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Earfun UBOOM L - final firmware
🕑 Added 2022-04-27 14:31:14 +0000 UTCI wanted to keep you updated about the progress I did with the UBOOM L recently. I moved into the cellar the last days to be able to crank the speaker to higher levels without annoying anyone and tried to tweak and optimise the settings which I finally managed to send to Earfun today. I should hopefully get the final firmware later and can check the results included within the speaker. Hopefully I will still have some additional time for further tweaks and corrections in case necessary. I am not sure if you are interested in those updates at all, I don't want to bore anyone, but for me this was quite an exciting experience with lots of discoveries regarding DSP tuning. It was also a big surprise for me, how easy it actually is to make a portable speaker sound decent with those all-embracing DSP tools available. That's why I don't understand why so much crap is out on the market still being offered and bought. Of course it needs lots of listening, checking if there are flaws at all volume levels, if the EQ or the limiter behaves correctly or introduces artefacts. Listening to various kinds of music actually took the most time.
Meanwhile I also found further features availble from within the DSP which helped to improve the result even more. I already mentioned the dynamic EQ which I use for indoor mode now to boost bass and treble slightly at lowest levels. Something Bose does as well, but compared to my approach their result sounds off. I only boost the lowest bass and just slightly for the lowest volume steps, at the same time I boost treble with the main frequency at 12khz. Bose already boosts way below with some high shelf, thus instead of getting some clarity at low levels their result is boomy and sibilant. I listened a lot, turned the speaker down to the lowest step to hear if it sounds natural or if the effect becomes too obvious, but I think the dynamic adjustment definitely helped to make the sound even more convincing regardless of volume level. I managed to get the bass slightly deeper in indoor mode, there is not that much potential actually as the PR is tuned for around 64Hz, thus anything below would just stress the drivers, but I made another discovery regarding the limiter: it is way more flexible than I initally thought. You can basically optimise the limiter setting for any single volume step. Thanks to this I managed to push the limits of the speaker as far as possible avoiding any distortion at the same time. It will be much louder than before, while still remaining punchy with some nice kick. With outdoor mode it is even slightly louder than the Anker SoundCore Motion+, although the sound will have slightly more compression with less bass, but it will be nearly twice as loud as the Bose Soundlink Flex, sounding still way more dynamic and transparent without the mush the Bose produces. Outdoor mode will be around 6-10dB louder than indoor. I also readjusted the volume curve so that there are enough volume steps for low level listening, while the speker will still get louder during the the last 3-4 volume steps which are pushing the limits really hard, I probably wouldn't use the speaker at maximum although it will still remain nicely clean, I start to compress also mids and treble with the last 3-4 volume steps. This was necessary to avoid such issues that we know from the JBL Flip 6 which becomes very harsh and treble heavy at maximum volume. I tried to optimise everything by ear and for every single volume step. I need to listen to the final sound again a bit more in detail to check if there is still room for improvement, but with indoor mode the UBOOM L will sound considerably more full bodied than the Flip 6 at all volume steps and be about the same loudness. Outdoor mode has the bass cut off earlier but more boosted in the 70hz region, I also boosted treble way more for outdoor mode because I noticed that it simply needs more clarity if you take it out, place it on the ground and listen from all around, you need a different kind of sound to make you dance. The sound became very assertive and enjoyable in outdoor mode as well, although I wouldn't use it indoors, because it's too boomy. Indoor mode reaches down to about 55hz with very little boost around 65hz. I wanted to keep the bass mostly neutral still with some really nice punch. Comparing the bass to both Flip 6 and Bose Soundlink Flex I hear the UBOOM L way more enjoyable. The bass is not boomy, but reaches deeper and does not produce any artefacts like the Bose does, which always sounds as if it would distort any moment.
I am pretty excited to hear the final sound and will immediately prepare another video putting it against some other speakers again. I thought about the Bose Soundlink Flex and the Vifa Helsinki this time. Tell me if you want to hear it against something else, and if I should include the Anker Soundcore Motion+ again, or the Flip 6.
Earfun told me that there will be a promo site in May or June where you can subscribe to get some discount, the final price is currently fixed at $79.99 which is actually insolence compared to all the other more expensive speakers which sound worse.
