Now even though the JBL Flip 6 isn’t a HUGE upgrade from the JBL Flip 5… the additional tweeter on the Flip 6 does help it sound more open. And in general… tweeters on a portable 20 watt bluetooth speaker are pretty rare. But today we’re going to compare the Flip 6 to two very popular 20 watt speakers. First there’s the Bose Soundlink flex which is just universally loved right now… and then there’s the Sony XB23… which is a really good budget option. But nonetheless… lets see which ones right for you.
Regarding pricing… we’ve got a bit of a spectrum here. The Flex is the most premium speaker here retailing for $150. The JBL Flip 6 has a retail price of $130 and the Sony XB23 has a retail price of $100. Now even though I do expect these speakers to go on sale on a regular basis… I think its safe to assume that Sony will always manage to undercut these other two speakers. Nonetheless if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. Both the Sony and JBL have cylindrical bodies meaning that you can very easily place them in your bike’s water bottle holder. Which I know a lot of cyclists like to do. Where as with Bose’s rectangular body… its not as easy. But besides that… all of these speakers are fairly easy to take on the go with you. However… Sony’s speaker is pretty long. However… Sony’s speaker has the best loop here. So you can more easily attach it or hang it from things. Where as JBL’s loop isn’t as versatile by comparison… and then there’s Bose’s loops which is super limited. You’re going to need to use a carabinieri with this thing and its not included. But overall, from a body perspective… the Flip 6 is the most portable bluetooth speaker here cause its the smallest and it has a cylindrical body. However from a durability stand point… all of these speakers are water proof so you don’t have to worry about any of them getting wet. And they all have no problem standing up to constant abuse from bumps and scrapes. However… both the Flip 6 and XB23 have mostly fabric wrapped bodies which are pretty standard for speakers like these… where as the Bose Flex has a powder coat steel face plate and silicon wrapped body. Which not only makes this speaker feel just as durable as these other two speakers… it also makes it feel more premium. So overall… I feel that if you’re looking for something with maximum portability I think the Flip 6 is your best bet. But if you want something nice… then you’ll might want to go with the Flex.
But now lets talk about tech specs… both the Bose Flex and Flip 6 have an advertised battery life of 12 hours. And real world use with both of these speakers playing at 80%… which is a really good listing volume on both of these speakers… they're both good for around 8 hours of playback time. Not bad at all. But personally, just given the Flex’s sheer size and shape… I really wish bose would have crammed in a larger battery. So personally for me… I think the Flip 6 has the more impressive battery life because it is more compact and it has that extra tweeter to power.
But then there’s the Sony XB23 which has an advertised battery life of 10 hours with its Extra Bass mode turned on. Which is how you should use this speaker. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume… which is quiter than these other two speakers at 80% volume… this speaker is only good for about 6 hours of play back time.
Now when it comes to charging these speakers… they all charge via a USB C port. As they should. And unfortunately this is the only port that you will find on all of these speakers, cause none of them have an audio jack. Now unfortunately this is the new standard… but I still feel that all of these speakers should have an audio jack just in case. Because you can only use these speakers wirelessly. The USB C ports on all of these speakers are strictly used for charging.
But when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity… all of these speakers can be connected to 2 devices at the same time, which great either if you’re a power user and you can to quickly hot swap between devices… or this way you and a friend can both be DJ. And when it comes to watching movies or videos on your phone… all of these speakers have zero latency across the board whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these speakers. Regarding speaker sets up the XB23 has your traditional dual frontward firing woofers, and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Pretty standard for a portable bluetooth speaker. And the XB23 has an out put of 20 watts. Then there’s the Bose Flex which has a single frontward firing transducer and a pair of passive radiators that shoot out the front and back of this speaker. And again, the Bose flex has an out put of 20 watts. And finally there’s the JBL Flip 6 which has a single frontward firing woofer, a single frontward firing tweeter and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And when it comes to out put, the woofer has an out put of 20 watts and the tweeter has an out put of 10 watts. Now in general, the Flip 6’s speaker set up is very impressive, and the idea off having a tweeter and a woofer is that its going to help with instrument separation. But let me just show you.
So like you may have just seen, the woofers on both the XB23 and Bose Flex handle both the mids and the highs… where as with the Flip 6… the woofer handles the mids and the tweeter handles the highs. So this is going to help this speaker sound more open and have better instrument separation. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. All of these speakers are playing with their stock EQ. But the XB23’s is working pretty hard here at 81% volume, the Bose Flex is stretching its legs playing at 75% volume, and then there’s the Flip 6 which is just coasting here, playing at 70% volume.
So first I am going to the have single out the Sony XB23… when compared to these other two speakers… the Sony XB23 sounds the most narrow and shallow. And since this speaker does shoot for a warmer sound signature… it just doesn’t get as loud as these other two speakers. In general, the XB23 sounds fine… but these other two speakers do sound and perform better. Now when it comes to comparing the JBL Flip 6 to the Bose Flex… I gotta say, the flip 6 has the better instrument separation where as the Bose has the better bass. Other than that… these speakers are very evenly matched sound quality wise… and they both get equally as loud. However… the Flip 6 can at times get a little louder than the Flex… but that mainly cause the flip 6 does put a slightly higher emphasis on the highs cause I think JBL wants to show off that tweeter.
However, something the Flip 6 does have over the Flex is that it has an adjustable EQ. So you can directly customize its EQ to your liking. And personally I like my Flip 6 with its bass raised one click and the treble lowered on click. Where as with the Flex, you can’t directly customize its EQ. Now you can always customize the EQ on the Sony XB23… but no matter how much you play around with this EQ… performance wise the Sony XB23 just isn’t as good as these other two speakers. So overall, when it comes to sound. I really think the JBL Flip 6 and Bose Flex are evenly matched… but if you want more bass then you’ll want to go with the Bose, and if you want better instrument separation than you’ll want to go with the JBL Flip 6.
But now let talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now the Bose Flex is the most limited speaker here. You can only wirelessly pair it up to one other Bose Soundlink speaker. Now being able to pair your flex up to one other bose soundlink speaker could be enough for a lot of people… but it is limited to these other two speakers.
Because for comparison… the JBL Flip 6 is using JBL Partyboost, meaning that you can wirelessly connect your Flip 6 to other JBL Partyboost speakers like either a JBL boombox 2, an Xtreme 3, JBL Charge 5, Flip 5, another Flip 6 or to a JBL Pulse 4. And you can pair up to 100 speakers together.
However just keep in mind you can only pair a Partyboost speaker up to another Partyboost speaker… you cannot pair a newer Partyboost speaker to any of JBL’s older speakers that are using JBL connect Plus. And also, you can not wireless pair a JBL Partyboost speaker to any of JBL larger Partybox speakers.
However, with Sony’s Partyconnect you can wirelessly pair your XB23 up to Sony’s larger box speakers like either an XP500 or XP700… or you can also pair your XB23 up to an XG500, XB43, XB33, or to another XB23. And just like with JBL’s speakers… you can pair up to 100 speakers together. Which is obviously just a marketing ploy.
Now even though Sony’s Partyconnect does offer more flexibility… personally I still prefer JBL Partyboost because its easier to use and its much more stable. Where as with Sony’s Partyconnect. There are some hiccups that you are going to have to put up with from time to time.
So if you’re thinking about picking one of these speakers up… and you’re thinking about expanding your collection of speakers and constantly pairing them together… I think JBL is your best bet because Partyboost is just more stable and easier to use than Partyconnect… and you can pair a lot more speakers together than you can with Bose.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now the flip 6 is the only speaker here that doesn’t have a microphone. And personally I really don’t care.
both the Sony and Bose sound really bad if you’re trying to take phone calls with these speakers. And these speakers are like 4 feet away from me, sitting on a table and facing right at me. I just wouldn’t try to take phone calls with these speakers. Period.
But with all that being said, both the JBL Flip 6 and Bose Flex have raised the bar as to what we should come to expect from a 20 watt speaker, sound quality wise. Both of these speakers truly sound great. And choosing between these two speakers is a real toss up. Personally I feel that if you want more bass you can go with the Bose Flex and if you want better instrument separation you can go with the JBL Flip 6. But overall, I do think the JBL Flip 6 is the better pick up here cause it is a little more affordable, it is a little more portable, its a little more customizable, and if you want to build out your speaker collection… JBL has a healthy line up to choose from. And finally there’s the Sony XB23. This speaker get the job done, but you are going to get significant improvements if you decide to go with either of these other two speakers.