JBL Charge 5
£160
When it comes to rugged, portable, no-nonsense Bluetooth speakers, JBL’S Charge has consistently impressed us. Anyone looking for substantial on-the-go sound from something the weight and size of a bottle of wine should take note.
Its predecessor, the Charge 4, carried an IPX7 rating, meaning it could handle being submerged in water to a depth of 1.5m, but the Ip67-rated Charge 5 builds on that durability by also being fully dustproof.
Gone is the 3.5mm port for wired listening, but the useful USB-A port for charging your devices returns, and there’s a new USB-C charging port too. Under the hood are plenty of improvements. The 52 x 90mm bass driver is a little wider than before, and there’s a new 20mm tweeter. These units both have dedicated power amplification – 30W for the woofer and 10W for the highs. There is also Bluetooth 5.1 rather than 4.2, but the same 7500mah battery offers the same 20 hours of playback from a single charge.
JBL’S updated daisy-chaining tech, here enabled via a Party Boost button, means you can beef up your portable sound by linking the Charge 5 with up to 100 other Partyboost enabled JBL Bluetooth offerings, although that is currently limited to the Boombox 2, Flip 5 and Pulse 4 models. The JBL Portable app is fairly basic with no EQ optimisation, but it’s good for firmware updates, to deploy Partyboost remotely and to create a stereo pairing with another Charge 5.
We press the Partyboost button on the Charge 5, then on our Flip 5, and sound dutifully comes from both, clearly and with no notable lag. The Charge 5’s extra ounce of prowess over the Charge 4 soon reveals itself. It’s marginally more impactful – the leading edges of notes through the low end are crisper, resulting in a more agile performance. Vocals are also more energised and feel well placed in what is an expansive mix for a portable speaker of this size, while the Charge 5 also proves itself capable of delicacy and nuance as well as oomph and bass clout.
With those marginal improvements, both sonically and aesthetically, over its predecessor, the Charge 5 is currently as good a sound as you can get in a portable Bluetooth speaker design for under £200. A truly worthy winner in its category.