Key Takeaways
- The JBL Clip 5 gives improved sound high quality, longer battery life, and the identical handy built-in clip as its predecessor.
- With 15 hours of battery life and Playtime Increase, the JBL Clip 5 is an reasonably priced moveable speaker selection beneath $80.
- Regardless of the necessity for a companion app for sure options, the JBL Clip 5 is a stable successor to the Clip 4 with enhanced options.
The sticking level for lots of affordable speakers is how they sound and the way lengthy they’ll final on a single cost. It is one factor to make a speaker small, and it is an entire different problem to make one which makes your favourite tracks pop — particularly with a battery life that can final you for days away from a charger. For a lot of sub-$100 Bluetooth speakers yow will discover digging round on-line, these containers might be surprisingly laborious to examine.
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JBL’s Clip 4 speaker isn’t anything new, but I’ve recently attached it everywhere
JBL’s moveable Clip 4 is waterproof, easy, and simply clips wherever I place it.
Fortunately, that is not an issue for the JBL Clip 5. It is in a position to dodge these pitfalls and function a greater than sufficient successor to the JBL Clip 4 by retaining the perfect of JBL’s early moveable speaker and bettering most of the options it was missing. The Clip 5 sounds higher than JBL’s earlier speaker, has an extended battery life that may be prolonged even additional with some software program trickery, and it would not price any greater than $80, the JBL Clip 4’s authentic worth. The JBL Clip 5 is, in some ways, the best sequel, with the one drawbacks being nitpicks that you may learn extra about under.
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JBL Clip 5
The JBL Clip 5 is best than the Clip 4 in all of the methods you’d need: higher sound, larger battery, and the identical nice clip.
- IP67 score
- As much as 15 hours of battery life
- Louder and richer sound
- Want to make use of companion app for some options
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We do not do arm-chair analysis. We purchase and take a look at our personal merchandise, and we solely publish purchaser’s guides with merchandise we have really reviewed.
Value, availability, and specs
The JBL Clip 5 was introduced on the Shopper Electronics Present in January 2024, and launched in June alongside a number of of JBL’s different “ultra-portable” Bluetooth audio system. Having simply reviewed the JBL Clip 4, I’ve discovered it naturally shares many similarities with JBL’s earlier clip-on speaker, together with the presence of a built-in carabiner, IP67 waterproof and dustproof score, USB-C port for charging, easy Bluetooth pairing, and that reasonably priced $80 worth.
The place it differs is within the particulars, like an extended battery life, improved audio driver, and redesigned physique. They add as much as make it an total higher possibility if you happen to’re on the lookout for a brand new speaker, whether or not you are getting it in black, blue, pink, purple, pink, or white. Although they have been launched only some years aside (the Clip 4 arrived in 2020), the Clip 5 is successfully the modernized model of the Clip 4, in all the great and dangerous ways in which entails.
What I preferred in regards to the JBL Clip 5
I had some quibbles with the Clip 4’s audio efficiency, primarily as a result of its sound replica by no means fairly matched its loudness when it comes to high quality. Basically, it was straightforward to make it out above a loud bathe or hood fan, more durable to select up all the main points that I simply knew have been hiding in my songs. The JBL Clip 5 has solved all of these issues, inside motive. Its bigger 1.75-inch driver means the speaker just isn’t solely loud, nevertheless it additionally feels noticeably extra detailed than the Clip 4.
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Every part I listened to felt extra layered. I may pull out particular person devices in additional complicated songs, and the bass was ever so barely bassier compared to what I heard on the Clip 4. These enhancements prolonged to my non-music listening, too. Just like the Clip 4, I discovered the Clip 5 to be a useful companion for my bathe podcast listening. I am no knowledgeable, but when I can hear a number’s voice over the water with out having to fuss with quantity or EQ, that is an excellent signal. In the event you do want to alter EQ, JBL gives customized controls in its companion app and consists of a number of default profiles to select from, together with one targeted on vocals, which makes chat-heavy podcasts even simpler to make out.
The Clip 5 nonetheless feels moveable and is not any heavier than my
iPad
, making it straightforward to toss in my bag once I go to the park.
In alternate for these audio enhancements (and adjustments to the clip a part of the Clip itself), the JBL Clip 5 is ever so barely thicker and longer than its predecessor. At no level in my testing course of did I discover this transformation to be an actual downside. The Clip 5 nonetheless feels moveable and is not any heavier than my iPad, making it straightforward to toss in my bag once I go to the park. If something, I might argue the change in dimension is extra visible than anything. You may discover it, however I do not assume it makes a lot of a distinction.
Having a built-in clip continues to be an superior characteristic
Name me easy, however I have not gotten over how versatile JBL’s Clip line is. I extolled the virtues of the built-in carabiner in my Clip 4 evaluate, however I will do it once more right here as a result of I nonetheless love clipping the speaker on issues, and JBL has made some tweaks because the Clip 4’s 2020 launch till now.
I will stand by the declare that every one moveable audio system could be higher with a built-in clip.
The Clip 5’s clip is wider than earlier than, which implies when it is pushed open, you’ll be able to match it round extra issues with out having to fret about it breaking — a versatility that may’t be understated. The Clip 5 can comply with me from the bathe, to the kitchen, to the park, purely as a result of it is really easy to connect to issues. I sound like a damaged file, however I will stand by the declare that every one moveable audio system could be higher with a built-in clip.
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Good battery life will get even longer
The Clip 4 was good for 10 hours of battery life, a good period of time for a speaker that small and one which might be simply stretched to many extra days of precise use. The Clip 5 takes issues even additional with 12 hours of battery life and a characteristic JB calls Playtime Increase that may lengthen listening even additional by an extra 3 hours.
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That offers you 15 hours of battery life on the Clip 5, not essentially an quantity I feel you want on a Bluetooth speaker, however nonetheless nice if you happen to’re attempting to push issues to the restrict. Playtime Increase comes with some limitations within the sense that it flattens and degrades the standard of the audio in alternate for that longer battery life, nevertheless it’s nonetheless helpful to have in a pinch if you are going to want your speaker later.
What I did not like in regards to the JBL Clip 5
It’s a must to use a companion app to entry all of the options
The actual drawback of the JBL Clip 5 is that, in an effort to use options like Playtime Increase or Stereo Pairing, you might want to have entry to the “JBL Moveable” companion app. The app is free and simple to arrange, nevertheless it’s annoying that to reap the benefits of all the advantages of the Clip 5, you might want to litter your cellphone with yet one more app. The one factor that escapes the inconvenience is Auracast, a technique for sharing audio between appropriate Auracast audio system, which, for no matter motive, might be enabled with only a button push on the Clip 5 itself. A characteristic like EQ adjustment I would not essentially anticipate to be potential on a speaker with so few buttons, however for all the things else? That is the form of problem that needs to be met, in my view, not shuffled off to an app.
Not all the things wants a large brand
That is extraordinarily nitpicky, however one of many issues that usually makes me much less enthusiastic about JBL’s audio merchandise is the truth that, whether or not it is a speaker or a sound bar, there’s at all times a large “JBL” printed someplace on the aspect. It isn’t ugly — by and enormous, I feel JBL is nice at making elegant and playful merchandise — nevertheless it does really feel form of cheesy. I do not assume any audio model goes to be the subsequent Gucci or Coach. I perceive the impulse, however apart from Beats, which arguably obtained fairly shut due to some selection advertising with some assist from skilled athletes, you actually find yourself hurting your self greater than serving to.
Do you have to purchase the JBL Clip 5?
If the JBL Clip 5 in some way price extra for all the additional options it has over the Clip 4, I may see an argument for contemplating different choices, however all of that for the very same worth? How may I not advocate it? The JBL Clip 5’s combination of comfort, due to the clip, lengthy battery life, and sound efficiency make it a simple reward for your self or anybody else.
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JBL Clip 5
It is also an awesome substitute for the JBL Clip 4, which I already thought was a wonderful speaker. In the event you’ve been on the lookout for a bathe speaker, look no additional. That is the one to get.
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