JBL Clip 4 Eco

Verdict

A easy, good-sounding Bluetooth moveable speaker. Few techy extras, however the core design makes it helpful in a bunch of conditions wherein different audio system might wrestle

Introduction

The JBL Clip 4 Eco is a unusual and versatile moveable speaker. It’s water-resistant, and has a large carabiner fashion clip to let it hook into all kind of issues. 

Sound high quality is nice too. JBL has established itself as a grasp of Bluetooth audio system, even ones you may assume too small to provide music any influence. 

The JBL Clip 4 Eco makes use of a passive radiator to generate a very good bass thump, whereas tasteful tuning stops it from clouding the sound. As in most JBL audio system, I don’t assume the JBL Clip 4 Eco is sort of as smooth or cute a design as you may see from arch rival Final Ears. Like I stated, it’s quirky. Nevertheless, it’s the sort of fashion you develop to appreaciate extra because the weeks roll by. 

Nevertheless, for one of the best deal make certain to take a look at the costs of the unique JBL Clip 4 too. On the time of overview they price considerably lower than the JBL Clip 4 Eco’s £59.99 really helpful value, making them a greater purchase.

Design

• Constructed-in carabiner
• IP67 water resistance
• 10-hour battery life

The JBL Clip 4 Eco is certainly one of JBL’s smallest audio system, one step above the JBL Go 3. That mannequin is a real pocket rocket. This one received’t slot in pockets, however its entire deal is hanging on issues. 

Its prime half is a carabiner-style clip that may hook onto door handles, rucksacks — use your creativeness. 

It is a large a part of the JBL Clip 4 Eco’s quirky fashion, although, and you may maintain the speaker by its clip, turning it right into a teeny-tiny purse of types. There’s additionally a collection of rubbery ft on its backside, to make it appear simply at house when sat in your bed room taking part in tunes.  

The construct fashion is much like that of lots of JBL’s different Bluetooth audio system, harking back to the Final Ears fashions however with a barely much less tasteful, or not less than much less minimal, design. Regardless of being an enormous fan of a few of JBL’s audio system in sound high quality phrases, I’ve by no means beloved its fashion that a lot, which regularly results in large JBL logos and brash exterior passive radiators. 

The JBL Clip 4 Eco is somewhat completely different, although. At this scale the JBL fashion appears extra oddball than brash — not a nasty factor. 

Its outer is a material mesh and the speaker is water-resistant to a formidable IP67 commonplace. This implies it may be totally submerged in water with out concern to a depth of not less than 1m. 

The Clip 4 collection has been round since 2020, and this new Eco mannequin makes use of 100% recycled supplies for the speaker grille, as much as 90% recycled plastics elsewhere, and there’s no clear compromise to the end. 

A bunch of bodily controls sit on its physique. They allow you to play/pause, alter quantity and enter pairing mode. 

Options

• 10-hour battery life
• Bluetooth SBC assist

The entire level of this speaker is it’s easy. Not like JBL’s higher-end Bluetooth audio system just like the Cost 5, there’s no companion app to fret about. You’re not going to hyperlink two of those up as a stereo pair, or use a bunch in a wi-fi daisy chain. However would you need to? 

The JBL Clip 4 Eco is supposed to be good, easy and never too costly. And that’s it. There’s no aux enter, although, which can put some off. 

Battery life is rated at 10 hours, which is feasible if you happen to use reasonable volumes. It makes use of a USB-C to cost, however the charging velocity is considerably gradual. It takes round three hours to cost the Eco 4, which appears an age in a world of super-fast charging telephones. You can also’t use the USB to plug the speaker right into a laptop computer — I attempted with each Home windows laptops and a MacBook.

This speaker solely helps the SBC Bluetooth codec however, once more, with such compromised drivers any cash spent on licensing higher-spec codes would possible be higher spent elsewhere. 

Sound High quality

• Expertly tuned sound has a pleasing tone
• First rate punch for its dimension…
• … however the bass flooring isn’t that low

The JBL Clip 4 Eco has a single 40mm lively driver, which sits beneath the highest grille. And a passive radiator on the opposite facet of the enclosure. 

These radiators are important for producing bass in a small enclosure like this. The JBL Clip 4 Eco manages to kick out a significantly better lower-frequency punch than the JBL Go audio system, as a result of they use a much bigger, higher radiator. 

I discover the JBL Clip 4 Eco punchy sufficient to make music sound participating and fairly full. And the remainder of the frequency vary is dealt with in addition to I’ve come to anticipate from JBL’s audio system. 

You get a properly balanced tone. No apparent unnatural skews, no super-harsh treble or stodgy, leaden low-end. I discover audio system that attempt too arduous to place out lots of bass could make spoken-work content material like podcasts and audiobooks sound too darkish or muggy, however that doesn’t have an effect on the JBL Clip 4 Eco. 

Nevertheless, I might nonetheless advocate upgrading to one thing just like the JBL Flip 6 in order for you a speaker to make use of predominantly at house, to hearken to music. The Clip 4 Eco, no shock right here, can’t correctly render low bass. Because of this whereas kick drums don’t sound like somebody tapping a bit of cardboard, they aren’t full-blooded both. 

JBL tells you as a lot. In its spec checklist JBL says the bass flooring of the Clip 4 Eco is 100Hz, in comparison with a a lot decrease 63Hz within the JBL Flip 6. It’s a kind of uncommon events a frequency vary truly tells you one thing helpful. Even going by JBL’s personal figures, the Clip solely serves the higher half of the bass register.

I feel the JBL Clip 4 Eco works brilliantly as a secondary speaker. It’s nice for picnics or use whereas cooking, or tub time listening, and I discover its much less bassy tone avoids the boomy reverberation that usually occurs in tiled rooms. 

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Sustainability

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As a part of this mission, every time we overview a product we ship the corporate a collection of questions to assist us gauge and make clear the influence the machine has on the atmosphere.

We presently haven’t acquired solutions to the questions on this product, however will replace this web page the second we do. You possibly can see an in depth breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability data web page.