So this is the JBL Pulse 5… now there are some cosmetic improvements here from the Pulse 4… but more importantly, the Pulse 5 has an upgraded speaker set up which personally I am impressed by cause of the Pulse 5’s vertical design. Nonetheless, lets see what the Pulse 5 is all about and lets see if this new speaker setup comapres to both the Pulse 4 and Pulse 3.
Regarding pricing, the JBL Pulse 5 retails for $250… and im going to be straight up, that is a little steep cause if sound quality is super important to you, then you’re going to want to go with the Charge 5. However, the Pulse 5 continues to have one of the best looking and most dynamic light features out there. So if the light feature is very important to you… then the Pulse 5 is a solid choice. Nonetheless, if you want to pick this speaker up it’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of this speaker. The Pulse 5 is a medium sized vertical speaker… and when its turned off it looks like a glass vase. Now the Pulse 5 has a mostly acrylic body with rubber end caps on each end… and there’s also a new slightly elastic loop on the back which makes taking this speaker on the go with you a little easier or you can hang it from places. Now when it comes to the durability of this speaker… after doing various stress tests on this speaker… I found that the acrylic body on the Pulse 5 does a really good job of standing up to scratches… but if you were to drop this speaker from two feet up on pavement, you are going to get deep scratches in it. But the good thing is, this acrylic body doesn’t shatter easily and in general, it takes a lot of force to break this acrylic body. Combined with the fact that the Pulse 5 is rocking an IP67 ratting meaning that’s it water proof for up to 30 minutes in one meeter of water… the Pulse 5 is surprisingly durable. However, I would still be gentle with this speaker… cause the end caps can be a little quick to come lose.
But with durability out of the way, lets talk about the light feature. Now just like before, there are different lighting modes to choose from. However, instead of being stuck with one lighting mode like with the pulse 4 and pulse 3… with the Pulse 5 you can choose your theme… and within the themes the Pulse 5 will cycle between different styles. Now I am indifferent about the constantly changing light modes… but within the themes you can deactivate which ever modes you don’t like. Where as with both the Pulse 4 and Pulse 3, they also have a decent amount of styles to choose from… but their light features stick to one mode. Simply put, I feel the light feature on the Pulse 5 is much busier than on the Pulse 4 and 3. But when it comes to looks, I feel that all of these light features are equally as dynamic and impressive. But for the best results, you do want to use these speakers indoors or at night. Cause these light features are hard to see during the day. However, one thing the Pulse 5 does have over the Pulse 4 and Pulse 3 is that its light feature now has a ground effect to it cause the passive radiator on the bottom also has some LEDS. Now the main selling point of this speaker is its light feature… but if you want to, you can also deactivate the light on this speaker. You can deactivate that whole thing or you can deactivate parts of it. Just keep in mind, if you deiced to use this light feature… it is going to take its toll on the battery life.
Now when it comes to battery life… the Pulse 5 has an advertised battery life of 12 hours, just like with the Pulse 4… However these advertised battery lives of 12 hours is with these speakers playing at 50% volume and with the light features on these speakers dimmed down a bit. Real world use with these speakers playing at 80% volume… which is a good listening volume while indoors… and with the light feature turned on… but the Pulse 5 and pulse 4 are good for about, 6 or 7 hours of playback time. But just keep in mind, if you were to use this speaker at a higher volume, and also depending on the brightness of the light feature… battery life on this speaker really depends on how you use it.
Now when it comes to charging this speaker, the Pulse 5 charges via a USB C port on the back… and unfortunately this is the only port that you’ll find on this speaker… and unfotuantly you can’t use this USB C port as a wired connection or use it to charge your own devices like how you can with the USB C port found on the JBL Xtreme 3.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, this speaker is using bluetooth 5.3 but more importantly, it can be connected to two devices at the same time so that you and friend can both be DJ… this speaker also has zero latency across the board when watching videos with it… but when it comes to audio codecs, it only has support for SBC. Which is very JBL.
But now lets talk about sound, regarding speaker set up, the Pulse 5 has an improved speaker set over its predecessor cause it now has an upwards firing woofer, an upwards firing tweeter which is stacked on top of the woofer, and it has a single downward firing passive radiator. Where as with he Pulse 4, it has a single upwards firing woofer, and a single downwards firing passive radiator which is actually a little smaller than the passive radiator found on the Pulse 5. And finally there’s the Pulse 3 which has a very different speaker set up. The Pulse 3 has a downward and upwards firing passive radiator and it has a total of 3 transducers hidden below below the fabric portion of the speaker. Now overall, the Pulse 3 does the best job of evenly covering a large area with music, where as both the Pulse 5 and Pulse 4 are best used for indoor cause they are upwards firing speakers… so if you want to get the best sound of of these speakers your going to need a ceiling for the sound to bounce off of. But with all of that being said, we’re going to jump into the sound test. All of these speakers are playing with their stock EQ’s and they’re all playing at 87% volume.
So first off, I am going to have to point out that the Pulse 3 has the warmest sound signature here where as the Pulse 5 has the brightest sound signature here. And personally I am not surprised that the Pulse 5 has a bright sound signature cause most of JBL’s newer speakers have all been coming included with a bright stock EQ… probably cause of that new tweeter. But the brighter EQ on the Pulse 5 isn’t a problem cause you can easily go in and adjust its EQ. Personally I like to raise the bass by two clicks and I lower the high by one click. And this adjustable EQ is something that isn’t found on either the Pulse 4 or Pulse 3. But more importantly, the additional tweeter on the Pulse 5 does help this speaker have better instatement separation and sound more open the Pulse 4 and Pulse 3, cause with the Pulse 5, the woofer handles the mids and the tweeter handles the highs. But so that you can see what im talking about, we’re going to jump into a demo with the charge 5 which also has a tweeter and woofer set up.
So like you just saw, the woofer handles the mids and the tweeter handles the highs… helping the Pulse 5 to sound more open and the Pulse 4. And to be honest, improved instrument separation on on the Pulse 5 is really the only sound performance improvement that you’ll find on it over the Pulse 4… cause the Pulse 5 gets just as loud as both the Pulse 4 and Pulse 3… and I feel the Pulse 5 has the same amount of bass as the Pulse 4. But I do feel the Pulse 3 has a little more bass than these other two speakers simply cause of its warmer EQ and additional passive radiator. Now overall, the Pulse 5 gets decently at max volume for indoor use, but for outdoor use it can struggle a bit. And unlike with JBL’s larger speakers like lets say the Xtreme 3 or Boombox 3… if you were to use the Pulse 5 while its plugged in, you’re not going to get an performance boost out of it.
So overall, sound quality wise, the Pulse 5 does have improved instrument separation over the Pulse 4, making it sound more open. The only draw back is that it does have a slightly brighter sound signature, but that is fine cause you can easily fix that. But when it comes to max volume and bass… the Pulse 5 is very similar to the Pulse 4. But more importantly, if you do decide to go with the Pulse 5, I mainly recommend it for indoor use cause due to its upwards firing woofer and tweeter, you’re going to want a ceiling for the sound to bounce off of.
But also, I want to point something out about the Pulse 5 that I really dislike, and that’s, this speaker no longer has any media controls on it. Meaning that if you want to adjust the volume or skip your music or pause your music… you’re going to have to do that directly from your phone. And I find this to be very inconvenient, and if not, a little insulting.
But now lets talk about pairing this speaker up with other speakers. Now the Pulse 5 is using JBL’s PartyBoost. Meaning that you can pair it up to other JBL PartyBoost speakers like either a Boombox 3, a boombox 2, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Pulse 5, Pulse 4, Flip 6 or Flip 5… and you can pair up to 100 speakers together which is obviously just over kill.
Now if you’re going to be mixing and matching speakers, your speakers are going to play in sync… however, if you want to get left and right stereo sound going, you’re going to need two of the exact same speakers. Unfortunalty, if you have a Pulse 5 and Pulse 4 like I do, they will not play in stereo mode… they’re only going to play in sync.
Also, keep in mind that you can only pair your PartyBoost speakers to other PartyBoost speakers. If you have an older JBL speakers that are using JBL Connect Plus, like lets say the Pulse 3 or Charge 4… they will not pair up with your Pulse 5… and also, you can not pair any of JBL’s PartyBoost speakers to any of JBL’s larger Partybox speakers.
Now even though there is some fragmentation to look out for, if you plan on buying multiple speakers and if you plan on constantly pairing them together… than I do think JBL is the way to go, cause PartyBoost just works. You just press one button on each speaker, they automatically sync up very quickly, and skipping is never an issue like with some other speaker pairing protocols out there.
So with all of that being said, the JBL Pulse 5 is a marginal upgrade over the Pulse 4. Yes the Pulse 5 has a new tweeter in it which is going to help it sound more open than the Pulse 4… but when it comes to bass and max volume… the Pulse 5 is very similar to the Pulse 4. And unfortunately, battery life performance on the Pulse 5 remains the same as the Pulse 4. However, if you’re looking for a speaker with a dynamic light feature to liven up your living space… the Pulse 5 is one of the best options out there. And thanks to JBL’s expanding Partyboost speaker line up… you can always expand your pulse 5 with other speakers. The only thing that I would recommend with the Pulse 5 is that you mainly use it indoors… cause if you try to use this speaker out doors… its upwards firing woofer and tweeter is going to struggle to deliver you the best sound. And finally there’s the lack of media controls on this speaker… I just find that to be so inconvenient.