Out and about or listening at home, these speakers are versatile, talented and sound great

The rugged JBL’s grille is made from recycled plastic and fabric

Image credit: Sony

JBL Xtreme 4 £330

For the Xtreme 4, JBL has stuck to an evolution of the model’s design rather than a revolution. It’s still a cylindrical shape with the same tactile, ruggedised elements such as the wrap-around grille, made from a combination of recycled plastic and fabric. It’s still waterproof and dustproof – well, it wouldn’t be very ‘Xtreme’ if it fell over at the first sight of a raindrop, would it?

A new base features two strips of silicone bubble feet to give the speaker a bit more grip and greater stability to reduce the chances of it rolling over.

The driver configuration is the same as before: two 70mm woofers and two 20mm tweeters behind the grille. You also have the usual JBL-logo-wearing passive radiators at either end that you can see pulsing along in time with your tunes.

Battery life gets a big boost up to 24 hours (from 15 hours on the Xtreme 3). If that isn’t enough (and it probably will be for even the biggest party animal), JBL’s Playtime Boost feature can also squeeze out an extra six hours. We would steer clear of this feature, though; it boosts mids and highs but also sucks the weight and solidity out of the bass.

AI Sound Boost helps the speaker maintain sound quality at loud volumes and prevent distortion. It uses an AI algorithm to predict the speaker’s movement and power response – we push the JBL hard during testing and it remains composed and controlled even when the volume is cranked past 11.

Auracast Bluetooth tech makes its debut on the Xtreme 4, and means you can pair two together in stereo, or you can connect multiple compatible JBL units.

For such a chunky speaker it produces a fantastically refined sound that is wonderfully clear and consistent across tracks. Low frequencies are poised and punchy but don’t lack weight. Highs are crisp enough so they don’t feel rolled off. Detail levels are excellent for the money and it’s still exciting and fun to listen to – exactly what you want from a product such as this.

With Yungblud’s Breakdown, the JBL does a great job of delivering the emotion and feeling in his vocal, and mixing it in with the flow of the melody. The sweetsounding piano play sets the song on its way with expertly defined edges before the song’s drum’n’bassy bassline kicks in. There’s real speed and precision to each probing bass hit, with the speaker cutting a precise groove. The JBL’s clarity, cohesion and solidity are a real highlight here.