So theres a lot of excitement around the new JBL Partybox 320 and 120 cause they have all new designs, they have slightly better sound performance and they have swappable batteries which I feel is a pretty big deal. Now both of these two speakers are great, but if you’re trying to choose between the Partybox 320 and the Partybox 120, here are the main differences and lets see which one is right for you.
So first theres price, the JBL Partybox 320 retails for $600, that’s pretty up there, but I do expect this speaker to go on sale for $550 eventually. And then there’s the Partybox 120 which has a retail price of $400, but I do expect this speaker to eventually go on sale for $350. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these two speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now first we have to talk about the design of these speakers. Now in general, these two speakers look very similar to one another. First off, both of these speakers have the same light features… they both have those large conjoined light rings on the front, they both have RGB light bars on the top and bottom, and they both have built in stars. And through JBL’s app you can choose from a few different lighting modes and you can customize these light features. Overall the light feature on both of these speakers are very dynamic… and they are the same on both of these speakers. Another thing thats identical on both of these speakers are the ports panels on the back… they have the exact same setup, and both of these ports panels have a built in LED which I feel is a nice touch. And both of these speakers have top hat mounts on the bottom so you can place them on a speaker stand mount if you want. And the durability of these speakers is the same as well. Both of these speakers have a mostly plastic body which can get scratched up very easily and they both have thin metal grills on the front which can get dented easily as well. But here are the design differences between these two speakers. First off the control panel on these two speakers are slightly different. Both speakers have large dials for your volume and light feature and they both have DJ buttons… but the 320 has control knobs on the top so that you can easily adjust the sound of your microphone… where as with the 120 you have to use JBL’s to adjust the sound of your microphone. But instead of knobs on the 120… the 120 has a built in center mounted carrying handle… and this carries over into the portability of these speakers. The 120 is noticeably smaller and lighter than the 320 with a hight of 22 and a half inches and weighs in at 24 and a half pounds… where as the 320 has a height of 26 and a half inches and weighs in at 36 and a half pounds. So obviously, the 120 is just easier to take on the go with you cause its smaller and lighter. However, the 320 is also relatively easy enough to take on the go with you… and it has built in wheels and a telescopic handle. And rolling this speaker around is very easy, plus since the wheels on this speaker have been upgraded to be bigger and wider, this speaker does a really good job of dealing with asphalt and other uneven surfaces. So overall, the main design difference here is going to be their size… and the 120 is more convientne to take on the go with you cause its smaller and lighter. However, transporting the 320 also isn’t a big hassle thanks to the built in wheels.
But then theres the battery life on these speakers. Now the 120 has an advertised battery life of 12 hours, but this advertised battery life of 12 hours is with this speaker playing at 25% volume, which is a decent lisnteing volume for when you’re alone, with the light feature turned off and with the bass boost feature turned off.
Realworld use with this speaker playing at 65% volume, which is feel is decent for when you’re with friends, with the light feature turned on and with the bass boost feature turned on, its good for about 6 to 7 hours of playback time, which is good, but this is a little less stamina than the 110.
But then theres the Partybox 320 which has an advertised battery life of 18 hours… just like the 310. However, this advertised battery life of 18 hours is with this speaker playing at 50 percent volume which is already a decent listening volume, with the light feature turned off and with the bass boost feature turned off too.
But real world use with the 320 playing at 70% volume, which I feel is a really good volume to use when youre with friends, with the light feature turned on and with the bass boost set to deep… ive found that the 320 is good for about 7 hours which is good… but again, the 320 has slightly less stamina than its predecessor. But the important thing here is, you are going to get a longer lasting battery than the 120… and its going to be able to be used at consistently higher volumes.
However, a major upgrade on both of these speakers is that they both have swappable batteries. And these swappable batteries are great for two reasons. First off you can get multiple batteries for either of these two speakers and keep the party going if you’re in an area where you cant plug in… or if you get to a point where your battery degrades, you can just get a new battery instead of having to replace the whole speaker.
But just keep in mind, the battery that comes with the 320 is larger than the battery that comes in the 120. Also, in order to charge these batteries, they just charge inside of the speakers when they’re plugged in. But with both of these speakers they can be used while they are plugged in and with the battery removed.
So yes, these two speakers do have slightly less stamina than their predecessors, but I think having swappable batteries is more important. But when it comes does to performance, the 320 does have better real world battery life than the 120 cause it lasts longer and you can use it at a consistently louder volume.
Now when it comes to ports and connectivity, things are identical. Both of these speakers can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so that you an a friend can both be DJ, latency is not an issue for these speakers, so they can be used to watch videos with on your phone and when it comes to audio codecs, both speakers have support for SBC and AAC.
And when it comes to ports, both speakers have your 3.5 millimeter audio jack so you can use them with a wired connection, and both speakers have an audio jack so you can always daisy chain any other speaker to these speakers, regardless of size or brand and get them to play in sync.
And both speakers still have a USB A port so that you can either plug in your own devices and charge them up, or you can plug in a USB stick and play music off of it. Now I think its great and all that both of these speakers have USB A ports, but I still wish that they had USB C ports cause most phones these days come with USB C to USB charging cables.
And finally, both of these speakers have 2 quarter inch inputs so that you can either plug in 2 mciprhones for karaoke, or so that you can plug in a guitar. But the important thing here is that both speakers can properly run 2 microphone’s for karaoke, cause this is actually an upgrade for the 120 from the 110.
But like I mentioned earlier, with the 320 you can easily adjust the sound of your microphone thanks to the controls knobs up top, where as with the 120 you’re going to have to open up the app… but both speakers have your DJ buttons which you can also assign through the app and these buttons can be fun if you have the right host.
But overall, both speakers are great options for karaoke cause they can both proplery drive two microphones for karaoke. Cause before this was a deciding factor when trying to choose between the 310 and 110… but now its not if you’re trying to choose between the 320 and 120.
But with ports out of the way lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker setup both of these speakers have dual frontward firing woofers with and exhaust port that shoots out the back and dual frontward firing tweeters. Expect, on the 320 its just larger. And with both of these speakers you can adjust their EQ to your liking and theres a separate bass boost feature as well. But personally I like to use these speakers with their stock EQ’s and with their bass boost feature set to deep. And with both of these speakers, if you use them while they are plugged in, you are going to get a performance boost out of them. They are both going to get louder and they are both going to have more bass. But Now we’re going to jump into the sound test. Both of these speakers are running at their 92% volumes, they both have their bass boost set to deep and were going to use these speakers while they are plugged in and unplugged.
Sound
So first, when it comes to sound quality, since these speakers are from the same brand and family, they sound very similar to one another, which is to be expect. They have similar instrument separation and they and they both lean towards a brighter sound signature. But when it comes to the bass, the 320 has noticeably more bass than the 120 just cause its larger and it able to move more air. However, with both of these speakers you can easily amplify their bass by simply placing them up against a wall cause they both have exhaust ports that shoot out the back. But then theres the max volume on these speakers. First off, when both of these speakers are running off of their internal batteries, they get decently loud and they get as loud as you’d expect. But just as you’d expect, the 320 gets noticeably louder and the 120. I like to say that the 120 is good for parties of around 12 to 15 people and the 320 is good for around 20 to 25 people. But like I mentioned earlier, with both of these speakers if you use them while they are plugged in, you get a performance boost out of them. They get louder and they have more bass. Now the 120 when its plugged in does a decent job of keeping up with the 320 when its running off of its battery. But when the 320 is plugged, the 120 jus cant keep up. So overall, when it comes to sound, if you go with the 320 you’re paying for more bass and a higher max volume.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up to other speakers. Now with both of these speakers, if you have two of the exact same speakers you can get them to play in left and right stereo mode. Or since both the 320 and 120 are aura cast speakers, you can pair them up to other aura cast speakers and get them to play in sync.
However, with either the 320 or 120, you can not wirelessly connect either of these two speakers to JBL’s older partybox speakers like either the encore, 110, 310 or 710, and you can’t connect them to any of JBL’s smaller party boost speakers.
Now JBL’s app does mention that you can connect party boost speaker to aruacast speakers… but it seems like you can only connect auracast speakers like the clip 5, go 4, or Xtreme 4… unfortunately neither the 120 or 320 show up here.
Now I do feel that not being able to connect either your 320 or 120 to any of JBL’s older speakers sucks, however like I mentioned earlier, both of these speakers do have your audio out jacks so you can always daisy chain them to any other speaker and get them to play in sync, so at least theres that.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between the JBL Partybox 320 or the Partybox 120, there are a lot of similarities between them, and thats a really good thing cause JBL isn’t gate keeping certain feature on one speaker to another. They both have the same great looking light features. They both have the same ports panel on the back, they can both run 2 microphones for karaoke, and they both have swappable batteries. The main difference between these two speakers just comes down to size and sound. The Partybox 320 is obviously going to get louder and has more bass and it has a larger built in battery. Now even though the 320 is relatively easy to take on the go with you thank to its built in wheels, the 120’s smaller size just make it even easier to take it from party to party.