The JBL Flip 3 has a complete overhaul in design when compared to the previous Flip 2. In Cinder and Smoke by Iron & Wine the screechy slides of the guitar will make your ears perk up a bit but if you lower the volume a little it’s barely noticeable. Highs get a little harsh when maxed out, but if you keep it slightly under max volume it’s perfect. Even background synths weren’t annoyingly masked by other elements of the low end. The mids were a little bit forward but just enough to make vocals and guitars a little bit easier to hear and doesn’t ruin the experience at all. The bass in Baby Blue by Action Bronson can be easily distinguished but isn’t overpowering at all. It can definitely be felt if you place it down on a table and let the external bass radiators to go to work.
JBL FLIP 2 VS 3 FULL
The lows are nice and full sounding for a speaker of this size (and even some that are a little bigger). So what did JBL do to the ends? It turned them into dual passive external radiators which is just another feature that found its way into the Flip 4. Under that are five small LED lights that let you know how much juice you have left and further down you’ll find the AUX input and micro USB charging port hidden under a sealed flap. The current version of this feature lets you connect up to 100 speakers together, but unless you have a lot of friends or a lot of money (or both), I don’t see too many people needing to connect more than three. Along the spine are the power button and the JBL connect button which allows you to connect multiple JBL speakers together.
JBL FLIP 2 VS 3 BLUETOOTH
The Bluetooth pairing button, volume controls, and call answer/end button are all found along the side of the speaker blending into the fabric. The Flip 3 has them embedded into the fabric of the speaker and also on the hard plastic portion on the back. That said, it was different from the previous version which had all of its buttons along the top (or the side depending on how you orient the speaker).
The speaker can lie flat or be stood on its side thanks to its cylindrical design.Īs far as button placement is concerned, the Flip 3 again blazed the path for the Flip 4 as they have almost identical buttons and functions. Of course, as the Flip 4 is newer there’s some expanded functionality, like an actual IPX7 waterproof design rather than just a splashproof covering. It also comes with an attached string for hanging from places which came in handy when hanging it from my pack on a hike and also just for hanging it somewhere in the bathroom during a shower. This was the first Flip to introduce the fabric covering which gave it the splashproof build and a way better grip.
If you remember the Flip 2, you know that it was basically just a hunk of plastic. Build & DesignĮverything is clearer in hindsight, and looking back it was really around the time of the JBL Flip 3 where the company really began to nail down its design philosophy. In the orange and white box you’ll get the Flip 3, a bright orange micro USB cable, and the warranty and information booklets. JBL has a fairly standard boxing process and that hasn’t changed between the Flip 3 and the previous version, or any other JBL product for that matter. In the box you get manuals, the JBL Flip 3, and a micro USB charging cable.