JBL Charge 5: https://amzn.to/493nbRc
So the JBL Charge 5 has been my favorite mid sized speaker cause it sounds great thanks to its woofer and tweeter set up which is rare for a speaker of this size. But the Charge 5 got an unexpected upgrade… we now have the JBL Charge 5 with wifi… now I thought that this was going to be a simple video, but I actually saw a smaller performance improvement with the JBL Charge 5 with Wifi.
Regarding pricing, the JBL Charge 5 with wifi has a retail price of $230, where as the basic charge 5 has a retail price of $180 and it likes to go on sale for $150 and on major shopping holidays, it can go for like $130. Regardless, I highly recommend the JBL Charge 5, so if you want to pick this speaker up it’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now from a design standpoint, the Wifi version of the charge 5 is very similar to the basic version. The main differences here is that the passive radiators have a wifi logo to remind you that you have the wifi version, and the button layout up top is a little different. Gone is the party boost button and instead we have a heart so that you can start a premade playlist from the tap of a button.
And the battery life on this speaker is the same too. They both have an advertised battery life of 20 hours, but real world use with these speakers playing at 80% volume, they’re both going to be good for about 12 hours of playback time.
Both of these speakers charge via a USB C port which is good, but they dont have an audio jack and you can’t use their USB C port as a wired connection. But both of these speakers have a USB A port so you can charge up your own devices, but most phones these days come with USB C to USB C cables, so this USB A port is kinda pointless and you cant plug in a USB Stick and play music off of it.
But when it comes to wireless connectivity, this is the major difference between the Basic version and the wifi version. Now both of these speakers have bluetooth, and both of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time so that you an a friend can both the be DJ and both of these speakers only have support for SBC.
But the JBL Charge 5 Wifi has wifi… so if you’re connected to the same wifi network as this speaker, you’ll be able to stream to it using either Airplay or Chrome cast. And since this is a wifi speaker, you’ll be able to connect this speaker up to to other wifi enabled speaker or soundbar and get them to play in sync.
However, the JBL Charge 5 with wifi doesn’t have party boost. So you wont be able to connect this speaker to any of your other JBL Partyboost speakers… Now I like JBL’s speakers cause they’re portable, durable and they sound good, but party boost is also one of their main selling points. And personally I would rather have Partyboost over wifi support.
But then theres also the App, the Charge 5 with wifi is using JBL’s new JBL ONE app… and from here you can interact directly with some streaming services or more importantly, you can adjust the EQ of this speaker… overall this app is well laid out and easy to use.
But finally theres the sound of this speaker. Regarding speaker setup, both versions of the charge 5 have a woofer and tweeter set up and they have dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And both of these speakers are ratted at 40 watts. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. Both of these speakers are playing at the same volume and they are both playing with their bass raised by one click.
Sound test
So first off, I really like the Charge 5 cause the charge 5 has very good instrument separation thanks to its woofer and tweeter set up cause the woofer focuses on the mids and the tweeter handles the highs. And having this type of speaker set up is rare for a speaker of this size. But the instrument separation and detail is the same on these speakers. However, when it comes to their max volume performance, the Basic Charge 5 gets decently loud for its size… however, I did notice that the newer Charge 5 wifi gets a little louder than the basic charge 5. Now this could mean one of two things… either, the Wifi Version of the Charge 5 get a little louder than the basic version, but you wont notice this difference unless you use these speakers back to back… or my charge 5 is starting to show its age… cause this is a speaker that I use very frequently and I got this speaker at launch. Nonetheless, both versions of the charge 5 sound and preform great.
But with all of that being said, the JBL Charge 5 is still one of my favorite mid sized speakers to recommend… but personally I don't see a real need to pay extra for the wifi version of this speaker. You’re going to get the same performance but more importantly, you’re going to have to sacrifice party boost, which is a big selling point for JBL’s speakers especially if you want to pair your speaker together in an area where you dont have wifi.