JBL Charge 4 – Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker – Black

8 reviews for JBL Charge 4 – Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker – Black

1. 

   Farmer – 5 months ago

   Sad edit. Returned after 1st week. Loved the sound.
   A solid easy pairing speaker. It isn’t necessary to use the app. There is no equalizer function in the app for the charge 4 anyway.Edit 1: it is easy pairing – but after pairing when i walked 15 feet away all connection would drop. No music. Would have to re- pair.The Amazon music app has an equalizer function built in that allows you to configure custom levels for each song, even during a song. And the charge 4 is perfectly responsive to the Amazon music app equalizer. So no need for the jbl presets to limit your music style.I bought the 4 because it has the 3.5 aux input. Charge 5 does not. The aux input is a more steady, stable and stronger signal than any Bluetooth. And the sound quality is superior. In addition the battery will last longer.This charge 4 uses an older version of Bluetooth. That is not an issue because all 5 range bluetooth is backwards compatible to 4. I’ve had no problem with Android or ios or kindle fire connections.Edit 2. Distance is an issue if you pair and walk awayI’m happy listening to everything on this. Most of my music is piano, orchestral and folk. I alter the preset in the Amazon music app or my device equalizer. This is not just a boom box. But it can definitely boom a deep enough bass on the factory presets.Fast pairing on all devices, great loudness, good sounds that i can alter with my own equalizer. Works for classical or jazz, too. Including symphonies. Not hi fidelity or stereo but very pleasant. Good price.Connects to other jbl connect devices. Has 3.5 aux.I liked it so much i bought it a carrying case.Edit 3: i returned the Jbl charge 4. Now i have an empty jbl charge 4 case which i will use as an ugly purse.

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2. 

   Christo – 5 months ago

   Returned Charge 5’s and bought these
   THE FOLLOWING IS A REVIEW I LEFT FOR THE CHARGE 5 SPEAKERS. THE COMPARISON WITH THE CHARGE 4 IS AT THE UPDATE NEAR THE END OF THE REVIEW!——————-I purchased two of these to work as a stereo pair in my apartment to obtain a nice full sound without having to really crank the volume to have an enjoyable experience and bother the neighbors.Well it all started out great, the white look clean and are small enough to not take up too much visual space. They also sound fantastic for a battery powered speaker, relatively full low end and crisp highs without needing to be EQed. They are setup roughly 15’ feet from one another in opposing corners of my studio space. They add presence and a fullness that I was missing from my Notabrick Bluetooth speakers.Now for THE PROBLEMS:I synced the speakers together and switched them to “stereo” mode from the app with no problem using my iPhone 13 Pro running Bluetooth 5.1. When it was time to connect it to my stationary media hub it was intended for (a 2020 iPad 8th gen) it would only connect one speaker and not allow for a party link or stereo link between the two Charge 5’s anymore. It took my some time of testing and no help from the internet to find out that the Bluetooth 4.2 that the iPad uses means the JBLs could no longer connect in a pair. I figured they had their own connection protocol (perhaps wifi 2.4ghz) for party mode. This shared audio functionality will ONLY work if your device that is sending audio is Bluetooth 5.1.SECOND ISSUE:So I put the iPad aside and would only be using my iPhone for music since that’s the only way I could get the Stereo mode to function. But after 15-30 minutes of music playback the speakers will disconnect themselves from one another requiring you to manually go to them and reconnect themselves. Every third time or so they will also drop the Bluetooth connection requiring you to “forget device” on your phone and resync Bluetooth to your host Charge 5 and then relink the speakers.This is all to say that if you want to use more than one speaker, even using a compatible Bluetooth 5.1 device that they are extremely finicky. Using a single Charge 5 has proved to be very reliable, sound great and look great. I am an audiophile and have many thousands of dollars in pro audio.The current tested Firmware version is 0.8.6.0 and has not been updated for over a year so this is unlikely to be fixed.UPDATE: I purchased two Charge 4 speakers to run through all the same testing and scenarios as the newer Charge 5 Models and found that with the exception of the occasional dropout and auto reconnection (perhaps once every two hours or so) these have solved all my issues. In fact, having the Aux plug on this model has also meant I can plugin my DJ decks to them when we are at the park and the primary speaker that is being plugged into will duplicate the signal and send it to the second speaker wirelessly with no issues. There is about one second of lag with this setup so the use of my DJ headphones is a requirement, but I love the added functionality. I also find the battery meters to be much more easy to read on the Charge 4. Finally, I do not know if it’s because the transmission power of the Bluetooth 4.2 in the Charge 4 over the Bluetooth 5.1 in the Charge 5, but I find that I get a longer transmission range with no dropouts with the older Charge 4 model. On paper this should be backwards but testing 4 independent units in different scenarios have shown this to be recurring findings for me. I have used the 2020 iPad, iPhone 13 pro and Macbook M1 pro and a HD Firestick as my test subjects.I do notice that the Charge 5 has a slight edge in real world testing for maximum volume and clearly has a crisper high end to it where the Charge 4 sounds a little more round but is still very pleasing to the ear. I suggest to save a ton of money and pickup the Charge 4 if you are planning on using them in a multi speaker setup like me.

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3. 

   Muffinman1090 – 5 months ago

   Perfect little shop speaker to lug around with me!
   (UPDATE) SO AFTER 2 WEEKS! IM EVEN MORE HAPPY WITH THIS SPEAKER! I think I’ve only charged this thing 2 times in the 2 weeks I’ve had it and I didn’t even need to! I use it for about 8 hours a day also! I’m watching or rather listening to shows on my tablet while I work! So music may drain the battery faster but I’ve only had it get down to above half battery life! I also use it at home sometimes at night I’ll fall asleep with it connected to my projector and thr battery is amazing! I throw it in my drone back with a bunch of other cameras and stuff never looks dirty or scratched o haven’t dropped it yet and I hope I don’t but it feels like it can handle a few good wasit level drops on solid ground before anything would happen! I hope the charge 5 and this one pair in party mode when I get that one!I needed a portable speaker in the shop sometimes I have to go outside and work and sometimes I just don’t like the full system I have banging around tbis is perfect super clear sound sometimes I even hook my TV to and and set it next to the couch so I don’t bother anyone else amd I can hear what people are saying because the crisp sound! I’m a very huge bass head but I like the fact that this doesn’t sound muddy and over saturated with low end!(After a Week) I’m still loving this thing! The battery life is amazing! I ran my tablet at work on it for 2 days and charger the tablet from it the whole time and it only dropped one little dot / bar of battery in 2 days I wasn’t running it super loud and a lot of what I was listening to was just talking but I listen to shows while I work so the screen was running on my tablet the whole time as well! I like it i haven’t dropped it or gotten it wet yet but seem very sturdy! It hasn’t gotten scratches or beat up in my work bag at all either! I plan on buying the charge 5 now hopefully I can get them to link together in party mode somehow!

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4. 

   Eduardo Mu̱oz Р5 months ago

   La pila le dura bastante en comparación con la charge 5, aunque para cargarla también tarda bastante, su sonido es muy bueno como todas las JBL, lo único que le hace falta es que se pueda entrelazar con cualquier tipo de JBL que tenga la función ya que solo se conecta con otras del mismo modelo

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5. 

   Steven – 5 months ago

   Works well, goes loud, lasts long. Good quality all around.

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6. 

   Jesse G. – 5 months ago

   Got one of these after multiple suggestions from friends. Definitely a strong speaker for its price, sound quality is good, high tones and low tones – no regret for purchasing. I wish it had RGB lights because mentally I’m a child at times, but this seems to be equally as reliable and quality of a product as I was suggested that it was. The battery also is impressive – I mainly use it for sounds to sleep, so it’s on all night for multiple nights in a row before ever needing to think of charging. Giving 5 stars for its price point.Side note: the Green variant is a nice tone, not too bold, not too light.

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7. 

   Andre Carvalho – 5 months ago

   Supriu todas minhas expectativas, som perfeito, estou amando minha caixinha, recomendo 😉

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8. 

   Junior – 5 months ago

   Uso no dia a dia do trabalho e recomendo, som alto e de qualidade.

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