The JBL Go 3 was one of my favorite budget Bluetooth speakers because of its low price, decent audio and build quality, and compact design. Other than the subpar battery life and lackluster built-in loop, I didn’t have any serious complaints. But that was back in 2023 and while you can snag the JBL Go 3 for under $40, other newer budget Bluetooth speakers exist. JBL’s surprise unveiling of the JBL Go 4 proves that JBL isn’t willing to give up the $50 Bluetooth speaker category without a fight. And just for a quick spoiler, the JBL Go 4 is armed to the teeth with improvements!
JBL Go 4
Summary
A budget product seeing big improvements over the older model is quite rare, but JBL did deliver here while kindly keeping the launch price the same as its predecessor. If all or most of the improvements I mentioned appeal to you, the JBL Go 4 easily gets my recommendation—as long as you’re clear on what you’re getting and you’re OK with the trade-offs, namely light weight and extreme portability for sound quality and battery life.
Pros
- Light & portable
- Loud
- Rugged
- Easy to use
- Multipoint
- App: EQ
Cons
- Carabiner needed
- Battery life
Unboxing
Unboxing the JBL Go 4’s eco-friendly packaging revealed the usual stuff – a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, and the speaker itself. From afar, the JBL Go 4 closely resembles its predecessor JBL Go 3, but when I compared both, I noticed several key differences.
I want to touch on them quickly, because depending on how you feel about these improvements you might be able to save some money by choosing the third generation.
Design: JBL Go 3 vs JBL Go 4
Let’s get the obvious part out of the way first; JBL moved the built-in loop and made it wider and more durable which should impress folks who want to hang or clip it. Personally, I still wish JBL included an actual clip or carabiner so I can easily attach it to my bag, but, what can you do?
Another welcome improvement is much more silicone in the form of edge bumpers, and on the feet; this makes it easier to grip and feels more durable.
The top of the Go 4 keeps the same triple button arrangement for adjusting volume and playback, but the buttons are now centered on another silicone strip. Along the side is a secondary navigation bar featuring your power, a Bluetooth pairing button, and a triangular shaped button which allows you to switch between sources quickly and easily.
These minor design changes created two interesting advantages over the JBL Go 3.
First, the speaker is a bit lighter at 0.192 kg (0.42 lbs) while keeping the dimensions similar at 94.3 x 75.7 x 42.2 mm (3.7 x 3.0 x 1.7 inches). The speaker barely weighs anything at all and you could almost wear this around your neck without even noticing it.
Second, like the JBL Go 3, the Go 4 boasts an IP67 waterproof and dustproof rating.
But a third interesting upgrade is that JBL Go 4 finally floats —which I confirmed after tossing it in a bucket of water.
Unsurprisingly, the JBL Go 4 lacks a 3.5mm audio jack like the older model and the USB-C port found on the right side is strictly for charging.
Setup
Setup is pretty straight-forward; just hold the power button until you hear that familiar JBL sound and head to your phone’s Bluetooth menu and tap to connect. The navigation buttons perform as expected although the Go 4 finally introduces a “skip backward” function by triple-pressing the central Play button.
While you’re getting things ready make sure to download the JBL Portable app so you can check detailed battery life, and even pair two Go 4 speakers together.
Sound quality
Let’s start with the sound quality, and I want to open with this caveat; with a speaker like this, you’re prioritizing portability over audio quality and there’s no getting around this.
The speaker gets surprisingly loud which is great if you’re taking it hiking or camping for example. It definitely sounds bigger than it is.
Where it suffers is in the depth; there’s a definite high-end rasp to it, where you’ll hear a lot more treble (think lots of hi-hat) and it does have some scratchiness to the bass too. Despite that the vocals are quite clear and sound accurate.
If you don’t love the sound, The JBL Go 4 is also the first speaker in the series to support a custom 5-band EQ which you can tweak through the JBL Portable app. While it does take some of the edge off, don’t expect miracles.
In a nutshell, of course you’re not getting home stereo level sound, but that’s not the point, and what you are getting, for a speaker this is actually pretty enjoyable.
Key Improvements
JBL coupled the visual improvements with a substantial set of internal tweaks.
Bluetooth and Pairing Improvements
There’s newer Bluetooth 5.3 on the Go 4 (which is a nice step up from the Go 3’s 5.1 version) and that should mean improved range and stability.
This upgrade also enables multipoint support allowing you to connect two devices such as a phone and a laptop and easily switch between sources. Like I noted earlier you can use that triangular shaped button on the left side to swap among your sources.
I’m a huge fan of this technology because I love having my tablet and my phone connected and this just makes life so much easier.
I was very glad to see I could easily link the Go 4 to JBL Flip 7 to give me more room-filling sound… and with most older speakers, pairing two disparate models like this isn’t even possible, so high five to Auracast.
Battery Improvements
JBL equipped the Go 4 with a slightly larger 850 mAh battery, boosting the average runtime to about 7 hours (Go 3 had 5 hours). While I expected double digit figures, I welcome the small improvement considering how light the speaker feels. Again, with this speaker the name of the game is portability and lightweight. So the low battery life here is not surprising.
Fast charging remains absent, and the Go 4 takes 3 hours to charge, which given its limited hours is quite substantial.
Stereo pair
If you buy a second JBL Go 4, you can use the JBL Portable app to pair both speakers forming a mini true wireless stereo setup via the new Auracast feature. Because JBL introduced Auracast to the JBL Clip 5 and Xtreme 4, you can also establish a multi-speaker setup. Just press the triangle Auracast button on the JBL Go 4 or another JBL speaker you wish to set as the primary speaker and then repeat the step with all other speakers you wish to add. Because I only had the one speaker I didn’t get to test this out.
Overall Thoughts: JBL Go 4
A budget product seeing big improvements over the older model is quite rare, but JBL did deliver here while kindly keeping the launch price the same as its predecessor at $49US (CA$69). If all or most of the improvements I mentioned appeal to you, the JBL Go 4 easily gets my recommendation—as long as you’re clear on what you’re getting and you’re OK with the trade-offs, namely light weight and extreme portability for sound quality and battery life.
Let’s go over the pros and the cons of this speaker so you can see if it might be right for you.
On the pro side it’s incredibly lightweight, it gets quite loud for its size, and I appreciate how JBL made it even more rugged. The speaker is easy to set up, easy to pair, and with multi point connection it’s a lot more versatile too. I also appreciate the EQ options and the app connectivity which allows for remote control as well as viewing detailed battery life.
Cons? I’d love to see a carabiner included in here since the strap on its own isn’t big enough to loop over much of anything. The battery life is improved but it’s not substantial all on its own and it does take a very long time to charge.
If you want to save a few bucks on this form factor, keep in mind the Go 3 can still serve as a nice travel speaker or gift if you can find it under $40, but that price drop might not matter if the JBL Go 4 goes on sale too.
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