JBL - Charge 5 Wi-Fi SE

Auracast that is a game changer for the Charge 5 SE!

I ended up getting the Charge, and I am very happy with it! The clarity from it playing thru Wi-Fi is phenomenal! In fact it sounds so good, I might get another for stereo pair! The Charge 5 SE outperforms my JBL Xtreme 4 at least indoors under 50% volume! I had it paired with my JBL Partybox Club 120 thru Auracast watching Apple TV, F1: The Movie, and it shines!

I hope you're digging the Charge 5 SE. I'm having fun with mine being incorporated into my ever growing list of Auracast speakers!

This Costco JBL Charge 5 Wi-Fi is a better buy than the standard JBL Charge 6, it has the best of all of Jbl's connectivity options, making it valuable for folks already heavily invested into their existing JBL speakers!

Those citing cheaper prices for the Charge 5 Wifi off eBay, etc.... note that the SE is a completely new version of the Charge 5 Wi-Fi. The SE includes auracast, which is a big deal to many

I just got a JBL Charge 5 Wifi SE on sale at Costco (if you're in the US) and am pleased with its versatility. It does Apple Airplay 2 in addition to Bluetooth, which is nice if you're in the Apple ecosystem (useless otherwise). It also supports Auracast, which is a new one-to-many Bluetooth broadcast standard (a.k.a. LC3 or PBP/public broadcast profile). If it had an Aux input, I'd consider it near perfect. Weirdly, the newer Charge 6 doesn't have the Airplay functionality. Edit: re-reading your post, I see that you didn't mean versatile in terms of connectivity.. never mind then!

The smalleat portable WiFi speaker is the Charge 5 WiFi try to see If you can get the SE Version though as it also hast Auracast

The smalleat portable WiFi speaker is the Charge 5 WiFi try to see If you can get the SE Version though as it also hast Auracast

Two charges(maybe even the 6)

Thanks for posting this! I bought a JBL Charge 5 Wifi from Costco about 4 months ago and was really disappointed that auracast wasn't supported! A previous thread + the HW saying Bluetooth 5.3 led me to believe Auracast was going to work. I went to Costco today, returned the Charge 5 Wifi (thanks Costco return policy) and bought the Charge 5 Wifi SE! Auracast is now working! This is perfect because now, this speaker has Google cast, airplay, and Auracast support.

Thanks for posting this! I bought a JBL Charge 5 Wifi from Costco about 4 months ago and was really disappointed that auracast wasn't supported! A previous thread + the HW saying Bluetooth 5.3 led me to believe Auracast was going to work. I went to Costco today, returned the Charge 5 Wifi (thanks Costco return policy) and bought the Charge 5 Wifi SE! Auracast is now working! This is perfect because now, this speaker has Google cast, airplay, and Auracast support.

I really like the WiFi functionality on my Charge 5 WiFi SE’s, if you’re primarily using at home it’s much better to have the WiFi. I’m sure there’s improvement on the however

JBL CHARGE5 WiFi SE is your best bet, otherwise the older CHARGE5 WiFi is similar but just without auracast (universal speaker pairing protocol for connecting to other speakers to play in sync). If you're willing to sacrifice a significant amount of bass for a much more portable size, the Sonos Roam is worth checking out as well-- it's comfortable to hold in the hand and light enough to hold for long periods whereas the JBL CHARGE5 series is typically around 1kg and can get fatiguing to hold.

JBL CHARGE5 WiFi SE is your best bet, otherwise the older CHARGE5 WiFi is similar but just without auracast (universal speaker pairing protocol for connecting to other speakers to play in sync). If you're willing to sacrifice a significant amount of bass for a much more portable size, the Sonos Roam is worth checking out as well-- it's comfortable to hold in the hand and light enough to hold for long periods whereas the JBL CHARGE5 series is typically around 1kg and can get fatiguing to hold.

I would say go for charge 5 for 10k

Jbl charge 5. Ive abused two of them extremely hardly for two years and they still work. The cosmetics like the mettal logo will scratch and even fly out after big abuse but i can safely say the speaker holds 3 story drops fine and even works after burning in a fire pit for a minute. Also you can submerge it for 24h+ and it will still work fine. The battery will be the thing the gives out first but thats after 4 years or so.

I have two charge 5’s usually use them in stereo. But I now want two Extreme 4’s.