CES 2019 has just kicked off and JBL has come out the gate swinging by announcing their
new JBL Flip 5.
Now it looks like the Flip 5 is going to be going through the same upgrade cycle the JBL
Charge 4 went through.
As in the the only difference between the Flip 4 and Flip 5 is going to be the way you
charge it… the Flip 5 is going to charge through a USB C port just like the Charge
4 and the Flip 5 is going to have the same 12 hour battery life found on the Flip 4.
JBl Does how ever keep referencing a Race Track shaped driver, so this does lead me
believe that the Flip 5 will be going to away from the dual transducer set up found on the
Flip 4 and moving to a single transducer and dual passive radiator set up similar to the
Charge 4.
Personally I don’t mind it cause the single transducer set up doesn’t take away from
the listening experience what so ever.
The JBL Flip 5 will be available in the spring and will be retailing for $99.
But if you’re in the market for a small portable speaker, I think you’re safe picking
up the Flip 4.
JBL is also expanding their PartyBox line up buy announcing their JBL Partybox 1000.
This $1000 speaker is not just bigger and louder, the whole front is has a built in
light feature.
You can expect this monster at your next rave.
JBL also gave us an update on their JBL Link Bar which was first announced at the Google
IO a few months ago and then delayed.
The JBL Link Bar is an Android TV and google assistant enabled TV sound bar featuring 4
HDMI in ports so you can hook up all of your TV peripherals and then plug into your TV
through just one HDMI port.
The idea is that youll be able to switch from your blue ray player, to gaming console, or
watch TV just by talking to your google assistant.
The play here is that its going to make your Smart TV smarter.
And Since most smart TV’s these days come with very crappy built in speakers its a good
idea to look into getting a sound bar period.
But at a retail price of $400 and an optional subwoofer going for $300 the JBL Link bar
definitely aint cheap.
JBL also announced and line up of headphones that all feature integrated Google Assistant
and Alexa support.
Like I’ve mentioned in previous videos, voice assistant integration in headphones
is becoming increasingly popular but no one has managed to do it flawlessly.
Out of all of the headphones JBL announced today Im personally looking forward to the
new JBL Live 650BTNC, hopefully they managed to fix the excessive cabin pressure on their
ANC but doe to their design I think they are still going to have the same fitting issue
found on the JBL E65BTNC’s.
JBL is also going all in on Wireless earbuds by announcing not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 different
models of truly wireless earbuds.
They’ve got wireless earbuds for your daily commuter, they have wireless earbuds for your
athlete just looking to not have to mess around with wires while they work out, and they have
wireless earbuds for your hard core athletes that want to cut the cord but they also want
ear hooks.
Prices range from $100, to $170… and im personally relived JBL didn’t announce any
super expensive wireless earbuds.
And we’re going to be wrapping up our JBL Coverage with the JBL Link Drive…
The JBL Link drive plugs into your cars cigaret lighter and brings google assistant right
into your car.
And given that voice recognition in older cars is very hit or miss, miss of the time
this $60 accessory is a good solution if your car doesn’t natively support Apple Car play
or android Auto.
Now lets move on to Sennheiser cause even though they announced some cool stuff they
didn’t announce what I expected them to announce.
Sennheiser is really pushing towards augmented reality specifically Augmented audio.
But besides show casing their Ambeo earbuds, and Momentum True wireless earbuds they didn’t
announce any new headphones so far.
They did how ever announce their new Ambeo Sound bar.
Its a 5.1.4 TV sound bar thats supposed to give you a 3D listening experience from just
a single sound bar.
But at $2,500 its making the JBL Link bar look very attractive right now.
Now personally I was expecting Sennheiser to announce an updated version of their PXC550’s
but they didn’t.
But CES just started so theres still time.
I personally think they need to put something out cause the Headphone market is getting
very competitive now, so if they do announce something later I'll make another video.