Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsAlso have the Woburn I and wanted to love it, but doesn't measure up.
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2021
I'm writing this review as someone who owns a Woburn I and a Stanmore I and purchased at Woburn II, so I think I can provide a pretty good side-by-side comparison. In fact, literally did just that. I have a Woburn I and a Stanmore I, both of which I love and rave about. When I got the original Woburn I didn't know what to expect -- the reviews were good, but that doesn't always translate to in-home performance. I was blown away by the sound. We have a large open space where we set up the Woburn and this one Bluetooth speaker rocks the house. Dance parties, no problem. Want to listen to 90s rap with tons of bass, no problem. When the Woburn II came out, I thought, "it must be even better than the original." I have to say that my recommendation is that if you want the best sounding Bluetooh speaker you've ever heard, get on Ebay and find yourself a Woburn I, which is what I did after selling this one second-hand.
I thought maybe it was just room acoustics impacting the sound of the speaker, so I got my Woburn I, Stanmore I, and Woburn II, lined them all up, found some Dr. Dre, Phish, Dave Brubeck, and Beethoven, and ran the gamut of musical genres to see how they fared. The Woburn I still rocked the house with every genre. The original Stanmore came in second place, with just as much bass and high-end fidelity as my Woburn II (for considerably less money), while the Woburn II sounded pretty much on par with my Stanmore.
The Bluetooth connection also gave me trouble. It would drop my phone all the time and hook up to my wife's phone. Other times, the signal would try to take over and my phone would hook up to it even though it was on the other side of the house.
There is also an incredibly annoying guitar chord sound every time you connect and disconnect a Bluetooth device. I'm all about rock-n-roll, and even played in bands for years, but that guitar sound drove me and my wife nuts. They should provide an easy way to turn that off through the app, but they don't.
So, as someone who has owned all three of these at the same time, and performed a side-by-side comparison, do yourself a favor and get a Woburn I. If you can't find one, get a Stanmore I. Maybe the Woburn III will be better, but this version just doesn't hold a candle to the original.