JBL Go 4 Review

Our JBL Go 4 Experience

We've taken this speaker everywhere with us—chucking it into climbing backpacks on the go, taking it to the beach, dropping it in water—and it's still kicking. There's no doubt about its durability, but we wish it sounded better. While the Go 4 sounds better than previous versions we've owned in the past, the music still sounds pretty lackluster, even compared to other speakers half its price.

Analysis and Test Results

Sound Quality

Overall, we were pretty disappointed by the sound of this speaker, and particularly the bass, which sounds withdrawn and quiet compared to every other JBL speaker we tested.

Sound Quality Ratings

Product	Bass	Mid-Range	Treble
Best	8.8	9.0	8.7
Average	6.1	6.4	5.8
JBL Go 4	2.7	4.2	3.7
Worst	3.4	3.9	3.3

While we are able to hear the bass, it lacks body and depth. The lows are thin, watered down, and prone to hissing with certain sounds, like synths, or in hip-hop tracks, which we noticed while listening to “NDA” by Megan Thee Stallion. The mids and vocals are warmer and sound like the fullest, most developed part of the mix. That said, they sounded noticeably flatter than other budget speakers. The highs are quite jarring, with overemphasized “ch” and “s” sounds, which we mostly experienced at higher volumes. Once we turned the volume down a bit, the highs sounded smoother, but uninspiring.

The soundstage is suprisingly sprawling for its size. It extends around the front and sides of the speaker, but tends to lack height and sounds muffled from the backside. It also sounds quite muddled and lacks any separation between instruments. There's no true sense of where instruments are placed or spaced from each other, giving it a middling soundstage at best.

Soundstage Ratings

Product	Soundstage Score
Best	9.3
Average	5.9
JBL Go 4	4.0
Worst	3.0

Portability

The Go 4 is about as light and portable as they come. It's 0.4 pounds, which felt almost like carrying around a handful of sand.

It fits in our pocket and all of the side pockets in our day bag. It even has a small cord loop that you can clip a carabiner onto. But, you'll have to buy a carabiner separately.

Volume

The JBL Go 4 can get quite loud for its size, getting up to 83.9 decibels, which is about as loud as a small Bullet blender, but we can also listen to it in the same room at max volume.

We noticed that the sound quality became quite compressed and produced significant hissing at higher volumes.

Durabilty

We've dropped it several times, and it comes out without a dent, so it's very durable against kids, pets, and butter-fingers. Like many JBL speakers, the Go 4 has impeccable build quality.

With an IP67 rating, the JBL Go 4 can survive being drenched in water for up to 30 minutes and sound the same. Its exterior is also effective at shielding it against dust and sand.

Battery

This speaker's battery life is one of the lowest we tested at 10 hours and 54 minutes, though this is not bad for a mini speaker and will get most through an entire day of listening.

It also comes with “Playtime Boost” via the JBL app, which gives the speaker an additional two hours of listening time, though it does negatively impact the sound quality by making it sound even more distant and manufactured.

Ease of Use

Pairing the JBL Go 4 took no more than a few seconds, and we never experienced any connectivity issues when listening to it. It even has a decent range of almost 100 feet. However, the range isn't necessary since we had no trouble carrying it around the house.

Like other JBL speakers, the Go 4 features “Auracast”, which allows it to connect to other JBL speakers to play music simultaneously, and can also be used in “Stereo Mode” with another Go 4, giving the speakers a stereo system sound that plays from left to right. We're able to adjust the sound profile in the JBL app, but no amount of tweaking could help us enjoy the sound better. Like many portable speakers, the Go 4 lacks a built-in microphone for calls and voice assistant.