So for summer 2025 we actually have two brand new mid sized speakers to choose from, the JBL Charge 6 and the Sony ULT Field 3… but today we’re going to compare them to both the Bose Flex Gen 2 and Beats Pill. All of these speakers are similarly priced but both the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT field 3 are noticeably bigger than both the Bose and Beats Pill.
Now this comparison is a little weird, but we’re here cause of pricing and inflation. Now both the Bose Flex 2 and Beats Pill have a retail price of $150, which I do feel is a lot cause these are small sized speakers. But then there are both the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT Field 3 which both have a retail price of $200… and before inflation I would have expected these to retail for $150 to $180 at most. However, I do expect both the JBL and Sony to go on sale a lot more frequently than both the Bose and Beats Pill. 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 than you can always pick up some merch.
So first theres the design of these speakers. Now all of these speakers are durable, portable and water proof. However both the Sony ULT field 3 and JBL Charge 6 are larger than these other two speakers cause these are mid sized speakers where as both the Bose and Beats Pill are more like small plus sized speakers. Now with both the Bose and Beats pill, they have a built in loop you can attach these speakers to your back pack or hang them from something… but I actually feel that both the JBL and Sony are more comfortable to travel with. Now the Charge 6 has a carrying handle which can be used in two different positions… but the sony has a full on shoulder strap. So if you’re looking for something portable… I actually think that both the JBL and Sony are more portable than the bose and beats pill despite them being larger… and ultimately, I think the Sony is the most comfortable speaker to travel with cause of the shoulder strap.
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, sadly the bose just cant keep up here. This speaker has an advertised battery life of 12 hours and real world use with this speaker playing at 80 volume its good for about 7 hours of playback time.
Where as with all of these other speakers, they all have an advertised battery life of 24 hours. And real world use with the Beats pill playing at 90% volume, cause this speaker is a little quiet for its size so you’ll might end up using it at a higher volume on a regular basis… its good for about 9 hours of playback time.
But with both the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT Filed 3 playing at 80% volume, and these two speakers are going to be louder than the beats pill and therye going to have more bass… the charge 6 is good for about 10 hours of playback time and the Sony ULT Field 3 is good for about 12 hours of playback time.
And to charge all of these speakers, they all charge via a USB C port like I mentioned earlier… and with the beats pill, JBL and Sony you can also use these USB C ports to charge your own device which is super useful if you plan on taking any of these speakers to the beach with you… but you can also used the USB C port on the JBL and Beats as a wired connection as well.
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 Charge 6 and Sony ULT field 3 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.
Charge 6 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 we have to talk about Max volume performance. Now both the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT Field 3 are mid sized speakers and both the Beats Pill and Bose are small sized speakers… but were doing this comparison cause we’re in a weird place when it comes to pricing. But regardless, both the JBL and Sony get way louder than these other two speakers and they both have more bass. But also, I do feel that the Beats Pill is a little quiet for its size and price. But nonetheless both the JBL and Sony get much louder than these other two speakers and I feel that they are going to be good for like an 8, maybe ten person get together.
But more importantly when it comes to sound quality, 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. this speaker isn’t as fun to listen to.
But since both the JBL and Sony have a woofer, and a tweeter and dual passive radiators, both of these speakers have a lot of bass just like the bose, and even noticeably more cause therye bigger and louder… and they both sound as open as the Beats pill. So with both the JBL and Sony, you’re going to get more sound and better sound than both the Bose and Beats Pill. But ultimately I do feel that the Sony ULT Field 3 sounds a little better than the JBL Charge 6… cause with this speaker, distortion is never a problem. Cause with the JBL Charge 6, I feel that JBL is pushing this speaker a little too hard, and sometimes you’ll might hear a little bit of distortion on rare occasion.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now with all of these speakers, if you have 2 of the exact same speakers, then you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode… and with the beats pill, that it.
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.
Where as with the Sony ULT field 3, its using Sony’s party connect. So you can pair it up to other sony speakers that are also using party connect like either an ULT Field 7, XG500, XG330, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33, XB23 or to another ULT Field 5 or ULT Field 3 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together and get them to play in sync.
But also, you can pair your smaller Sony speakers to any of Sony’s larger speakers that are also using Party connect like either an ULT Tower 10, ULT Tower 9, or XV800, XV500 or to an XP700 or XP500. The only unfortunate thing here is, you cant connect your ULT Field 1 to an ULT Field 5… and I really think that this is unfortunate cause this is my favorite small portable bluetooth speaker…
But then there’s the JBL Charge 6 and this is speaker is using aura cast, so you can pair it up to other JBL speakers that are also using aura cast like either another JBL Charge 6 or to an Xtreme 4, Flip 7, Clip 5 or go 4… and you can also pair it up to JBL’s larger speakers that are also using aura cast like either a Partybox encore 2, partybox 120, partybox 320, partybox 530 or partybox ultimate.
And also with aura cast, you can pair your JBL Charge 6 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 four speakers, obviously you’re going to be better off going with either the JBL Charge 6 or Sony ULT Field 3… but we’re having to do this comparison cause we’re in a bit of a weird place cause of pricing. But more importantly, both the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT Field 3 get louder and have more bass than both the Beats Pill and Bose… and you’re also going to get overall better sound. But if you’re trying to choose between the JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT Field 3… I honestly think that its a tough call. Now you cant go wrong with either one… but I do feel that the Sony ULT Field 3 sounds a little better than the JBL Charge 6. The Sony sounds better in the mids and it puts out a little more bass and it gets a little louder. Plus distortion is never an issue for this speaker. Now the Charge 6 also sounds good… but I do feel that JBL is pushing this speaker a little too hard cause sometimes you’ll might hear a little distortion. But since the JBL Charge 6 is noticeably smaller than the ULT Field 3… I feel the JBL charge 6 is more impressive from a sound to size ratio. Honestly, I think aura cast might be the deicing factor here for some people. But I do prefer the ULT field 3 here cause it comes with that shoulder strap.