So not only are you getting a robust, dust-and-waterproof Bluetooth speaker, you’re also essentially buying a portable battery pack. You can charge any USB-equipped device-be it a smartphone, tablet, game controller, or even some laptops-using the Charge 5’s pass-thru. It took me a few days to wrap my head around the key stamp that this product makes upon the Bluetooth speaker market: it’s really two products in one.
Should you buy it? Yes-especially if you were already shopping power banks Depending on your use cases, it’s worth keeping in mind if you don’t need the charging feature or don’t think you’ll be away from a charging port for extended periods of time. All you’re sacrificing is 8 hours of battery life and the ability to charge your other devices. Right now, you can get similar functionality, sound, and durability in JBL’s “standard” speaker, the Flip 5, for around $80 less. You’re paying a good bit for the big battery Unlike the Roam, there’s also no wireless (Qi) charging, so cables are your only option. While the included USB-C cable is on the longer side, there’s no wall adapter included, which means if you need to charge while on a trip (or road trip), you need to either find your own or bring something like a laptop along. This extends to your charging options, too. It won’t interface with any of your smart home gear either. This means it can’t double as a speaker for most desk monitors. The only way to play music over this speaker is Bluetooth-you can’t even plug in an auxiliary audio device like an MP3 player, as there’s no 3.5mm input jack. The JBL Charge 5 is a bit inflexible: it's Bluetooth-only (no 3.5mm input or Wi-Fi), and it can't climb trees-I put it there. There's plenty of bass and midrange support, but without skimping on higher treble frequencies either. Whether I was using it inside or out, the Charge 5 provided robust sound quality with both ample volume and well-balanced frequency distribution. The Charge 5’s ability to charge up another device may earn it its namesake, but it wouldn’t be worth much if it didn’t sound good while doing it. But generally, the approach here seems to be the age-old, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory. In addition, the speaker has received some minor cosmetic changes.
Big jbl speaker upgrade#
Otherwise, what really differentiates the Charge from something like JBL’s Flip line is the built-in power bank.Īs mentioned, The Charge 5 is now dustproof, and has also received an upgrade to its Bluetooth version (from 5.0 to 5.1). You’re getting the standard Bluetooth connectivity here (no Wi-Fi, etc.) as well as JBL’s “PartyBoost” feature, which allows you to chain connections to other JBL PartyBoost-equipped speakers, creating a multi-speaker setup. Just like the Charge 4 and Flip 5, the Charge 5 doesn’t overcomplicate things-it’s fairly frills-free as features go.
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