JBL GO - A worthy Bluetooth speaker?

Let's find it out......

JBL Go is Harman's latest micro-sized Bluetooth speaker was announced at CES. I bought it to  find out if it is worth the money, even though its price is quite low.

Price: $23.3/Rs 1699 for the blue variant

Design and specifications

I've always liked the design of Harman's products, and the JBL Go is no different. It may not have the flair of Red Dot award winners such as the E40BT headphones or the Clip, but the JBL Go's minimalistic boxy design is pleasant in its own way. I bought the blue variant for review but the JBL Go is also available in seven other colours: black, red, orange, pink, grey, blue, yellow and teal. The dimensions of 82.50 x 29.95 x 67.91mm mean it will even fit inside a trouser pocket, though the weight of 222g is on the higher side.

Harman has used same high quality materials on the body of the JBL Go as it does on its other products. The tough plastic has a rubber finish on all edges and the rear. The front consists of a perforated grille through which the sound emanates. The top edge houses the controls for power, Bluetooth, volume up, volume down, and speakerphone. The markings are of the same colour as the body and as are result they are not visible in the dark. Thankfully, they are slightly raised making it easy to feel for them instead.

The 3.5mm input jack, Micro-USB port and microphone are all on the right edge. There are two unusually large holes for a lanyard to loop through on the left. It would have been nice if Harman had included a lanyard cable in the box. There are JBL logo in bold orange lettering on the front and rear.

The JBL Go has a single 40mm driver which can operate in a frequency range of 180Hz to 20KHz, which means it cannot achieve really low-frequency sub-bass sounds. Pairing the speaker to any device using Bluetooth is a fairly easy process. The JBL Go can hold on to the connection at distances of up to 3m if there is no obstruction in between.

Performance

Firstly, it can get really loud for a speaker of its size. In my testing it managed to easily fill up a 200 sq.ft. room with power to spare. Additionally, the mids, highs and the bass sounds above 180Hz are well detailed.

If you want a Bluetooth speaker to enhance your laptop's sound, the JBL Go could be the best bet. The good mid-range response ensures that dialogue in movies is clearly audible. Even so, like most Bluetooth speakers, it fires only from one side and one cannot expect to hear a multidimensional sound. The JBL Go can last at least 5 hours on a single charge, which is not great but it should suffice for most practical purposes.

Verdict : Its a good purchase at the price point but if you are  a bass head you are better of buying Logitech x 100/50

In case you are interested in buying one you can buy the same with the link mentioned below

For US

https://goo.gl/vck3tQ

For India
https://goo.gl/jnY8J3

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