JBL - Authentics 500 Smart Home Speaker - Black

The JBL Authentics 500 is a surprisingly strong (if surprisingly large!) speaker. It is heavily app-centric, so if that's not your thing, you may want to consider other options. The built-in services are excellent, though, and you can control it (and also stream / cast to it) from iOS or Android devices. The iOS app is a bit more polished at the time of this review (Sept 2023), but they're both capable. I use Tidal (one of the built-in services) for its high-quality streaming, but with the sheer variety of streaming, casting, and voice-assistant options, you'd be hard pressed to find an unsupported music source. The bass response from this speaker is fabulous. The mid and upper ranges are comparable to our larger Sonos and HomePod speakers, but the bass frequency and solidity beats anything without a subwoofer (and some with them). It's great to listen to. I wish the EQ had more than 3 bands, and I wish you could save the setting -- for example, at night I would like to save a different tuning so I don't keep the entire house awake. Hopefully Sony will provide these and more quality-of-life enhancements as we go. All in all: highly recommended! This JBL is a great wireless speaker, and a tremendous value.

The JBL Authentics 500 Bluetooth Speaker is a great option for a smaller portable Bluetooth speaker system! The sound is amazing with any genre of music and has a ton of bass. It can also be used a surround sound speaker and has an amazing look. It does lack a dedicated power source button/switch, but you can also just simply unplug it if you don’t want it to go into the standby mode as opposed to simply turning it off. Other than that we love it! We would highly recommend this to anyone!

JBL Authentics 500 gets very loud and depending on the room the bass is really good. Can sound a bit on the high side and cause ear fatigue, but the sound is pretty clear. The Wi-Fi connection was very good and WiFi streams increased the sound quality a lot. The JBL App could be better. It’s a plug in speaker and with the way it projects sound may narrow its use case a bit, sounds better and more energetic when turned up but at that point can hurt ears and also cause ear fatigue as it’s a bit shouty in its sound signature. It’s a pretty nice speaker in the right use scenario can serve as a good addition. At the full retail price my personal preference would lean to something else that’s easier and more fun for what I like to listen to. For a plug in speaker I prefer using the JBL Partybox Ultimate, yes cost more, yes maybe in a different category but I can listen to that at a lower volume and still sounds excellent and more impactful. For close speaker listening or smaller room, I prefer using the Brane X smart speaker (good bass, sound quality, portable, easy to listen to)

This a great speaker for any audiophile or even the “regular” music/movie watcher to enjoy! It works seamlessly with Airplay from phone and my Apple TV. Music is definitely brought to a new level. Movies sound great with the Dolby Atmos but I think Sonos beats it by far for movies. It is not probable by any means because it always has to be plugged in. This is an office/gaming room speaker that paired with the Authentics 200, creates a concert level experience with studio like sound. I highly recommend this product to anybody who wants a high level of sounds without compromising the style of the speaker.

First thing you're eyes go to is the price... I know it is expensive. I already have a high end component system in my living room, but my kids are always in there watching TV. I bought this for a smaller room where I can go chill. The sound quality was even better than I expected. The speakers make crystal clear sound while the little woofers have a richness to them. Treat yourself, you won't regret it. Well done JBL.