JBL renews its range of successful portable speakers with the new Go 4 and Clip 5. The biggest news? Auracast compatibility to stream sound simultaneously to multiple speakers, not just JBL speakers.
What better accessory than a portable speaker to fully enjoy your future summer vacation? Compact enough to take with you everywhere, but powerful enough to liven up your evenings, this little device has quickly become an essential for times spent outdoors. And in this segment, JBL has built a solid reputation.
For several years now, the American manufacturer has been enriching its catalog with several models of portable speakers, ever more efficient from generation to generation. Announced at the CES show in Las Vegas at the beginning of 2024, the JBL Go 4 and JBL Clip 5 are the most recent representatives of the brand. They are available at Fnac at prices as low as their size:
JBL Go 4: great power and small format
Don’t be fooled by its size, the JBL Go 4 – which scored 8/10 in its test – has power to spare. JBL’s most popular small speaker has made a name for itself thanks to the astonishing quality of its sound reproduction. This is carefully balanced, and you can even push the volume quite high considering its size. Obviously, this will not replace your home cinema at home, but it is more than enough to liven up an evening with friends in the garden.
Above all, the JBL Go 4 benefits from an all-terrain design. It is surrounded by plastics and recycled textiles giving it a high level of protection against falls and shocks. Better still, the IP 67 certification attests to its resistance to water and dust. You can therefore use it by a swimming pool or on a beach without fear of putting it out of service. On the battery side, JBL announces autonomy of up to 7 hours, rechargeable via USB-C.
If the JBL Go 4 benefits from improvements in audio and design, the biggest novelty lies in Auracast compatibility. Auracast is a new addition to the Bluetooth protocol allowing you to stream sound simultaneously to several devices from the same source. You can use several JBL speakers to listen to the same song transmitted by your smartphone, and then enjoy more powerful and more enveloping sound. The good news is that the Auracast protocol works with new JBL speakers, but also those from other brands.
Despite its share of developments compared to the previous generation, the JBL Go 4 still benefits from an extremely competitive price given its capabilities. It is priced at 49.99 euros on the Fnac website in pretty colors: purple, red, blue, white, pink, black and camouflage.
JBL Clip 5: the speaker to hang anywhere
Do you find the JBL Go 4 speaker still too bulky? The American manufacturer has an even more compact and original model in its catalog: the JBL Clip 5. Here, the portable speaker benefits from a unique design incorporating a carabiner on the upper part. This way you can hang it on the belt loops of pants, the strap of a backpack, or even on your bike. As you can see, the JBL Clip 5 is designed to be taken everywhere with you.
Here again, the JBL Clip 5 impresses with the sound it produces despite its very small format. It has no trouble adding sound to your moments spent outside. Above all, it inherits the same all-terrain properties as the JBL Go 4. Understand that it very easily resists small falls, dust or even water. Enough to continue reading your podcast even in your shower.
Even more portable than the JBL Go 4, the JBL Clip 5 is also more autonomous. The manufacturer announces an autonomy of up to 12 hours. Finally, the two new speakers share the same compatibility with Auracast Bluetooth technology. You can therefore connect them together to broadcast the same music, and even pair it with speakers from other brands compatible with this standard.
The JBL Clip is already available at Fnac for 69.99 euros. Here too, you have the choice of color, between white, purple, red, blue, black and camouflage.