The Anker Soundcore Rave Party 2 can be stood up vertically or laid down horizontally and features a built-in light show and handle. Like other larger speakers that boast higher power ratings (in this case, 120 watts), this speaker needs to be charged with its own AC adapter rather than a USB-cable and has a USB-A out port on the back for charging your smartphone or any other devices that need some juice.
Though it costs more than Tribit’s Stormbox Blast, the 11.7-pound Rave Party 2 is a more attractively designed speaker and arguably sounds slightly better. Its two 4-inch woofers and two 2-inch tweeters deliver aggressive, punchy sound with enough volume to fill larger rooms (the Tribit’s bass goes a little deeper, but I was pretty satisfied with this speaker’s low-end capabilities). For even bigger sound, you can wirelessly link multiple Rave Party 2 and other Soundcore speakers that support the company’s PartyCast 2.0 feature.
While this speaker isn’t fully waterproof and can’t float like some speakers can, it’s splash-proof, with an IPX4 rating, and has a microphone input with discrete gain and reverb controls (no microphone is included). In the companion app for iOS and Android, you can customize the sound profile and light show. Battery life is rated at up to 16 hours, but that number will drop if you crank the volume.
I did think the sound held together pretty well at higher volumes — it mostly avoided distorting — and the speaker is designed to play loudly outdoors. That said, indoors the speaker sounds best below 75% volume, unless you’re having a party, in which case all critical listening goes out the door.
