Unleash the power of music with JBL Xtreme 4.
Experience unparalleled sound quality, robust durability, and seamless connectivity in this ultimate portable speaker.
It comes in a few different color options.
Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek
Both of the speakers are in the same class, retailing for $20 apart and close in size.
But I much preferred the Bose speaker to JBLs offering.
For me, this makes Boses rig more versatile in the different circumstances it may be used.
Unleash the power of music with JBL Xtreme 4. Experience unparalleled sound quality, robust durability, and seamless connectivity in this ultimate portable speaker.
It sounded better at the low and high end of the volume spectrum.
It can make some songs sound better, sure, but inevitably, other songs sound worse.
On the flip side, vocals were always present, and the mids were clear.
Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek
While both speakers are close in size, the SoundLink Max is less bulbous.
It feels sleeker and slimmer.
While the previous Xtreme 3 model had both, the new speaker only features an exposed USB-C port.
Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek
I mostly give its removal a pass.
I pressed the Auracast button on theJBL PartyBox Stage 320and the Xtreme 4 and both linked up instantly.
But even experiencing the tech first-hand, I fail to see it being meaningfully used in the real world.
Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek
You’ll still need to buy multiple speakers to use the wireless connectivity regularly.
One meaningful thing is the Xtreme 4s 24 hours of battery life.
This is a substantial upgrade from the Xtreme 3 but within spitting range of the SoundLink Maxs 20 hours.
Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek
If you care about it, the Xtreme 4 does have a user-removable battery.
While JBL speakers like the Stage 320 can just pull the removable battery out with a string.
The Xtreme 4 requires some effort by undoing some screws.
Should You Buy the JBL Xtreme 4?
At face value, theJBL Xtreme 4is a fine speaker that manages to get quite loud for its size.
Its media buttons are big and easy to use.
It has great battery life.
Even its $379.99 retail price undercuts competitors like the Bose SoundLink Max.
Those specifically are in slightly different size classes but are much better values.
