So CES 2024 is currently going on and JBL has gone ahead an they have officially announced the JBL Partybox 320, JBL 120, And JBL Xtreme 4… along side a few other things… But the really important thing here is, the upgrades found on the Partybox 320, Partybox 120 and JBL Xtreme 4 are actually pretty big.
Now first we’re going to focus on the JBL Partybox 320 and JBL Partybox 120. Now the 320 and 120 have the same advertised battery lives as their predesccors, the 310 and 110… 18 hours and 12 hours respectively. However, what’s really important here is that you can now swap out the batteries on both of these speakers and get multiple batteries… so you can always keep the party going if you have multiple batteries.
Now JBL still hasn’t announced how much these batteries will cost, but having removable batteries is great cause you can always keep the party going with multiple batteries, but also, if the health of your battery degrades over time, you can always just get a new battery instead of having to buy a whole new speaker. But also, the 320 and 120 now have fast chargning. If you were to plug both go these speakers in for 10 minutes from a dead battery, they are going to get you 2 hours of playback time. Not bad but I assume that’s with these speakers playing at like 30% volume.
But also, all of JBL’s new speakers have been upgraded to bluetooth 5.3, and they all have Auracast support, so you can pair as many Partybox 320’s, and 120’s as you want together, and you can also pair your JBL Xtreme 4 up to your Patrybox and get them to play in sync. But also just like before you can get 2 of the Partybox’s and wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode. However, I am willing to bet that you won’t be able to pair your 320 with your 310 and get them to play in sync and you also won’t be able to pair your 120 to your 110.
But also, all of JBL’s new speakers feature “AI Sound Boost” and basically these speakers are supposed to automatically optimize your sound depending on what you’re listening to and your surroundings. We’re going to have to see if this actually makes a difference when I make the full reviews and compare them to their predesscors.
Now from a design standpoint, the 320 has gotten the most meaningful upgrade here. The light ring on the 320 is now bigger like with JBL’s newer speakers. Both the 320 and 120 now have built in stars like the stars that you’ll find on the 720 or ultimate… but what I really like is that the 320 now has beefier wheels. The wheels on the 310 are great, but beefier wheels on the 320 is a nice touch.
Now JBL also claims that they added a foldable handle on to the 120, but where going to see what that actually means when it get in the studio. But other than that, the 120 looks very similar to the 110, except they moved the tweeters back up to the top, and we did lose the smaller light rings in the middle, which personally I do miss already.
But then there’s the JBL Xtreme 4, now looks wise, the Xtreme 4 has a much larger bulge on the bottom. It looks weird… but I think this is to incorporate the larger battery cause the Xtreme 4 now has an advertised battery life of 24 hours… way up from the Xtreme 3’s 15 hour battery life. And JBL claims that you can add an extra 6 hours of playback time if you use the new Playtime Boost mode, but that’s just going to make this speaker sound very flat, 24 hours at 50% volume is already great.
But more importantly, the Xtreme 4 now has a replaceable battery. Now this doesn’t mean that you can swap out the battery on this speaker with another battery and keep the party going like you can with the Partybox 320 and 120… but this means that if your Xtreme 4 needs a new battery, it can easily be serviced.
Now the Xtreme 4 is also using bluetooth 5.3 and it has Auracast support, but we still have to see if it has JBL Partyboost support. But then there are the Clip 5 and Go 4 and both of these speakers are promising better sound… but the main upgrades here are these speakers are also using Bluetooth 5.3 and they now connect to the JBL Portable App.
Now when it comes to pricing and availability, both the JBL Partybox 320 and the JBL Partybox 120 will be available in April 2024, the 320 will retail for $600 and the 120 will retail for $400. And peronsally I do think that it is worth the wait for these speakers cause of those new removable batteries and bluetooth 5.3.
But then there are the JBL Xtreme 4, JBL Clip 5, and JBL Go 4 and all of these speakers will be available in June 2024. The Xtereme 4 will have a retail price of $380, the clip 5 will retail for $80 and the go 4 will retail for $50.
Now I do feel that it is worth waiting for the JBL Xtreme 4 cause of that much longer battery life and bluetooth 5.3. But with the JBL Clip 5 and JBL Go 4, if you can find some big deals on their predecessors today, then I would get them.