Get Them Here
JBL Partybox Stage 320: https://amzn.to/3PRtNdT
JBL Partybox 310: https://amzn.to/3vHqpvr
So over the last few years, the JBL PartyBox 310 has been my favorite box speaker to use and to recommend. It sounds great and it has a ton of bass, its easy to transport thanks to its built in wheels and its has a dynamic looking light feature… but now we have the JBL PartyBox Stage 320 which has some major upgrades over the 310, and the design of this speaker has just be so refined, so today we’re going to checkout the JBL PartyBox 320, were going to see if its worth upgrading from the 310… and yes you can believe the hype.
Regarding pricing, the JBL PartyBox 320 has a retail price of $600… which is a $50 increase from the Partybox 310. But personally, I do expect to see the Partybox 320 to go on sale in Q4 2024 and beyond. Nonetheless if you want to pick this speaker up it’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
So first lets talk about the design of this speaker cause there have been some major changes… most of them are good but I still have some critiques. Now the 320 is a little shorter and a little wider than the 310. The 320 is also a little lighter than the 320 weighing in at 36.4 pounds where as the 310 weighs in at 38.4 pounds. A two pound difference. Now in general, yes both the 320 and 310 a large box speakers, but transporting these speakers around is relatively convenient thanks to their built in telescope handles and built in wheels. But the wheels and the handle on the 320 has been upgraded from the 310. First off the wheels on the 320 are larger and wider than the wheels on the 310… so these wheels are able to handle rough asphalt much better than the skinny wheels found on the 310. But also the telescopic handle on the 320 can now be set to different heights if you want. But personally I do prefer the spring loaded telescopic handle found on the 310, I just feel that its smoother and easier to use. But overall, I will say that the 320 has improved portability over the 310 thanks to the larger wheels. However, when it comes to durability, the 320 still has a mostly plastic body just like the 310, so it can collect scratches very easily and it has a thin metal grill on the front that can get dented very easily. But the 320 is still rocking an IPX4 ratting, meaning that a little bit of water isn’t going to hurt this speaker. Now the control panel on the 320 has also been upgraded to resemble JBL’s newer speakers… we have a big dial for your volume, a big dial for your light features, dials for your mic and you have your DJ buttons as well. But a sneaky upgrade that I like on the 320 is that its ports panel on the back now also has a built in LED which makes plugging your microphone or audio cables a little easier especially at night. And just like before, the 320 still has your top hat mount on the bottom just in case you want to put this speaker on a speaker stand.
But obviously, the most noticeable design upgrade on the 320 over the 310 is going to be the light feature. The 320 now has your large conjoined light rings on the front just like with JBL’s newer speakers… it also now has built in stars, and there are light rails on the top and bottom. Making this light feature a lot more expanded than the light feature found on the 310. And from JBL’s Partybox App you can easily choose from different lighting modes, you can also select which light features you want turned on and you can even customize this light feature to your liking. Overall, the 320 has a very dynamic looking light feature which is just going to compliment whatever youre listening to or its just going to look great in your man cave. But just keep in mind, if you do decide to use the light on this speaker, that is going to take its toll on the battery life.
Now when it comes to battery life, the Partybox 320 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 I have noticed that the 320 runs out of battery a little faster than the 310 cause under the same conditions the 310 is good for about 7 to 8 hours. And thats cause the battery on the 310 is 72 watt hours where as the battery in the 320 is 68 watt hours.
HOWEVER, one of the main upgrades on the 320 over the 310 is that it now has a swappable battery. And this swappable battery is great for 2 reasons. The first reason is, if you get multiple batteries you can just easily swap them out and keep the party going… or, since batteries degrade over time due to multiple charging cycles… if you get to a point where your battery can no longer hold a charge, you can always just get a new battery instead of having to get a whole new speaker.
But for those curious, yes you can use this speaker while its plugged in and with the battery removed. But you cant hot swap these batteries… as soon a you pull the battery out, the speaker is going to turn off… and also, the battery that comes with the 320 is larger than the battery that comes with the 120…
So, yes the 320 has slightly less stamina than the 310… but I personally don't mind cause it still has a good real world battery life… but more importantly, being able to get multiple batteries and swap them out as they run out is a huge game changer and a very important upgrade in my opinion. And JBL is claiming that a 10 minute charge from a dead battery will get you 2 hours of playback time.
But with power out of the way lets talk about ports and connectivity. Regarding bluetooth, the 320 is now using bluetooth 5.4 but more importantly, this speaker can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so that you and a friend can both be DJ and latency is not an issue for this speaker so you can use it to watch videos with on your phone. And the 320 has finally been upgraded to AAC…
Now when it comes to ports, things here are very similar to the 310… which is okay but I still wish that there was more. First off the 320 still has a USB A port so that you can either plug in and charge your own devices… or you can plug in a USB Stick and play music off of it. Now I think its great and all that the 320 has a USB A port… but I still wish that this speaker had a USB C port so that you can charge your own devices and use it as a wired connection cause most phones these days now come with USB C to USB C charging cables.
However, the 320 still has your 3.5 millimeter audio jack so you can still use this speaker with a wired connection…. And it also still has an audio out jack, so you can always daisy chain any other speaker to this speaker, regardless of size or brand and get them to play in sync.
The only major port thats missing on the 320 from the 310 is the 12 volt port which I feel is unfortunate cause this port would allow you to power your 310 through your car’s cigarette lighter… which is great for camping… but it looks like JBL has given up on this feature cause they no longer sell their 12 volt cable… plus a lot of EV’s now just have normal power outlets on them.
But just like before, the 320 still has dual quarter inch inputs so that you can either plug in 2 microphones for karaoke or you can plug in a guitar. And from the control panel up top you can adjust the volume, bass, treble and you can also add and echo if you want. Just keep in mind that these adjustments will only affect your microphone, not your music.
Also, bellow the knobs for your microphone adjustments there are some party buttons and from JBL’s app you actually choose what these buttons say… now this is fun… the only thing that I wish that you could do is actually record your own lines and asign them to these buttons… so who knows if that is a feature that JBL will add in the future.
But overall, the Partybox 320 is a great option for karaoke because you can use two microphones with it and the party buttons up top can be fun… but from a technical standpoint, event though its great and all that the 320 has dual quarter inch inputs… I still wish that this speaker had XLR inputs so that you could use it with a mixer.
But with ports out of the way lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker setup, the 320 is the same as the 310. The Partybox 320 has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back and dual frontward firing tweeters up top. Now just like with the 310, if you go into JBL’s Partybox app you can customize the EQ on this speaker to your liking and theres a separate bass boost setting as well. Now I personally like to use the 320 with its signature JBL EQ… but I do like using it with its bass boost set to deep. And just like with the 310, if you were to use the 320 while its plugged in you are going to get a performance boost out of it, its going to get louder and its going to have more bass. So we’re going to go ahead and jump into the sound test. Both speakers are running at 87% volume… loud enough to need hearing protection while in doors… both are using their stock EQ’s but both are set to bass boost DEEP, and we’re going to use them while they are both plugged in and unplugged.
So when it comes to sound quality, I say the 320 sounds noticeably better than the 310. With the 320, this speaker sounds noticeably more open than the 310… theres more detail in the mids so vocals are a lot more pronounced and the highs are a lot cleaner too… with the 310, the highs were crashing a little during the sound test, and the vocals were being overwhelmed by the low end. But in addition to having better instrument separation over the 310, the 320 also has more wall shaking bass than the 310. So overall the 320 is a better and more dramatic sounding speaker than the 310. But when it comes to max volume performance, I say the 320 and 310 are the same, when these speakers are running off of their built in batteries they are going to get decently loud for lets say a house party or cookout of 20 people or so. But with both of these speakers, if you use them while they are plugged in they both going to get louder and they are going to have more bass… and while they’re both plugged in, both of these speakers get equally as loud as one another, but the 320 is putting out more bass… So overall, yes the Partybox 320 sounds better than the 310 cause it has better instrument separation and more bass… but I dont think that it would be the soul reason to upgrade.
But now lets talk about pairing these speaker up with other speakers. Now with the Partybox 310, if you have another partybox 310 than you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode… or you can always pair your 310 up to one other partybox encore, a 110, a 310 or to a 710 and get them to play in sync… but you can only have a total of 2 speakers wirelessly paired to one another.
Where as the 320 is using Aurocast, and again, if you have another 320 then you can wirelessly pair them up and get to play in left and right stereo mode… or you can pair it up to another Aurocast speaker like the Partybox 120 and get them to play in sync. But unfortunately, you can not wirelessly connect a 320 to JBL’s older partybox speakers like either a 310 or 110, encore or 710. And you also can’t wirelessly connect your partybox 320 to any of JBL’s smaller Partyboost speakers.
Now I do feel that not being able to connect your 320 to your 310 wirelessly sucks… but like I mentioned earlier, the 320 still has an audio out jack… so if you have a spare audio cable lying around, you can still daisy chain any other speaker to this speaker regardless of size or brand and get them to play in sync.
But with all of that being said, the JBL PartyBox 320 has been upgraded and refined from the 310 and its one of the best large portable box speakers that you can get right now. From a built quality standpoint, this speaker just feels more premium and refined from the 310. I really like the larger wheels, and I really like that the ports panel on the back now has an LED. The only thing that I dont like about the 320 design wise is the handle, its not as slick as the 310’s. But the 320 now has a much larger light feature than the 310, now obviously you shouldn’t pick a speaker cause of its light feature… but you gotta admit this one looks a lot better than the 310. But the most important upgrades here is the improved sound quality, the 320 has better instrument separation, better clarity in the highs, and it has more bass than the 310. And then theres the swappable battery… swappable batteries will allow you to keep the party going if you have multiple batteries… or you can always replace the battery on the 320 instead of having to buy a whole new speaker.