The Uniden Looop Yon sits at the top of Uniden’s new range of Bluetooth party speakers. Shaped like a small boombox (with carry handle and all), the $199 Looop Yon is an unapologetic party speaker.
With 100W of output, reactive RGB lighting, IP67 durability and a waterproof, floating design, you would be hard-pressed to find a speaker that’s better suited for poolside fun.
Like the rest of the range, the Uniden Looop Yon is dead simple: Bluetooth or cable connection with no companion app or account required. It delivers a loud, full, and rich sound character without any fuss for up to 12 hours from the inbuilt battery.
If you’re looking for a larger portable speaker to bring around the house or outdoors, Uniden’s Looop Yon is an amazing party companion.
Check out our review of the smaller Uniden Looop Ni here.
Overall Rating: 5 / 5
Pros
- Rich sound with minimal distortion even at max volume
- IP67 rated and light enough to float for worry-free pool parties
- Carry handle makes it easy to manage
Cons
- Controls are set close together and take some learning to use without looking
- Power bank function lacks USB-PD
Price: $199 | For kickstarting backyard parties and poolside entertainment
Setup & First Impressions
Setup is as easy as holding the power button, pairing up with the device over Bluetooth, and selecting your favourite playlist. Included in the box is the speaker, a USB cable, and a 3.5mm cable.
Out of the box, the Yon feels built to last. It’s solidly made, the carry handle is perfect for managing the speaker, and the bass drivers on either end feel durable. The build quality feels far from cheap.
Design & Aesthetics
The Yon shares the RGB lighting system found on the rest of the Uniden Looop range. There are several colour and reactive lighting modes to cycle through, drawing attention to the speaker and making it the centre of the party.
Materials on the Yon feel hard wearing and durable, and there’s no delicate finish to worry about. It’s made of tough plastic with rubberised buttons and a hard wearing fabric-like speaker grille.
Overall, the design fits a speaker that’s made to be seen and heard rather than tucked away on a shelf.
Life With the Uniden Looop Yon
I’ve tested the Yon around my home and outdoors, and it handled all my tunes without a hitch. Like the Ni, it’s suited more for energetic party music than softer tunes, although I was pleasantly surprised with how good some classical tracks sounded.
Positives
Once you’ve done the initial pairing with your main device, the Yon is easy to live with and use. Get it positioned, set the volume and lighting to your tastes, and let the tunes fly. The speaker reaches a high volume without distorting.
The unit is big enough to deliver rich and full sound with plenty of bass, but not so large that you end up leaving it at home. At a stretch it fits into a backpack, but the carry handle also makes it easy to grab and go.
Negatives
While the speaker’s vocal clarity is great, its tuning means podcasts and voice calls don’t sound the best. It’s a speaker designed almost exclusively for music, with other considerations secondary.
Uniden touts the ability to charge a phone from the Yon, but this only works over the USB-A port and is quite slow, making it more of a just-in-case feature than something to rely on.
Performance & Reliability
The sound quality is what sets the Yon apart from smaller speakers. It’s much richer and fuller, with surprisingly decent stereo separation for a party speaker. It gets properly loud with no distortion, and while it sounds best playing genres like rock, pop, and dance music, more delicate pieces still sound good.
Tested against my own speaker systems, the Yon isn’t winning points for critical listening, but its fun-focused bass- and treble-heavy sound signature is perfect for kicking off a party.
Uniden rates the battery life at 12 hours, and I found no reason to doubt the figure. In testing, I ran the unit continuously for 6 hours, and the indicator light showed about half charge remaining. The indicator itself only shows four levels, making it a rough guess at the charge level rather than a precise measure.
Practical Considerations
Coming in at 2.4 kilograms and 33 x 12 x 14 centimetres, the Uniden Looop Yon benefits from a dedicated spot in the home, but the carry handle makes it easy to move it wherever you want.
There’s little to maintain on the device other than the occasional wipe-down, and its IP67 rating covers splashes and other outdoor hazards. Its floating design means it’s safe from drops into the pool or bath, but Uniden explicitly warns against underwater listening.
Uniden backs the Looop Yon with a one-year warranty.
Value & Alternatives
At $199, the Yon is competing with speakers like the JBL Flip and Charge series as well as Anker’s larger Soundcore models, most of which offer good performance but some lack the same durability and poolside-friendly features.
The key difference is the Yon offers bigger sound at a lower price point than comparable models from other brands. Most other models at $199 or less are much smaller, meaning less volume, stereo separation, and sound quality.
Would I Buy It With My Own Money?
Yes, definitely. The Uniden Looop Yon delivers an impressive blend of features at its price point, and its design makes it perfect for outdoor parties. Its carry handle and great sound quality had me reaching for it all the time throughout testing.
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