Customer Ratings & Reviews

I think the JLab JBuds Party Speaker has a lot to offer, with a few caveats. Here are my main thoughts: Pros: • The speaker boasts IPX 6 waterproofing certification, so its ready for the pool, lake, boat, kayaking, etc. • The silicon loop attached to the back of the speaker is perfect for carrying, attaching the unit to a carabiner, or roping to about anything. • The multicolor lighting system is cool, if not unique to this speaker. Sure, it’s not going to light up a room, but it’ll create a nice light show based on the music you’re currently playing. • Just like you can with speakers from other brands like JBL and Sony, you can pair this speaker with more JLab Party speakers to create a space/party filling experience. • The speaker has some weight to it, mostly because of the number of speakers the unit includes: 2 tweeters and a downward facing subwoofer. • 30 Watts of power from this speaker is plentiful. • I like that JLabs continues to place physical volume knobs on a variety of their products (I have a wireless keyboard with one). This speaker also includes a volume knob at the top of the unit. I love tactile input, and the use of a volume knob that doubles as a play/pause button is awesome. It has a nice little click as you spin the nob. • JLabs has a phone app to manage speaker settings like toggling on/off voice prompts (ie. the speaker saying “JLabs On, Fully Charged” and “JLabs Off” when you turn on and off the device), turning on and off the party lights, adjusting the custom EQ settings, and updating the speaker firmware. • The supposedly battery boasts 12 hours of battery life. So far, no complaints about battery life are coming from me. Cons: • The JLab Signature EQ setting tends to make the higher frequencies more prominent, and it may be a bit too much, at least to my ears. It’s a little piercing. But luckily enough, you can create a custom EQ setting (though that comes with another interesting quirk) … • The JLab Signature EQ setting is significantly louder than the Custom EQ setting, even when you adjust the sliders to match the Signature setting exactly. I’m not sure what’s happening here, but there’s a very noticeable difference in volume levels between the two settings. • I’m still working to make the custom EQ sound the best it can, but so far, I’m not having any luck making it sound less muddy, where there’s more distinction between the frequencies high to low. • For the price, the sound signature is decent, but it’s not the best I’ve heard from other competitors in this price range. Overall, I like this speaker. Do I think it’s the best sounding? No. But it still sounds good. For what this speaker offers in terms of waterproofing, a physical volume knob, and up to 12 hours of battery- at this price-point this speaker offers a lot of value and functionality.

The sounds very nice. Not bad at all. Looks great too.

The JLAB JBUDS bluetooth speaker is a fun portable speaker that lets you take the party with you! It was easy to set-up and start playing my favorite music from my phone. It was easy to pair to my iPhone with out downloading the app. I'm not quite convinced I need the app - I feel like every device has an app and it just gets overwhelming. This app lets you turn the lighting on/off, change the equalizer and sync with other JLAB speakers. That's all I can that you can do a this point. It doesn't even let you control the volume from the app. There is a picture of the controls but nothing you can use. The speaker has 12+ hours of playtime or 10+ hours with the RGB lighting on. You can take calls on the speaker which is nice. It will pause your music, let you take the call on the speaker, and then go back to your music when you complete the call. The speaker says it is waterproof - but I have not tested that. It's a great speaker to have around the pool or at the beach. The sound is great with 30W of power, (2) drivers, and (2) passive woofers and it is fun to use! It has a comfortable silicone loop handle that makes it easy to carry.

This speaker is good value for the money. I thought it would be a smaller speaker but it is quite a bit larger than I thought it would be. Not a bad thing, just not compact, so don’t expect this to fit in a pocket or anything small. It would fit in a back pack or medium purse or something along those lines. It is portable and does hold a good charge. Out of the box the speaker comes fully charged and is ready to be paired, which was easy to do. Just push and hold the power button to enter pairing mode, the speaker even has a voice that tells you as much, and then scroll to the bluetooth settings on your phone and select the jlab speaker. Took all of 2 seconds to setup. I played some music from my phone to this and the bass was good for a speaker this size, and the highs and lows were also good. Also in the box was a quick guide book pamphlet and a usb c to usb c cord. One of the 2 main features of this is the actual party led strip along the top. It’s about 1” thick. It scrolls through different color ambiance options. With the app, it says you can actually customize this led strip. I did not try this out in the app, but it’s really cool as is. The other really cool feature is that you can pair this jlab speaker with other jlab speakers to create a whole sound setup. You can use this speaker to send the music to another speaker, or to act as a receiver with other speakers. While this one speaker provides really good sound on its own, it’s good to know you can always expand your setup if needed. I would recommend this item.

This little portable speaker is surprisingly powerful. Even though it is less than 10 inched tall and only about 3 or 4 inches square, it puts out a LOT of sound. The speaker comes with a USB-C charging cable and a printed quick start guide. First thing I did was top off the charge. While the speaker works just fine without the app, there are features that you can only access from the app. I already had the app on my phone since I have other Jlab devices. Once the speaker was fully charged, I turned it on by pressing the clearly labeled power button. I then fired up the app and selected “connect another device”. I picked speakers from the menu, and JBuds Party from the next menu. The speaker connected to my phone immediately after that. I did not need to pair it manually to my phone first like some new devices require. From the app you can control the LED lights, the equalizer, LabSync, turn voice prompts on and off, tweak how long to sit idle before powering off automatically, at what battery level to turn off the LEDs, check for firmware updates and get a chart showing the onboard controls. From the lighting menu you can select different patterns, speed, brightness and which LEDs light up in which order. You can also turn off the lights here. If you aren’t a fan of apps or just don’t want to add yet another app to your phone, never fear. The JBuds Party Speaker has controls right on it. The controls on the top of the speaker allow you to do pretty much everything you need. You can even use LabSync, which allows you to cast to other Jlab Party speakers (or cast to this one from another one) by pressing and holding the volume knob. The day I got the JBuds Party Speaker, I wasn’t having a party. But I did need to clean up my basement. So, I grabbed my phone and the speaker and went downstairs. I set the speaker in an out of the way corner and logged into my favorite streaming music service on my phone. I tried out a few of the preprogrammed equalizer settings and decided I liked the default one best. Then I cranked up the volume and the speaker filled my basement with music. It was great and honestly made the next three hours of basement cleanup seem a lot easier. Battery life is listed at 10 hours with the LEDs on and 12 hours without. So far, I haven’t run it down. But, I can say with certainty that the battery lasts as long a I need it to. I highly recommend this speaker.

TLDR: Offers a TON of value for the price, but its audio quality does leave me wanting. PROS Up to 12 hours of battery life w/o lighting Linkable to up to 100 other JLAB Speakers IPX6 Waterproof 2x2.5" Full-Range Drivers with 30W of Power CONS RGB Lighting cuts play time approximately 20% Full-Range drivers offer decent sound, but not as clear as others SET-UP & APP A person couldn't ask for a simpler, easier-to-use app than the JLAB app. Simple to use and understand and most importantly, I've found that works as equally as well on Android as it does on iOS. Excellent work JLAB. After initial pairing, the JLAB app greeted me with a mandatory firmware update, as is often expected with most products nowadays. At first, the firmware failed to install via the Android app, freezing at 100% before erroring out. Simply closing and restarting the app got things back in line and the firmware installed correctly on the 2nd go. USE & SOUND QUALITY The JBUDS Party works very well. I was pleasantly surprised to find voice announcements at this price point. Upon power up, the JLAB gives you an update on the battery level and then notifies you of a successful pairing. Music selection, playback, EQ settings are all accessible via the app or via the extremely convenient controls at the top of the speaker. Rather than the minimalist approach that some of JLAB's competitors use, the added playback controls on the top of the Party speaker are a welcome addition. They are intuitive and easy to manipulate even without looking. One area that the JBUDS Party does fall short of the competition is overall sound quality. While audio is decent at low to medium volume settings, it becomes murky pretty quickly at higher volume levels. The JBUDS Party will never be considered an audiophile speaker in any sense of the word, the clarity just isn't there. However, audio quality is more than acceptable at this price point. One thing that isn't common at this price point is the power output. The JBUDS Party packs a punch. It's two 2.5" drivers get up to 30W of power. Very impressive. Two 2.5" passive radiators try their best to add some additional depth to audio, but their contribution isn't nearly as dynamic as I would have hoped after sampling the competition. The JBUDS Party can sync itself to up to 100 other different JBUDS speakers. Wow! The competition advertises syncing 2 of their products together for stereo sound, but 100? That's quite impressive. While I don't have 100 speakers to test, I did pair it to 2 other JLAB's and they played in perfect sync. I couldn't imagine what have 100 speakers playing in sync would be like. FINAL THOUGHTS Like I've stated, the JBUDS Party isn't anywhere close to being an audiophile speaker. Its small 2.5" full-range drivers just can't match the audio quality of the competition. However, the JBUDS Party does offer a TON of value. It plays loud, has RGB lighting, and lasts 12 hours on a single charge. It's hard not to like. The JLABS app works great, the on device controls are easy to use, and the IPX6 water rating ensures the fun doesn't stop regardless of the venue. Sound Quality: 3 Battery Life: 4 App: 5 Value: 5 I give the JBUDS Party a solid 4. It probably deserves a higher rating, but honestly, its audio quality does leave me wanting. However, it outperforms nearly all the competition at its intended price point. Well done JLABS. RECOMMENDED

I'll have to admit, I'm not usually much of a fan of JLAB devices, they tend to be cheap, sound bad and don't work very well. I was pleasantly surprised with this speaker though Packaging: To start, it comes in a basic box with almost no literature as it well should, it doesn't really need anything to get it rolling. Just the speaker and the charging cord and that's it. It's good to see that it uses USB-C as some of the recent JLAB devices I've used are still confusingly micro-USB Use: Pairing is easy as you'd expect with any bluetooth device. Find it on your phone or whatever device and you're off to the races. A very pleasant surprise was that this speaker has a 3.5mm input on it which is woefully uncommon in bluetooth speakers these days (and really any devices), it's nestled beneath the flap where the USB-C charging port is. When you turn it on it announces it's name (JLAB) and how much battery power you have, along with starting to cycle colors around the upper halo. When you run audio through it, it's extremely well balanced for such a small speaker and it gets shockingly loud. The down-firing woofer is far better than I'd expected and really the entire use of the device is excellent. You can further customize the listening experience and the light ring in the Jlab app, so really there's a lot to be said about this small and surprisingly good speaker. Overall: It's an excellent little speaker, doesn't cost much and packs quite the punch. There's a ton of good here and I strongly recommend it.

We got this Bluetooth speaker to be able to take with us to the beach or to any outdoor events where we wanted to be able to play music from our phones and tablet. One thing we like is the strap to make it easy to carry when we're moving from place to place, especially when we are at the softball fields and like to use it to play music between innings. I was able to connect to it from my phone very easily and once I had the app installed I was then able to change the combination of colors as well as a few preset EQ settings but also it has an option for a custom EQ. I actually just like the Jlab Signature setting for the clearest audio with a decent amount of bass. Having multiple size speakers and different positions allows for loud but clear audio as well as some decent base from a portable speaker. One other cool feature if you have multiple speakers as you can link them together. We only have the one for now but that is definitely a neat feature if you want to have a few different ones positioned around and patio or a different parts of a room to have additional audio. Overall we are very happy with this portable speaker and I am impressed by how well the app is for settings and controlling the audio.

So in my opinion, this is a nice speaker. The lights are fun. They sync with music or even with the voice of my audiobook. You can adjust them to one color or multi colors (why would you pick anything but multi colors??) When I had my grandson listen, he was not impressed with the sound. When he boosted the bass, the sound distorted. I didn't notice it as much but he has a very good ear for music and notices things like that. He says if they put the word "party" in the name, you can expect lots of bass but not great sound overall. I have other JLab products so adding this to my existing app was very easy. From the app, you can adjust the equalizer. My favorite is EQ1 (JLab signature). EQ3 is bass boost and there is something about the sound that is not quite "right". The speaker doesn't quite get deep enough for the bass. The unit has waterproofing- I have not taken it out in the rain or near the pool to test how "waterproof" they mean. It is expandable. You can add more speakers for a truly surround sound experience. It has a built-in mic so you can take calls without having to switch back to your phone. Just be aware, that it is loud so everyone will hear your conversation! lol For someone like me, this is a good speaker for the price. For someone with a musical ear (like my grandson), he notices the distortions and lack of quality to the bass.

Be the life of the party with the JLab JBuds Party Speaker…or at least the one that brings the speaker! The JBuds Party Speaker pumps out pretty good sound for the size of the speaker. Bass is good, but does have a little bit of a hollow sound on heavy/deep bass tracks. HIghs and Mids are pretty good, the spoken word comes through crisp and clear. Battery Life is appears to be pretty good. It was 100% out of the box, but dropped to 80% pretty quick. However, it has held at 80% for a few days. I’ve been running for about an hour each day for 5 days. Bluetooth distance is pretty far with no drop in quality. I disabled the “Calls” option via the bluetooth setting on my phone as I just want to cast media, so I cannot comment on that feature. According to the feature list JLab Speakers can be paired with up to 100 speakers…that would be some party! Having a couple of these though would be nice for an outdoor or muiti-room party. Pairing your phone to a projector and couple of these speakers would make for a great backyard movie night. If you are in the market for a portable speaker, for the price and feature set, plus quality, the JLab JBuds Party Speaker is hard to beat…pun intended.

So this little guy is kinda loud compared to it's size. Wasn't expecting much from this but was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality. I like the speaker phone ability which I wonder why all Bluetooth speakers don't have in this size range. Download the JLab app and update the firmware. Even though I am not a huge fan of RGB I like that they give you the ability to control the lights in a few ways other than just cycling the lights colors. The EQ is decent. Now back to the app. It has a good selection of ambient sounds. Nice extra added value to the speaker's app. It's about the same size as a few other speakers out on the market right now. Definitely a good room speaker or party starter. Now don't expect to have the walls shaking with this one but it will let your neighbors know you are home. Did I mention the EQ in the app? The EQ is the star of this show to be very honest. The full range drivers leave a bit to be desired but the EQ saves the day. It's a nice speaker and if you are trying to save some money and enjoy your music then pick one of these up.

I’ve been using the JBuds Party speaker for a few days now, and it’s been a solid little companion for casual listening and small get-togethers. It’s not going to blow your mind with deep bass or studio-level clarity, but for the price and portability, it holds its own. Sound Quality The sound is loud and clear, which is impressive for something this compact. Vocals come through nicely, and it doesn’t distort even when you crank it up. Bass is... okay. It’s there, but don’t expect anything punchy or room-shaking. It’s fine for pop, podcasts, and background music, but if you’re into bass-heavy genres, you’ll probably notice the lack of depth. Call Functionality One feature I didn’t expect to use much but ended up appreciating is the ability to take calls directly through the speaker. The built-in mic works well for quick check-ins or hands-free chats. It’s not something I’d use for long conversations, but for casual use, it’s surprisingly convenient. App Features The JLab app adds a nice layer of customization. You can adjust the EQ settings to match your listening style, and for me, the JLab Signature EQ sounds the best, balanced, clear, and just a bit more dynamic than the others. The app also lets you play ambient noise, which is a cool bonus if you want background sound while working or relaxing. Sync & Lights The JBuds Party supports LabSync, which lets you link up to 100 speakers. I haven’t tried syncing multiple units yet, but it’s a cool option if you want to expand your setup later. The RGB lighting adds a fun vibe, it pulses to the beat and looks great in low light. You can customize the lights through the app as well. Build & Battery It’s splashproof (IPX6), so I’ve had it out by the pool and on the patio with no issues. The build feels solid, and the loop handle makes it easy to carry around. Battery life has been great, I’ve gotten around 12 hours on a single charge, even with the lights on. Setup & Controls Setup was super easy. Bluetooth pairing took seconds, and the controls are straightforward. I really like the volume dial, it’s more satisfying than buttons and easier to adjust quickly. What I Like • Loud, clean sound for its size • RGB lighting adds a fun touch • Splashproof and portable • Long battery life • Easy setup and tactile controls • Can take calls directly through the speaker • LabSync feature available for future expansion What Could Be Better • Bass is just okay, not great • No smart assistant or voice control Final Thoughts If you’re looking for a fun, affordable speaker that’s easy to carry and sounds good for casual use, the JBuds Party is a solid pick. It’s not going to replace your home audio setup, but for pool days, cookouts, or just jamming out in your room, it gets the job done and looks good doing it.

The first thing I noticed when unpacking was the heft this JLab - JBuds Party Speaker has. It's no cheap plastic speaker that will break if dropped from just a couple feet. This thing could break a toe if dropped from a couple feet. I'm not saying it's ridiculously heavy or cumbersome just well made. It's nice that it come with a stretchy elastic band to easily carry the speaker while at the lake, camping, or moving around the house. Just attach a carabiner and you can hang it anywhere. The JLab - JBuds Party Speaker comes with a USB-C charging cable so you just need a block or computer to charge it up. The battery boasts a 12 hour battery life but I'm sure putting the EQ on EQ #3 setting with bass boost and the party lights running you will get less than 12 hours, but who parties or listens to music close to 12 hours at a time anyhow. As I said you can change the EQ and party light setting by downloading the JLab app. You can also turn off voice prompts, and sync to other JLAB speaker by enabling LabSync. This sound like a real cool feature as you can connect up to 100 speakers and also separate 2 speakers in a room to left and right channels to get a true stereo sound. I will definitely get more JLab speakers in the future to use these cool features. To control the volume and playback features there are push buttons and a volume dial on the top of the speaker. of course you can also control volume from your phone and skip feature on the streaming music app you use. The sound quality is very good except at full volume with the EQ set at #3(bass boost). The two 2.5" full range speakers produce great sound even at a high volume but the 2 woofers struggle to hit real deep lows without a little distortion but I wouldn't expect anything less from a compact speaker like this. My expectations are actually exceeded from the sound this JLab - JBuds Party Speaker can put out. I found the best sound experience can from setting the EQ to #1, the JLab signature sound experience. I love that this is element proof because this will be perfect for camping, going to the lake or splashing around in the pool. It's made to withstand a little water, dirt and dust and keep on playing. It's definitely a solid speaker and I can't wait to expand my listening experience by connecting a few more JLab speakers for a great sound experience.

My son was hoping for red, this was as close as we could find available at the time of ordering. Good sound! Good lights. Had a little trouble connecting at first, the we realized his headphones had to be unplugged first.

Awesome sound quality for the price. You can hook 100 speakers to each other for total coverage

very nice speaker clear and easy to pair with bluetooth device. very colorful. overall pleased ,

Great speaker for the price. The look is nice, it’s loud, and easy to connect and use with the app.

Great sound!!!!!! I love quality. Best Buy. I get 2 Paired. Have great sound. Bass very good

Bought this as a gift for my mother in law and it’s perfect for her. She listens to music constantly and wanted something to carry around to each room of the house. The sound is great and the light makes for a nice ambiance.

Initial impressions/setup: When I saw this and the size, I wasn’t expecting much, but I was surprised. I replaced a much larger speaker that is designed to have a lot of bass, and this little powerhouse far exceeded it. To give it a fair test, I used both a line-in and Bluetooth. It paired quickly to the Bluetooth, and once paired, reconnecting was almost instantaneous. The sound through Bluetooth was great, as was the sound through the line-in. To test it that way, I used an old Echo, and it was impressive. Build quality: You’d look at it and expect it to be a lightweight speaker, but it is actually quite hefty. It is well assembled and solid. The bottom is rubber-covered to keep water out, and in spite of how it looks, it is water-resistant all around. It comes with a tough rubber handle attached so that it can be carried. It seems quality enough, but the speaker is heavy enough that I don’t know if I would completely trust it to carry it that way. Features: This is meant to be a party speaker and it has what they call “party lights” on the top. These lights can be set to several different patterns or completely shut off by repeatedly pressing the power button. They’re fun for a while, but my default setting is off so that I can save some battery life. The product information claims that you can pair up to 100 JLab party speakers. Yes, that’s right, 100 speakers. I cannot imagine a case where that would make sense or be cost-effective, but it is an option. I’d like to have a couple of them but have not had a chance to try out this feature. You can create a two-speaker system and designate a speaker for the left and right channel. It comes with a few presets for sound quality that can be selected using the EQ Change button. By far, the JLab Signature preset had the most pleasant sound, followed by Balanced. The Bass Boost was the worst of them. It sounded very muffled and destroyed the quality of the music I was listening to. A lot of settings can be adjusted with the app that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. The best part about it is that the speaker’s sound can be further enhanced with an equalizer. I didn’t get much of a chance to work with the app, but it does seem like it has a lot to offer. It is also used for firmware updates when JLab makes them available. Overall, this is a very nice little speaker that performs better than I expected. It is replacing a much bigger speaker, and it has better sound and bass quality. Aside from the muffled bass boost, there is nothing to complain about here, and I am comfortable giving this speaker five stars.