Don't waste your money on Bluetooth speakers with this "feature"

Living in a city surrounded by nature, I often ride my bike, stop by the beach, or relax in one of the many nearby parks. On busy weekends, it’s almost guaranteed that someone’s blasting music from a Bluetooth speaker. As an audio product reviewer, I’m always curious to see what model they are using.

However, anytime I see someone listening to one of those speakers that offer “360-degrees of sound” or omnidirectional sound for those of us more in tune with the world of audio terms, I can’t help but shake my head, sigh a little, and channel my inner Jerry Seinfeld voice with the thought of “that’s a shame.”

Do you enjoy missing the details of your favorite tunes, experiencing treble hot spots depending on where you are in relation to the speaker, and having an overall inconsistent listening experience? If so, 360-degree speakers are for you.

What are 360-degree Bluetooth speakers, exactly?

On paper, 360-degrees of sound paints a picture of you enjoying all the aspects of your music as if you were listening to a proper stereo speaker setup. In my experience, this is far from the case. I’ll use the Ultimate Ears Boom series as an example because the entire product line is built around this ridiculous design choice.

The UE Boom series speakers aim to deliver 360-degree sound by placing the drivers on the sides of the enclosure, firing the left and right channels in opposite directions. There is no forward-facing driver. This questionable design choice means the left and right audio tracks are projected hard left and right—away from your ears—instead of directly toward them. Meanwhile, sounds mixed down the center; often, the vocals, for example, come from both drivers. The real downside here is that you don’t get the full stereo experience because the left and right channels don’t reach your ears the way they would with traditional front-facing speakers. Depending on where you’re sitting or where the speaker is positioned, you’re missing out on parts of the mix and production-related details.

So, who’s getting all the details of your music? Your apartment walls? Your closest neighbor at the beach? This is not exactly the immersive listening experience Ultimate Ears advertises.

The 360-degree design results in inconsistent playback sound without any sort of sweet spot that allows you to hear it all. Trust me, I’ve tried. The left and right separation of harmonized vocals or guitars in rock music or the precise panning of swirling synths in electronic tracks—the way the engineer intended them to be heard—are being sent in the opposite direction of your eardrums. No matter where you place the speaker, you’ll never truly be able to listen to both sides equally. To demonstrate a little further, go ahead and take your earbuds out and turn them 180 degrees so the music is being played away from you. Do you think it sounds better? Surely not. Having the drivers pointing anywhere but at your ears is a bizarre way to enjoy some tunes, if you ask me.

But Dave, 360-degrees of sound helps with room-filling power!

Ah, yes, “room-filling power.” How much of the room does it fill? 200 gallons worth? I’m trying to be funny, of course, but this is another common selling point associated with omnidirectional speakers that companies love to use. Sure, you can place an Ultimate Ears Boom in the center of your gathering to help the music reach more of your partygoers, but we’re back in the same situation. Some of your guests are enjoying the left and center tracks of your music, and some are enjoying the right and center tracks, but never both at the same time, properly.

Facing the front of the speaker doesn’t improve the listening experience either. Since the drivers fire hard left and right, I consistently notice a lack of treble in my favorite tracks. As I walk around the speaker, the sound gets clearer when I’m directly in line with one of the drivers, but then I only hear one side of the mix. This inconsistent playback also makes finding the right EQ setting challenging because the audio quality changes depending on where you are relative to the speaker. With a traditional front-firing speaker, you can place it in a corner and let everyone in the room enjoy the whole mix rather than just catching pieces of it.

Conclusion: speakers should point towards your ears

So, if you’re in the market for a Bluetooth speaker, especially for personal listening, I strongly suggest steering clear of 360-degree models like the UE Boom line. No matter how you position them, you’ll always struggle to hear all the elements of your music evenly. I’ll take a mono-directional speaker like the JBL Charge 5 over a UE Boom any day of the week.

Now, for an authentic stereo experience, nothing beats pairing two of your favorite directional speakers in TWS mode. JBL, Soundcore, Sony, and almost all companies offer this feature when using two identical models. You can place them a good distance apart for “room-filling power,” like a traditional set of bookshelf speakers. This setup lets you enjoy your music with proper left and right separation—just like you would with headphones—precisely how it was meant to be heard. Alternatively, Soundcore has been crushing it with affordable speakers offering stereo playback in a directional package. The Motion 300, X500, X600, Boom 2, etc. all offer stereo playback without having to dish out the cash for the bigger, more expensive speakers like the JBL Xtreme 4 or Bose SoundLink Max. You won’t quite get the same left-to-right separation as a TWS setup, but it does the trick if you need to keep things compact but still want stereo sound.

To recap, after reviewing countless Bluetooth speakers here at SoundGuys, I’m the first to remind listeners that no matter the design, codecs, or lossless options they support, none are built for critical listening. Compact, portable Bluetooth speakers are made for easy transport and boosting the campfire vibes on a weekend getaway, while larger models are designed to crank up the bass and get your guests dancing. That said, you still deserve the best possible experience from what you’re paying for—and that’s where the UE Boom series consistently falls short for me. I’m often left feeling underwhelmed by the listening experience.