I brought a Bose, Sony, and JBL speaker to the beach – this is my new outdoor essential
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As a Georgian, it’s a tradition to head down to Florida to get some sun on the beach during summer vacation. I thought that this year, I would pick up a few of the latest Bluetooth speakers to better measure their performance.
Also: I flew 2,700 miles with Apple, Sony, and Sennheiser headphones – these two sounded great.
Like most headphones I test, it’s easy to create a good speaker impression in controlled environments like my home office, front porch, or parents’ yard. But throw that speaker into uneven loose sand, unruly ocean waves, and the background of nearby ships and you have a completely different situation.
I took the Bose SoundLink Plus, JBL Payment 6again Sonos Playexcept when I’m hanging out on Pensacola Beach, I use a different speaker each day. Here’s how it went.
Day 1: JBL 6 payment
Pros: portability, Auracast
The Charge 6 lies horizontally, and its carrying strap runs from one end to the other. So, you get a comfortable handle that makes it easy to carry the three-pound speaker. Since JBL has equipped the Charge 6 with Auracast, if you have a compatible smartphone, you can stream music from one phone to multiple Auracast-enabled speakers, regardless of manufacturer.
Review: JBL Charge 6
JBL’s implementation of Auracast is a big plus, considering that Bose doesn’t support the feature, instead forcing you to buy another (keyword, one) of its Party Mode speakers, while Sonos supports grouping with up to four speakers, but limits this feature to the Move 2 and Play speakers.
Cons: battery
The JBL Charge 6 has the longest advertised battery life of the three, promising 24 hours of playtime and an additional four hours when the Playtime Boost battery-saving feature is turned on. While 28 hours is impressive, Playtime Boost severely degrades the speaker’s bass response, which isn’t good when loud waves, children, and military jets are in the equation.
In a noisy environment, such as a public beach in mid-June, the Charge 6 will not provide 24 hours of playback, let alone 28. To combat ambient noise, I turned up the speaker volume, which consumes more power and shortens your playback time – very common with portable speakers in general, not just JBL.
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I used about 45% of the battery in six hours, so I probably got another seven or so. I didn’t need to use the Charge 6’s USB-C wilderness charger to charge my phone, but if I did, it would drain the speaker’s battery quickly.
Day 2: Bose SoundLink Plus
Pros: style, bass, battery
Bose’s SoundLink Plus is a very stylish portable speaker. Its design is sleeker and smaller than JBL’s Charge 6, and it comes in more vibrant colors than Sonos’s Play. Whenever I take out the SoundLink Plus with other people, I always get compliments on how it looks. If you’re looking for a portable speaker that looks as good as it sounds, Bose has you covered.
Review: Bose SoundLink Plus
SoundLink Plus’ strong bass is its biggest asset, as increasing the volume and switching between the highs and mids in the Bose app brings voices forward, while maintaining its strong bass response. I used the SoundLink Plus for about six hours, played it loud, and still had less than 70% battery left, which equates to Bose’s advertised 20 hours.
Bad: it’s also bass
Bose has included SoundLink Plus with a tweeter, midwoofer, and four passive radiators. With this speaker configuration, the active radiators work overtime to deliver a beefed-up bass response. However, with the waves constantly breaking and the occasional fighter jet flying over me, at low volume, everything I could hear that it was bass, as it cuts through the noise a lot.
Day 3: Sonos Play
Pros: sound, voice assistant, auto EQ
The Sonos Play is a great-sounding speaker, equipped with three Class-H speakers that power two tweeters and one midwoofer for the brand’s signature smooth, pleasing sound. Sonos Play features Automatic Trueplay, which uses the speaker’s built-in microphone to optimize its sound for your environment. This feature helps with Google Play audio calibration, and is available via Bluetooth.
Review: Play Sonos
Sonos Voice Control also works via Bluetooth, though it’s limited to basic controls, like track play, pause, skip, and volume up/down. However, I found this feature useful when I finally wash my hands with sand and don’t want to touch the speaker with sand before eating.
Cons: design, battery
However, unlike the SoundLink Plus and Charge 6, the Google Play speaker sports a vertical shape. It was difficult to keep the Play upright on uneven sand, and placing it horizontally changes the sound profile.
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After a five-hour day, I used about half of the speaker’s battery, meaning the Play could have given me about 14 hours instead of its advertised 24. Also, it is not uncommon for the playback time of Bluetooth speakers to slow down when you use them outdoors and turn up the volume, which is directly related to their power consumption.
Author’s choice
It’s hard to choose between the Bose SoundLink Plus and the JBL Payment 6 outdoor adventure. Accordingly, the SoundLink Plus is better handled with increased power demands, while the Charge 6 has a stronger durability rating and supports Auracast; both speakers support USB-C reverse charging.
Subjectively, I appreciated it SoundLink Plus songs stylish design and powerful bass response. On summer days outside, I will reach first.
Although i Sonos Play is a great speaker and offers many features like Bose and JBL speakers, it loses many of its desirable features, such as voice assistant support and Wi-Fi streaming, as soon as it leaves your home network. It is best suited for outdoor listening within range of your property.
What about waterproofing?
The Bose SoundLink Plus and Sonos Play have an IP67 durability rating, while the JBL Charge 6 has an IP68 rating. All three speakers are water resistant and can withstand being submerged in water up to three feet deep for up to 30 minutes, but the JBL Charger can withstand being submerged in water up to three and a half feet for up to 30 minutes, making it the most durable of the bunch.
With their waterproof ratings, all three speakers can withstand splashes, drops, jets, and short, shallow submersions without major damage.
Also: I switched to a Bose-Sonos hybrid setup for my home audio – and it worked perfectly.
All three speakers are completely ruggedized, which translates to protection from sand, dust, dirt, or rocks in the real world. Based on the durability ratings of these speakers, all three responded well to exposure to sand and performed well after a quick rinse with clean water to remove any remaining sand.
Ingress protection (IP) ratings, or durability ratings, are the focus of Bluetooth speaker specifications. These ratings determine how well a particular speaker can withstand exposure to water and dust before these particles degrade its performance. The first number indicates the resistance to solid particles, while the second number indicates the resistance to liquids.
Manufacturers certify these speakers in controlled labs by blasting them with fine talcum powder and water from different sources at different pressures.
