Ultimate Ears MINIROLL – have your cake and eat it too (AV review)

The Ultimate Ears MINIROLL is a muffin-sized member of the UE family and provides amazingly good personal sound on the go.

Yes, it is shaped like a large, flattened muffin with a single full-range, up-firing speaker. It has the traditional large + and—volume controls on the top. Let’s leave the cake comparisons there.

As it is a MINIROLL, this is a MINIREVIEW, and we will stick to the facts.

  • Size: Diminutive 105mm round x 48.15mm high x 279g
  • Speaker 44.6mm up-firing and a 37.75 x 65mm passive radiator.
  • BT 5.3 supports SBC and AAC 16-bit/41000/48000Hz. Auracast is to pair with other MINIROLLs. Two multi-point devices.
  • Battery: Requires 5V/.5A/2.5W power adapter for about three hours charge. Won’t charge on PPD or PPD. USB-C cable, not inbox. Claimed 12-hour life.
  • IP67 (No ingress of dust; complete protection against contact and 1m for 30 minutes). Floats and will survive a 1.2m drop. Optional MINIROLL floatie $29.95
  • Price: RRP $99 but seen for $88 at Harvey Norman
  • Warranty: 2 years
  • Colours: Revive Grey, Calming Pink, Majestic Blue
  • Integrated carry strap
  • No app, EQ, or Aux-in, or mic for speakerphone
  • Website: Product Page

UE MINIROLL Tests

Battery – Pass+

The claim is 12 hours, but that is at 50% using the SBC codec. We ran two tests at 75% volume. SBC was about 8 hours, and AAC was about 6.

It can play while charging but does not have a USB-C DAC for playback over USB.

Floats – Yes

It floats, and the USB-C port needs to dry before you charge it.

Sound – Pass+

It is a mono speaker. The maximum volume is about 80dB, but you will want to back off to 75dB for better-quality sound. It is not room-filling; it is more directional out to about 3 metres when the directionality becomes background music.

There is no app or EQ, so you can’t tailor the sound to suit what you are playing.

Our white noise test showed distorted noise from 50Hz to 80Hz, and all of a sudden, it cleared up to have the smallest amount of satisfying mid-bass. From there, it was basically flat (good) to about 6kHz, followed by a slight drop and flat to 20kHz. But the mid-high treble is somewhat clipped, resulting in a harshness.

The sound signature is neutral: a flat response that neither adds nor subtracts from the original music! The only issue here is garbage-in, garbage-out—the better the music quality, the better it sounds. There is a definite improvement in using the AAC codec over the SBC codec.

CyberShack’s view: Ultimate Ears MINIROLL is a tasty little BT speaker

After we review a device we are allowed to read other reviews to see if we are in accord. Some other reviews have said that it is too bassy and vibrates off the tabletop – sorry BS. Some expect way too much from a 44.6mm speaker that must handle the full range.

This is a perfect $99 mono personal speaker. Take it camping, to the beach, hiking, wherever. It will give you hours of joy.

Competition

With dozens of portable and mini BT speakers from $15 to the $599 Ultimate Ears HYPERBOOM – rock the room it is hard to define what the real competition is.

I think the UE’s closest competition is the JBL Clip 5 with a slight edge and an app and EQ.

Ultimate Ears MINIROLL ratings

  • Features: 80 – basic BT speaker, no app or EQ
  • Value: 85 – Excellent, especially on sale at $88
  • Performance: 85 – Meets or exceeds all personal speaker specs
  • Ease of Use: 85 – Plug and Play, IP Rated, 2-year warranty
  • Design: 85 – Whether it reminds you of a river rock or a flattened muffin, its design is functional.

Ultimate Ears MINIROLL

$99 but seen as low as $88
8.4

Features

8.0/10

Value

8.5/10

Performance

8.5/10

Ease of Use

8.5/10

Design

8.5/10

Pros

  • Rugged, small
  • Useful strap
  • Decent personal sound

Cons

  • Too much SBC lag for video watching (unusual for BT 5.3)

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