soundcore Rave 3S | AI Karaoke Party Speaker with 200W Sound, Light Show

I was in the market for an outdoor speaker for use in my valet shed while cleaning cars—something durable, waterproof, with strong battery life, and most importantly, genuinely good sound quality with a balanced profile and an emphasis on clarity rather than just raw bass.

My initial shortlist naturally gravitated towards JBL options such as the JBL Xtreme 5, JBL Boombox 4, and JBL Charge 6. On paper, they ticked almost every box, and the online reviews were overwhelmingly positive. However, I couldn’t find any local retailers with demo units available, which made it difficult to judge their real-world sound signature for myself—something I don’t like relying on reviews alone for.

That changed when I ended up in Costco. I noticed a Soundcore Rave 3S on display, along with a JBL Charge unit that unfortunately had a dead battery. I continued browsing and spotted a Rave 3S set aside without its box. After asking a member of staff, I learned it had been accidentally opened during a demo setup and wasn’t originally intended for sale. After a brief conversation—during which I explained what I was looking for—the staff member spoke with their manager and returned with an offer: the Rave 3S for £90 + VAT. At roughly £110 all in, it felt like a risk worth taking, even though it was larger and less portable than what I had initially planned for.

Once I got it home, it immediately exceeded expectations. The sound quality was far better than I anticipated—full, balanced, and capable of filling a space without sounding harsh or overly processed. It didn’t just rely on bass; it actually delivered a more rounded and enjoyable listening experience than I had expected at this price point.

I also discovered that it supports multi-speaker pairing (reportedly up to 100 units via AuraLink), as well as stereo pairing, although I’ve personally not managed to get that feature working reliably yet.

Despite initially being the opposite of what I set out to buy, it has ended up being exactly what I needed in practice. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I went back and purchased a second one at full retail price.

Overall, the Soundcore Rave 3S has completely changed my expectations of what I wanted from an outdoor speaker. It’s not the most compact or convenient option I originally had in mind, but in terms of sound quality, value, and sheer enjoyment, it has been an easy win. I’m now genuinely looking forward to what comes next in this range—especially if Soundcore continues moving toward more powerful “party speaker” style offerings that could compete with something like a future JBL PartyBox 720-class product.

I bought mine 2 weeks ago for 155 £ COSTCO offer, Sounds really decent. Only downside is sound is MONO, even when 2 are connected together with auracast. Also you get 4 microphones, but each one only sounds on relevant speaker. You can control light, volume and bass from both.(SYNC)

Bought it for my son's 5th birthday party and it was brilliant. Good volume, fun lights and I used the microphone to make announcements.

I haven't even used it for karaoke yet, but the AI vocal suppression was really impressive when I tried it out.

Excellent product

Perfect the best sound and louder