And loud it gets — even more so than its predecessor, which is saying something, considering how bombastic the previous JBL Boombox was.

Its soundstage is also perceived as wider, and you can hear your audio more clearly from all angles. There’s an exclamation mark on one side of the JBL logo and a little extra colour on the underside of the handle.Good - The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. And if you do decided to pick up multiple JBL Speakers to complement your Boombox 3… you have a healthy eco system to choose from.

Across the front face of the speaker, there are controls for power, Bluetooth pairing, play/pause (this button can also skip forward a track with two presses, but oddly cannot skip backward with three), and plus/minus buttons for volume control. Despite its small size, this Bluetooth portable speaker delivers powerful and serious sound performance.JBL’s 24-hour estimate is only accurate if you stick to default volume, but even at 60%, we hit 20 hours easily.

JBL Connect + and JBL Partyboost speakers can't connect with each other simply due to hardware specifications on each product. Nonetheless, we’re going to jump into a soundtest… all of these speakers are playing at 75% volume, both the Boombox 3 and Boombox 2 are playing with their EQ’s and the Original boombox is playing while in its indoors EQ. Bluetooth also doesn’t travel well when submerged, so best to keep its water exposure to solid ground. It has an exceptionally long battery life, and it can play stereo content without downmixing it to mono.That doesn’t make the speaker bad — far from it — but it does mean that this is better for newcomers to the Boombox, not existing users. The JBL can produce deeper bass than the Sony and gets louder with slightly fewer compression artifacts at max volume. The Sony is a large party speaker with customizable RGB lights and it can get somewhat louder than the JBL. The speaker sits on a small plastic base, and its large plastic handle has a grip pad along the top to make it easier to carry.

With the new Boombox 2, we have improved both the bass and loudness, making one perfect and balanced sound setting for all environments. Simply press the Connect+ button on your first boombox then press the Connect+ button on the nearby Boombox to connect. However, the loop’s sustain gets far more bass depth than we are used to hearing, adding some serious thump to the equation.So like you may have just heard, sound signature wise, the Boombox 3 does sound a little brighter than the both the Boombox 2 and original Boombox. It's also better built with an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance, meaning it's dust-tight and immersible in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. Purists won’t be pleased, but for all the boosting and sculpting in the Boombox 2’s sound signature, it delivers a relatively balanced, crisp, rich performance that doesn’t lean too heavily on the lows. Across the front face of the speaker, there are controls for power, Bluetooth pairing, play/pause (this button can also skip forward a track with two presses, but oddly cannot skip backwards with three), and plus/minus buttons for volume control.