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The JBL Charge 5 Bluetooth speaker on a balcony.
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JBL Charge 5 review

A really great speaker, but it might not be worth the upgrade if you already own the Charge 4.
By
October 24, 2023
SoundGuys recommended badge
8
JBL Charge 5
The bottom line
Whether your season is full of trips to the beach or backyard parties, you'll need just the right speaker to DJ these events. The JBL Charge 5 gets the job done if you need something that's very loud, and quite portable. It's a little pricey though, so anyone who already has an older JBL Charge speaker shouldn't feel the need to upgrade.
SoundGuys recommended badge

JBL Charge 5

Whether your season is full of trips to the beach or backyard parties, you'll need just the right speaker to DJ these events. The JBL Charge 5 gets the job done if you need something that's very loud, and quite portable. It's a little pricey though, so anyone who already has an older JBL Charge speaker shouldn't feel the need to upgrade.
Release date

February 22, 2021

Price

$179.95 USD

Dimensions

22.3 x 9.65 x 9.4 cm

Weight

960g

Model Number

JBLCHARGE5GRYAM

Waterproof

IP67

What we like
Sound quality
IP67 rating
Bluetooth multipoint
Can charge your mobile devices
What we don't like
No microphone
Bulky
No wired listening
8
SoundGuys Rating
8.2
User Rating
Rating Metric
Our Rating
User Rating
Sound Quality
8.5
8.4
8.0
Durability / Build Quality
9.3
8.4
8.0
Value
7.5
7.9
8.0
Design
7.0
8.2
8.0
Connectivity
5.0
8.1
8.0
Portability
7.3
8.4
8.0
Feature
8.5
7.8
8.0

JBL is America’s sweetheart when it comes to waterproof Bluetooth speakers. The company makes several new products every year, and theoretically, they keep improving. The most recent addition to the Charge series is the JBL Charge 5. It has all the tell-tale signs of a good JBL speaker, but is the upgrade from the JBL Charge 4 worth the price hike?

What's new?

  • This JBL Charge 5 review was updated on October 24, 2023, to update style and formatting and answer more FAQs.
  • See our rumors hub for the JBL Charge 6 to find out when it might be released and if it's worth the wait.

Party hosts should get the JBL Charge 5 as it produces exceptionally loud sound for a portable speaker. Thanks to the PartyBoost feature, it can be paired with other compatible speakers for an even louder sound. Beachgoers can take advantage of the IP67 dust and water-resistant rating. You can fully submerge it without issue, and it’s lightweight enough to throw in your beach bag.

What’s it like to use the JBL Charge 5?

A woman touching the JBL Charge 5 as it rests on a table.
The JBL Charge 5 is a great speaker for indoors or outdoors.

The JBL Charge 5 doesn’t come with much—just the speaker, a protective sock, a charging cable, and some documentation about the product. It’s always nice to open up a new audio gadget to see that it has at least a bit of battery charge in it, and the Charge 5 lets you dive right into music listening. The first time you press and hold the power button to turn on the speaker, it automatically enters pairing mode. Just select the Charge 5 from your device’s Bluetooth settings, and you should hear the signature sound of a JBL speaker being connected.

The JBL Charge 5 Bluetooth speaker rests on a countertop with rain drops on a window behind it.
This speaker can withstand any rainstorm.

The speaker is nice to look at and hold and has the shape and approximate weight of a football. Everything is wrapped in a woven fabric cover with smooth silicone accents. The JBL Charge 5 adds a silicone foot on the bottom of the speaker, which is nice and helps it stay put on flat surfaces. However, while this Bluetooth speaker is marketed as portable, it’s definitely not going to fit into your pocket—for something like that, get the JBL Clip 4. The Charge 5 is surprisingly lightweight, so if you can find a place to put it, it won’t weigh you down too much on a hike or trip to the beach. The speaker has onboard controls, and while it doesn’t include a button to skip backward a track, double-pressing the play button will skip forward.

Is the JBL Charge 5 waterproof?

JBL Charge 5 resting on rocks and grass.
The IP67 rating means you don’t need to worry about dirt and dust ruining your speaker.

Some people don’t trust the waterproofing that IP ratings promise, and we don’t blame them. The Charge 5 has an official IP67 rating, which means it can withstand dust and handle submersion in up to 1 meter of tap water for up to 30 minutes—this squares with our experience. Even after a firm dunk in a bucket of water, the Charge 5 sounds just as good as when it’s dry—just make sure the charging port flap is securely closed. The fabric covering the speaker will still get plenty wet, but once it dries, everything will sound normal.

In 2020, I tested a JBL Flip 4 that was out of warranty by submerging it in a pool, and it subsequently broke, so it’s possible that the IP rating will degrade over time. This may also have been a result of the chlorinated water since JBL does not ensure that its speakers can withstand saltwater or chlorinated water. If you do happen to break the speaker in a manner covered by its warranty within one year of buying it, JBL will send you another one.

Should you download the JBL Portable app?

Download the JBL Portable app to access JBL PartyBoost and firmware updates. Once you open the app, it will prompt you to pair your Charge 5. The app’s interface is pretty easy to use and offers helpful information about each component. The app also offers a simple equalizer that has studio-style sliders to adjust bass, mid, and treble frequencies.

PartyBoost is JBL’s tool that allows you to connect multiple speakers for a louder sound. You can connect two of the same speakers to listen in Stereo Mode, or you can connect up to 100 of any compatible speakers for Party Mode. Under Party Mode, all speakers will play audio in mono. If you opt for Stereo Mode, the next time you play music from the primary speaker, it will play music in stereo through both speakers. If you want to sometimes use the Charge 5 by itself, set it as the secondary speaker. The JBL Flip 5, Pulse 4, Boombox 3, Xtreme 3, and Charge 5 are all compatible with JBL PartyBoost.

Beyond what the JBL Connect app offers is the Charge 5’s power bank functionality. Use the same cord that you use to charge the speaker, but plug the USB-A side into the speaker’s port under the silicone flap, and the Charge 5 battery will drain to charge up your Android phone or another device with a USB-C charging port. If you have an iPhone, you can use your lightning USB cord to charge it, but ensure it has a USB-A connector at the other end.

How is the Bluetooth connection on the JBL Charge 5?

JBL Charge 5 resting on a balcony fence. The top buttons of the speaker are visible.
Though there are no buttons to skip backward on the JBL Charge 5, it has pretty much all the other controls you’d need.

Pairing the JBL Charge 5 is easy enough—simply press and hold the Bluetooth symbol on the top of the speaker and select it from your device’s Bluetooth menu. It uses Bluetooth 5.1, which means it’s slightly more energy efficient than Bluetooth 5.0. The Charge 5 also has Bluetooth multipoint functionality, so if you and a friend want to take turns playing music through your speaker, you won’t have to switch source devices each time.

The speaker can stay connected over a decent range, too, easily handling the walk from my dining room to outside my house. Thick walls will get in the way and cause stuttering, which may limit the connection range for some. Locking my phone or opening up a different app like Instagram can also cause a rare hiccup while streaming music from Spotify. Unfortunately, the JBL Charge 5 doesn’t have an aux port, so wired listening is not an option.

Does the JBL Charge 5 have a long battery life?

JBL Charge 5 placed on some rocks and grass. The charging port is visible.
The back of the Charge 5 has a charging port for juicing up the speaker and another one for charging your smartphone.

The JBL Charge 5 has an official 20-hour battery life, which we’ll put to the test as soon as we get the speaker into our testing chamber. We can tell you that it charges via USB-C and takes 4 hours to completely fill up. That’s right, no fast charging here.

The speaker has an indicator light that glows white anytime it’s in use. When you plug the Charge 5 in, the indicator light will blink, showing you how full the battery is. If it flashes completely white, the battery is full. If it flashes half white and the rest of the indicator light is dark, it is half full.

How does the JBL Charge 5 sound?

JBL Charge 5 resting on a balcony with a cabin and forest in the background.
The bass radiators do a great job of amping up the low end of your music.

The Charge 5 gets loud—like, really loud. In fact, our Executive Editor Chris Thomas once DJed a small wedding with a pair of JBL Charge 3 speakers—the Charge 5 could certainly pull that off. Regardless of where you are positioned around the speaker, it sounds pretty good, which makes it excellent for parties. Even up to 30 meters away, it sounds great sitting outside in my backyard.

It's easy to parse apart all the elements of a song with the JBL Charge 5.

The vocals are clear thanks to the driver setup inside the speaker. It features a long-excursion driver a separate tweeter, and each side houses a passive bass radiator. Taylor Swift’s Mr. Perfectly Fine sounds great through the Charge 5, with her vocals ringing out clearly during the bridge at 3:32, but it doesn’t mask the quieter guitar parts. When the drums and bass come back in at 3:46, you can clearly identify all the instruments and vocal tracks in the song, an impressive feat for a single speaker.

To contextualize the sound quality a bit more, the JBL Charge 5 has a louder sound than the popular Bose SoundLink Mini and Bose SoundLink Flex. JBL’s bass response is certainly more powerful, which makes sense considering the speaker is larger.

Should you buy the JBL Charge 5?

A woman touching the JBL Charge 5 as it rests on the armrest of her chair.
The JBL Charge 5 is a great buy if you don’t already have a previous iteration of JBL’s Charge line.

The JBL Charge 5 doesn’t necessarily have enough upgrades to be worth buying if you already have the JBL Charge 4 or even the Charge 3. If you don’t already have an earlier model, however, the Charge 5 is a great choice. Its audio quality is really good for a Bluetooth speaker, and I’m impressed with its volume output. It is a little bit bulky, so if you want a portable speaker, check out the JBL Flip 5—it’s essentially a shrunken version of the Charge 5 for $89 at Amazon.

JBL Charge 5JBL Charge 5
SG recommended
JBL Charge 5
MSRP: $159.00
Whether your season is full of trips to the beach or backyard parties, you'll need just the right speaker to DJ these events. The JBL Charge 5 gets the job done if you need something that's very loud, and quite portable. It's a little pricey though, so anyone who already has an older JBL Charge speaker shouldn't feel the need to upgrade.

JBL Charge 4 vs JBL Charge 5: Which Bluetooth speaker is better?

The Charge 4 in a hand with water splashes.
The Charge 4 has an IPX7 waterproof fabric, so you don’t have to worry about water damage.

If the near-$200 price tag of the JBL Charge 5 scares you, we’d recommend looking at the older JBL Charge 4. This speaker comes with an aux port, which may actually make it a more attractive option for some people. You can also check out our list of the best cheap Bluetooth speakers to save some cash.

It’s a little annoying that JBL keeps implementing new methods to connect their speakers to one another—JBL PartyBoost is basically the same feature as JBL Connect+ in the Charge 4, but the two versions are not compatible with one another. The other main difference is that the Charge 5 has Bluetooth 5.1, and the Charge 4 has Bluetooth 4.2. The Charge 4 otherwise has almost exactly the same specs as the Charge 5.

JBL Charge 4JBL Charge 4
JBL Charge 4
Good build • Gets loud • Long battery life
MSRP: $219.00
The Charge 4 is still a good speaker, even with the advent of the Charge 5.
If you want to futureproof yourself and get the new JBL Connect+, then this is the way to go for sure. Otherwise, there isn't much difference between this and the Charge 3 before it (though USB-C charging is definitely nice).

What should you get instead of the JBL Charge 5?

Listeners who want something with an even louder output should look at the JBL Xtreme 3. Like the LG XBOOM 360, the Xtreme 3 isn’t a truly portable speaker at 2.68kg, but you can sling it over your shoulder with its strap, and it has a long battery life of 15 hours. The speaker has a USB-C in/out port and USB-A out port—so you can either charge two external devices simultaneously or charge the speaker while charging an external device. Unlike the Charge 5, the Xtreme 3 has an aux input for those of you looking to hard-wire your connection. It’s available for $279 at Amazon. Listeners who like the JBL sound but want something a bit more portable than its Charge or Xtreme line should look at the JBL Flip 6 instead ($99 at Amazon).

The JBL Flip 6 in black on a bed of flat stones.
The JBL Flip 6’s new, larger logo scuffs more easily than the Flip 5’s small red badge.

We also recommend checking out the UE MEGABOOM 3. This speaker takes a different approach to its design as it delivers 360-degree audio but is similar to the Charge 5 in many ways. It has an IP67 rating, can be paired with another MEGABOOM 3 for a more powerful sound, and has a strong bass response. The cylindrical speaker has a 20-hour battery life, and you can set it up for one-touch access to your streaming service of choice. The MEGABOOM 3 is available for $157 at Amazon.

Another alternative is the slimmer Sonos Roam, a portable speaker that can operate over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It has an IP67 rating and sounds great, and if you want to integrate it into your Sonos ecosystem, you can. The Sonos Roam costs about the same as the JBL Charge 5 ($418 at Amazon), and even though it is significantly smaller, the Roam’s price comes with a lot of smart features that the Charge 5 doesn’t have. You will need to download the Sonos app in order to access them and operate the speaker at all, though, so if you’re not fond of giving apps your information, it’s best to look elsewhere.

Should you use the JBL Refurbished program?

To save even more money, look into JBL’s refurbished program. Customers send back defective products, and JBL fixes them before reselling them at a discounted price. Products purchased from the refurbished program still have the full 1-year warranty and should not be distinguishable at all from a brand-new product.

Frequently asked questions about the JBL Charge 5

No. Your two JBL Charge speakers must be of the same generation for stereo mode to work, and it also won’t work with two different models of JBL speakers released in the same year, either.

No, the USB-C port is only for charging the JBL Charge 5. Additionally, the USB-A port in the back is a service port, so you can charge your phone from it, but you won’t be able to play music off your phone to the speaker through the port.

Yes, you are able to use the speaker while it’s charging.

No, the JBL Charge 5 plays audio in mono. You can pair two Charge 5 speakers together for stereo sound.

Yes, you can adjust the bass frequencies on the JBL Charge 5 using the JBL Portable app for Android or iOS.

No. The JBL Charge 5 does not have a microphone.