So this is the JBL Partybox Ultimate, initially I thought the Partybox 710 was
overkill and I feel the Partybox Ultimate is unnecessary for personal use. However,
the Partybox ultimate is our preview of this new generation of Partybox’s and there are a
lot of things to like here… however, there are still some issues here that JBL still
just refuses to fix. Nonetheless, lets see what the JBL Partybox Ultimate is all about.
Regarding pricing, the JBL Partybox Ultimate retails for $1,700… for context, the JBL
Partybox 1000, retails for $1300, the party box 710 retails for $800 and the Partybox 310 retails
for $550. Now we will be comparing the Partybox Ultimate to a few speakers so keep an eye out for
those versus videos. Nonetheless, if you want to pick this speaker up, it’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of this speaker. Now the ultimate is big… I thought
the Partybox 710 was big… but the ultimate just dwarfs both the 710 and the 310. The ultimate
has a hight of 41 inches and a base of 17 by 17 inches. But more importantly, it weighs in at 87
pounds. So moving this speaker around is a two person job. The good thing though is just like
with other Partyboxes, the Ultimate has built in wheels so you can roll this speaker around
and thankfully these wheels are chunky… so these wheels are usable while on pavement and even a
little bit of grass. And there’s a handle on the top so that you can roll this speaker around, but
there’s also a hidden handle on the bottom which is super useful, and I have always hated that the
710 doesn’t have a second handle on the bottom. Now when it come to materials and durability,
the Ultimate have your typical plastic body which can get scratched very easily and there’s a metal
grill on the front which can get dented easily cause it is rather thin. But surprisingly, the
Ultimate is still rocking an IPX4 rating… so if it gets caught in a slight drizzle or if a drink gets
spilled on it, it should be fine, just remember to keep the ports panel on the back closed.
But what is new on the ultimate is the extended light feature. Now first off, in order to control
the light feature on the ultimate and adjust its EQ, you now have to use the JBL One App,
not the Partybox App. But from here you can choose from different lighting modes and you
can also customize your light feature. Now JBL’s light features on their other speakers have always
been very impressive and they have been getting better and better. And the ultimate has the most
extensive light feature that we have seen so far. We have the large combined light ring on
the front… but the light rings now have inside and outside boarders, which gives you like a 3D
effect. The Ultimate also has stars and side light rails like the 710…but the light rails
on the Ultimate now wrap around the sides of the speaker… but my favorite part is that the
ultimate now has floor lights… and personally I love floor lights on my speakers cause it just
gives your speaker a very large presences. Now the light features on the Partybox’s are usable during
the day… but obviously for the best results you either want to use them while indoors or at night.
Now usually, this is the party of the video where I would say that if you do decide to
use the light feature on your speaker, that is going to take an additional toll on the
battery life… but the Ultimate doesn’t have a built in battery, you can only use it while
its plugged in. Which is understandable just given the sheer size of this speaker.
And I think that if the ultimate had a built in battery, it would easily weigh over 100 pounds.
But now lets talk about connectivity. Regarding wireless connectivity,
you can connect to the ultimate with a bluetooth connection,
and this speaker can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so you and a friend can both
be DJ. Latency is also not an issue so you can use this speaker to watch videos
with on your phone… but when it comes to audio codecs, the ultimate only has support for SBC.
But what is new on the ultimate is that it has wifi support. So after you connect this
speaker to your wifi network, you’ll be able to stream music to it either through Airplay
2 or Chrome Cast. So whether youre an iPhone user or an android user you’ll be fine. And
it also has support for Alexa Multi Room Music. But the Partybox Ultimate is not a Smart speaker.
But more importantly, if you are streaming music to this speaker over wifi, and if you’re using a
supported streaming service than you’re going to haver support for Dolby Atmos. But this is
going to be artificial dolby Atmos cause the ultimate doesn’t have upwards firing speakers.
Now when it comes to the ports on the Ultimate… peronsally I am a little disappointed just given
the sheer size of this speaker. First off the ultimate has a USB A port where you can either
plug in a USB Stick and play music off of it… or you can charge your own devices. But like I have
mentioned in the past, I think its time that JBL starts adding a USB C port on their speakers for
charging your phone cause phones these days now come included with USB C charging cables.
But also, there is 3.5 millimeter audio jack so you can use this speaker with a
wired connection. But more importantly, there is an audio out jack so you can always daisy chain
this speaker to any other speaker regardless of size or brand and get them to play in sync.
And finally, there are 2 quarter inch inputs so you can either plug in 2 microphones for
karaoke. Or you can also plug in a guitar. And from the control panel up top, you can
easily adjust the sound of your microphone by either adjusting the gain, bass, treble,
or echo… now personally I never use a echo on my microphone but its there if you want it.
But also, below the control knobs where you an adjust the sound of your microphone,
there’s a touchpad… and here you’ll find some sound effects. And through JBL’s app you can
customize these sound effects as well. Overall, this is just a gimmick, im not going to use this.
But my main critique about the ports on the Ultimate is that there are no
XLR inputs on this huge speaker so you can’t plug it into a mixer. And I just
feel that a speaker of this size and price should definitely be able to be
used by someone who likes DJ. But for now, the Ultimate is going to be better suited
for someone that just likes to karaoke and they want their whole block to hear them.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set ups
the Ultimate has Dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back,
it has dual frontward firing mid range drivers, a first for Partybox, and it has dual frontward
firing tweeters. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. We’re going to be using
the Ultimate at 75% Volume and were going to cycle between having Bass Boost Turned Off,
set to deep and set to rumble… But the EQ itself is going to be set to stock.
Now first I have to point out that the Ultimate has built in microphones so its
going to automatically adjust its sound depending on where its located. But more importantly,
the Ultimate has a balanced sound signature to it, but it also has very violent bass.
And even though the bass on this speaker is violent, the mids and highs are still very
well pronounced thanks to the mid range drivers and the tweeters. Now obviously, just given the
sheer size of the Ultimate, its going to have a lot of bass. It already has a lot bass even with
its bass boost turned off. But if you were to turn on the bass boost on this speaker,
then its going to become more prevalent. With deep its going to punch harder and with rumble
it going to drone out longer. And since the ultimate has a rear firing exhaust port,
you can always amplify its bass even more but placing it up against a wall. But Personally I
always prefer to use my Partybox with the bass boost set to deep. But even with the bass boost
turned on, thanks to the Mid range drivers and the tweeters, vocals aren’t over powered.
But like I mentioned before the start of this soundtest… we were going to
cycle between the different bass boost settings,
but you can also adjust the EQ on this speaker. So I you want an even warmer sound signature,
you can do that, or if you want a brighter sound signature, you can also do that. But
personally I just like to use the Ultimate with its stock EQ and Bass Boost Set to Deep.
But then there’s the max volume performance of this speaker. Now this is a 1100 watt speaker.
And honestly, anything past 50% volume on the Ultimate is considered to be loud. At 75% volume,
if you’re using this speaker while indoors you’re going to need hearing protection,
or else you’re going to get a ringing in your ears… And max volume on the Ultimate is going
to shake the whole house, the bass is litterly going to knock things off of the shelves all
around the house and a visit from the cops is guaranteed. Quite Honestly, unless you’re
having an outdoors commercial event, there is no need to get a second Partybox Ultimate.
But now lets talk about paring this speaker to other speakers… and unfortunately JBL is
up to their shinanganins again. First off the Partybox Ultimate is now using,
Multi Speaker Connection, and its that triangle button up top. And as of right now, you can only
pair your ultimate up to another ultimate and get left and right stereo sound going.
However, it is not clear whether you can only have a total of 2 Partybox Ultimates paired together,
or if you can have more than 2 Partybox Ultimates paired together. But the really
annoying thing is, if you want to have your two ultimates paired together… you
have to stream music to your ultimate via a wifi connection. As soon as you press
the paring button on the Ultimates, their Bluetooth connection turns off.
And I really don’t like this cause lets say you take your two Ultimates to an area where there
isn’t any wifi… you’re not going to be able to wirelessly connect them, you’re going to have to
daisy chain them so they’re going to play in sync instead of in stereo mode and the light features
aren’t going to be in sync. The only silver lining is, since the Ultimate has Airplay 2
and chrome cast support, you can sync it up to other wifi enabled speakers, if you’re on wifi.
But more importantly, now you can not wirelessly connect your Partybox Ultimate to your Partybox
Encore, 110, 310, or 710… and you also can’t connect your Partybox Ultimate to
your smaller JBL Partyboost speakers like your JBL Boombox 3, Boombox 2, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Pulse 5,
Pulse 4, Flip 5 or Flip 6… unless you have the Wifi versions of the Boombox 3 or charge 5.
Overall, I am annoyed at JBL’s fragmentation when it comes to pairing their different speakers
together… and I don’t like the over reliance of wifi on the Partybox Ultimate… but at least the
ultimate does have that audio out jack so you can daisy chain it to other speakers.
But with all of that being said, the JBL Partybox Ultimate is a completely unnecessary speaker that
gets extremely loud, and its has very violent bass. But if you are thinking about getting
one for your man cave, one Partybox Ultimate is more than enough and its going to look amazing
thanks to its light feature. However, I can’t help but feel that the Partybox Ultimate isn’t
all that ultimate cause its being held back quite a bit. First off, just given its size and price,
I would have liked to have seen some XLR inputs on this speaker so that DJ could use it…I also think
that more than 2 Quarter inch inputs would have been nice for people who like to do karaoke… and
I also dislike the fragmentation when it comes to pairing this speaker to other speakers, and
I also dislike the over reliance on wifi when you want to pair multiple Ultimates together. However,
I do feel that the Partybox Ultimate is a preview of JBL’s new generation of Partybox’s… and if
that’s so, im really looking forward to the new and improved light features. I also hope we’re
going to see the addition of mid range drivers on future box speakers from JBL. I just hope
that wifi isn’t going to become a requirement if I want to pair multiple Partyboxes together.