Every so often in the world of Bluetooth speakers, the stars align and we see new models from some of the big hitters pass through the What Hi-Fi? test rooms at the same time.
And that’s exactly what we’ve seen recently with the new Beats Pill, Bose SoundLink Max and JBL Xtreme 4 all arriving on our doorstep. Portable Bluetooth speakers such as these tend to have just one key job: to provide a fun listening experience when fed music from a smartphone or tablet but you'd be surprised how many get it all wrong.
The best Bluetooth speakers also tend to have great build quality, be nice to use and offer a smattering of features that give extra value to the owner. Do these speakers fit into that category?
Price
With this round-up, we must remember that the Beats is the cheapest of the three and by quite some margin. It costs £150 / $150 / AU$249.95 compared to the JBL Xtreme 4 which comes in at more than double (£330 / $380 / AU$430). You'll need to splash out even more for the Bose SoundLink Max which costs £399 / $399 / AU$599.
We’ve had a look and because all three of these speakers are relatively new to the market it’s tricky to find much in the way of a discount. However, it will undoubtedly be worth bearing in mind big sales events like Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday moving forward.
Design
The Beats Pill boasts a slick aesthetic with a neatly rounded profile which makes it nice to hold (a colour-matched lanyard is also provided). You’ll find four feet positioned underneath to stop it rolling around on flat surfaces.
The metal grille on the front adds to the feeling of solidity, with a grippy silicone surface on the rear and top. Like the Bose, the buttons on top are concave and clicky although fewer in number – here you get a power button, a multifunction button for track and call control, and volume buttons, so four in total, compared to six on the Bose SoundLink Max.
By contrast, the Bose SoundLink Max is a ruggedised and rubberised rectangle. It’s quite understated in terms of appearance but feels well put together and we think it’s just as suited to indoor life as it is being carried out and about. Okay, so it isn’t quite as small and light as the Beats Pill, but it does come with a comfortable carry handle and its silicone-covered exterior is extremely tactile. It feels like the most expensive speaker out of the three.
As is the case on the Beats, all the controls are lined up across the top on a silicone surface and are recessed which makes them easy to get to grips with. The silicone material also goes underneath the Bose where you’ll find four raised bumps for feet.
While the Beats Pill is relatively svelte, and the Bose more demure, the JBL Xtreme 4 is a much chunkier cylinder that looks like it could withstand bumps and bruises from all angles. From the wrap-around material made from recycled plastic and fabric, to the silicone bubbles used to protect the edges and help form the base underneath the speaker, the JBL certainly looks built for a life of outdoor use.
- Read our full Beats Pill review
Features
The Beats Pill sports a USB-C input on the back and comes with USB-C-to-USB-C cable in the box. It can give portable devices a power boost from its own built-in rechargeable battery or you can turn the charging feature off.
The most interesting string to the Beats’ bow is you can also use the USB socket as an audio input. That’s right, you can connect an external device and play music losslessly at up to 24-bit/48kHz resolution. It’s something we don't see very often and although it’s a little niche, it’s nice to have.
Battery life comes in at around 24 hours which is good and it also has an IP67 rating which means the Pill can be submerged for up to 30 minutes in fresh water up to a metre deep. It’s also dustproof and sandproof.
Inside the Pill, the woofer and tweeter used are brand new and tilted upwards to project audio better for the listener. The configuration means you’re only listening in mono, but you can pair two Pills for Stereo Mode.
Because Beats is still owned by the house of Apple, it’s as quick to pair with iOS devices as it is Android and you also have access to its “Find My” device feature. It’s actually still slightly skewed to Apple users, though as the menus are built into Apple’s iOS menus, while Android users still need a separate App. It’s a Bluetooth 5.3 device, but there’s no support for aptX, just AAC and SBC.
- Read our full Bose SoundLink Max review
Like the Beats, the Bose supports Bluetooth 5.3 and charges via USB-C. Battery life is a shade shorter than the Beats at 20 hours but as is the case with any Bluetooth speaker users might find this varies depending on how loud you listen and for how long.
You can use its built-in rechargeable battery to juice up a smartphone or tablet through the USB-C socket but you can’t use it as a wired audio connection. Your only option here is the 3.5mm auxiliary input that sits alongside it.
Like the Beats, the Bose is good to go in the great outdoors thanks to its IP67 rating. The ace up its sleeve is Bluetooth Multipoint, which means you can have two devices connected at the same time – useful if you want to share DJ’ing duties with someone who might have alternative taste in music.
In the Bose app you have a three-band equaliser for bass, mids and treble, and a selection of presets that alter the amount of bass and treble the speaker spits out, which is more than what the Beats Pill offers.
During testing, we used the bass EQ to dial it down to around minus five or six as we found it quite overpowering straight out of the box.
- Read our full JBL Xtreme 4 review
Compared to the other apps from Beats and Bose, the JBL has more going on with an in-depth five-band equaliser, and a smattering of different presets to choose from.
One interesting feature of the JBL is that its power output varies depending on whether you are using mains or battery power. It’s 80W when using the rechargeable battery, but this jumps to 100W when you power it via the mains and the supplied USB-C cable. And you can hear the jump in scale and authority when you go from the former to the latter.
Auracast functionality is now included instead of JBL’s PartyBoost feature but it still allows you to pair two Xtreme 4 units together for stereo sound or connect multiple compatible speakers if you happen to own multiple.
Sound
Soncially, the Beats Pill goes for a clear, rich and energetic sound which is just what you want from a Bluetooth speaker. It projects music well and holds its own in noisier environments. It picks out a good amount of detail and texture across the frequency range, even if it isn't the last word in terms of dynamic stretch. The best rivals also deliver a grander sense of scale and authority to really make their presence felt. But it’s still a good, likeable Bluetooth speaker.
The Bose does a fine job extracting detail and giving great insight into your music, but it also makes sure the listener is having fun and just enjoying their favourite tracks too.
There’s a fullness and a richness to the sound which means coarse edges don’t grate but also don’t completely lose their sparkle. Voices sound natural and expressive too. Bass notes don’t sound tubby or reluctant to move along with the music and you’re treated to a good depose of rhythmic drive.
For the JBL, the twin 70mm woofers and 20mm tweeters combine to give you a large-scale sound that dwarfs the Beats (as you’d expect given the price and size difference) and gives the Bose a run for its money. In fact, the JBL produces even more detail and greater dynamics. It reveals more from the different layers of a track and communicates them clearly and effortlessly. For a portable Bluetooth speaker, you’re treated to a surprising amount of refinement and sophistication which isn’t normally the case at this level.
Verdict
It's a pretty strong showing from all three of these Bluetooth speakers and shows the breadth of quality in what is an ultra-competitive market. The Beats Pill might not be able to compete with the others in terms of scale, but it's considerably cheaper and smaller. What it does do is tick multiple boxes for people who want something solid-sounding and small that they can sling in a bag for a day without putting a strain on their bank balance or shoulder.
The Bose SoundLink Max is a great option that just sounds fun and engaging and looks understated enough to place in any room in the house. It just gets on with entertaining its owner without shouting about it.
Which leaves the JBL Xtreme 4. This is the best of all worlds; cheaper than the Bose yet just as, if not more, detailed and refined. This will appeal to those wanting fun and a serious level of sophistication from their Bluetooth speaker.
MORE:
Our pick of the best Bluetooth speakers
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Which JBL speaker should you buy? Flip 6, Charge 5, Xtreme 4 and more compared
