Quality Thumping Boombox
I've been a longtime user of JBL products, but the Boombox has been my favorite speaker in their entire lineup. The built in handle, waterproof design, and fantastic battery life are what drew me to it in the first place. I owned the original Boombox for nearly 8 years. It survived dozens of camping trips in extreme heat, and was tested by FL beach trips, one of which ended in a violent rainstorm. It never failed me and could hold up to any abuse, which is why I have no problems recommending their Boombox lineup to anyone. My excitement for the Boombox 4 grew when I found out it would use an easily replaceable battery, simply by popping off the bottom cover. I had to replace the internal battery of my BB1 after 7.5 years, and it was a terrible experience that took around two hours, and was very frustrating at times. I told myself I would never buy another Bluetooth speaker that didn't have a hot-swap style battery compartment. I'm happy to see that the new speaker lineup does this. SPECS The new JBL Boombox 4 has significantly more power than the original model from 8 years ago. We're talking a jump from 40 watts to 200 RMS watts on battery power. That, combined with the larger drivers let me know that I was in for quite an upgrade. If you already have the 3rd gen BB3, I would think this wouldn't be a significant upgrade for you, but coming from the OG BB1 it most certainly was for me! The ports on the rear flip cover are power and USB Type C. APPEARANCE After unboxing the new Boombox 4 I could tell it was a bit larger than the old Boombox 1, but not by much. I'm happy to see JBL go back to a handle that appears to be a part of the speaker, instead of looking like it was thrown on as an add-on, like that of the Boombox 3's handle. It's also comfortable to hold, and the weight distribution of this speaker is spot-on. I can't tell that this new speaker is 1.5 pounds heavier than the BB1. Overall it's a very good looking speaker. The pictures don't do it much justice. You need to see it in person to really appreciate the craftsmanship. INDOOR LISTENING My initial listening experience with the new BB4 was ear-to-ear grin worthy. I immediately realized this upgrade was legit! There's so much more lower end grunt. While playing indoors at lower volumes, I found that for certain music genres I really appreciated the low-end bass boost mode. It provides the thump you crave, even at low levels. As you raise the volume up to anything over half, I find the bass boost unnecessary, and perhaps even a bit overpowering. That's likely subjective to each persons personal tastes, as well as music genres. It's nice to have the option to use it when you want it. OUTDOOR LISTENING My OG BB1 was my favorite go-to speaker for outdoor Bluetooth music sessions, and this one excels even more at that. The BB4 has significantly more power on offer, so it's easier to fill any space with fantastic sounding music. With our modest sized corner lot, I find that keeping its volume around the 50% point is plenty to fill our yard with great sound, while not being distracting to any neighbors who may be around outdoors. What impressed me most with the new speaker is how much further and clearer both the highs and low frequencies come through. With the BB1, once I walked away more than 20 feet the bass really fell off and wasn't too noticeable, but with the BB4 I can still hear the low notes from that distance. I'm truly impressed at what the BB4 can do as an outdoor speaker. To respect my neighbors, I didn't run the Boombox 4 at maximum output, but for the brief time I had it up around 80% it was obvious that this speaker is plenty loud for most people. AURACAST Next I paired the Boombox 4 with my PartyBox 520, using Auracast. I turned on both speakers, started playing music from one, then hit the Auracast button on each. Within 5-8 seconds they paired up and were in sync with each other. Obviously pairing a speaker like the Boombox 4 along with a much larger one like the Partybox 520 is going to create a situation where you mostly hear the larger speaker. This leads me to the decision that the best way to utilize a setup like this is to run one indoors and the other outside. For a nice sized party, the Boombox would serve well indoors and the PartyBox would be perfect outside. CONS If I had to knock JBL for anything with the new BB4, it would be their decision to omit the 3.5mm aux port. This was a feature all the previous models had. I know there's a USB Type C port for lossless audio playback, but it doesn't work with a Type C to 3.5mm aux adapter. I enjoy projector movie and game nights, and I used my BB1 for the audio when viewing content with the projector by way of a simple aux cable. I did a bit of research and discovered that my Google Chromecast has Bluetooth audio playback available, but not the Roku streaming stick that I've always used for the projector. I was able to connect the Boombox 4 to my Chromecast and use it to play the audio, so I'm thankful that works! Still would have loved a 3.5mm aux port. SUMMARY JBL continues to impress with their newer lineup of speakers. As bittersweet as it was to let it go, I'm happy to be rid of the Boombox 1, as the Boombox 4 is an amazing upgrade in nearly every way. I won't have to worry about complex battery swaps in the future, which is probably the main reason I went for the upgrade. I'm happy with the extra power this speaker puts out. For anyone looking for an all-purpose, outdoor Bluetooth speaker, this is the one! No need to worry about water or dust interrupting your music sessions. Stop thinking about buying a Boombox 4 and just pull the trigger! Read more
