Customer Ratings & Reviews

This speaker is not for you if you are looking for a party speaker or are looking for quality sound. Lemme back up...I have owned a Jawbone Big Jambox for about 5 years now, which is a discontinued speaker that looks like a brick. It was a fantastic purchase, very solid, with huge sound and a ton of bass. I mounted it on the front of my bicycle in such a way that I could access it easily and play music via bluetooth from my phone while biking for fun and while commuting. Many people have commented on how great that speaker sounded. The bass would reverberate through the handlebars, and you could "feel" the bass easily. I recently decided to upgrade to a larger, and presumably louder speaker, since the Big Jambox is discontinued and I assumed technology had advanced in the five years since I bought it. After reading a number of reviews, I purchased the JBL Extreme 2 recently. Bad decision. I built a mount for it for my bike on which to solidly place the Extreme 2, and I have now taken it for a spin on my bike three times, and have done a number of sound tests, and I am sadly very disappointed. I almost never write reviews for products or contact the manufacturer, so this is something new for me. The issue is that at higher volumes, the sound of this device is nothing like what I expected. Indoors, it sounds fantastic. The bass is great, and it really is a fantastic speaker in small enclosed spaces, so no complaints there. But at top volume outside, it is actually quieter than the Big Jambox at top volume, and that is a 5 year old speaker that is much smaller and half the weight. Now, the bass at lower levels is great on the Extreme 2 indoors. But when you slide the volume up from about 60% to anything approaching 100% on an iPhone, for example, the bass disappears, and the sound starts to become muddy. It's as though they purposefully nuked the bass at higher volumes. The speaker loses all punch. This is not something that can be rectified by changing the EQ or other settings; believe me, I have tried. For me it's important that the speaker be at least as loud and as clear as the old Big Jambox I bought. What I have discovered looking around is that JBL seems to have halved the output on the battery from 40 watts to 20 watts when using a battery... I guess in order to save overall battery life? For me this would have been an important thing to know when I purchased the speaker, as 20 watts overall is what the Big Jambox put out I think. I upgraded to the most recent firmware 1.9. A number of folks on the interwebs have said that yes, the update to 1.9 made some sound changes, but that the original JBL Extreme was louder even without the updates, so it's not just me. I contacted JBL with these specific complaints before writing the review...they say an update is coming, but don't discuss if this will address my issue, and they recommended returning it, which I (sadly) did. They had no real answers to my questions, although they did get back to me quickly. Bottom line is, if you are looking for a party speaker or a speaker with good sound for outdoors, this speaker is definitely NOT for you.

LOVE this speaker. Got a great deal on Black Friday. Bought it for work to stream off my iPad. I work in a very large mechanic shop and this does the job well

Battery Lasts long, good sound, could be a bit louder.

Replaced my JBL charge 3 after many years of use. Great sound, nice projection and be LOUD and full when you need it to be! Oh, and it was on sale so that made it better!

It's perfectly fine for us to have our own speaker with a powerful and loud sound. Thanks for the help in the choosing Best Buy.

I got is as a gift for my sibling. Honestly, jbl portable speakers are the best out there. Got in on sale as well.

Excellent bass and overall frequency response. It’s a bit heavy but the strap provided is useful. I have not taken it to the outdoors but I am confident that JBL will deliver. I am really happy with the purchase overall.

Great speaker..big sound..i still listen to my music with it..no issues

It is a great sounding speaker my wife loves it she uses it when she watches movies on her iPad

I have 3 of these speakers and they are the best. I would definitely recommend you getting them, bass is good and sound is clear

Speaker sounds great at all volume levels. I would recommend this product.

The sound on my JBL ranks up there with my Bose system. The only problem I had was it didn't come with a cord to plug it in the wall once the original charge was over. When I called to let Best Buy know, they confirmed this product doesnt come with a cord. If you received one with your product, you got lucky.

I sounds really nice. It was on sale for a good price so I don't want to pass on it.

Excelente speaker, it was a gift and they end fascinated by the sound

High-quality sound. Very much recommended for good sound

Excellent bass sound, could be a bit louder. Long battery life. JBL is great sound for value.

Sound is incredible for it’s size.. Good travel along speaker.

One of the best speakers for audiophiles at this price point

this speaker is awesome! sounds great for its size. im so happy i bought it..def worth it. i got the black one but the other colors look good as well.

Music on the go for a long time, everybody likes it.