​Jumping straight into it, we will start off with the design and build quality, all three 3 speakers have very similar dimensions although they each have a different shape and uses different materials. The Sonos Roam is made mostly from metallic materials and have a metal grille coupled with a honeycomb structure to protect the drivers in front, giving it a IP67 water and dustproof rating. The Marshall Emberton is wrapped with a full silicone outer shell and metallic grilles on the front and back which makes it IPX7 waterproof. While, the UE Boom 3 is is covered in durable mesh fabric around its round body while, tough silicon texture layers the top and bottom, this allows the UE Boom 3 to be IP67 water and dustproof as well. In regards to weight, the Sonos Roam weighs in at 430g, the Boom 3 at 608g and the Emberton at 700g. The Sonos Roam utilises a triangular build to direct and angle the speaker towards the ear, but the speakers are only front-firing. The Marshall Emberton which has a rectangular form features both front and back firing speakers, but the rear mostly only outputs bass via its passive radiators. Meanwhile, the UE Boom 3 with its rounded cylinder form fires 360 sound from all around. In terms of durability, I would say the UE Boom 3 is still the toughest with its mesh fabric outer shell that hides dents and cracks when dropped. You can use all 3 speakers in both vertical and horizontal modes and the sound signature will not alter or change even if you do so. Next, the Sonos Roam is in line with its claimed drop-resistant though I would say that it would most likely suffer from cosmetic damages due to its metallic build. Lastly, the Marshall Emberton does not advertise that it is drop-resistant but it has a silicone outer shell and metallic grille that is seemingly quite durable as well. For controls of music playback and calls, all three speakers utilises standard button controls to do so, though the Emberton has a special rocker button control that is innovative and simplifies the user experience. There are no mics on the Emberton or the Boom 3 for answering or making phone calls, only the Sonos Roam is capable of being a speakerphone.

Next, we got the most important factor, sound quality. Now, before we go in further. It is important to note that the Marshall Emberton is the only speaker that does not have any app support to further configure the speaker. However, it has the best sound signature in my opinion amongst the 3 speakers. Why so? Firstly, all 3 speakers are loud and in terms of volume, the Boom 3 wins. However, at maximum volume, the highs on the Boom 3 is pretty sharp and piercing to the ear compared to the rest. The bass on the Boom 3 bottoms out and there seems to be a complete lack of bass in the songs. The situation is quite similar to that of the Roam where the bass disappears but there was an effort to retain the clarity of the highs and mids of the sound signature on thr Roam and the bass is somewhat still audible. On the Emberton, the speaker keeps all the mids, highs and lows audible even at maximum volume. The Emberton sound signature has a deep emphasis towards the bass and thump way deeper than the rest. The Roam's sound signature is more focued towards the mids and overall clarity and its best performance can be heard at around 80% volume, any higher volume, the bass will be lost in the music. Meanwhile, the UE Boom 3 is stronger suit is in its highs. The bass is the weakest among the rest and the mids perform decently. The highs on the other hand are crisp though the can be quite fatiguing to listen to for long periods. Out of the box, I would pick the Marshall Emberton for the best overall sound, followed by the Sonos Roam and lastly the Boom 3. Moving onto app support, as mentioned, the Marshall's does not have any app support for the Emberton. Meanwhile, the UE offers the Boom app, available on the App and Play Store, where you can use Party Up with other 150+ UE Speakers like the Megaboom 3, Boom 3, Megaboom, Boom 2 and Boom for louder sound. Sound customisation is also possible in the app. There are a few presets including The Standard, Cramped Spaces and Bass Jump. Personally, I will stick to the The Standard to keep the sound clean and loud. Other presets seem to mess up the music. If you are feeling a little ambitious, you can opt to customise your very own. Additionally, the app allows you to connect to Apple Music, Spotify or Deezer Premium to play your playlists. Lastly, the app also has a Block Party feature which allows 3 devices to be connect to same speaker so that friends can play DJ. Next, The Sonos S2 app is available on both the App and Play Store and used to set-up the Sonos Roam for its multi-room Wi-Fi capabilities. In the app, you may hook up your various music subscriptions like Spotify, Soundcloud, Sonos Radio, or content on your device etc. and stream music from there. You can also add your favourites to the My Sonos category for easy access and change your different music streams on various speaker rooms as well as search your music collection. In the settings, you can change the individual speaker settings like the EQ for different genres, control the volume limit as well as hardware options. All three speakers allows you to do stereo pairing too but only the Boom 3 stretch that capability to do up to 150+ speaker over Bluetooth. You can do that in somehwat similar fashion in the Sonos ecosystem but it is limitd to Wi-Fi multi-room only. You can also access your smart assistant like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant on all 3 speakers via their multi-function buttons too. 

Last but not least, the connectivity of these 3 speakers. For charging, the Roam and the Boom 3 offer wireless charging, the Sonos Roam charges via a any Qi wireless charging pad or a dedicated Roam wireless charger while the Boom 3 charges via its dedicated wireless charger with pins. The Emberton doesn't have wireless charging but it charges va USB-C like the Roam. Do note that, the Boom 3 still uses the Micro-USB port for wired charging and it is hidden behind a flap on the back which prevents it from water damage that could happen sooner on the Roam or the Emberton. The battery life on the Sonos Roam lasts up to 10 hours, the UE Boom 3 lasts up to 15 hours and the Marshall Emberton is the best with a 20+ hour battery life. The Emberton and Roam supports Bluetooth 5.0 and the Boom 3 did not disclose its Bluetooth version. But, we can easily tell that it doesn't have Bluetooth 5.0 still it existed way before Bluetooth 5.0 existed. There is no 3.5mm port on any of the 3 speakers and you cannot use any of them wired. The Roam has the added benefit of transforming into a Wi-Fi or AirPlay 2 speaker quickly due to its integration with the ecosystem.

All in all, the three speaker excel in various areas. But if I were to rank them, I would definitely go for the Marshall Emberton first, the Sonos Roam second, followed by the UE Boom 3. The Emberton may not have any app support but its sound signature simply blew me away at achieving the best in clarity and bass responses in high volume levels. The rest of its features like the long battery life, tough yet premium build, innovative control scheme are compelling factors why I would take the Emberton over the rest. In second, we have the Sonos Roam with its plethora of features like Wi-Fi streaming, Sonos ecosystem integration  as well as durable and IP67 water and dustproofing, keeps it a really attractive option if you are deciding between the three. It is definitely a no-brainer to go for the Roam if you have a Sonos ecosystem in place currently. Lastly, the UE Boom 3 is starting to show its age with a Micro-USB port and old Bluetooth versions. Its sound signature is nowhere as well-defined as the competition and in some cases, lagging far behind the Roam and Emberton. It is still worth looking at if you are looking for a super durable speaker where you can really throw around and not care for it or you may have previously invested heavily into the UE ecosystem and have several other older UE speakers that can PartyUp with your Boom 3 for party usage.