's a lot more compression present at max volume than the Ultimate Ears MEGABOOM 3, so the quality of your audio degrades more as you bump up the volume. It also has a significantly shorter battery life of just over five hours, which isn't ideal for longer listening sessions. If you're looking for a speaker that can produce deeper bass and get a bit louder, you need to go for something larger like the Sonos Move. While this speaker isn't immersible in water like the Roam, it can still withstand being in direct contact with water for around three minutes. That said, it's much larger and heavier, so you can't transport it as easily.

The JBL PartyBox 310 is the best waterproof party speaker we've tested. It has an IPX4 rating for water resistance that certifies it to withstand small splashes of water, so you can use it at your next pool party without worrying about getting it a bit wet. With its Bass Boost feature set to its first level, it has a boomy sound profile, and you can customize its sound profile to your liking, thanks to the graphic EQ in its companion app. It can get loud enough to fill large crowded spaces and produces quite an extended low bass, meaning you can feel the thump and rumble in bass-heavy music like EDM or hip-hop. It also comes with customizable RGB lights and mic and guitar inputs, which is great for karaoke lovers.

However, while it has a built-in telescopic handle and wheels to help transport it, it's still fairly bulky and large. If you're looking for a smaller, more portable option, check out the Ultimate Ears HYPERBOOM, which can also withstand small water splashes. It gets very loud with little compression at max volume, so your audio remains clean and clear-sounding when the volume maxes out. However, it doesn't have light features or inputs to wire external instruments to the speaker.