What Hi-Fi?95
A brilliant budget buy with cohesive, engaging sound, rugged build and good features for its tiny size.
JBL Go 4
4 expert reviews#10 of 10 Bluetooth speakers
Image: JBL3/4critics
recommend
recommend
Best tiny rugged speaker
Critics’ consensus
4 professional reviewers tested the JBL Go 4, and 3 recommend it. Most praised: build quality and design. Most common complaint: battery life.
Reviewed by What Hi-Fi?, Tom's Guide, TechRadar and 1 more
The catch: Sound is limited with little bass, and it turns muddled at higher volume.
Critics split
Scores run from 62 to 95All 4 scores printed by the outlets
Early score: only 4 professional reviews so far. Expect it to move as more reviews come in.
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What do critics say about the JBL Go 4?
Tom's Guide80
A very likeable little speaker that is waterproof, well built and adequate in sound, with a useful app and multi-speaker Auracast.
TechRadar80
A fun, pocketable budget speaker that is perfectly adequate for the price, though sound and bass are not impressive.
TechGearLab62
Extremely portable and tough, but the sound is muddled and compressed at higher volume, making it overpriced next to better small speakers.
Scores are converted to 0–100. "est." means the outlet gave no number, so we estimated one from its verdict and checked our estimates against ratings outlets print. How we check estimates
What critics praise most
Build quality2 of 4
Design2 of 4
What critics dislike most
Battery life2 of 4
Alternatives
Not sure about the JBL Go 4?
Image: JBL
Image: Marshall
Image: Bose
Image: BoseAlso reviewed, not yet scored
- JBL Boombox 4 · 3 reviews so far
- JBL Clip 5 · 3 reviews so far
- JBL Go 5 · 3 reviews so far
- JBL Xtreme 5 · 3 reviews so far
- LG xboom Bounce · 3 reviews so far
- Marshall Bromley 450 · 3 reviews so far
- Marshall Bromley 750 · 3 reviews so far
- Marshall Middleton II · 3 reviews so far
Common questions
Is the JBL Go 4 worth it?
Most critics think so: 3 of 4 recommend it. Sound is limited with little bass, and it turns muddled at higher volume.
Do critics agree about the JBL Go 4?
Critics split: scores range from 62 (TechGearLab) to 95 (What Hi-Fi?), a spread of 33 points across 4 reviews. Reviewers disagree, so read the individual reviews before buying.
What do critics dislike about the JBL Go 4?
Battery life (2 of 4 reviews).
What is the best alternative to the JBL Go 4?
The JBL Flip 7 (critic score 86), top pick, narrowly.