JBL Charge 6 Speaker Review

This speaker is remarkably portable. It's compact, lightweight, and easy to carry with one hand, making it ideal for on-the-go use. The built-in battery lets you enjoy music outdoors without needing a power source. While the Charge 6 isn't too big, if you're tight on space in your bag or want to lighten your bag, the JBL Flip 7 weighs roughly half as much and isn't as large.

This speaker has a fantastic build quality. Its body is made of hard plastic with a tightly woven, durable-feeling mesh fabric covering. It has a flat bottom with two silicone strips acting as a stand, which help it stay stable when placed horizontally. There are four small silicone feet around each bass radiator, which is an improvement over the three found on the previous JBL Charge 5. Those feet mean you can place the speaker vertically if you wish. The control buttons sit on top of the speaker (when placed horizontally), and the USB-C charging port is located on the back, though it isn't sealed. The included strap feels sturdy and secure when attached to the speaker's metal loops. The speaker is also rated IP68, so it'll survive an accidental drop in a shallow pool. JBL also claims it can withstand drops from up to one meter onto concrete, though it doesn't have an official impact protection rating.

This speaker has okay controls. The buttons are located on top and are easy to use. They give a satisfying click when pressed and are clearly labelled. The Play and Volume Up and Down buttons are slightly raised in an embossed style, while the Auracast, Bluetooth, and Power buttons are located on a small, smooth strip. In addition to the obvious controls each button performs, you can skip tracks using button combinations, as outlined in the manual.

You can use the Auracast button to link the Charge 6 to other JBL Auracast-compatible speakers, either by pressing the button on each speaker in turn or by using the app. This won't work with the JBL Charge 5, which isn't Auracast compatible.

The speaker provides helpful chimes when entering pairing mode, connecting to a new device, reaching max volume, and when stereo or party mode is enabled via Auracast. However, there are no chimes for device disconnection, minimum volume, or auto-shutdown, and there's no visible volume level indicator on the speaker itself. A small LED bar below the logo shows battery status and flashes red when low and white when charging.

• JBL Charge 6
• Carrying strap
• Quick start guide
• Warranty and safety information

This speaker has decent frequency response accuracy. We tested it using its Signature preset and in a horizontal position with the JBL logo facing our measurement rig. Given its small size, the speaker's low-frequency extension of 56Hz is impressive: while it won't reproduce the rumble of an 808, kick drums still have plenty of punch and body. The mid-range and treble are well-balanced, so instruments and voices sound true-to-life, without an unnatural ringing or harshness. The companion app has a 7-band graphic EQ for you to tailor its sound to your liking.

This speaker has a middling soundstage performance largely because, on its own, it can't play stereo audio without downmixing to mono. If you want stereo playback, you'll need to pair it with another unit. The speaker's cylindrical design means audio in the bass and lower parts of the mid-range sound fairly similar, regardless of your listening angle. On the other hand, audio from the high-mids up through the treble region is fairly directional, so you'll want to point the JBL logo towards you to ensure the best sound quality.

This speaker has an alright dynamics performance. It can fill an average apartment room with sound, but it doesn't get loud enough to fill larger spaces like lofts or halls. At its maximum volume, there's also a fair amount of compression, so kick drums lose punch.

This speaker has an amazing battery performance. The manufacturer advertises it to last for up to 24 hours of play time (with an extra four hours if Playtime Boost is activated). However, we measured just under 14 hours of continuous playback and just under 19 hours with Playtime Boost activated. Regardless, those figures will get you through a full day at the park or even a weekend camping trip. Of course, battery use varies with usage. It's also worth noting that Playtime Boost extends the battery by reducing the level of the bass and lower-mids, so you'll have to decide for yourself whether the tradeoff is worth it.

The speaker fully charges in about 2.5 hours, and we don't expect you to see significantly faster results since it pulls around 12V/2A while charging. You can also use the speaker's USB-C port to charge other devices like your phone, which makes it handy to have on hand during a trip.

This speaker doesn't have a microphone.

The JBL Portable App is very good. It works on both Android and iOS and adds useful functionality to your speaker. The app also lets you perform the usual functions, such as software updates and factory resets. Here's a video of the app. There's a 7-band graphic EQ that lets you tailor its sound to your liking and save your settings as a Custom preset, along with four factory presets (Signature, Chill, Energetic, and Vocal). You can also enable Playtime Boost, which extends the battery by reducing the level of the bass frequencies, as this graph of the various sound presets shows.

This speaker supports Auracast, letting you link multiple Auracast-enabled JBL speakers together. You can access this mode via the app or the dedicated Auracast button, which disables any presets while Auracast is in use. However, these modes aren't backward-compatible with previous Charge models, since they don't use Auracast.

The USB-C port on this speaker serves three purposes. First, you can use it to charge the speaker. Second, it allows you to use the speaker as a battery pack to charge another device. Finally, you can use it to play audio via USB. To access the USB audio mode, simultaneously hold the Play button while connecting the USB-C cable from the device to the speaker. Unlike the Bluetooth connection, the wired connection also lets you play lossless audio formats. We measured the USB audio connection to have a latency of about 100 ms.

Despite supporting audio via USB, this speaker doesn't come with a USB cable.

This speaker has very good Bluetooth performance. The Bluetooth range is fantastic, so you can walk away from the speaker while at a picnic in the park without the music cutting off. You can also connect it to two devices at once, and it will automatically stop playing from the first device when you hit play on the second. That said, the latency with both iOS and Android is high, which could lead to lip-sync issues when watching videos, although different devices and apps compensate for latency in different ways. If you're after low-latency performance, using the USB connection is your best bet.