Best Portable Speakers for Connectivity (2024)

The Motion 300 offers 30 watts of stereo sound, and using the Soundcore Signature EQ preset is a pretty good place to start your listening experience.

The stereo imaging went a long way in creating a truly immersive and wide performance.

The base-up feature makes a subtle improvement to the low-end performance, as expected, adding a slight pickup in the bass and mid-bass elements of the music.

Luckily, the Motion 300 offers quite a bit. While Anchor quotes a playback time of 13 hours with the BassUp feature off, we were able to squeeze a whopping 16 hours and 15 minutes of playback time.

Soundcore has also stated that this device will offer up to 13 hours of playback from a single charge, just beating the Bosonic Flex's 12 hours in this department.

The Motion 300 is wrapped in a durable rubberized finish. It has a metal speaker grill and an IPX7 protection rating.

This thing literally took it all in stride. There is a slight scuff here and a tiny dent there, but apart from that, this thing really, really took it all, and none of that affected the sound quality whatsoever.

The Motion 300 is designed to perform in three different positions: standing, laying, and hanging from, you know, like a tree branch or something.

It's 0.2 kilos heavier than something like the Bose Sounding Flex, for example, which is a little surprising considering their nearly identical form factors.

This is one of those speakers that will sound better when plugged in because, on battery, the woofers are 20 watts and the tweeter is 15 watts. However, on AC power, the woofers are 30 watts and the tweeters are 20 watts.

The JBL Extreme 4 is slightly louder and cleaner, offering a similar overall sound. However, it definitely sounds a little bit better.

The Extreme 4, on the other hand, is more balanced. It's definitely cleaner, with more presence in the treble. While it does have some punchy bass, it's not nearly as boomy as the Boom 2.

The battery life is 24 hours on a single charge, and it features a playtime boost.

The battery of the Xtreme 4 is replaceable.

Both speakers claim to last up to 24 hours on a single charge.

The speaker is IP67 dust- and water-resistant.

The outer parts of the side bumpers are made of rugged rubber for better grip and additional protection from dust and water.

The Xtreme 4 is rated IP67, which protects this speaker from dust and water submersion at a depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes.

The speaker weighs approximately 4.1 lb and comes with a shoulder strap.

The weight of this speaker is 2.1 kg, which is heavier than the Xtreme 3.

The Extreme 4 is also very lightweight and has a built-in shoulder strap, which makes it great for camping trips.

Inside, the speaker utilizes a single high-quality 20-millimeter, 10-watt tweeter and a 90-millimeter, 30-watt woofer to deliver surprisingly powerful audio, considering its compact size.

It produces a clear and reasonably balanced sound, with plenty of low end for bass-heavy genres, bright and punchy treble for vocals and lead instruments, and a solid mid-range response to round out your audio and add some texture.

While it does occasionally produce compression artifacts at higher volumes, the overall sound remains controlled, and the digital signal processing doesn't thin out the bass too much.

It's rated to deliver up to 20 hours of continuous playtime on a single charge, depending on your usage habits, which is longer than many premium models.

Unfortunately, it takes around four hours to fully charge and lacks a fast charging function, unlike some competitors in this range.

The speaker is wrapped in a durable mesh fabric, providing an impressive IP67 water resistance rating, so you can safely use it poolside or at the beach.

It also has rubberized feet on each end for added stability and impact resistance. However, the ends are somewhat angled, causing it to lean when placed upright.

It features a compact cylindrical design, weighing only around two pounds, and can easily fit into a bag or backpack for enhanced portability.

The JBL Charge 5 is easy to use and offers an intuitive setup process.

The Boom 2 now has 2.1 channel speakers, which deliver powerful sound with crystal clear audio.

The bass reproduction is quite impressive, with a low of 45 Hertz for true deep bass.

With the Boom 2, you're getting a lot more detail. Things like vocals come across as much more pronounced.

The battery life is really good, lasting 24 hours, while many competitors are in the 10-hour range.

You can charge your phone or other devices with the built-in power bank.

With the base mode and the LED lights at full brightness, you'd probably get around 15 to 18 hours.

It's also IPX7 waterproof and floatable, so the music keeps playing when it's in the water.

It's made of plastic polycarbonate, and the grill is also made of plastic.

I've dropped this a few times, and it's still like new.

It weighs just under 4 lbs, so it's very lightweight.

You have a built-in handle for easy portability.

It's super small, so it's pretty easy to take around when traveling to the beach, the pool, or anywhere.

The sound that comes out of the Go4 is absolutely phenomenal, considering it only has a 1.75-inch driver.

The go4 sounds very impressive for its size, and at maximum volume, it's usable in the shower. You'll be able to easily hear your music if you're on a bike ride or a hike.

The go4 has a 40 mm transducer paired with a passive radiator for the bass, and it puts out 4.2 watts.

The Sonos Move 2 still very much delivers a signature Sonos sound; it's nicely balanced and definitely powerful enough to fill a decent-sized space.

The dual tweeter configuration provides a wider and bigger sound, and I think the vocals are also more open and projected.

One thing I noticed with the Move 1, which is sadly still present in the Move 2, is that the bass seems to be clipped at higher volumes.

Sonos says you will get a full 24 hours from a complete charge, which is more than double the previous 11 hours.

We turned off both power-saving modes to try and achieve minimum battery life and found that the Move lasted 22 hours at 50% volume over Wi-Fi.

We also tested the speaker's recharge time and found that it took just over 2 hours to go from dead to 100% battery on the charging base.

The Move 2 has definitely passed our drop test.

This speaker also has an IP56 rating, which means it is not fully waterproof.

The built-in handle on the back is quite good, and I haven't dropped it yet.

The built-in handle on the back is quite good, and I haven't dropped it yet.

If you really want something portable, go for the Sonos Roam. It weighs less than a pound.

The Move 2 is designed to be portable, featuring a built-in handle that makes it easy to transport.

The sound is just incredible out here. It doesn't need walls or anything to bounce off of; it just hits, and it hits hard.

In terms of sound, this speaker is not built like a typical speaker; it's built like a sound system.

It's very loud, louder than any GBL boom box before; however, it's more refined.

The Boombox 3 has a 72.6 watt-hour battery, just like the Boombox 2.

In real-world use, with the Boombox 3 playing at 80%, I have found that it is good for about 8 hours of playback time.

Construction-wise, I've had it for a year, and there is not a scratch on it.

It's made to be durable, man; it's got good build materials.

In terms of portability, it's portable enough for you to carry around town for a while. However, it's not something you can take on a hike.

If you don't have a car, you can rent one for holidays, but you can't get it for a one-day short trip.

The Tribit StormBox Flow has 25 watts of power, making it impressively loud for its size.

The StormBox Flow also has an X Bass feature, which increases the bass on the speaker and makes it more thunderous.

The sound is slightly grainy if you listen in the background; you can hear a bit of underlying static. When you increase the volume to 100%, you may experience a little distortion.

Thanks to its impressive 30-hour battery life, it will have no problem keeping up with you.

The StormBox Flow has an advertised battery life of 30 hours when the speaker is playing at 60% volume.

If its battery life is below 50%, you will need to turn it off to charge your own devices.

Thanks to its IP67 rating, the StormBox Flow is waterproof, so if you drop it in a pool or lake, it will be perfectly fine.

The front features a highly scratch-resistant faceplate, and the rest of the body is covered in a very stiff rubber.

It only comes in one color, which is this darker gray.

It's a super compact and durable Bluetooth speaker that's great for home use, and you can also easily take it with you on the go.

It also has a built-in loop, allowing you to attach it to something like your backpack if you want.

As you can see, it has a nice handheld portable size.

The quality held. Did you feel a bass drop? I did. Did you? Yeah, I don't know. Let me see. Just a little, a little, a little bit. It's like not even enough to be worried about.

In its normal mode, the bass is impressively strong for something of its size.

The smaller Wonderbon 4, unfortunately, doesn't boast the same acoustic upgrades, but we do get some unique new functionality with a new podcast mode.

The Pulse 5 has an improved speaker setup over its predecessor because it now features an upward-firing woofer and an upward-firing tweeter, which is stacked on top of the woofer.

The brighter EQ on the Pulse 5 isn't a problem because you can easily adjust its EQ.

Regarding sound quality, what do I think about the JBL PS 5? Well, in my opinion, the overall sound quality is really good for a speaker with this many RGB lights.