Get Them Here
So this is the JBL Partybox 110… its a refined version of the Partybox 100 with an even more impressive looking light feature, it sounds a little better, its now water proof and you can even pair it up to a partybox 310 if you want. If you’re looking for a portable box speaker either for your man cave, or for when you’re having get togethers with friends on your patio… the Partybox 110 is a solid pick up that won’t disappoint.
Regarding pricing, the 110 retails for $350 the same as the partybox 100 when it first came out. Now for comparison sake the super popular Boombox 2 retails for $500 and so does the 110’s larger brother the 310. Now for this video we’re going to be mainly focusing on the 110 and 100. But if you want to see how these big boys stack up to on another you can click or tap up here or you can check out the description down below. Nonetheless if you want to pick the partybox 110 up it’ll be linked down below as well.
Now first lets all about the design of this speaker. Now just like all other partybox’s the 110 has a mostly plastic body and a metal grill on the front. So unfortunately this speaker can be a scratch magnet. However regarding toughness, the 110 is now rocking an IPX4 rating meaning that its water resistant mainly cause the ports on the back can now be sealed off… where as with the 100 its ports are fully exposed. So if this speaker were to get caught in small drizzle or if you accidentally leave out over night… a little bit of water isn’t going to hurt it just as long as you’ve got the ports sealed. Now regarding portability, the 110 has built in carrying handles and weighs in at 23 pounds so carrying this speaker isn’t too bad. However I am going to have to say that I am a little disappointed that the 110 doesn’t have built in wheels like the 310. I just love that the 310 has built in wheels cause it just makes taking your speaker somewhere super easy barley an inconvenience and I was really looking forward to them on the 110. But its what ever. However, I do want to point out that just like the 310, the 110 has a speaker stand mount if you need it.
Now regarding the new light feature on the 110… its more impressive than the light feature found on the both the 100 and 310. This light feature has been expanded a little bit and now even the tweeters have their own lights. Now besides just looking great… the main upgrade here is that you can now control and customize this light feature through JBL’s partybox app. But you can also still control this light feature from the one of the dials up top. You can turn your light feature on or off and you can cycle between the different lighting mode as well. But keep in mind if you do decide to use this light it is going to take its toll on the battery life.
But now lets talk about tech specs. Regarding battery life, the 110 has an advertised battery life of 12 hours just like the partybox 100. But that advertised battery life of 12 hours is with both of these speakers playing a little above 20% volume, with the light feature turned off and with bass boost turned off as well. And in general 20% volume on both of these speakers is a decent volume for like ambiance.
Now both of these have 2 bass boost levels to them… now personally I think bass boost level 1 sounds best… but the important thing here is that if you decide to use bass boost on this speaker thats going to take it toll on the battery life as well. But real world use with this speaker playing at 65% volume which is more than loud enough for working out at home, with the light feature turned on and with bass boost set to level one… the 110 is good for about 8 hours of play back time.
But keep in mind, battery life on this speaker really carries depending on how you use it. If you use it at a higher volume that going to drain your battery, if you use the light feature thats going to drain you battery and if you use bass boost level 1 or 2 thats going to drain your battery life as well.
But now lets talk about ports, now the main thing here is that the 110 has 2 quarter inch inputs. And you can plug a microphone into either one. So if you want to do karaoke you can have 2 mics going without any problems. The only thing is that if you want to mess around with the bass, treble, or echo on your mic these settings only apply to the input thats labeled microphone. Now personally I wouldn’t mess around with these settings… but I just wanted to point it out.
Now also really quickly while we’re on the app, I do want to point out that there are some sound effects that you can play around as well. Now again this isn’t something that I would bother with but they're there.
Now continuing on the topics of ports… the 110 has a USB A port which you can either use to charge your own devices but you can also play music off of it if you’ve got a USB stick. Now personally I thinks it great that the 110 has a USB A port… but I still really wish this speaker had a USB C port so that you can charge your own devices or use it as a wired connection cause most phones these days now come included with USB C cables.
But if you want to you can still use a wired connection with this speaker cause it still has an audio jack. But the neat thing is that the 110 also has an audio out jack. So if you’ve got a spare speaker lying around regardless of brand… you can always daisy again it to the 110 and get them to play in sync, which I feel is a nice touch.
Now regarding wireless connectivity…. The 110 has been upgraded to Bluetooth 5.1, but the important thing here is that this speaker can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ. Theres zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… but when I comes to audio codecs the 110 is strictly using SBC.
But now lets talk about sound… regarding speaker set up both the 110 and 100 have a pair of frontward firing woofers, a pair of frontward tweeters and a bass exhaust port that shoots out the back. Really the only difference here is that the tweeters on the 110 are center mounted where as the tweeters on the 100 are on top. Which really isn’t a big deal. Now like with most other speakers that charge via an AC port… if you use this speaker while its plugged in you’re going to get a performance bump out of it. Its going to get a little louder and its going to have a little more bass. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test, both of these speakers are playing while unplugged and at 70% volume. But with the 110 we’re going to have it playing with both bass boost turned off and with bass boost set to level 1.
So at first glance, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re average listener said that the 110 and 100 sound identical… however I do feel that the 110 has an ever so slightly warmer sound signature than the 100 cause the highs aren’t as excentuated as the highs on the 110. But then there’s also the bass… the bass on the 110 is just a little cleaner and over all the 110 does sound just a little bit more open than the 100. But like I said, I feel that you’re average listener wouldn’t be able tell a difference. But overall I do gotta say the 110 sound a little better than the 100. But this isn’t a major sound quality improvement like what we saw going from the Partybox 300 to Partybox 310. But in general the partybox 110 has your classic JBL sound signature of strong mids so there is a slight emphasis on vocals and a lot of bass comes in when it has to. So this speaker is going to have no problem shaking the walls in your house. And when it comes to max volume… off of its internal battery the 110 get more than loud but like I mentioned earlier, if you were to use this speaker while its plugged in you are going to get a performance boost out of it. Its going to get a little louder and its going to have a little more bass. However when it comes to comparing max volume between the 110 and 100… both of these speakers get identically loud.
Now even though I really like how the Partybox 110 sounds and I don’t really think that it needs changing… I do got point out that JBL still doesn’t allow you to directly adjust the EQ of their speaker. These bass, treble and echo sliders only affect any mic you have plugged into the speaker. Not your music.
But now lets talk about pairing this speaker up with other speakers. You can wirelessly pair one partybox 110 up to either one other partybox 110 or you can also pair it up to a larger partybox 310. And this is a pretty big deal because before you couldn’t mix and match speakers. But now you can. Now if you’ve got a 110 and 310 paired up like I do they’ll play in sync… but if you want left and right stereo sound you’re going to need 2 of the same speakers.
But unfortunately you can not wirelessly pair a partybox 110 to lets say at partybox 100 or partybox 300.But at least there’s the audio out jack that I mentioned earlier. So if you’ve got a spare audio cable laying around you can always daisy chain any other speaker to the 110 and get them to play in sync that way.
But finally I also got point out that you can’t wirelessly pair a Partybox 110 to any of JBL’s smaller more portable party boost speakers. So if you’ve got lets say a Boombox 2, an Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Flip 4, or JBL Pulse 4… they won’t wirelessly pair to the Partybox. And over all I just wish JBL would bring party boost to the partybox.
But with all the JBL Partybox 110 is a solid portable bluetooth box speaker that going to have no problem delivering if you’re looking for something to use in your man cave, home gym, bed room, or if you’re looking for something to entertain with on your patio. The 110 is relatively compact and has no problem delivering on sound and it has a decent real world battery life. Now if you’ve already got a Partybox 100 there’s really no need to rush out and upgrade… But the 110 is noticeably more refined. Most obviously the 110 has a new and improved light feature… but less obvious the 110 is now water resistant cause you can seal the ports off on the back, it sounds a touch better, and you can now wirelessly pair it up to a Partybox 310 instead of only being able to pair it up to one of the same models like its predecessor.