Get Them Here: JBL Clip 5: https://amzn.to/4cRW5hf
So this is the JBL Clip 5, now JBL has been very busy giving their speakers a lot of upgrades… but I think the Clip 5 has gotten the biggest upgrades out of all of JBL’s speakers. So if you’re looking for a Small portable Bluetooth speaker, maybe something that you just want to clip onto your back… Lets see what the JBL Clip 5 is all about, and spoiler warning, this thing sounds very impressive for its size.
So first theres price, the JBL Clip 5 retails for $80, not bad and I do think that the Clip 5 can justify this price, but this does make the Clip 5 a premium micro speaker. But for comparison sake, you can still get the JBL Clip 4 for $65 and personally I do think that it is worth upgrading to the Clip 5 over the Clip 4. Nonetheless if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
So first theres the design of this speaker. Now the Clip 5 has the same puck design as the Clip 4 and it still has a mostly fabric wrapped body just like the Clip 4 and Clip 3. But the first thing that you’ll notice when you pick up the clip 5 is that it way denser than both the Clip 4 and Clip 3. But there are also some other very important design upgrades on the Clip 5 over the Clip 4 and Clip 3. First off theres the carabeaner, the carabeaner on the Clip 5 is taller this tie around so its easier to clip on to things. Where as with the Clip 4, even though its carabeaner is wide, its a little too short so it was a little limiting. And then theres the carabeaner on the Clip 3 which had good intentions, but this one is just super limited. But then there are the rubber feet on the Clip 5, the rubber feet on the Clip 5 are a lot more integrated into the main body of this speakers, so the hope is these rubber feet wont feel off as easily as with the rubber feet on the clip 4 which are just glued on. So overall, the clip 5 is a still a super portable Bluetooth speaker that you can easily clip onto stuff, but thanks to the redesigned careener, you can now clip it onto more things that the Clip 4. And the clip 5 is still super durable thanks to its mostly fabric wrapped body and IP67 ratting, meaning that its water proof. And hopefully, it’s redesigned feet on the back will last longer than the rubber feet on the clip 4 which were just glued on.
Now when it comes to battery life, this is another area where the Clip 5 has gotten an upgrade and it think this is part of the reason why the Clip 5 is a little denser than both the Clip 4 and Clip 3. Now the JBL Clip 5 has an advertised battery life of 12 hours, which is a 2 hours upgrade over both the Clip 4 and Clip 3. However this advertised battery life of 12 hours is with this speaker playing at 50% volume, which actually isn’t a bad listening volume, and 50% volume is significantly louder than 50% volume on both the Clip 4 and Clip 3.
But the clip 5 also has JBL’s new Partytime boost which is going to help extend your battery life by 3 hours… but if you turn this feature on then its going to significantly lower your bass. So for the best sound you want to use the Clip 5 with its party time boost feature turned off, but if you’re going on a long hike, then you’ll might want to use this feature.
And to charge this speaker, it charges via a USB C port as it should, just like the Clip 4, but this is actually the only port that you’ll find on this speaker cause just like with JBL’s current speakers, this is no audio jack like with the Clip 3. And personally, I don’t mind that a speaker of this size doesn’t have an audio jack, and you cant use its USB C port as a wired connection and you can’t use it to charge your own devices.
But when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, the Clip 5 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 fro this speaker so you can use it to watch videos with on your phone.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set up, all of these speakers have a single frontward firing transducer, however, the transducer on the Clip 5 is the largest here coming in at 45 millimeter and it puts out 7 watts. Where as the Clip 4 has 40 millimeter transducer that puts out 5 watts and the Clip 3 also has a 40 millimeter transducer but it only puts out 3.3 watts. But besides output power, another sound upgrade on the Clip 5 is that you can actually change its EQ now. You can either choose from a few premade ones or you can make your own. But now we’re going to jump into the Soundtest. All of these speakers are playing at 75% volume with their stock EQ.
Sound test
So first, we have to talk about max volume performance, like you may have just seen the Clip 5 is significantly louder than both the Clip 4 and Clip 3. The Clip 4 does a decent job of keeping up and its definitely still usable… but the Clip 3 is just completely out of its league. Personally I never liked the Clip 3 for listening to music… but I really liked it for podcasts. And when it comes to the overall sound quality of these speakers, the Clip 3 has a very warm bass heavy sound signature, where as both the clip 4 and clip 5 sound more balanced cause the vocals are more pronounced. However, the Clip 5 sounds more dynamic than the clip 4 cause its vocals are slightly more pronounced and in real life the bass is smoother, deeper and cleaner. Simply put, the clip 5 not only gets louder and has more bass than its predecessors, it just sound better.
But finally lets talk about pairing this speaker with other speakers cause this is another major upgrade for the Clip 5 but things are a little weird here. So first off the Clip 5 has aura cast, and you can pair it up to another Clip 5 and get them to play in left and right stereo mode which is great. Or you can also wirelessly pair it up to other Auracast speakers and get them to play in sync like either another clip 5, a Go 4 or to the Xtreme 4… or even JBL’s larger Partybox speakers which are also using auracast like either the Partybox 120, 320 or ultimate.
But strangely enough, you cant pair your clip 5 to JBL’s older Partyboost speakers like either a Boombox 3, a boombox 2, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Pulse 5, Pulse 4, Flip 5 or flip 6. And I say that this is weird cause with the Xtreme 4, which is an Aura cast speaker, you can connect it to JBL’s older speakers and get them to play in sync. So hopefully JBL will add this backwards compatiabltiy to the Clip 5 in the future. But nonetheless I am happy to see that the Clip 5 has aura cast cause you can grow your collection of speakers or compliment your Xtreme 4 or new Partybox.
But with all of that being said, The JBL Clip 5 has gotten a lot of major upgrades and its an amazing micro speaker if you’re looking for something super small and portable. Form a performance standpoint, the Clip 5 gets much louder than both the Clip 4 and clip 3 and it really does give larger speakers a run for their money. The Clip 5 also has a longer lasting battery so it should be able to keep up with you without any problems. The clip 5 also has a redesigned carabeaner so it should be easier to clip on to things and hopefully the feet on the back are more durable. And the Addition of Auracast on the clip 5 is a big deal cause now you can either grow your collection of speakers or you can compliment lets say your Xtreme 4 with a Clip 5.