So the JBL Boombox 3 is a very portable Bluetooth speaker that gets impressively loud and it also has a decent amount of bass to it thanks to its new speaker set up. However, if you’re looking for something to constantly take on the go with you, the Boombox 3 is a little on the larger side when compared to either the JBL Xtreme 3 or Partybox Encore. So today we’re going to see how the Boombox 3 stakes up to both the Xtreme 3 and Partybox Encore and lets see which one is right for you.
Regarding pricing, the Encore is the most affordable speaker here retailing for $300. Then there’s the Xtreme 3 which retails for $380, but likes to routinely go on sale… and finally there’s the Boombox 3 which has a retail price $500. Overall, I like I recommend all of these speakers… but they all have their own unique use cases. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can press on the YouTube shopping button. Just give it a try.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. The Xtreme 3 is the smallest speaker and its also the lightest weighing in at just 4.3 pounds. So this is the easiest speaker to take on the go with you… plus it also has a built in shoulder strap which makes transporting this speaker a breeze… and this shoulder strap also has a built in bottle opener… which is a very nice touch. But then, there’s the Encore, this speaker is still relatively small and light weight coming in at 13 pounds. And thanks to its built in carrying handle, its also easy to transport. However, this speaker just isn’t as convenient to carry around as the Xtreme 3. However, I will say that the Encore is noticeably easier to carry around than the Boombox 3 just cause of its overall shape and volume. But finally there’s the Boombox 3, now even though this speaker is still relatively easy enough to take on the go with you… it is a bit more of a hassle when compared to these other two speakers. First off, the Boombox 3 is the heaviest speaker here weighing in at 14.7 pounds. And after awhile, carrying this speaker around can get a little uncomfortable. I still wish the Boombox 3 had a shoulder strap like the Xtreme 3. But one thing that I do have to point out about the cylindrical shape of the Boombox 3, is that if you throw it into the trunk of your car, you’re going to have to secure it somehow cause if not, its just going to roll around in your trunk. And the same goes with the Xtreme 3. Where as with the Encore, that isn’t an issue. However, the encore simply isn’t as rugged as these other two speakers. For starters the Encore has a mostly plastic body which simply loves to collect scratches. Whereas, these other two speakers are more durable thanks to their mostly fabric wrapped bodies which do a much better job of standing up to constant bumps and scrapes. And also, both the Boombox 3 and Xtreme 3 are rocking IP67 ratings, meaning that they are both water and dust resistant. Now the Encore is also water resistant cause its rocking an IPX4 rating… but this speaker can’t stand up to as much water abuse as with these other two speakers. Basically, with the Encore if it gets rained on a little bit or if a drink gets spilled on it, it’ll be fine… but with the Boombox 3 and Xtreme 3, you can drop it in a pool and they’ll be perfectly fine. So if you need something more rugged, you are better of with either the Boombox 3 or Xtreme 3.
But something that encore does have over these other two speakers is its light feature. And in general, JBL does light features very well. This light feature is very bright and its very dynamic and you even have a few different lighting modes to choose from. Just keep in mind, if you do decide to use this light feature, it is going to take its toll on the battery life.
Cause when it comes to battery life, this is one area where the Encore simply just can’t keep up with these other two speakers. Now the Encore has an advertise battery life of 6 hours… but that’s with this speaker playing at 65% percent volume, with its light feature turned off, and with its bass boost feature turned off as well. And overall, I gotta say that 65% volume on this speaker is a really good listening volume. Its decently loud enough for outdoors use and I would argue that its a little too loud for indoor use.
But real world use for me, while I use this speaker while I’m working out… at 50% volume, with the light feature turned on and with the bass set to punchy… which is the second level of bass boost… I get about 5 hours of playback time out of this speaker. Which is okay… but this speaker certainly does not have a lot of stamina to it.
However, if you were to use this speaker at a lower volume… or if you were to use this speaker with its light feature turned off… or if you were to use it with it bass boost feature turned off… any of those would extend the life of your battery life. But overall, if you plan on taking this speaker on the go with you… you want to remember to pack your charging cable and make sure that there’s an outlet around.
But then there’s the Xtreme 3… now this speaker has an advertised battery life of 15 hours, but that’s with this speaker playing at 50% volume… which is a decent listening volume for indoor use. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% its good for about 9 hours of playback time.
And then there’s the Boombox 3, Now this speaker has an advertised battery life of 24 hours… but again, that’s with this speaker playing at 50% volume which again is a very good listening volume. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, the Boombox 3 is good for about 8 hours of playback time which is very impressive just given the amount of transducers that this speaker has to drive. But overall, if you’re looking for a speaker to take on the go with you… and if you’re not going to have access to an outlet, than you do want to go with either the Boombox 3 or Xtreme 3.
However, something that I do want to point out about these speakers is that with both the Boombox 3 and Encore, they charge via an AC port. You don’t have an external power brick that you have to worry about. Where as with the Xtreme 3, this speaker charges via a USB C port. Now you can either use the included charging brick, or you can always just use your own. But I find that charging the Xtreme 3 is a little more convenient.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, all of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time so that you and a friend can both be DJ, they are all only using SBC, and when it comes to overall performance, they all have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device.
But if you want to you can always just use a wired connection with any of these speakers cause that all still have an audio jack… However, the really cool thing about the Xtreme 3… is that you can also use its USB C port as a wired connection with your phone… and you can also use it to charge your own devices. And this is something that these other two speakers simply don’t do.
Now all of these speakers still have USB A ports and you can charge your own devices with them… but with the Encore, you can also plug in a USB stick and play music off of it… if you really want to. But personally, I still really wish that both the Boombox 3 and Encore had USB C ports like the Xtreme 3 that would allow me to use them as a wired connection and charge my phone… cause most phones these days come included with USB C cables.
But something that the Encore has over these other two speaker is that it has a quarter inch input so that you can plug in a guitar or a microphone. And this is a good feature either for hosting events or for karaoke. The only thing is, the Encore only has one input instead of two inputs like with larger party boxes.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these speakers. Regarding speaker set ups, all of these speakers are different. Now the Xtreme 3 has dual 2 and 3 quarter inch frontward firing woofers, dual 3 quarter inch frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Now with the Boombox 3 also has dual frontward firing woofers, and they’re a little bigger coming at 3.2 inches. But the boombox 3 also has dual 3 quarter inch frontward firing tweeters… but these tweeters are stacked above the woofers. Now don’t be alarmed, the Boombox 3 doesn’t sound muffled… But JBL did this so that they can squeeze in a new frontward firing subwoofer which will compliment the dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And finally there’s the Encore, now the encore has a single 5 and 1 quarter inch frontward firing woofer which has a rear firing exushst port, and it also has dual frontward firing 1 and 3 quarter inch tweeters. Now plainly said, all three of these speakers sound and perform very differently. But we’re going to jump into the soundtest. Now all of these speakers are playing with their stock EQ’s. However, the Xtreme 3 is playing at max volume so that it has a chance of keeping up, the Encore is playing at 87% volume with its bass set to deep and the Boombox 3 is playing at 75% volume.
So first lets address the Xtreme 3… obviously since this speaker is significantly smaller than these other two speakers, its not going to get as loud or have as much bass as these other two speakers. And in order for it to keep up, it was playing at max volume. And at max volume the Xtreme 3 sounds very bright and nasally. And in general, JBL’s newer speakers have all been coming included with a brighter stock EQ. But thankfully, all of these speakers have an adjustable EQ, a rather new concept for JBL’s speakers. And defenetily with both the Boombox 3 and Xtreme 3, I feel that if you want to get the best sound out of them, you have to go in and raise their bass by two clicks and lower their treble by one click. Now you can also adjust the EQ on the Encore… but personally I enjoy using this speaker with its stock EQ and with its bass set to deep. But from an overall performance standpoint… I do feel that the Boombox 3 has the best instrument separation here. With the Encore, the mids and highs can get a little jumbled up cause its tweeters are working a little harder than the tweeters found on these other two speakers. However, the Partybox Encore still has more physicality in its bass than the Boombox 3… and you can always increase the bass on this speaker either by adjusting its EQ or by switching it over to punchy. But nonetheless, the Boombox 3 still has an impressive amount of bass. Now when it comes to max volume performance, the Boombox 3 does get noticeably louder than the Encore. And the Xtreme 3 its a little shy of the Encore. But with all of these speakers, if you were to use them while that are plugged in, you are going to get a noticeable performance boost out of them. They are all going to get louder and they are all going to have more bass. However, even while its plugged in, the Encore still doesn’t manage to get as loud as the Boombox 3. So overall, sound quality wise, the boombox 3 is the best sounding and best performing speaker here. Obviously it is going to get louder and have more bass then the Xtreme 3 simply cause its larger. But when compared to the Encore… the Boombox 3 also has better instrument separation cause it can separate its mids and highs to its mid sized woofers and tweeters. Where as with the Encore… its mids and highs can get aren’t as detailed cause its tweeter are working overtime here. However, where the encore still shines here is when it comes to bass. If you’re looking for a speaker, and if you want to physically feel your bass a lot more… then you’ll want to go with the encore over the Boombox 3.
But now lets talk pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now both the Boombox 3 and Xtreme 3 are suing JBL PartyBoost. Meaning that you can pair these speakers up to other Partyboost speakers like either a Boombox 3, Boombox 4, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Flip 5, Flip 6, Pulse 4, or to the upcoming pulse 5 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together… which is obviously overkill.
Where as with the Partybox Encore, you can only pair it up on one other Partybox. Now you can pair your encore up to another encore, or to a Partybox 110, or a 310 or even to a 710… but you can only have 2 Partybox speakers wirelessly connected to one another.
Just keep in mind that you can not pair any of JBL’s smaller Partyboost speakers to any of JBL larger Partybox speakers. So if you have an encore and a boombox 3… they will not get paired up. Also if you want you to get left and right stereo sound going you have to have 2 of the exact same speakers… other wise you speakers will only play in sync.
And finally, you can only pair JBL PartyBoost speakers to other Partyboost speakers. You can not pair your Partyboost speakers to any of JBL’s older speakers that are using JBL Connect plus… and also with the Encore… you can’t pair it up to any of JBL’s older Partybox speakers like lets say a Partybox 100, or Partybox 300.
Now peronsally, I still really wish that we could pair Partyboost speakers and Partybox speakers together. But nonetheless… JBL’s speaker pairing protocol is still my preferred speaker pairing protocol out there. You just press one button on each speaker, they get synced up, they start playing music and skipping is never an issue. And with JBL’s PartyBoost, you have a healthy eco system of speakers to choose from. Where as with the Partyboxes… you also have a good eco system to choose from… but I wish that you could pair more than two speakers together.
But with all of that being said, I feel that all three of these speakers have their pros and cons. With the Partybox Encore, you are getting a big bang for your buck. With the Encore you’re getting a lot of sound in a fairly small package. Now this speaker doesn’t sound as open as the Boombox 3, but it does have a lot of bass and it gets almost as loud. Plus it has that really cool looking light feature on the front. And the encore also has the quarter inch input which could come in handy either for Karaoke or for hosting events. The main draw back about the encore is that it doesn’t have the best battery life and it isn’t super rugged. So if you need something that’s more portable and something that can hang for longer, then you’ll want to go with the Xtreme 3. The drawback with the Xtreme 3 here is, that this speaker doesn’t get as loud as these there two speakers and it does lean towards a brighter sound signature. But then there’s the Boombox 3, now objectively, this is the hardest speaker to take on the go with you here… but it is defneitly still easy enough. Plus this speaker is just as durable as the Xtreme 3 and its way more durable then the Encore. Now even though the Boombox 3 also leans towards a brighter sound signature… when used with the correct EQ settings, this speaker sound more open than the Encore… but it also get significantly louder all while also having an impressive amount of bass. But the Boombox 3 is noticeably more expensive than these other two speakers. But if you want something super durable, super portable, and something that sounds good, the Boombox 3 is the way to go.