Sony Linkbuds Speaker Vs JBL flip 6 & JBL Clip 5

November 11, 2024 Alexis Herrera

Get Them Here:

Sony Linkbuds Speaker: https://amzn.to/40uHtlj

So the Sony Linkbuds speaker is a good little lifestyle speaker that has great sound quality… however, it is a little hard to justify cause of its very premium price and it doesn’t get as loud as you’d expect it to. Nonetheless, today we’re going to see how the Linkbuds Speaker compares to both the JBL Flip 6 and the JBL Clip 5. Two very solid speakers to consider, especially the Clip 5 if you’re looking for something super portable.

Regarding pricing, the Sony Linkbuds speaker retail for $180… pretty steep if you ask me especially when you take into consideration the sound performance you get out of it. Where as the JBL Flip 6 has a retail price of $130 but it likes to go on sale for $100 and the clip 5 has a retail price of $80. 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.

So first theres the design of these speakers. Now the Linkbuds speaker sit between the clip 5 and flip 6. The Linkbuds speaker is a little bigger and bulkier than the Clip 5 and the Flip 6 is a little bigger than the Linkbus speaker. But the cylindrical design of the Flip 6 makes it more portable than the cube design of the linkbuds. But regardless all of these speakers have a fabric wrapped body so they should be able to stand up to constant abuse from bumps and scrapes and all of these speakers are good options if you’re looking for something to take on the go with you cause they all have a carrying strap or loop. However, the built in carabeaner on the Clip 5 just makes it much easier to clip this speaker on to your back pack. So if you need something super portable, then you want to go with the clip 5. But also, the clip 5 is the most durable speaker here. Now all of these speakers are water resistant… but the linkbuds speaker is only rocking an IPX4 ratting… where as both of JBL’s speakers are IP67 rated, meaning that they are more durable… however, the flip 6 does have those exposed passive radiators that you have to be mindful of. Where as with the Clip 5, there are no moving parts. So all of these speakers are portable… but if you want the most portable and durable, the clip 5 is the way to go.

But something the Linkbuds speaker has over these other speakers is the chargning cradle. Now all of these speakers charge via a USB C port, as they should. However with the Linkbuds Speaker, it comes with a charging cradle where you can just drop it in and its going to automatically start chargning, and anytime that you want to take it on the go with you, its going to be fully charged. And this ease of charging your speaker lends itself to the whole life style aspect of this speaker.

Now when it comes to battery life, the Linkbuds speaker has an advertised battery life of 25 hours.. which is a lot. However, this advertised battery life of 25 hours is with this speaker playing at 50% volume, which is good for ambiance… but its not all that loud. So this is a speaker that you’re going to want to use at a higher volume and at max volume this speaker is good 6 hours… but max volume on this speaker still isn’t super loud especially when you take its price into consideration.

Where as with both the JBL’s speakers, they have an advertised battery life of 12 hours… and thats with these speakers playing at 50% volume. Now volume wise, the linkbuds speaker and the clip 5 are very similar… but the Flip 6 gets way louder than the linkbuds speaker. Max volume on the linkbuds speaker is like the flip 6 playing at 75% volume. And at 75% volume, the flip 6 is good for about 7 or 8 hours of playback time.

Now when it comes to connectivity, all of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ. Latency is not an issue for these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone… but with all of these speakers, you can only use them wirelessly cause they dont have an audio jack, so you can’t use them with a wired connection.

But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound. Now the Linkbuds speaker and the Flip 6 are more similar than you’d expect. Both of the speakers have a frontward firing woofer, a frontward firing tweeter and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Where as with the Clip 5 it has an upwards firing transducer. Now its a big deal that both the Flip 6 and linkbuds speaker have a woofer and tweeter set up cause that is going to help these speakers have better sound quality cause the woofer handles the mids and the tweeter handles the highs like this.

So like you may have just seen, the woofer handles the mids and the tweeter handles the highs, so this is going to help these speakers sound more open and you’re going to have much better definition in the highs. And with all of these speakers, you can also go into their apps and you can adjust their EQ’s to your liking, so you can make them sound however you want. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. Both the Clip 5 and linkbuds speaker are playing at max volume… where as the Flip 6 is playing at 75% Volume.

So like you may have just heard… both the Linkbuds speaker and the Flip 6 have much better instrument separation and much better detail in the highs than the clip 5. And thats thanks to the woofer and tweeter set up that they have. However, the flip 6 sound fuller than the linkbuds speaker cause it has more bass to it. But when it comes to max volume performance, the linkbuds speaker performs very similar to the Clip 5… where as the Flip 6 gets way louder than these other two speakers. So with the Linkbuds speaker, this speaker has good audio fidelity and its able to keep its detail even at max volume… but the linkbuds speaker just doesn’t get as loud as you’d want it to get given its price.

And finally lets talk about pairing these speakers to other speakers. Now with the all of these speakers, if you have tow of the same speakers you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode. But you can not connect your linkbuds speaker to any of Sony’s other speakers that are using party connect.

Where was with the Flip 6, this speaker is using party boost… so you can pair it up to other party boost speakers like either a Boombox 3, a boombox 2, an Xtreme 3, an Xtreme 4, Charge 5, Pulse 5, Pulse 4, to another flip 6 or to a flip 5 and get them to play in sync and you can pair up to 100 speakers together.

Where as with the Clip 5, this speaker is using aura cast, so you can pair it up to other aura cast speakers like an Xtreme 4, Go 4, or to any of JBL’s larger party boxes that are also using aura cast and get them to play in sync… or you can even pair it up to other non JBL speakers that are also using aura cast.

Now aura cast on the Clip 5 is great cause this is hopefully going to be the standard moving forward… but peroenally I still prefer party boost over aura cast cause aura cast isn’t as fast or as stable at party boost… and as of right now, you cant connect your Clip 5 to the flip 6 like you can with the xtreme 4 which works with both partybooost and aura cast speakers.

But with all of that being said, the Sony Linkbuds speaker is a compact speaker that has great sound quality thanks to its woofer and tweeter set up. This speaker sounds very good. But for me it is hard to justify this speaker when you take into consideration its price to max volume performance. If you need something super small, portable, and durable to take on the go with you, I think the Clip 5 is a great option… but if you want a better bang for your buck then I think you’re better off going with the Flip 6.