The unit is about £60 here in the UK at time of writing and can be snagged in a range of colours - the blue I chose, black, red, pink, purple, white and even camouflage! The blue is very smart, but clearly they're after the youngsters with the colours - but also the snazzy design and look/feel.
It fits beautifully in the palm of the hand with its 'pebble' curves and rounded edges and sweeping 'clip' up-top with a sturdy action/tall space for clipping to a range of handles, bikes, bags - or whatever really. The world is your oyster! This makes it feel like genuine fun as an audio accessory rather than a stuffy, blocky, conservative kind of unit that most bluetooth speakers tend to be. If such a shape can have dimensions, then I guess it's about 5" x 3" x 2". But you really don't notice any of that beyond it being dinky, because of the design and light weight.
There's a nylon-looking 'mesh' which wraps around the whole speaker only broken up by rubbery-looking plastics which house the clip, ports and buttons. And logo! Yes, emblazoned across the front of the unit is the JBL logo which they have clearly tried to make a feature of, stylising the "J" and (at least on this blue one) giving the letters a stylish orange/red trim. Above that are 'cartoony' and big Play, Volume Up and Volume Down 'buttons' which the user presses into the body of the speaker. They don't feel 'mushy' but rather have a nice enough click-reaction 'underneath' the mesh.
I have hung the speaker in the shower and it got drenched a number times with no evidence of it being any the worse for wear. Still worked fine afterwards and dried out quickly with the water disappearing from the materials quickly enough. On the back, there are 'rubber' stripes - 5 of them - which makes it stick solidly to a desk or table - and the same is true of the JBL logo on the front, incidentally, if you want it on a desk upside-down. According to JBL they have in-part used "post-consumer recycled plastic and fabric" for the construction.
JBL claim that the 1,400mAh battery lasts 12 hours between charges, but they don't say under what conditions/settings, but clearly you'll do better at 50% volume and less bass on equalisation than if you're booming the bass at full volume. Better again at 25% volume. I guess! I have only charged it once since it arrived and have used it on and off for a couple of weeks now and the battery, via the app, is showing 45% remaining. I'm guessing that the 12 hours is probably based on that 50% volume and I have no reason to doubt it. I don't have the conditions to do a 50% volume battery test, until depleted, I'm afraid - I'd get lynched by the neighbours!
Which is a shame because for those 3 hours, for those who need it, you lose what is a fabulous output from the unit. It's incredibly loud for its size, bassy and, as I said earlier, resonates with a rumble through anything it's touching (particularly the back of the unit). Has to be heard to be appreciated, of course, but I have absolutely no complaints as it challenges the output of some of my bigger speakers here. No problem filling a big room or even serving an outdoor BBQ or party. Obviously it's going to be limited in that respect compared to bigger units, but I'm still very impressed.
There's also the ability to use two of these speakers as a stereo pair, again, a simple setting in the app to throw a switch. I don't have two (and I'm not buying another) so won't be testing this, but as I understand it, anyone who does, can expect, yes, split stereo channels, one for each speaker. Bluetooth 5.3 is present on the device, incidentally.
As for the Marshall Willen, my tests here show that the two speakers are very closely matched in terms of volume and quality of sound, even though the Willen has 10W output and JBL, 7W. They are both IP6/7 rated but the Marshall App is woeful in comparison with the JBL's. There's also an ongoing problem with some Marshall speakers, the app and Android 14 - short version is that it's a right fiddle to get it connected and using the app at all. However, paired up with an Android 13 devices, all's well. Marshall need to sort this though - it's been months and months of looking at the 'apology' splash-screen when trying. Update Aha! It looks like they might have fixed this as when I connected to an Android 12 device it allowed me to download firmware update v20 to the Willen, then, when back on an Android 14 device it was playing ball. Still a bit of a poor show that a user needs two devices in order to get it working! I happen to have two here, but many users won't have.
The battery life of the two is technically comparable, being around the 12/15-hour mark, 'moderate' volume (whatever that means) and looped playback/connection to source. Unlike the Clip 5, the Willen does have a microphone, so users can get the speaker to route phone calls. There's also more obvious control over playback on the Willen with the multi-control button offering a range of functions, including those related to phone calls. The JBL is controlled in this way by multi-presses (mainly) on the 'Play' button, but of course, not the phone bit!
The 'clip' is colour-matched to the colour of the unit with the moving part of the clip (the opening) being more of the rubbery-like material and the rest of it more shiny/slippery plastic. There's another logo on the right "Clip 5" and on the left, a recessed 'panel' housing the Power, Bluetooth and Auracast (more of that later) buttons. Inside the 'recess' each of the 'buttons' is further recessed, making it clear when they are being pressed. It all feels very much like environment-proofing and sure enough, the unit is IP6/7-rated, so for water and dust.
I can't seem to find a diagram of where the speaker/s inside are but most of the higher frequencies seem to come from the front when putting the unit to the ear and bass/rumble(!) from the back. Which is handy when on a desk/table as the bass resonates nicely through whatever it's touching. Down the bottom there's a USB-C port (with colour accenting to match the surround of the logo on the front) which you're supposed to let dry out, if wet, before plugging in a charger. There's no charger in the box, incidentally, just a USB cable.
What I do know is that it takes the best part of 3 hours to charge with a 5V/1A charging cable/plug, which is what its rated to receive. The 12 hours can be extended if needed by using the unit on what they call Playtime Boost. However, when this is selected from the app, it strips out the body and character of the sound (which I'll come to). It loses most of the bass and favours higher frequencies. I wouldn't say it's in any way 'tinny' but any depth is drained.
The JBL Portable app is downloadable via the Google Play Store (and Apple's equivalent, I'm led to believe) and makes for easy-peasy bluetooth connection to phones. I just turned on various phones here and Android is simply smart enough to know what you're up to and offers to lead the user by the hand to get it set up. Hassle and frustration-free, unlike in the old days!
Once installed, the sound can be adjusted by the equaliser with various pre-sets or a 'custom' with sliders to make it how you want it. I have found that the "JBL Signature" setting is indeed the best option/well-tuned by them and so am happy to leave it there. But yes, on Custom, there's a further marked change in bass and higher frequencies for those who want to boom even more! Whatever you do, it doesn't seem to distort at all, even at top volume, maximum bass.
For the even more ambitious, the speaker supports the new Auracast system. Again, I don't seem to have enough other gear to test this properly but as I understand this new tech, it means that a user with an Auracast phone (for example) can 'cast' audio to any compliant other gear, phones, speakers or whatever. I see that the best use for this might be in, for example, a museum or other public place, where one device can feed guide information to anyone who has a device which is compliant. But yes, also in a party situation where one source of sound can be thrown around to as many speakers or headsets as are supported. The user presses that Auracast button on the side to get hooked up to the array. I shall explore this sometime soon when I (probably) understand it better and have more compliant devices to test it with. Worth noting that this is currently limited to JBL's own speakers for now - but presumably can be updated via the app in future.
Incidentally, you don't have to use the app if you don't want to - you can just pair it up manually with a device, but you'd be missing out on getting updates downloaded, those equalisation options and other options mentioned above. There's no microphone on the Clip 5 so no chance of taking/making calls, using Assistant and so forth. This is a speaker. That's it!
Then there's the 'clip' on the JBL, which is partially matched on the Willen by the inclusion of a rubbery 'strap' on the back which can be unlatched, wrapped around a suitable upright or bag/coat/bike loop to secure it with similar results for the active. It's not as quick and easy as the Clip 5's clip. Many people will be drawn to the Willen for the classic Marshall styling however, the name and 'amplifier' accents and appearance. And you can't beat that for the right target buyer!
Both of these are great little pocket speakers, packing a punch way above their weight, loud and producing great quality for their size and portability. Throw in a decent battery performance, water/dust-proofing, great build quality in different ways and very similar real-world pricing (at time of writing) and what's left is mainly a choice for style, look and feel. I love them both, for different reasons and would recommend either without hesitation.
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