The buttons don’t light up and this can make it hard to operate the speaker if you’re gathered outside at night. Unlike the Charge 5, the older model has a headphone jack for wired playback. JBL Charge 4: The Charge 4 is probably the best speaker for the best price in the whole line of wireless JBL speakers.
The JBL GO 3 doesn’t float, but it can handle full submersion without issue. If you need a set of desktop monitors for audio production, look at JBL’s powered monitor line instead. Of course, these speakers range anywhere from $300 to $1,300 USD, so you’re definitely paying for what you get.Īdditionally, this list doesn’t cover studio monitors because get this: wireless speakers aren’t the right tool for the job. While they’re a lot bigger and more powerful than all the speakers on this list, they also have a few interesting features like lights, microphone/guitar inputs, DJ sampling pads, and more. If you’re looking for wireless speakers powerful enough to start a neighborhood war, take a look at the party speaker lineup instead of the options listed here.
Related: What makes a great Bluetooth speaker? For example, a shower speaker, or something to hang by the pool with. We felt like most people looking to get their toes-and speakers-wet would probably want to start with something small. In fact, JBL even has a line of much larger party speakers geared for significant increases in output and cost. The speakers listed above represent a decent cross-section of the company’s offerings, but it’s not comprehensive. Overall, the JBL Flip 5 design is similar to the previous Flip 4. Much like the Charge 5, the Xtreme 2 has a USB output for charging your portable devices. This is IPX7-rated, and you may have seen urban bikers with this hooked to their backpacks or bike frames. The JBL Xtreme 2 is a huge speaker with a 40W output. If you can forgive its foibles, the Flip 6 will serve you well. It comes in five colors: grey stone, river teal, ocean blue, midnight black, or squad (camo) and costs $129 USD. There’s no headphone jack, which seems to be the norm for portable speakers these days. While you don’t get any high-quality Bluetooth codecs to stream over, you do get Bluetooth multipoint so the speaker can connect to two sources at once. Unfortunately, the JBL Flip 6 lacks a microphone but it retains the beloved passive bass radiators and woven speaker cover.
You also get an upgraded driver system that reproduces louder bass and should sound good for most scenarios. The JBL Flip 6 uses USB-C charging just as before and has an even better battery life.