The Soundcore Boom 3i is a rugged, bass-forward portable speaker with an IPX7 rating and a carry strap, aimed at pool decks and campsites rather than critical listening. SoundGuys scored it 8.4 out of 10 and called it the best waterproof Bluetooth speaker they had tested; PCMag was markedly cooler at 3.5 out of 5. The split is the story — the durability and the low end are genuinely good, the app and the finer detail in the mids are not. Casual outdoor listeners will be happy; anyone chasing tonal accuracy should not be.
Full review
IPX7 and a body built to be dropped
The Boom 3i is rated IPX7, meaning full immersion rather than splash resistance, and the housing is built to take knocks on gravel and sand. It weighs 0.71 lb and measures 8.27 by 3.35 by 3.09 in, which puts it comfortably in a backpack side pocket, and the bundled strap clips it to a bag or a bike frame. Controls are deliberately minimal — the buttons are large enough to work with wet hands, which is the correct priority for a speaker of this kind and something more elegant designs get wrong.
Bass-forward tuning that gives way in the mids
Frequency response runs from 56 Hz to 20 kHz, and the tuning leans hard on the low end. On electronic and hip-hop material outdoors, where bass normally disappears into open air, that emphasis is the right call and is a large part of why SoundGuys rated it as highly as they did. The cost lands in the middle of the range: vocals and acoustic guitar lose definition, and busy mixes blur. PCMag's 3.5 out of 5 reflects that side of the trade more than SoundGuys' 8.4 out of 10 does, and both are describing the same speaker honestly.
The two reviews disagree, and the gap is the point
It is worth sitting with the spread between the two scores rather than averaging it away. SoundGuys judged it against other waterproof speakers, where ruggedness and outdoor bass carry most of the weight, and it wins that comparison. PCMag judged it as a speaker, where tonal balance and features count for more, and it lands mid-pack. Which number applies to you depends entirely on whether this speaker is going to spend its life beside water or on a shelf.
App support is the thin part of the package
Software is where the Boom 3i falls behind competitors at the price. Tuning options are limited, there is no active noise cancellation for calls, and the app does less than rival ecosystems offer for equalisation and firmware management. Buyers who want to shape the sound to taste, or who object on principle to installing a manufacturer app to unlock features that could have been on the device, should factor that in. The speaker works perfectly well with no app at all — it simply will not get any better than its out-of-box tuning.
Bluetooth 5.0 and pairing a second unit
Connectivity is Bluetooth 5.0, which is a generation behind current flagships but makes no practical difference at the ranges this speaker is used over. Two units can be paired for stereo, which widens the sound noticeably at a campsite or on a deck and is the cheapest real upgrade available to an owner. Sources within ordinary line-of-sight hold a stable connection; the limitation, as with any speaker in this class, is bodies and water between the phone and the speaker.
Strengths
- +Compact and portable design suitable for outdoor use
- +Solid bass response and overall sound quality for its size
- +Built-in rechargeable battery with decent runtime
- +Water-resistant construction (IPX7 rating) for durability
Watch-outs
- −Companion app support is limited next to rival speakers at the price
- −No active noise cancellation and little in the way of audio tuning
- −Mid and high frequencies lack detail, which shows on acoustic and vocal material
How it compares
The Soundcore Boom 3 offers a compact design and solid bass for its size, but lacks the advanced app features and water resistance of the JBL Charge 6 and JBL Boombox 4. Compared to the Bose SoundLink Flex, it has less refined EQ options and minimal hardware upgrades, though it's more affordable. Unlike the Bose SoundLink Max, it doesn't offer premium sound quality or call functionality, making it a basic choice for casual users.
Rating sources
Our 3.9 score is the average of these published ratings. More about methodology.
