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Top Pros
Top Cons
Reddit Reviews
CauliflowerTop2464I like the job encore. Much bigger but has loads of bass.
TheNewKingLouieI have a encore 2 its very good for the price.
The boombox 4 rivals the partybox encore. If you want portability get the bb4. Trust me when i say you won't be disappointed if your wanting bass
Is fatter but not necessarily bigger. Its just an odd shape to carry. The encore does get louder overall but the bb4 is easier the carry
mrdoomGetting good sound Outdoors is tricky. You want to get the speakers up high and spread out for dispersion but bass likes to be clustered together on the ground or against boundary walls to have the most impact. I have the Large Onn and it is ok for a big plastic speaker but think I should have spent more on a JBL Encore 2.
You can sometimes get a pair of Encores on sale for what a single JBL Boombox is selling for. ($400-$500) Good bass but not "boomy". New JBL Extreme 5 is $400! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U84fyF48XMo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U84fyF48XMo)
You can always turn down a louder speaker. The smaller speakers would just be annoying to me personally. Zero bass outdoors! I would just want to turn it off if you pushed those pitiful little BT speakers past 50% and with 25 people it would just be added noise. I would not want to listen to anything smaller than a JBL Encore/ Tribit Blast/ect. If there is a wind or background noise it is hard to hear the vows or any officiating and a mic will allow people to speak normally instead of yelling to a group.
Historical_Form_9317Don’t fall victim to to the ai hate. I have had multiple JBL speakers throughout the years from charge 3 and charge 4 to party boxes and have never had any trouble with any of them. If there is any truth to the fires it probably fake shit you buy off of temu
roundman18I use it as a preamp going into a JBL party box when I want to play electric at the river. Works great! I also play bass and works great for that as well!
rugalmstrFor dancing you need the music loud and bassy. Would recommend getting a large speaker like a soundcore rave 3 or JBL party box. At least 150w. That will be tough with needing to put into backpack but it's a huge difference when you have a proper party speaker vs a 30-50w Bluetooth speaker.
troy_casterI brought a jbl party box with me in the plane. Actually fit in my carry on
ChidiOkKnowing your price point, if speaker size, weight matters much for you, if you need it fully water proof or just water resistant, what your budget is, etc would all be helpful factors if you added that info to your post. If you want Deep Bass then JBL never really fails in that department. I have JBL encores and they are great in Deep bass, especially if you turn the Equalizer bass up in the JBL app and if you turn on bass boost and then run another bass boost EQ on your listening app, for me that app is Spotify. Outdoors it’s good bass, indoors it’s insanely good bass! Equivalent to having a subwoofer
Considering what the speakers are, only a 5.25 driver two tweeters and 100 watts RMS. It truly is insane with how much bass they output! I have a full sound system in my car with 12” subwoofer and with the two Encores in the cabin they are pretty close to comparable in bass and maybe even better sound quality.
Rankings by Use Case
Top recommendations from others in the same boat
Best for Audiobooks and podcasts
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Anker - Select 4 Go
Best for Audiophile-grade sound
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Harman Kardon - Go + Play 3
Best for Backpacking and hiking
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LG Electronics - XBOOM Grab
Best for Boating and kayaking
Top pick
soundcore - Boom 3i
Best for Outoor parties and large gatherings
Top pick
JBL - PartyBox 520
Best for Quiet home listening
Top pick
Bose - SoundLink Flex Series
