JBL Boombox 4 Review

Our JBL Boombox 4 Experience

The JBL Boombox 4 has an easy, three-step pairing, and we didn't experience any fuss when connecting. The process went pretty quickly.

The party lights and physical thumping bass from the passive radiators on both sides add to the excitement of the Boombox. We 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, which was fun and satisfying to see.

The Boombox has the most powerful bass of any speaker we tested. It gives the drums and deeper notes across all genres a pleasing rumble. The double bass boosting feature is one of our favorites, which can amp up the bass to two additional levels, which is great for those who want a truly aggressive, floor-shaking bass.

We were able to walk around our entire house with our phone, up to 133 feet away, before the connection began to drop. So, if we were throwing a huge party, this is the first speaker we'd reach for.

While the size is intimidating, it's not as heavy as it appears. The handle is easy and comfortable to grip, and we were able to walk with it for a little over a block, though we eventually had to carry it over our shoulder to continue when our forearms got tired.

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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Our Analysis and Test Results

Sound Quality

The JBL Boombox 4 offers rich, full sound for bass lovers—with powerful, decadent lows, colorful, textural mids, and clear, but not overpowering highs. Even our audiophiles were impressed by the clarity and sheer energy of the mix.

The emphasized, detailed bass is the driving force of the sound profile. When listening to tracks like “Above the Neck” by Sofia Isella, the moody rumbling bass against her dry, nearly spoken-word delivery produced a robust, pleasant boom like thunder in a rainstorm. The lows can get a bit muddy at max volume, especially when a bass-heavy track is playing, but it never sounds blown out.

The mids offer a wide range of textures and colors, making it great for instrumental music with multiple layers. When listening to “Shy” by Amber Ais, the vocals warmly and effortlessly weave around the synth-heavy beat, maintaining clarity despite the bass thumping so powerfully that we could feel it in our chest.

While the highs weren't as forward as we would prefer, they were some of the best we've heard from a JBL product—not sharp, harsh, or lacking in detail. And, we appreciate how well the Boombox is capable of finessing dynamic shifts in the higher ranges. That said, trebles tended to sound a bit reduced, though expected, as the Boombox's bass beats are designed to stand out the most. Still, folks who prefer a balanced or flatter sound mix may find the bass-heavy profile less digestible.

The world created by this speaker feels wide, but it needs to be oriented toward the listener when played at a comfortable volume. It's a front-facing speaker, so listening from any side but the front results in slightly diminished quality. When listening in the right direction, it creates an immersive soundstage that fills our senses.

Portability

About the size of a 12-pack (20"x8"x10"), the Boombox is the largest speaker we tested. At 13.4 pounds, it's also the heaviest.

This is one of the least portable speakers we tested, and we recommend only planning to carry it short distances, like to a tailgate or pool party.

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 Fast and Furious movie (and also how it feels to listen to it). The sound travels far enough to fill most homes and backyards. At max volume, the Boombox even jumps and wobbles from the powerful bass.

While all the speakers we tested experienced some muddiness or distortion at max volume, the Boombox had exceptional clarity across most volumes, with max volume 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. Massive and seemingly sturdy, but breakable. After the big drop in our lab, it repeatedly turned itself off, and the buttons were no longer as responsive. It also incurred several scuffs and scratches after consecutive drops. A couple of days later, it seemed to be working as usual, but we'd exercise caution with this model.

With an IP68 rating, the Boombox has some of the best water-resistance and can be drowned in water with no issues. One of the 'wow' factors of this unit is that it can even float in a pool and continue to play music. We immersed the boombox in a lake near our office, and it came out just fine. So if you're planning a pool party or listening on a rainy day, fear not.

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. Still, this should be plenty of time for most listeners.

The “Playtime Boost” is a feature that is used to extend the speaker's battery life. We tried this feature, but it degraded sound quality quite a bit.

Ease of Use

We enjoy the app, which was very easy to download and connect to. The JBL app lets users drag and drop their sound preferences, whether it's an emphasized treble for vocals, a bigger bass for hip-hop, or a flat line or a more balanced, mild sound profile.

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.

If you plan to bring it camping or to the beach, it can also double as a power bank for charging your phone and other devices. And, as you use it over the years, you can order a new battery from JBL and replace it yourself to extend the life of the speaker—but be forewarned, the price of the battery replacement is roughly the same as your average Bluetooth speaker.

The “Playtime Boost” is another interesting feature that is used to extend the speaker's battery life from the claimed 28 hours to 34 hours, but we found that the sound quality degraded when we enabled this feature, so it wasn't our favorite.

The Boombox 4 also notably doesn't include a voice assistant despite being hundreds of dollars, which is fairly disappointing.