Just last year of April 2021, JBL released their latest speaker for the JBL Charge series, which is known to be one of the best and most portable Bluetooth speakers since 2014. The JBL Charge 5 is currently the latest speaker for this series
However, with the already-good JBL Charge 4, audiophiles and JBL lovers wonder if the JBL Charge 5 is really worth the upgrade or if it is an upgrade to the JBL Charge 4. To answer it shortly, the JBL Charge 5 is no doubt a good upgrade of the JBL Charge 4 both design-wise and sound-wise.
But for you to be able to make a clear and informed purchase decision, here is everything you need to know about the JBL Charge 5 before purchasing or upgrading:
Table of Contents
JBL Charge 5 Overview
| Pros of the JBL Charge 5 | Cons of the JBL Charge 5 |
|---|---|
| Comes with a 10W RMS Tweeter Speaker | No EQ setting for the JBL Charge 5 in the JBL App |
| Great Upgrade | |
| Excellent Bass, Mids, and Highs | |
| IP67 rated | |
| Waterproof Type C port | |
| Outstanding Battery Life | |
| Sounds More Open | |
| Great Instrumental Separation | |
| Bluetooth 5.1 |
View JBL Charge 5 Price on:
Get the JBL Charge 5 if your top priorities are excellent sound and portability. The sound quality of the JBL Charge 5 is phenomenal and truly one of the best portable speakers out there. The improved features of this speaker make it even a better deal since it makes the speaker future-proof.
Price
Since the JBL Charge 5 belongs to the category of medium-sized speakers, they are fairly priced at $180, which is quite expensive, but this speaker’s overall specifications will impress you.
If you want to purchase the JBL Charge 5 at a discount, I highly recommend that you wait for a sale day or sale event. JBL goes on sale every month so you don’t have to worry about waiting long.
→ Read: JBL Flip 6 vs Charge 5
Design
At first glance, you will immediately notice that the JBL Charge 5 no longer has the classic red JBL logo emblem on it, but instead has a huge JBL logo engraved on the front of the speaker just like the other JBL speakers of this lineup.
Basically, the JBL Charge 5 looks like the shrunken version of the new JBL Xtreme 3.
For the colors, the JBL Charge 5 comes in 6 colors which are red, gray, blue, teal, camouflage, and black.
But for size, the JBL Charge 5 does not have a huge difference in size when compared to its predecessors.
The JBL Charge 5 is still the same medium-sized speaker that is easy to carry on the go without having to worry about it taking a lot of space.
Regardless of the logo, the JBL Charge 5 still has the same durable body as its predecessors that is almost totally covered in strong fabric which is designed to withstand constant abuse such as accidental drops, scratches, and bumps.
It is also worth noting that the durable fabric also prevents the speaker from becoming a fingerprint magnet.
At the bottom of the JBL Charge 5, you will find its rubberized feet that help the speaker to not move around at high volumes.
Speaker Buttons
The JBL Charge 5 has 6 buttons which are the following:
- JBL Party Boost Button
- Power Button
- Bluetooth Button
- Volume Buttons
The JBL Party Boost button allows the JBL Charge 5 to pair up with other JBL Party Boost compatible speakers with just one press of a button.
The other JBL speakers that have the JBL Party Boost are the JBL Boombox 2, JBL Xtreme 3, JBL Flip 6, JBL Flip 5, and JBL Pulse 4. You can also just use another JBL Charge 5.
Although the JBL Charge 5 only has 6 buttons, you can use a few combinations on them to activate specific commands
For instance, If you notice the speaker acting differently such as not being able to pair, long-press the volume up button and play/pause button to reset the speaker.
Battery
The JBL Charge 5 has an impressive battery milliampere (mAh) of 7,500 which is more than the battery mAh of the best battery for mobile phones which is the ASUS ROG 6 with only 6,000 mAh.
The JBL Charge 5 has an advertised battery of life 20 hours but can definitely go for more than that when played at 50% or lower.
For normal use cases at 80% volume, you are looking to get about 10 hours of playtime which is still great and can definitely last throughout the day.
On top of that, the JBL Charge 5 only requires about 4 hours to charge which means you can have very little charging time when you compare to its many hours of playtime.
Bluetooth Version
One of the big upgrades of the JBL charge 5 from the JBL Charge 4 is its Bluetooth version. The JBL Charge 5 utilizes Bluetooth 5.1 which is without a doubt a much better Bluetooth version compared to the JBL Charge 4’s Bluetooth 4.2
The JBL Charge 5 comes with little to no delays when watching videos or movies on your devices.
In addition to that, the JBL Charge 5 now has an extended range. It has a reach of approximately 100 meters when indoors.
Waterproof Rating
Just like the JBL Charge 4, the JBL Charge 5 is still waterproof but is now upgraded to IP67 whereas the JBL Charge 4 was only IPX7.
Both the IPX7 and the IP67 rating are capable of being submerged in waters of 1-meter depth for 30 minutes. The difference in the ratings is that the IP67 comes with dust protection.
This means that there is a minimal upgrade to the JBL Charge 5. Nonetheless, you won’t have to worry about it getting wet or accidentally dropped into the pool.
Speaker Specifications
Compared to the JBL Charge 4, the JBL Charge 5 is more powerful with an all-new tweeter which all of its predecessors lacked.
The JBL Charge 5 has a single 30W RMS frontward-firing transducer speaker and one 10W RMS tweeter.
The JBL Charge 5 still has its passive radiators shooting from the sides.
Sound
The JBL Charge 5 basically sounds better than all of its predecessors.
For starters, the 30W RMS woofer of the JBL Charge 5 makes it sound significantly louder than the 20W RMS woofer of the JBL Charge 4.
In addition to that, the JBL Charge 5 handles instrumental separation better thanks to its all-new 10W RMS tweeter that enhances the mids and highs
Since the JBL Charge 5 has a more powerful woofer combined with its new tweeter, the JBL Charge 5 sounds more open without having problems reaching a wider sound stage with no distortion whatsoever.
Final Thoughts
Without a doubt, the JBL Charge 5 outperforms its predecessors by a milestone thanks to its all-new speaker setup that delivers decent bass with more emphasis on the mids and highs because of its newly added tweeter.
Design-wise, the JBL Charge 5 is just as durable as the JBL Charge 4 but now with a waterproof Type C port and dust protection since it is IP67 rated.
The JBL Charge 5 definitely sounds incredible and is no doubt one of the best medium-sized speakers in the market today.
I strongly recommend the JBL Charge 5 for audiophiles out there that have a budget below $200 that wants a speaker that is great-sounding, durable, and easy to carry.
View JBL Charge 5 Price on:
Get the JBL Charge 5 if your top priorities are excellent sound and portability. The sound quality of the JBL Charge 5 is phenomenal and truly one of the best portable speakers out there. The improved features of this speaker make it even a better deal since it makes the speaker future-proof.
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