JBL Go 3 Review

 

JBL makes plenty of large, powerful Bluetooth speakers, but the Go 3 isn’t one of them. At $39.95, the Go 3 is about as portable (and affordable) as it gets—it’ll fit in any backpack or tote without issue. It’s also fully waterproof, making it ideal for outdoor use. There certainly isn’t any powerful bass depth 

coming out of a speaker this size, but the Go 3 does its best to muster some rich low-end presence at higher volumes. It could have longer battery life, but for the price, this a very solid value.

Available in black, blue, gray, red, or teal models, the 2.7-by-3.4-by-1.6-inch (HWD), 7.4-ounce Go 3 is tiny enough to fit in just about any bag and even some pockets. Its rectangular body has rounded edges and is covered mostly in cloth grille, with rubberized feet on the bottom. The JBL logo is emblazoned 

in large letters across the front panel, and a stylish, sporty lanyard is built into the left panel, next to the USB-C port for the included charging cable.

There are buttons up top for volume up/down and play/pause. Pressed twice, the play/pause button skips forward a track. There’s no track backward navigation, which seems like an oversight, and there’s no speakerphone functionality, which would be annoying if the price weren't so low. The right side panel houses a power button and a Bluetooth pairing button.

Internally, a single mono 1.5-inch driver delivers 4.2 watts of audio. Obviously, this speaker isn’t here to deliver powerful output or thunder, but for its size, it does project some respectable volume. It's compatible with Bluetooth 5.1.JBL estimates battery life to be roughly 5 hours, but your results will 

 

vary with your volume levels. Regardless, 5 hours is pretty short—the similarly sized Sony SRS-SB12 ($50) gets roughly 16 hours.On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the Go 3 delivers decent thump for its size. Unsurprisingly, the most significant bass depth we get here comes from the first hits of the drum loop, whereas the far deeper sub-bass hits that come in at 15 

seconds are reduced to thin taps. The speaker manages not to sound thin overall, however, with some reasonable bass response and body to this track. At top volumes, the driver manages not to distort even when the enclosure vibrates powerfully.