JLab Audio Block Party Series Wireless Multi-Room Bluetooth Speaker | Connect 8 Speakers | Wireless Connectivity | Phone Control | 50 Watts | Black

June 2018 UpdateSpeaker has stopped holding a charge and will not playing music for more than 30 mins. Do not buy unless they have fixed this problem as I see multiple people have the issue.I dj, so I know a little about speakers. For the size, this thing rocks out. It has pretty full sound and decent bass. It feels solid and it easy to carry around. I have been playing super bass heavy music on it (Drum & Bass), and it does pretty well considering how small it is. There is a good trick you can do with this speaker though - when using it in the kitchen, place it in a corner counter area close to the wall and under the bottom of the kitchen cabinets. Due to the reverberation this placement makes the speaker sound about 2x as loud that if just playing into an open space. I can literally hear the speaker in every room when I place it in that arrangement. Overall I am satisfied with my purchase. The only complaint is sometimes the Bluetooth disconnects for no reason even when the phone is very close.

I really wanted to love these speakers. I’ve had 3 of them for 5 days now and have used them all for 2 complete charge cycles. I honed in on the JLabs after searching high and low for speakers that allowed me to connect multiple speakers to a single Bluetooth device without a special app and were lightly water resistant. While the UE Boom Speakers are an alternative, using their app to go into “party” mode was not ideal for us.First, the positives... the sound is great and the build quality is also very solid. Using one paired to my iPhone 6s was also fine.The not so good..., using three of them in party mode was another story. I bought the speakers with the vision of using them in my 1/2 acre backyard around the pool, spread out across 30-60 feet. Sadly, the connection struggled and would drop or get choppy after just 20-30 feet (line of sight with my iPhone within 10-20 feet of the main Bluetooth paired unit.) While these distances did sometimes work intermittently, I found myself or our guests breaking or hurting the connection significantly when simply walking inbetween them. These issues drove me to regularly relocate the speakers in an attempt to get them to reconnect and stay connected. To no avail. Yesterday I think I had to reconnect them at least 6 separate times, including times when they were placed around our fire pit/chairs. Our guests all liked the speaker sounds, but many commented on the connection reliability and all the time I was spending with them.Today, with another day of backyard use anticipated, I’m going to try again. Understanding signal intereference possibilities (we don’t have a cordless phone and the closest neighbors are more than 50 yards away from the speakers), I’m going to give them a chance at even shorter distances of maybe 10-20 feet. Not ideal by any means, but I can’t bear another day of constant resyncing and location shifting.JLab, you have a very good concept here and I believe their is a need for such a product, and you’ve produced great sound out of such a small form factor, but I’d advise you to restate or more deeply qualitlfy the usable distances. Perhaps even add or recommend an amplifier solution for distances over 10-20 feet. I unfortunately tossed the 3 boxes a day after I bought them. Had I not, they’d already be boxed up for a return.

I bought this, being very sceptical. JLab has had indigent offerings since the Omni/EPIC wired. Also, their CEO was more than unfriendly to me last we talked. However, I just wasn't impressed by the 'portable speaker' offerings right now from Bose, the only company I trust. Their portable speakers are great, but not the level I was looking for. I took the chance on this speaker, thinking I can always return it if it does not work out.Well, let's just say I still have it. This speaker is hands down, the first JLab product I was IMMIDATELY impressed by. I will get into more detail now below:AUDIO:Let's just keep in mind, this is a portable speaker and thus, shouldn't be purchased if you want HIGH sound quality. This speaker is designed to be used around the house, at parties, hotel room, etc. Anywhere you go, this can go. As such, there are a few drawbacks of the category this device is in, that aren't design flaws by the company.- It's loud. Very LOUD. Comfortable volume level on this is probably 40%. Between 40%-65% is likely to be the volume steps where this speaker shines/sounds best. How it performs can largely depend on where it is placed. I commonly use it in my kitchen, which is a very open area. It sounds decent/good, but even better in smaller rooms.- The Highs are pretty phenomenal. Things like horns, strings or certain vocals sound great on this speaker. This quality is not even compromised the higher volume levels you go, which impressed me. You might hear muddiness if you turn it to max volume, for certain songs, but I never heard it.-The mids are also impeccable. R&B songs, some songs with cello and most pop songs, sound great. Very clear, but not overpowering.- The bass is the main thing lacking. As I said earlier, this is a common issue with this type of product. All things considered, it is still some of the strongest bass I have heard in a portable speaker. At times in certain songs, the bass isn't clean and can make the song sound 'muddy'.I watched a movie using this instead of old TV speakers and was VERY surprised how it handled the dynamics of movie audio. Not its purpose, but performed fairly well.BUILDThis is the area where the product only gets four stars. Overall, the quality feels good and is nice and heavy. However, I have found a handful of issues:Pros:- The handle is well made and comes in handy for carrying.- There is a square of grips/stands on the bottom of the speaker, so it is not loud when setting the speaker down and also won't slide.- There's a cover over the ports on the back of the speaker. Keeps a good aesthetic for the speaker when not charging.- The packaging was very well done and kept the speaker well protected in the JLab box.- The speaker works well past 30 feet when connected via BT to my phone. That impressed me greatly (previous JLab products had an issue with this).- The overall materials used on the outside of the speaker feel very high quality.Cons:- The grills in the side of my speaker are 'dented', or not flush with the rest of the build. The packaging was magnificent, though, so I have to assume this is from the manufacturing process, not shipping issue.- The battery, at 50% volume or lower, only lasts me between 6-7 hours. Not the promised 9. Higher volumes yield even less battery.- The voice. There is way too many voice prompts. Turning it on and off, there is a voice. This can be loud and obnoxious.- Low battery voice. Yes, this has its own line because it bothers me that much: When the battery is low, there is about four voice prompts, every 30 seconds. It is incredibly annoying at this interval and often ruins the mood at parties. A simple 'low battery', twice, 2-3 minutes apart would have been perfectly fine (and is what most portable speakers do).- The buttons on the top were hard to understand (other than volume). I HAD to read the instructions just to turn the device on (have to hold for 5 seconds). Also, you have to hold the power button for about 7 seconds to shut down the speaker.- There's no charging indicator. When plugged in, the ring turns purple for about 2 seconds, then turns off. So you have no idea when it is charging/fully charged.Conclusion:This is an excellent speaker for use around the house, at parties or for any general use. Don't expect super quality audio, but it can fill up just about any area with music.

Speaker lasted indoors for only 5 months: I'm amazed of the sound that comes from this speaker. I read many reviews and bought two of these. Linked them up together and wowza! One single speaker was really great sound with subwoofer but two was outstanding.PRODUCT UPDATE: Bought in December and it stop working on May. The speaker did not last long at all. Too late to return. Not happy that it did not even last a year. It sounded great while it worked.

I have had this for 5 months and it doesnt work anymore.. wont connect to bluetooth! So Frusterating!!