The New Year's holidays are over, but the mood remains, and the brain cannot tune in to a working mood, which means that the holidays need to be extended, and the best option is to get out to warm countries.
Looking to extend my holiday mood, I realized that I did not have a suitable portable speaker that I could take with me to comfortably watch movies or listen to music in a hotel in a foreign land. The old Level Box Mini speaker, due to its dimensions, turns out to be not such a Mini on the road, which means that you need to find something more suitable and convenient for transportation.
After studying the range of online stores, the choice fell on the second generation of the JBL Go column.
The model is not new, but somehow I did not get to know it better. We correct this omission.
Among all the color solutions in the amount of 12 pieces, my choice fell on the mint version.
Just because black is boring. And mint – because mint, I have never had a mint technique before. ?
Specifications
- Version Bluetooth: 4.1
- Speaker: one, 40 mm diameter
- Rated power: 3.1 W RMS
- Working range: 180 Hz – 20 kHz
- Battery: Li-Pol, 730 mAh
- Dimensions: 71.2 x 86 x 31.6 mm
- Weight: 184g
Packaging
The packaging has remained the same as in the first generation – a transparent plastic box through which you can evaluate how a particular color looks before buying.
At the bottom of the box there is a cardboard case, inside of which are rolled up instructions and memos, as well as a short microUSB cable for charging.
By the way, the cable is always orange for all colors. There is nothing else in the box, yes, in fact, nothing else is needed.
Design, construction
Go 2 is both similar and not like the previous generation speaker.
The same form factor and dimensions, with smoother lines and no sharp corners, create a completely different experience. It lies well in the hand – the column is really very pleasant to take in hand, kinesthetics will like it.
It is a pity that the speaker is not designed to be carried in the hands, but to stand on flat surfaces.
The main material is plastic. The ends are velvety to the touch.
The entire front surface is occupied by a speaker grill with a large JBL inscription. On the back surface there is again the JBL inscription, only made by the embossing method (so that you do not accidentally forget which manufacturer you are using).
In the upper part, behind the grate, a multicolor LED is hidden, which serves to indicate the operating modes. For example, while charging, it lights up red, and when the speaker is paired with a device, it lights up constantly white.
The body looks monolithic, except for the right end, on which there is a massive plug for the charging connector and audio jack 3.5.
On the bottom there are all sorts of letters and numbers about the column, which will never be useful to an ordinary user.
The controls are located at the top and consist of five buttons: power, pairing, volume control and play / pause. Double-clicking the play / pause button switches tracks.
The buttons are embossed and are part of the body, and because of this, pressing them is not as comfortable as we would like – they are a little tight. You get used to it, but, for example, you cannot give such a column to a small child – it will be difficult for small fingers to press such keys.
You can see a microphone hole under the cap – yes, the speaker can be used as a hands-free headset.
That, in fact, is all about design.
Functions
As mentioned above, in addition to playing music, the speaker can be used for conversations. Everything is good in this part. The microphone sensitivity is enough for 2-3 meters. However, if you are more than a meter away from the speaker, the interlocutors complained that they could hear me as if from afar. There were no complaints about the purity and clarity of the sound.
Connecting to two devices at the same time is not supported. This is the biggest disadvantage of the device.
Among the important features should be highlighted the water resistance, which is certified according to the protection class IPX7. This means that the column can be submerged under water to a depth of one meter for 30 minutes.
For a speaker that will often travel with me around the world, getting into different weather conditions, and will also accompany me when cycling, water resistance is a very useful quality.
Well, how can it be without experiments.
There was nowhere to submerge it by a meter (I don't have a pool, alas), so instead of immersion, the column lay under a stream of water for those 30 minutes guaranteed by the standard. This test was passed with flying colors – no problems were found.
And also various actions, such as turning on / off, pairing, etc., the column accompanies with pleasant sound samples. It feels appropriate and cool, does not get boring or irritating.
Autonomy
One charge of the built-in polymer battery lasts for 5 hours of music playback at high (75%) volume. Average, I would like more.
A full charge takes about 2.5 hours. There is no fast charging, so you have to wait.
But the column always fulfills the declared 5 hours.
Music
As for the sound, given the characteristics, without revelations, but also without obvious failures. The column depends on the quality of the original file, and the better it is, the louder and brighter the Go 2 sounds.
The column has enough power to serve a room of 18-20 sq.m.
The sound is clear. At maximum volume, there is no rattling, the speaker does not choke, and this is great. She also doesn't jump on the table at high volume.
The middle and the top are pronounced. There is not enough bass, but, you must admit, it is strange to expect deep bass from a speaker with a 40 mm speaker and a power of 3.5 watts.
But thanks to the emphasis made by the manufacturer on the middle frequencies, it turned out to be great to watch movies through the speaker – the dialogues are perfectly audible, the sounds do not fall out and do not get blurred, there are no plugs and cotton wool even in dynamic scenes with a lot of bass.
Actually, with its original function, for which it was bought, the column copes perfectly well.
Conclusion
In official retail, the column can be bought for 1,700 – 2,500 rubles. It's nice that these prices do not differ from the world ones – in foreign retail chains you will have to pay a comparable amount of money per column.
Is it worth the money – perhaps yes.
Among the competitors, as usual in such cases, devices from Xiaomi, which, however, with comparable characteristics and price do not have water resistance, as well as the first generation JBL Go, which, however, is inferior both in sound quality and and functional.
I do not take into account the devices of any no-name manufacturers, since their sound quality does not stand up to criticism.
Among the advantages of Go 2 are cool sound for watching movies, working function of the speakerphone, water resistance, rich color palette, workmanship and laconic design with a claim to originality.
In addition to the cool design, the speaker has outstanding tactile characteristics and can become an object of adoration for the kinestheticist.