I’ve reviewed a lot of speakers on this channel… but they’ve always been name
brand speakers cause I’ve always been skeptical of cheaper speakers you’ll might see online
or at the grocery store.
But when Doss reached out about sponsoring a video and sent me their new Soundbox Pro,
I was pleasantly surprised.
They give the Flip 4 and XB21 a run for their money and they cost twice as much.
And to make this video a little more interesting I also went out and got this $50 ihome speaker
from the grocery store.
So lets see how these $50 speakers stack up against these $100 speakers.
So, to make this video as fair of possible all of these speakers are stereo speakers
that have dual transducers.
I decided to go with this iHome speaker cause iHome is a brand you usually see sitting on
the shelf next to the more premium speakers that are usually placed in a glass case at
the store.
Both the iHome speaker and Doss Soundbox Pro retail for $49.99, but if you get 2 Sounbox
Pros you get an automatic 10% off.
And then theres the JBL Flip 4 and Sony XB21 which both retail for $99.99.
If you want pick either of these speakers up I’ll have links in the description below,
and if you use the links it really helps out the channel.
I suggest you check them out cause the Flip 4 and XB21 routinely go on sale so you’ll
might get lucky.
First lets talk about design and build quality, when I first took the iHome speaker out of
the box it was much smaller than I expected.
The front and rear faces of the speaker are brittle plastic and the edges are covered
in thick rubber.
This thing is built like a tank.
Theres no denying the Soundbox Pro looks like a slightly smaller Sony XB30.
Theres a metal grill and light feature on the front and the rest of the body is covered
in soft touch plastic.
Build quality is good, but I feel this speaker is better off used strictly indoors cause
you can easily scratch that soft touch plastic body.
Thats why sony decided to go with fabric outer shells for their newer portable speaker line
up.
The fabric bodies of the Xb21 and flip 4 are just able to withstand more abuse without
showing any scratch marks.
Both the iHome speaker and Sony XB21 are rocking IP67 certifications which means they are both
water and dust proof.
So you really don’t have to worry about either of these speakers if you take them
on the go with you.
Where as the JBL Flip 4 is IPX7 certified, which means its only water proof.
You just have to be mindful of those exposed passive radiators, you shouldn’t push them
in and if you take the flip 4 to the beach just don’t get sand in them.
And then theres the Soundbox Pro which is rocking an IPX5 certification.
Like I said earlier I feel this speaker is better off used in doors, a splash of water
isn’t a problem…
but you shouldn’t submerge it.
When it comes to ports all of these speakers have an audio jack and they all charge via
a micro USB port.
The flip 4 has the best real world battery life here with 7 hours of playback time with
the volume set at 80%.
At the same volume the Xb21 and soundbox pro are close behind with 6 hour and 5 hours of
playback time respectively.
But the iHome has the worst battery life here.
Its has a claimed battery life of 6 hours, but at 80% volume this speaker only managed
to last for 2 and half hours.
Ok, now let talk about speaker set ups… the iHome speaker has the smallest dual transducers
here that shoot out the front and it also has a passive radiator on the rear that shoots
out the back.
The Doss Soundbox Pro has larger front facing transducers and dual passive radiators that
shoot out the front and out the back of the speaker.
The XB21 has the same speaker set up as the Doss speaker.
Theres dual 42 millimeter diameter transducers, and dual passive radiators that also shoot
out of the front and back of the speaker.
And finally theres the work horse that is the Flip 4.
It also has frontward firing dual 40 millimeter diameter transducers and dual passive radiators
on each side.
Now before we jump into the sound test just know the Soundbox pro is playing with extra
bass mode turned off, and the XB21 is playing with its Extra bass mode turned on.
First off, im just going to plainly say it… the iHome speaker sounds awful.
Thanks to that plastic front plate covering the actual transducers this speaker just sounds
muffled.
And its also the quietest speaker here at max volume…
im guessing its probably a 12 watt speaker.
Over all the flip 4 is the best sounding speaker here.
It sounds the clearest here and it has JBL’s older sound signature which does put a little
emphasis on the Mids and treble.
But since the Flip 4 is a 16 watt speaker it doesn’t get the loudest here.
Since both the Soundbox pro and XB21 are 20 watt speakers they both get louder than the
flip 4 but to me they just don’t sound as clear.
Like I said earlier the Soundbox pro does give the Flip 4 and Xb21 a run for their money.
With extra bass mode turned on both the Sony and Doss speakers have more bass than the
flip 4, but they do end up pushing the mids back a little so Extra bass mode is better
for when you’re going to listen to rap, hip hop, or EDM.
And with Extra bass turned off the Doss speaker has a neutral sound signature which is better
for when you're going to listen to music with an emphasis on vocals.
So sound quality ranking has to go flip 4 in first place, second place is a toss between
the soundbox pro and Xb21, and the iHome speaker has been disqualified.
When it comes to bluetooth connectivity, all of these speakers have strong stable connections
that don’t cut out.
But the flip 4 has the least amount of latency here so if you want a speaker for watching
videos with your phone then you’ll be better off with the flip 4.
The Flip 4 also has the easiest and best way to pair multiple speakers together thanks
to JBL connect plus.
You just press one button on each speaker and these speakers will figure out the rest
by themselves.
And like Ive said in the past, sometimes its better to have multiple small speakers playing
music to fill a large area with music rather than having one large speaker blasting at
max volume over in the corner.
I’ve criticized sony in the past cause their wireless party chain isn’t the best if you
plan on pairing multiple speakers together on a regular basis.
You have to use Sony’s app to pair these speakers together, sometimes it fails for
no reasons, and sometimes an echo will form while playing music which can only be fixed
by turning the speakers off and pairing them together again.
So the fact that you can pair 2 Soundbox Pros together by just pressing the add button on
top and the fact that I haven’t had any echoing issues with these Doss speakers is
a very pleasant surprise to me given that they cost half as much as the sony speakers.
Sure, Doss’s connection process isn’t as fast as JBL’s and you can only pair two
speakers togethers… but for some people 2 speakers is enough.
Cause in comparison, when I got the JBL Clip 3 a few months ago I didn’t expect to like
it as much as I do now cause its my dedicated podcast machine.
But the biggest draw back about this $60 speaker is that you cant pair it up to other JBL speakers.
And objectively, the Soundbox Pro easily out performs the clip3 when it comes to listening
to music.
And finally lets address the light feature on the Soundbox pro.
Overall, it looks pretty good.
The light feature is easy to see in most lighting conditions and you can cycle through a few
different colors by pressing and holing the mode button.
Over all the light mode can flash in 7 different colors and you can either have the light feature
flash to the beat of your music, you can have the light feature simply cycle through the
different colors, or you can just turn the light feature off and save a little bit on
battery life.
And again, i’m pretty impressed by the Soundbox Pro cause its light feature looks way better
than the XB21’s.
Like I’ve said in the past I feel the XB21 is actually a down grade from the older XB20.
The light feature on the XB21 is not impressive what so ever.
The XB21 is perhaps the least used speaker in the studio.
I feel that if you’re trying to decided between the XB21 and Flip 4 than I say go
for the flip 4.
I personally feel the winners here are the Flip 4 and Soundbox Pro.
If you decide to pay the premium and get the flip 4 then you’re getting a very good sounding
speaker given its size, with a long battery life that can last you a whole day of listening,
and its also very rugged.
And if you get the flip 4 then in the future if you decide to get another JBL speaker then
you have the easiest way to pair speakers together…
but that can certainly get expensive very quickly.
So for less than the price of one Flip 4 you can actually get 2 soundbox pros and pair
them together.
And I feel this is a good deal for high school or college students on a tighter budget to
strongly consider.
Sure you’re taking a slight hit when it comes to sound quality and battery life.
But a pair of Soundbox Pros will go a long way in a college dorm room cause they sound
decent enough for when you’re hanging out with friends, build quality is pretty good,
and plus that light feature is going to look good no matter where you place it.
Plainly said, for $50 the soundbox pro really did impress me where as the iHome speaker
was nothing but a huge disappointment.