So the JBL Flip 6 truly is a great little bluetooth speaker. Thanks to its new speaker set up which consists of a pair of dual passive radiators, a woofer, and a tweeter… the flip 6 really does sound great in a very compact package. But today, we’re going to see if its worth upgrading from the Flip 6 to the larger JBL Charge 5… and we’re also going to see how the Flip 6 stacks up to the Sony XB33.
Now regarding pricing, the JBL charge 5 is the most expensive speaker here retailing for $180. The sony XB33 has a retail price of $150, and the JBL Flip 6 has a retail price of $130. However, sony does like to put the XB33 on sale from time to time for $120. And I expect JBL to put the their speakers on sale from time to time as well. But no matter how you look at it, I expect the XB33 to always undercut the Charge 5 by a significant margin. 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. Now obviously you can take any of these speakers on the go with you because they are all fairly small. However, the Flip 6 is the smallest and most portable speaker here. Besides just being the smallest, the flip 6 also has this little built in loop so you can attach it or hang it from thing if you really wanted to. Where as these other two speakers, you cants. But besides that… all of these speakers are basically the same. They’re all water proof, so you don’t have to worry about any of these speakers getting wet or even accidentally dropped into a pool… and all of these speakers should have no problem standing up to constant abuse from bumps and scrapes cause their fabric wrapped bodies should be able to take all of that. The only thing you have to be mindful of are the exposed passive radiators on all of these speakers. But besides that, all of these speakers are durable and portable… but if you want maximum portability, then you’ll want to go with the Flip 6. Pretty obvious.
However, something the Sony XB33 does have over these two JBL speakers is that it has a built in light feature. And I can’t deny, this light feature looks pretty good. I personally really enjoy the illuminated woofers. Now having a built in light feature is nice… but please don’t base your speaker purchase decision solely on a light feature… and also keep in mind, if you use this light feature, it does take its toll on the battery life.
The XB33 has an advertised battery life of 24 hours… noticeably more than these other two speakers… however, that advertised battery life is with this speaker playing at 50%, with the light feature turned off, and while in stamina mode. Which just makes this speaker sound very flat. Where as if you were to use this speaker with its light feature turned on and with its Extra Bass Mode turned on… then it has an advertised battery life of 14 hours. And I suspect this is how most people will want to use this speaker.
So real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, with its light feature turned on and with its extra bass mode turned on… this speaker is good for around 7 hours of playback time. But if you were to use this speaker with its light feature turned off… you can always extend its battery life that way.
But then there’s the Charge 5 which has an advertised battery life of 20 hours, and with it playing at 80% volume, this speaker is good for about 10 hours of playback time. And the flip 6 has an advertised battery life of 12 hours, and with it playing at 80% volume its good for about 8 hours of playback time. So over all, both of JBL’s speakers have better real world battery life than the Sony XB33… but if you want maximum battery life, then you’ll want to go with the charge 5.
Now when it comes to charging these speakers, they all charge via a USB C as they should. However, the USB C port on the Flip 6 is the only port that you will find on the Flip 6. Where as both the Charge 5 and Sony XB33 have a USB A Outport so that you can charge your own devices. Now I think its great and all that both the Charge 5 and XB33 have a USB A out port… but I think this USB A out port is going to be obsolete in the near future cause most phones these days now come included with USB C cables. And unfortunately, the USB C ports on all of these speakers are used for charging. You can’t use them to charge your own devices like you can with the JBL Xtreme 3. And you also can’t use them as we wired connection.
And its also important to point out, you can’t use a wired connection with any of these speakers cause none of them have an audio jack. And sadly this is the new norm, and personally I really feel that these speakers should have an audio jack just in case. But for now you can only use all of these speakers wirelessly.
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 actually listening to music with these speakers… the Sony XB33 has your very standard speaker set up of dual frontward firing woofers, and dual passive radiators. And the Sony XB33 is rated at 30 watts. But then there are JBL’s speakers… but the Flip 6 and Charge 5 have a single frontward firing woofer, a single frontward firing tweeter, and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Now the Woofer on the Flip 6 is rated at 20 watts, and the tweeter is rated at 10 watt. Where as with the Charge 5, its tweeter is also rated at 10 watts, but its woofer is rated at 30 watts. Now the idea of having a tweeter and a woofer on both of JBL’s speakers is that it is going to help these speakers sound more open. But so that you can see for yourself, let me just show you.
So like you may have just seen the woofers on the XB33 handle both the mids and highs. Where as with both of these JBL speakers, the woofers handle the mids and the tweeter handles the highs. Which is going to help these speakers 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’s. However the Sony XB33 is playing at 94% volume, the Flip 6 is playing at 81% volume, and the Charge 5 is just coasting here playing at 70% volume.
So first lets address the Charge 5 and Flip 6 here. From a performance stand point both of JBL’s speakers sound as open and have the same instrument separation as one another. However, with the Charge 5, you are going to get noticeably more bass, and its also going to get louder as well. Where as with the Flip 6, I can’t help but feel that this speaker is a little quicker to juice up the highs… so the Flip 6 can at times sound a little brighter, where as the Charge 5 sounds more balanced. Nonetheless, both of these speakers like to put an emphasis on the vocals and the bass comes in hard when it has to. However, one thing the Flip 6 has over the Charge 5 for now… is that it has a customizable EQ. And I say for now cause the Xtreme 3 now has a customizable EQ… and I expect the Charge 5 to also get this customizable EQ through a firmware update in the bear future. But nonetheless, personally I do like my Flip 6 with the Bass raised on click and the treble lowered one click. But even if the Charge 5 doesn’t have a customizable EQ… it still sounds and preforms better than the Flip 6.
But now lets focus on the XB33. Just like the Flip 6, the XB33 has an adjustable EQ. But from a performance standpoint. The XB33 just doesn’t sound as open as these other two speakers. The XB33 does sound shallow and narrow. And since this speaker does shoot for a warmer EQ… it just doesn’t get a loud as these other two speakers. Overall, the Sony XB33 sounds fine and it get the job done. But personally, I do feel the JBL Flip 6 performs better than the Sony XB33… and if you want the best sound quality here, then you simply just want to go with the Charge 5.
But now lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Both the Flip 6 and Charge 5 are using JBL Partyboost, meaning that you can wirelessly connect these speakers to other JBL Partyboost speakers like either a JBL boombox 2, an Xtreme 3, JBL Charge 5, Flip 5, 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 XB33 up to Sony’s larger box speakers like either an XP500 or XP700… or you can also pair your XB33 up to an XG500, XB43, to another XB33, or to an XB23. And just like with JBL’s speakers… you can pair up to 100 speakers together. Which is obviously just a marketing ploy.
However, just keep in mind you can only wirleelly pair a Sony Partyconnect speaker to another Sony Partyconnect speaker. You can not pair a Partyconnect speaker to any of Sony’s older wireless party chain speaker.
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…
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now JBL’s speakers don’t have a built in microphone. And personally I really don’t care. The Microphone on the XB33 sounds really bad if you’re trying to take phone calls with this speaker. And for context, the XB33 is like 4 feet away from, sitting on a table facing right at me. And I still sound pretty bad.
But with all of that being said… the JBL Flip 6 is a very capable small portable bluetooth speaker. Thanks to its new speaker set up which consists of a woofer, tweeter and default passive radiators, the Flip 6 sounds great. Specifically, it has great instrument separation and it sounds very open. The flip 6 also has decent battery life for its size and you can also customize its EQ. However, if you want more… you can always go with the JBL Charge 5. This speaker get louder, it has more bass, and it sound more balanced. And you’re also going to get a little bit more battery life. And the customizable EQ should be right around the corner for the Charge 5. But then there’s the Sony XB33. This speaker get the job done, and it also has a neat looking light feature. But personally I do feel the JBL Flip 6 overall performs better than the Sony XB33. It sounds better and it has better real world battery life performance.