So if you’re looking for a small portable Bluetooth speaker for summer 2025, you actually have a lot of new options to choose from, theres the brand new JBL Flip 7 which just released in the spring, there’s the Bose soundlink flex 2 which came out in the winter, and we have the Beats Pill and the Sony ULT Field 1. So today we’re going to compare all four of these speakers and we’re going to see which one is right for you.
Regarding pricing, we’re in a bit of a weird place cause of inflation. The JBL Flip 7, Bose Flex 2 and beats pill all retail for $150, where as the Sony ULT Field 1 has a retail price of $130. Now I do expect all of these speakers to go on sale on a regular basis, nonetheless if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button, and if you want to further support the channel then you can always pick up some merch.
So first theres the design of these speakers, now all four of these speakers are small, durable and water proof. However, both the JBL and Sony have a mostly fabric wrapped body so they aren’t going to get scratched up all that easily, where as the bose has a powered coated front plate and beats pill has a plastic front face, so these speakers can get scratched up pretty easily… however they do feel very premium cause of their silicon wrapped bodies. But more importantly, when it comes to portably… the Beats Pill, Bose Flex and JBL Flip 7 all have a loop or strap so you can somewhat easily attach these speakers to something and you can hang them from something. And the Flip 7 is being a little extra cause you can actually switch these loops out… which I dont feel is super important. But with the Sony ULT Field 1, I actually like this system better cause you can either have a loop so you can attach this speaker to your back pack… or you can use it as a carrying handle. Overall, the JBL Flip 7 is the smallest speaker here and its super easy to take it on the go with you, but I think the Sony ULT Field 1 is the most comfortable speaker here to travel with cause of its convertible carrying handle.
but one minor detail to keep in mind here is, all of these speakers have exposed USB C ports except for the Sony. So if you’re planning on using your speaker somewhere where it will might get wet, then you’ll want to go with the Sony cause this way you dont have to wait for your speaker to dry before you have to charge it. And I know that this is a very specific problem, but I had to deal with this when I would take my JBL speakers to the beach in the past.
Now when it comes to battery life, the beats pill easily has all of these speakers beat cause it has an advertised battery life of 24 hours… however this advertised battery life of 24 hours is with this speaker playing at 50% volume… and in general, this speaker is very quiet for its size and price. So with this speaker its very likely that you’re going to have to use it at a higher volume on a regular basis. And real world use with this speaker playing at 90% volume, its good for about 9 hours of playback time.
But then there are both the Sony ULT field 1 and Bose Flex 2 which have an advertised battery life of 12 hours and the JBL Flip 7 has an advertised battery life of 14 hours with its stamina mode turned off. and real world use with all of these speakers playing at 80%, both the Bose and sony are goof for about 7 hours of playback time and JBL is good for about 8 hours of playback time.
And like I mentioned earlier, all of these speakers charge via a USB C port as they should. However, with both the JBL Flip 7 and Beats pill you can also use these USB C ports as a wired connection, where as you cant with these other speakers… however, you can not use any of these speakers to charge your own devices like you can with these speakers larger counter parts like either the JBL Charge 6 or Sony ULT Field 3.
But when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity, all of these speakers can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ. Latency is not an issue for any of these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone. And when it comes to audio codecs, all of these speakers have support for SBC and AAC.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set up, the bose has the most basic set up here. It has a single frontward firing driver dual passive radiators that shoot out the front and back. Where as the Beats pill has a woofer and tweeter set up, but no passive radiators. And then there are both the JBL Flip 7 and Sony ULT field 1 which both have frontward firing woofers, frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And the fact that the Beats, Sony and JBL all have a woofer and tweeter set up is a big deal, cause that is going to help with instrument separation.
Tweeter demo
So like you may have just seen, woofer handles the mids and the tweeter handles the highs and this is going to help the Sony, JBL and beats all have better instrument separation and they’re all going to sound more open. But now were going to jump into the sound test, and all of these speakers are playing at 75% volume.
Sound test
So first lets address both the Bose Soundlink Flex 2 and Beats pill cause I think these are the two least imrepssive sounding speakers here. First off with the Bose, since this speaker lacks a tweeter like these other 3 speakers, this speaker sounds the least open and it leans towards a warmer sound signature. It has a lot of bass, but it sounds a little muffled by comparison. But then theres the beats pill which does have a tweeter so this speaker sounds a lot more open than the bose… however since this speaker is miss those passive radiators, it doesn’t have all that much kick in its bass. Is this speaker isn’t as fun to listen to.
But then there are both the JBL Flip 7 and and Sony ULT Field 1 which both have a frontward firing woofer, a frontward firing tweeter and dual passive radiators. So both of these speakers sound as open as the beats pill, but both of these speakers have a lot of bass like the Bose Flex 2. So personally I think sound quality comes down to JBL Flip 7 vs Sony ULT Field 1 and the Bose and Beats Pill are irrelevant here. And personally I feel that the Sony ULT Field 1 sounds better than the JBL flip 7 cause it has better definition in the mids… and at higher volumes, the Sony sounds fuller than the JBL. Where as with the JBL Flip 7, I feel that JBL is pushing their new speakers a little too hard, and sometimes you’ll might hear a little bit of distortion in the highs.
And then theres max volume performance. Now with the Beats Pill, is the quietest speaker here, like I mentioned earlier, I feel that with this speaker you’re going to have to use it at a higher volume on a regular basis, and as a result your battery life is going to drain faster. And at max volume I cant help but feel unsatisfied, I guess this is what your girlfriend feels like on a regular basis. Where as the bose does get a little louder, but again this speakers leans towards a warmer sound signature so it wont perform as well while out doors. And then there are the Sony and JBL… now the JBL Flip 7 gets impressively loud for its size, and since it leans towards a slightly brighter sound signature, its going to be a great option for out door use. And then theres the Sony ULT field 1 which gets just as loud as the Flip 7, but I think this speaker sounds fuller cause of the stronger mids.
Overall when it comes to sound quality, I think the Beats Pill and Bose Soundlink Flex 2 fall short and the only two that really matter here are the JBL Flip 7 and Sony ULT field 1. And ultimately I think the Sony ULT Field 1 sounds better than the JBL Flip 7 cause distortion is never and issue and this speaker sounds fuller at higher volumes cause it has stronger mids and more bass. But regardless both the JBL and Sony sound great and I think they’re are both going to be good for a group of like 8 people.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now with all of these speakers if you have two of the exact same speakers then you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right sync. And with both the beats pill and Sony, thats it. Unfortunately the Sony ULT Field 1 does not have party connect so you cant pair it up to any other Sony speakers.
Now with the Bose Flex 2, you can pair it up to a Bose Soundlink Max or a Bose Flex 2… but you can only have a total of two speakers wirelessly paired to one another.
And finally theres the JBL Flip 7 which is using aura cast, so you can pair it up to tore JBL speakers that are also using aura cast like either a Charge 6, an Xtreme 4, another Flip 7, clip 5 or to a go 4, or to any of JBL’s newer party boxes which are also using aura cast like either a Partybox Encore 2, Partybox 120, 320, 520 or Partybox Ultimate.
And also with aura cast, you can pair your JBL Flip 7 to non JBL speakers that are also using aura cast. So with the JBL Flip 7, its a lot more versatile if you plan on growing your collection of speakers. However, with the JBL Flip 7, you can not pair it up to any of JBL’s older speakers that are using party boost. Only the JBL Xtreme 4 can connect to both aura cast speakers and Partyboost speakers… and I dont know if the JBL Flip 7 will be getting a firmware update in the future to also do this. So if you have any party boost speakers, then you’ll might want to just spring for an Xtreme 4.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between any of these speakers, for me it is a little difficult to recommend either the Bose Flex 2 or Beats pill in this line up. From a sound quality stand point the Bose sounds muffled and the beats pill lacks kick in its bass. Personally, I think it ultimately comes down to the JBL Flip 7 versus the Sony ULT Field 1. And personally I do prefer the Sony ULT Field 1 here because this speaker is the most affordable one here… but I also think its sounds the best cause it has good instrument speraiton, the mids are very well detailed and it has a lot of bass and distortion is never a problem. Plus I like the design of the carrying strap, its more versatile. However, if you need something smaller or something that is able to pair up with more speakers, then you do want to go with the JBL Flip 7. But ultimately, I still feel that both the Bose Flex 2 and Beats Pill are hard jusfty when you have these other two better options.