JBL Flip 7 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

After five and a half years on the market, it’s fair to say the popular JBL Flip 6 Bluetooth speaker – originally introduced back in December 2021 – was due a refresh. Pull the new Flip 7 out of the box, however, and even the most devoted JBL fan would struggle to clock many significant outward differences.

Design

That’s largely down to the fact that JBL has stuck with its by now familiar, cylindrical-shaped, rubberised enclosure, albeit now IP68, rather than IP67 rated (so even more water and dustproof than before), but still ideally proportioned to slip into a backpack (if not a handbag).

Buttons remain large and easy to operate, though it’s nice to see the inclusion of a new PushLock system that allows you to swiftly swap the supplied, rather short loop (, with the more useful carabiner that’s also bundled.

If it’s not already obvious, we’re talking about a mono, rather than a stereo Bluetooth speaker here. Which is why there are just two drivers buried within it – a 45 x 80mm ‘racetrack’ mid/bass and a 16mm treble – working in concert with the aforementioned passive drivers located at the ends. 

The guards that protect the latter have got a bit chunkier in this latest iteration, with scallops provided in the ends to allow lower frequencies to escape, should you choose to stand the speaker upright.

Both of the drivers have been evolved from the ones used in the older model, the aim being to generate ‘clearer bass, even at max volume’, as well as more ‘depth’. There’s also a bit more power directed to the bass driver from the internal amplification – 25w vs 20w – which helps extend the LF response, although the 10w going to the tweeter stays unchanged.

Features

Charging the battery from flat to full still takes 2.5 hours, but the theoretical maximum play time has gone up from 12 to 14 hours; a charging LED tells you when the Flip 7’s battery is fully charged. As usual, the quoted playback time is measured when listening at sane volume levels; put the pedal to the metal and it will drop dramatically.

On that subject, there is a PlayTime Boost feature that lengthens battery life by a couple of hours, but it does so by filtering out low bass; I didn’t use it for long.  

An interesting point of note, however, that JBL is no longer including a USB-C charging cable in the box, the assumption, presumably, being that everybody on the planet now already owns at least one. That logic may be well-founded, but the decision still feels a little mean-spirited to me.

Aside from the power button, on-unit controls are basic – play/pause, volume up/down, Bluetooth pairing and – new for this version – a Bluetooth Auracast pairing button. Originally designed as a brand-agnostic technology to pair speakers, here it allows you link a pair of Flip 7s to generate a stereo output. Sadly, you’ll get no joy connecting to any other maker’s Auracast-enabled devices, which is a bit restricting, given the tech’s ethos.

JBL suggests that it’s possible to connect the Flip 7 to a laptop or tablet via USB-C, to listen to lossless 24-bit/96kHz audio. I followed the instructions and tried to hook it up to a MacBook and iMac, without success, but a Dell Latitude 5450 Windows 11-equipped laptop recognised it immediately.

Fire up the partnering app and you get four useful EQ presets – JBL Signature, Chill, Energetic and Vocal – as well as a seven-band EQ. Playing with the latter’s sliders reveals that it’s the 250Hz, 1kHz, 2kHz, and 4kHz sliders that make the most audible difference.

In all honesty, there’s not much to be gained by tweaking the lowest 125Hz LF control, but the amount of bass being churned out as standard feels entirely appropriate; it’s well balanced and augments, rather than overpowers the mids and high frequencies, even when you tweak the latter. 

As is the corporate compulsion these days, JBL has managed to find a way of sneaking AI into the Flip 7. AI Sound Boost, as it’s called, analyses the music you’re playing in real-time, adjusting the EQ on the fly so that distortion is minimised. I’ll take that over SkyNet doing its thang, any day of the week.

Performance

Compared to my resident £179 Sonos Roam 2, the Flip 7 shows itself to be in a different league sonically. And in an entirely good way. Where the baby Sonos sounds hugely refined, but ultimately a little lacking in presence, the Flip 7 deliver hard-charging dynamics  as if it had just been told this was its last day on earth. This, people, is a Bluetooth speaker on a mission.

The way it portrays music actually reminds me of high-end hi-fi. Back in the 80s, Naim amplifiers were legendary for prioritising PRaT – pace, rhythm and timing – above all else. In its own, obviously much smaller-scale way, the Flip 7 follows that same musical mantra, delivering music with an engaging energy that utterly belies its modest size.

While this isn’t a device that suits classical music (like, at all), the Flip 7 laps up anything mastered with a bit of pop and snap. The default JBL Signature EQ preset ensures vocals are a little recessed in the midrange, while the frequency extremes are tilted up… the classic, defining sonic balance associated with scores of JBL loudspeakers down the years. Personally, I love it, but if you find it a touch too bright sounding for your taste, a gentle tweak of the manual EQ preset successfully tames things.

In volume terms, this isn’t the loudest Bluetooth speaker I’ve ever heard at the price, but it can certainly generate more than enough level to entertain outdoors; that’s a core requirement for anything that’s as weather-resistant as this thing is.

Lastly, while it’s not night and day, using a direct USB-C connection between a Windows laptop/PC definitely does give a marginal sound quality improvement, making the Flip 7 a decent option if you need a high-quality, mono desktop/PC speaker.

VERDICT

Once in a while, you come across a product that you know is inherently ‘right’, almost from the get-go. In my experience, there’s seldom any correlation between price and ambition when such welcome, minor miracles occur, a truism that the relatively affordable Flip 7 is ample testament to.

To be able to sing as sweetly (and as loudly) as it does, while offering such ‘go anywhere’, all-weather durability and portability, is an achievement that deserves recognition. And that’s even before you’ve taken the affordable price tag into account.

Put simply, the JBL Flip 7 is one of the best portable Bluetooth speakers at its price point, bar none. You’ll struggle to better it…