JBL Boombox 4 Review

Our JBL Boombox 4 Experience

Alright, alright, JBL… you won us over with this one. From the moment we connected to the Boombox 4, we went straight for the good stuff, turning on the party lights and choosing some bass-heavy tracks to test out the passive radiators. We brought it to a beach party with friends and enjoyed the look on our friends' faces when we turned it on, tossed it into the lake, and watched it float on the surface. When we took it out, the water sprayed with the beat of the bass.

The Boombox transforms drums and deep notes into a deep, satisfying rumble, even when we were playing instrumental music. When we wanted even more, we used the double bass boosting feature, which turned the deep rumble into a truly aggressive, floor-shaking bass. Listening to 'Above the Neck' by SOFIA ISELLA, with its moody rumbling bass against her dry, nearly spoken-word delivery, caused enough of a boom to make our housemate think the snowplow had crashed down our street during a storm and bermed his truck in. So there's that.

The speaker has a pretty good connection range, which is good, because it's a pain to cart this thing from room to room if we're just cleaning the house on a casual Saturday morning.

This Boombox is pretty heavy, so we weren't able to carry it very far.   Credit: Matt Lighthart

The Boombox has a nice grippy handle, but carrying it isn't the most ergenomic.   Credit: Matt Lighthart

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We brought to the beach at one point, and had to lug it from the parking lot down to the shore. The handle is easy to grip, we were only able to walk with it for about a block before our forearm gave out. We had to carry it over our shoulder to make it the rest of the way. We were rewarded with the prize of having the biggest sound on the beach, but you have to be truly dedicated to your tunes to want to carry this thing very far.

Our Analysis and Test Results

Sound Quality

The JBL Boombox 4 offers powerful, decadent lows for bass lovers, but doesn't forget about the rest of the track, providing textural mids and clear, if slightly understated, highs. When the track is good and the volume level is in agreement, prepare yourself. You'll physically feel the beat roll through your body and pound in your chest. Even our audiophiles were impressed by the clarity and sheer energy of the mix. Hope you're ready to boogie, whether you want to or not.

The sound profile of the Boombox 4 is driven by the lows, with the kind of bass that makes you go “Mmmmm”. Though it can occasionally get boomy, losing its focused punch for more of a muddied thump, we only noticed this at the very upper volumes, and it never sounded blown out. The majority of the time we spent listening, we found the lows to be emphasized and fully fleshed out; the bass is driving the ship home.

We were pleasantly surprised by the mids. They have a wide range of texture and color, and we actually had a great time listening to instrumental music with this speaker! While the highs weren't quite as shimmery as we'd prefer, the mids sounded vibrant and full, meshing well with the powerful lows. When listening to “Shy” by Amber Ais, the vocals warmly and effortlessly weave around the synth-heavy beat, maintaining clarity over the thumpy bass.

We could stand for the highs to be a bit more forward; they seem to be taking a backseat to the lows and mids. They occasionally feel under-emphasized, especially in simple, vocally-driven tracks found in singer-songwriter or acoustic country styles. That said, the upper ranges of vocals and instruments never sounded sharp, or harsh, and they were clear enough for us to distinguish layers within the track.

The world created by this speaker feels wide - wide enough to serve a large outdoor crowd. But it's a front-facing speaker, so you'll have to consider placement when setting up your speaker; listening from any other side results in slightly diminished quality. When listening in the right direction, it creates an immersive soundstage that fills our senses.

Portability

The Boombox is, by far, the largest and heaviest speaker we tested. It's a little smaller than a 5-gallon water jug, and at 13.4 pounds, it weighs as much as your average bowling ball. Not something you'll toss in your backpack and cruise across town with.

The only “portable” aspect of this speaker is that it is battery-powered, so you don't need to be near an outlet to bump your tunes. Still, you won't want to take it very far from the car. It's awesome for tailgates or pool parties, and could also sub in for a sound system at a dance studio.

Volume

The Boombox is the loudest speaker we have ever tested, maxing out at an impressive 104 decibels, which is similar to sitting in the front row of a live concert. One of our testers also compared it to watching a Fast and Furious movie in theaters, noting that's also how it feels to listen to it. The sound travels far enough to fill multiple rooms in your home, and even spills out into the backyard. At max volume, the Boombox even jumps and wobbles from the powerful bass. Good luck with noise complaints.

All the speakers we tested experienced some muddiness or distortion at max volume; however, it was only barely discernable with the Boombox 4. It had exceptional clarity across most volumes, and only at max volume did we notice the sound get slightly muddy on bass-heavy songs like “EoO” by Bad Bunny. Highs were also a touch sharp at upper volumes.

Durability

The JBL Boombox 4 is the Titanic of the JBL family. It's massive, well-built, and seemingly sturdy, but its sheer weight makes it more prone to breaking than some of the smaller speakers we tested. We put it through the same drop tests as all other models, and it didn't show much cosmetic damage. But after a few big falls from ~3 ft, something on the inside got funky. The speaker repeatedly turned itself off, and the buttons were no longer as responsive. A couple of days later, it seemed to be working as usual, but we'd exercise caution with this model. JBL does not list a drop protection rating for the Boombox 4.

The Boombox boasts a IP68 rating, the highest water and dust resistance rating you can get. It can be immersed in water more than 3 ft deep, but that's unlikely to happen, because it floats. We brought the speaker to our local lake for the day and repeatedly dunked it, just to see what would happen. The answer is nothing. It continued to play music as normal, even blowing water out the sides with the heavy bass. As long as it's not dropped or bumped off the table, this speaker will hold up to more conditions than most.

Battery

JBL claims the Boombox 4 has a battery life of 28 to 34 hours of continuous play, but when put to the test, it lasted about 22 hours. As long as you go out with a full charge, this should be enough to last through a full day of listening. If you listen for a few hours a day at home, you'll probably want to keep your charger cord close, as this will only last you about a week. The “Playtime Boost” feature can extend the speaker's battery life if you're in a pinch. We tried this feature, but it degraded sound quality quite a bit, so we avoided using it.

We love that JBL gives you the option to replace just the battery if it starts to degrade (the battery is usually the first thing to go in most tech). This can extend the usable life of this expensive speaker, making it a more attractive long-term investment.

Ease of Use

The Boombox 4 works on a connect and go basis, so you can start playing music without registering or downloading an app first. But if you like to fiddle with sound profile settings, you'll find those adjustments in the app. We found it pretty simple to navigate, and liked having the option to choose between premade EQ maps or full customization via a drag-and-drop slider.

If you want the sound to travel farther across multiple speakers, JBL uses “Auracast” to connect to other JBL speakers, which is great for parties or playing music in multiple rooms.

The Boombox 4 also notably doesn't include a voice assistant despite being hundreds of dollars. Considering the situations where the speaker is in its element, we don't think most people will miss it. However, it's a notable omission on such an expensive model.

Should You Buy the JBL Boombox 4?

If you want the loudest, clearest bass that can reverberate across a house or huge outdoor party, the JBL Boombox is our favorite option. It's a step down in size (and price) from a full-on event speaker, but puts up some surprising competition in sound quality and volume output. If you want a party speaker, but aren't ready to commit to a child-sized box that you have to roll around on wheels, the Boombox 4 is a surprisingly great alternative. If you mainly listen to music when chilling at home, cooking dinner, or reading a book, this speaker is overpriced and overbuilt for your needs. It's also not great for travel.

What Other Bluetooth Speakers Should You Consider?

The Bose SoundLink Max is another one of our favorite party speakers. While the JBL Boombox 4 is about the size of a 12-pack, the SoundLink Max is roughly the size of a large water bottle but can still crank up the volume, getting almost as loud. The sound profile is more balanced, and the bass is more subdued. It also costs a few hundred dollars less.