So this is the JBL Xtreme 4, and there are some significant upgrades here from both the JBL Xtreme 3 and Xtreme 2… upgrades that are very similar to both the JBL Partybox 320 and Partybox 120. Nonetheless, if you’re think about picking up the JBL Xtreme 4 or upgrading from the JBL Xrteme 3 or even the JBL Xtreme 2… lets see what the JBL Xtreme 4 is all about.
So first off theres price, the JBL Xtreme 4 retails for $380 which is up there and it is a price increase from both the Xtreme 3 and Xtreme 2 which both retailed for $350 when they first came out. Nonetheless, I do expect this speaker to go on sale on a regular basis especially during shopping holidays. 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 theres the design of this speaker, looks and size wise the Xtreme 4 is a little larger than both the Xtreme 3 and Xtreme 2, specifically its a little taller and strangely enough, the passive radiators are a little smaller. Now personally I think the shape of the Xtreme 4 is a little weird especially towards the base… however something that I do like that JBL did here is that they gave the Xtreme 4 a sturdier base than the Xtreme 3. Cause the Xtreme 3 and JBL past speakers had the thin rubber feet which are prone to peeling off like on my Charge 5… but the Xtreme 4’s rubber feet might do a better job of staying in place. But from an overall durability standpoint, the Xtreme 4 still has a mostly fabric wrapped body which is going to do a great job of standing up to constant abuse from bumps and scrapes, the Xtreme 4 is still IP67 rated meaning thats its water and dust proof and it floats in water. Overall, the Xtreme 4 is super durable just as you’d expect. And just like before, the Xtreme 4 is a great speaker top take on the go with you not just cause its small and light weight weighing in at just 4.63 pounds, but it also has a removable shoulder strap which makes carrying this speaker super easy. But also, this shoulder strap has a built in bottle opener so you can easily open your not so soft drinks. Overall, the Xtreme 4 is a loud, durable, and portable bluetooth speaker just like you’d expect from any Xtreme speaker.
Now when it comes to battery life, this is perhaps the most important upgrade here and its very similar to what we saw on the Partybox 320 and partybox 120. Now the Xtreme 4 has an advertised battery life of 24 hours which is a big upgrade from both the Xtreme 3 and Xtreme 2 which both have an advertised battery life of 15 hours. However this advertised battery life of 24 hours is with this speaker playing at 50% volume. Which is already a decent listening volume.
However, real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume which is a good volume to use when you’re with friends, I was getting 14 hours of playback time, and at max volume I managed to squeeze out 8 hours playtime out of this speaker. So battery life performance on the Xtreme 4 is a major upgrade. But also, you can always extend the battery life of this speaker by setting it to its Playtime Boost which is basically going to lower the bass on this speaker and its going to sound a lot brighter. You should only use Partytime boost when you really have to.
But one of the really cool things about the Xtreme 4 is that you can now fairly easily remove the battery in this speaker, now removing the battery on the xtreme 4 isn’t as easy as removing the battery on the Partybox 320 or 120… but its now easy enough to get into and surprisingly, the Xtreme 4 uses the same battery as the 320. So technically if you want you can always buy multiple batteries and swap them out and keep the party going, but I do feel that JBL should have used a spring loaded door on the Xtreme 4 like they did on the Partboxes so that its easier to swap out this battery… but I feel that JBL decided to go with the screws here because they wanted to keep their IP67 water resistance rating.
Nonetheless, the battery life performance and swappable batteries on the Xtreme 4 is a major upgrade over both the Xtreme 3 and Xtreme 2 and this is going to help prolong the overall life of your speaker. But when it comes to charging this speaker, it charges via a USB C port, just like the Xtreme 3… which is super convienente. Cause with the Xtreme 2 it charges via a barrel port and theres an external power brick that you have to worry about. Where as with both the Xtreme 4 and Xtreme 3, you can charge it with your phone’s USB C cable.
But ideally, you will use the included charging cable that comes with the Xtreme 4 cause with this charging cable you will get a performance boost, the Xtreme 4 is going to get louder and its going to have more bass. But in general I do want to point out that the Xtreme 4 comes with a charging cable cause most speakers of this size now just come with a USB cable but no wall adaptor, which is a little annoying.
However, this USB C port is the only port that you’ll find on the Xtreme 4, unfortunately there is no 3.5 millimeter audio jack like on both the Xtreme 3 and Xtreme 2, and theres no longer a USB A port. Now personally I like that Xtreme 4 doesn’t have a USB A port cause I never used it on the Xtreme 3… and you can use the USB C port on the Xtreme 4 to charge your own devices just like on the Xtreme 3. But unlike the Xtreme 3 where you can use the USB C to charge your own devices and use it as a wired connection, with the Xtreme 4 you can only use it to charge your own devices. Overall, I like that you can still charge your own devices with the USB C port on the Xtreme 4, but I do think that its a shame that you can’t use this speaker with a wired connection cause I feel that its too big and expensive to not have an audio jack.
But when it comes to overall connectivity, this speaker can be connected to any two Bluetooth so you and a friend can both be DJ. And when it comes to audio codecs, the Xtreme 4 still only has support for SBC. Now this isn’t a huge problem… however, there is a noticeable amount of latency, so watching movies or videos with this speaker isn’t the best. And I do hope that JBL fixes this through a software update cause latency is not an issue for the Xtreme 3 which is also using SBC.
But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound, regarding speaker set up, things are still the same across the Xtreme 2, Xtreme 3 and Xtreme 4. All 3 of these speakers have dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And with all three 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 going to get louder and they are going to have more bass. However, only the Xtreme 3 and Xtreme 4 allow you to customize their EQ to your liking and only the Xtreme 4 has AI auto calibration, and I hope that you can hear me rolling my eyes right now. But now we’re going to go in and jump into the sound test. All three of these speakers are playing at 75% volume while unplugged and they are all playing with their stock EQ’s.
Sound test
So when it comes to sound, both the Xtreme 4 and Xtreme 3 get louder than the Xtreme 2, they both sound more open and they both have much better details in the mids than the Xtreme 2. However, when it comes to comparing the Xtreme 4 to the Xtreme 3, there does seem to be more detail and clarity in the mids, which is great. However, when collecting these sound tests I did notice than the Xtreme 4 had the least amount of physicality in its bass. The bass on the Xtreme 4 is good… but I do recommend that you go into its EQ settings and raise the bass. But then when it comes to max volume performance, just as you’d expect the Xtreme 4 gets significantly louder than the Xtreme 2 and the Xtreme 4 gets a little louder than the Xtreme 3. Its not a huge difference, but it is there. But like I mentioned earlier, with all of these speakers, if you use them while they are plugged in they are all going to get louder and they are all going to have more bass. But again, the Xtreme 4 is able to out perform these other 2 speakers. But in general, I feel the Xtreme 4 is going to be good for like a 10 person get together, but don't expect the bass on this speaker to rattle the walls in your house. Overall, sound performance on the Xxtreme 2 to the Xtreme 4 is very big cause the Xtreme 4 is going to sound more open and its going to get noticeably louder, however the sound performance between the Xtreme 3 to the Xtreme 4 is more nuanced and I feel your average user isn’t going to notice a huge difference.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers cause there are a lot of rules to break down here. Now first the JBL Xtreme 2 is using JBL’s connect plus meaning that it can only connect to other JBL connect plus, which means speakers from like 5 years ago. But with all of these speakers, if you have 2 of the exact same speakers then you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode.
But then theres the JBL Xtreme 3 which 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, a Charge 5, a Pulse 5, a Pulse 4 a flip 5 or to a flip 6 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together and get them to play in sync.
But then theres the Xtreme 4 which is using aura cast. So with the Xtreme 4 you can pair it up to other Aura cast speakers like either another Xtreme 4, or to a clip 5 or to a go 4… but you can also wirelessly connect your Xtreme 4 to JBL’s larger partybox speakers that are also using Auracast like either a Partybox 120, 320, or ultimate. And this is a huge deal cause before, you couldn’t connect your part boost speakers to any of JBL’s larger partybox speakers that were using TWS.
But also, with the Xtreme 4, even though its using aura cast, you can pair it up to any of JBL’s part boost speakers as well. But heres the thing, if you have 2 aura cast speakers like lets say an Xtreme 4 and a Partybox 320 or 120, all you have to do is press the aura cast button on each speaker and they’ll sync up. But if you’re trying to connect an aura cast speaker to party boost speaker, like an Xtreme 4 to an Xtreme 3, you have to connect them together through JBL’s app.
Now connecting your speakers through JBL’s app works fine, but it is a little slow and clunky compared to just pressing a button on each speaker. But my main problem with connecting an aura cast speaker to multiple party boost speaker is, latency and echos are pretty common. And these issues only get fixed if you disconnect your speakers and pair them up again. So I hope JBL is able to fix this issue through a future firmware update.
But nonetheless, the fact that the JBL Xtreme 4 now has aura cast is great cause you can pair your smaller more portable speaker to your larger partybox speakers that are also using aura cast… and aurcast is going to give you backwards compatibility, so if you have any of JBL’s older speakers that are using party boost, they’ll still be able to connect to your Xtreme 4, you’re just going to have to open up the app and cross your fingers.
But with all of that being said, the JBL Xtreme 4 has some very important upgrades over the JBL Xtreme 3 and Xtreme 2. First off theres the battery on this speaker, the JBL Xtreme 4 has a much longer lasting battery than both the Xtreme 3 and Xtreme 2. So this speaker is going to be able to go on multiple beach days on a single charge. But more importantly, you can now relatively easily swap out the battery in this speaker, which is going to help prolong the overall life span on this speaker, or you can always buy multiple batteries and just swap them out and keep the party going. Now I know some people are going to say that they wish JBL added a spring door like they did on the Partybox 320 and 120 so that its easier to swap out the batteries… but I feel JBL went with the screws for better water resistance. But also, the Xtreme 4 is now using aura cast so you can pair this speaker up with current or future aura cast speakers, you can also connect the Xtreme 4 to your larger box speakers that are also using aura cast, and you can still connect your Xtreme 4 to your older JBL speakers that are using Partyboost. But finally theres the sound performance on the Xtreme 4, just as you’d expect the Xtreme 4 sounds and performs a lot better than the Xtreme 2, and when comparing the Xtreme 4 to the Xtreme 3, you’re getting better detail in the mids. But just as you’d expect from JBL’s Xtreme lineup of speakers, the JBL Xtreme 4 is a solid pick up if you’re looking for something small, loud, and portable.