The JBL Xtreme 2 is a portable Bluetooth speaker that’s quite good for most uses, thanks to its portable structure and well-balanced mid-range that can clearly produce vocals and main instruments. It has an IPX7 rating for water resistance, though we haven’t tested this yet. There’s also a bottle opener built into its strap, so you can enjoy a drink while listening to your own. Unfortunately, it lacks some bass and doesn’t have a graphic EQ for adjusting the sound. However, it is suitable for use in large or crowded rooms as it can emit fairly loud sound, albeit with some compression at maximum volume.
Contents
JBL Xtreme 2 Bluetooth Speaker Review
Design
The JBL Xtreme 2 is a mid-sized cylindrical speaker designed to be placed horizontally. Each side of the speaker has a bass radiator, which helps create resonant bass. There are two low-profile hooks on top of the speaker for strap mounting. The handle also comes with a built-in bottle opener, so you can enjoy your drink while listening to your audio content. It also comes in five colors, so you can find the one that best suits your taste.
JBL Xtreme 2 has remarkable portability. It’s lightweight and battery-powered, so you can use it outdoors. You can also carry it with one hand thanks to the strap that you can attach to it.
JBL Xtreme 2 has good build quality. Most speakers are wrapped in an airtight fabric for a solid feel. It has an IPX7 rating for water resistance, though we haven’t tested this yet. There are also two built-in hooks on the top of the speaker that allow you to mount its strap. The strap includes a built-in bottle opener, so you can enjoy your drink while listening to your sound. The plastic sides of the speaker can attract fingerprints, although they are easy to clean.
Sound quality
JBL Xtreme 2 has reasonable frequency response accuracy. It has a balanced midrange, so it can clearly reproduce vocals and main instruments. The treble band is a bit lacking in accents, so the higher frequencies can be blurred or obscured. It struggled to produce bass, so you don’t feel bass and reverberation in bass-heavy genres like EDM and hip-hop. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an EQ to allow you to tweak its audio profiles.
JBL Xtreme 2 has a good soundstage. It can play stereo content without turning the volume down to mono, but its soundstage has a bit of direction, so the sound isn’t immersive. In addition, the treble strip is also over-emphasized which can make the soundstage appear uneven.
JBL Xtreme 2 has good mobility. It can emit quite large so it is suitable for use in large or crowded rooms. However, there are some compression artifacts that have maximum volume.
Battery life
JBL Xtreme 2 has respectable battery performance. It can last for almost fifteen hours on a single charge and takes less than three hours to charge from an empty battery. That said, battery performance may vary with usage, so your experience may vary. It also saves battery power by automatically shutting down when there is no audio input.
Functions & Controls
JBL Xtreme 2 has poor voice assistant performance. It doesn’t have a built-in voice assistant, so it relies on the voice assistant from your smartphone. While you can reconfigure the speaker’s play/pause button as a voice assistant button, you need to connect to the JBL Portable app and enable the ‘Voice Assistant’ mode to do this. Fortunately, the speaker can understand you even when you are far away, although the speaker may find it difficult to hear you in noisy environments.
JBL Xtreme 2’s companion app, JBL Portable, is okay. It lets you link it to other speakers to form a stereo pair, and its Group Mode feature lets you pair multiple speakers for a more amplified sound.
JBL Xtreme 2 has a full range of controls. The buttons are easy to press and most of them are embossed so you can feel them by hand. You can press the triangle play/pause button twice to skip tracks, or you can reconfigure the button to a ‘Voice Assistant’ button, but you need the app to change it back and forth. On top of the speaker are buttons for volume control, a Bluetooth pairing button, and a Connect + button, allowing you to link up to 100 compatible speakers. The power button has a light that turns green when the device is connected via Bluetooth. There’s also a light at the bottom of the speaker that indicates battery life.
Connectivity
JBL Xtreme 2 has outstanding Bluetooth performance. You can pair two devices at the same time, making it easy to switch audio sources between your phone and laptop. It has a special range, so it can still receive audio input even when you’re far away. Its lag with iOS and Android devices is also very low, which is great for watching videos. However, some apps compensate for latency differently, so the user experience may be different.
In conclusion, the JBL Xtreme 2 is quite suitable for outdoor use. It has an IPX7 rating for water resistance, though we haven’t tested this yet. Thanks to its lightweight construction and band, it’s easy to carry around on the go. It also has an exceptionally long battery life, lasting almost fifteen hours on a single charge. While the sound can be quite loud, there is some compression at maximum volume.
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