JBL Flip 6 Review

You’d be correct in saying JBL is the most popular brand of portable speakers on the market right now. It seems like you can find JBL speakers everywhere, and with good reason. One of their most popular lines, the Flip, is known for its ease of use and portability and is one of the most commonly seen Bluetooth speakers out there. Today I’m going to review the latest model, the Flip 6. The Flip 6 is relatively inexpensive at $129, and today I’m going to see if its sound lives up to that price tag.

What’s in the Box

• JBL Flip 6
• Type C USB cable
• Quick Start Guide
• Warranty Card/Safety Sheet

Design

The Flip takes JBL’s signature cylindrical speaker design and improves upon it slightly. First and foremost, the Flip is small enough to not notice it, but big enough to provide a loud sound. The button scheme is intuitive, with only the play/pause, volume control, and a button that toggles JBL’s PartyBoost feature. The Flip 6 is incredibly light but still durable and is IP67 water and dust-proof. The cylindrical design of the speaker uses the ends as bass drivers, allowing for a fuller sound.

The JBL Flip 6 has a frequency response of 63 Hz – 20 kHz and a Battery Life of 12 hours.

Control App

The JBL Portable App allows users to control parameters such as EQ and control over the Partyboost settings. The EQ is a simple 3-band and doesn’t have presets. Partyboost is a feature that connects other JBL Partyboost speakers to the main Bluetooth source, to enhance volume output. Supposedly, any JBL speaker with Partyboost can connect to up to 100 other JBL Partyboost compatible speakers, though I wasn’t able to test this. Partyboost can also be used to split the signal into stereo, but only with the same model speaker.

Lows

The lows on the Flip 6 are incredibly interesting. Since the frequency range only goes down to 62 Hz, the actual subs are minimal. However, the flip is so loud and EQ’d so well that lows still manage to cut through and sound pretty good for such a small speaker. They’re boosted, but I found them impressive nonetheless. I could hear low-end details, and in many instances, a lack of subs makes sense for a small portable Bluetooth speaker.

Mids

The mids bring everything to the front to give a good core to the sound, even in loud environments. The low mids are accentuated heavily to make up for the lack of sub presence, which greatly affects it. These aren’t the clearest mids you’ll ever hear, but you will hear them very well.

Highs

While you won’t get the most detail out of these highs, you’ll get great articulations and attacks from the high-end content while not compromising too much detail. It gets the job done as well as I expected it to in terms of high-end content.

Overall

If you’re looking for a good, affordable, durable Bluetooth speaker, then the JBL Flip 6 is worth looking into. This simple, portable, powerful device is great for both pairing with others or as a solo unit. While not the most sensitive detail response, it still sounds great and works extremely well. While it’s a powerful speaker for its size, it may not reach the volume and definition of some larger/more expensive models, such as JBL’s Boombox or Xtreme line. I’d highly recommend the Flip 6 if you’re looking for something small that will still work well on the go.

You can buy the JBL Flip 6 at Audio46