JBL Link Portable - Review 2022

As smart speakers increase in popularity, we're starting to encounter more hybrid options that piece of work on Wi-Fi when they're plugged in at dwelling, and as standard Bluetooth speakers when on the get. At $179.95, the JBL Link Portable isn't significantly more expensive than some of the company'southward Bluetooth-only models of similar size, and offers Wi-Fi connectivity with Google Assistant compatibility, not to mention a waterproof build and solid bass depth. Given that the Sonos Motion—another portable hybrid speaker—is $400, the Link Portable feels similar a bargain. There are more powerful, meliorate-sounding speakers out there, only few can match the Link'southward feature gear up for the toll.

Design

Bachelor in black, blue, or gray, the 6.7-by-iii.5-inch (HW), i.half-dozen-pound Link Portable resembles a cylinder, but actually has 4 broadly rounded corners and thus panels that are nearly flat. It ships with a charging base of operations that connects to power via a removable USB-C cable. The speaker itself has a wraparound cloth grille, and withal the Link Portable is waterproof—its IPX7 rating ways it can be submerged upward to a meter for 30 minutes, and then it can certainly withstand splashes, rain, and even beingness rinsed off (though the same is likely not truthful for the charging dock).

Up summit, the control panel has the Google Assistant logo emblazoned on a primal button. It handles playback and can stop alarms and timers, while the plus/minus buttons on either side of information technology command volume. Holding the central button downwardly for two seconds summons Google Assistant, but this can also be washed via voice, every bit in that location are microphones up summit to pick up vocal commands. A back panel houses buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing, and mic mute, equally well as a USB-C port to charge the speaker direct. An LED strip here shows how much battery life is left. Behind the wraparound grille, there's an LED status indicator that lights upward when active, and a carve up LED that lights when the speakers continued to Wi-Fi.

The Link Portable uses Bluetooth 4.2, and tin also stream via Wi-Fi. In one case prepare up and connected to Wi-Fi, you tin can command the speaker by saying, "Hey Google." If yous'd rather not have the mic always on, this tin can be disabled. Add together in AirPlay 2 and Google Cast, and there are several means to get sound to the Link Portable, though there is no pick to use a cable.

The Wi-Fi setup process went smoothly in testing. We as well constitute the mics totally responsive to our requests—it was quick and easy to play music or get atmospheric condition reports or in-progress game scores.

JBL estimates the Link Portable'south bombardment life to be up to 8 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels.

Performance

Internally, the mono speaker employs a 49mm, 20-watt commuter, delivering a frequency range of 65Hz to 20kHz. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," it delivers palpable bass depth, though no one will be looking around the room for the hidden subwoofer. At top volumes, the speaker'southward output is not overpowering, but it gets reasonably loud and doesn't distort. The DSP (digital indicate processing) kicks in to forestall baloney, withal, and this thins the bass depth out on tracks like this. At more modest volume levels, the bass sounds fuller.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a ameliorate sense of the Link Portable's general sound signature. The drums on this track take a full, natural audio—not at all thunderous like they tin can be on a bass-forward speaker. Instead, the notable bass presence here is Callahan's baritone vocals, which get plenty of added low-mid richness, and thankfully plenty high-mid presence to proceed things sounding balanced. There'south solid clarity and remainder through the frequency range, merely if you're seeking out a huge bass sound, this speaker is too small to deliver on that front, though it never sounds thin or brittle.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West'due south "No Church in the Wild," the kick pulsate loop receives an platonic corporeality of high-mid presence, assuasive the attack to retain its punch, while the vinyl crepitation and hiss gets boosted and pushed forwards in the mix, so there's enough of sculpting in the college frequencies. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat out are more implied than delivered—we hear the top raspy notes but little of the sub-bass button they can bring on a more powerful system. Instead, the drum loop itself gets some added heft and thump in the lows and low-mids. The vocals on this track are delivered with potent clarity in the high-mids and highs, without much added sibilance.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, tend to audio a fiddling boosted in the bass department, mainly because the primary low-terminate push for the Link Portable seems to happen in the lows and low-mids, and not as much in the sub-bass realm. Regardless, the brass, strings, and vocals maintain their vivid, prominent presence in the mix. Mostly speaking, this is a sculpted, but counterbalanced, audio signature.

Conclusions

For the price and characteristic set, the JBL Link Portable is an undeniably skillful deal. If information technology had zero smart capabilities and were but a waterproof portable Bluetooth speaker, nosotros'd be talking nearly how its toll feels a chip high. With Wi-Fi, easily-complimentary Google Assistant, and more baked in, nonetheless, the price most seems a piffling low. The Sonos Move is a significantly more powerful speaker, just it'southward more than twice equally expensive. That said, if you don't need smart functionality, you tin can find more powerful options for the price, like the $150 JBL Accuse 4. And if yous like the size of the Link Portable only only demand the Bluetooth, the $120 JBL Flip five will relieve you some money. But for the price and characteristic set, it's hard not to like the versatile Link Portable.

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Further Reading

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Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/security-devices-products/35868/jbl-link-portable

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