Those speakers do have shockingly good sound quality. I was using one on our front patio (synced with the rest of the house through a little HA magic) for years. Just installed some permanent outdoor speakers in the eves a few weeks back but it served us very well for that. And it’s always been an excellent speaker for music before concerts in the parking lot or in hotel rooms etc.
All my way of saying- agreed. Good piece of kit!
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!
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
Not Advertisement: I just installed this speaker into Home Assistant. I already have Google Cast integration installed. After following the installation instructions with the ability to discover other devices this speaker installed itself into Home Assistant as a Media Player and also a google cast player. The sound depth is unbelievable.
Costco has this on sale until the 26th for $139 ($40 off). I highly recommend.
I also discovered as many others that there is no charging cable. It's a standard jack so you probably have a charging cable though.
The Auracast feature as I read it was for synching other JBL speakers with this one. They have a huge line of speakers. I literally just unboxed this half an hour ago. I'm dancing. I already had scripts to use the google nest mini's for my playlists. I'll let you know about the battery. I've got so many google nest mini's I really don't need this but wanted something for the patio. I believe it's perfect for that.
The bass is unbelievable. I think the base comes out both ends. You can see the ends vibrate. I bet there are at least 3 speakers in this thing. I might get one more for the living/dining room area.
There's probably battery information in the reviews.
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.
JBL's GO4 & CLIP5 are both good current-gen options, although the CLIP5 gets louder, has more bass, and sounds sharper. If your budget is flexible, the FLIP7 or last-gen FLIP6 or CHARGE5 would all provide better sound and more bass.
Either way, watch out for 20-30%off sales that happen every few months-- especially with the CLIP/GO as there may be a new release in the coming months.
I've always thought the CHARGE line is the sweet spot in the JBL lineup. The CHARGE6 adds some bass extension/fullness & volume over the FLIP7 & gets surprisingly close to the XTREME4 considering it's size, and is the largest JBL speaker I can comfortably hold in one hand. Generation wise, 1 or 2 generations old isn't a huge issue but anything beyond that you'll start to lose some performance: as of now, anything with the large JBL logo will be fairly recent (5yr max) & any speakers with Auracast are currently latest-gen in North America. Specifically for the CHARGE line, the CHARGE6 (latest) adds a carry handle, extra 3db loudness, fast charging, and some other nice-to-haves & goes on sale often: that's the one I'd recommend and it'll be a significant upgrade from your CLIP.
dravenstone
