Also on the Flip 4 is a rubber foot, though it’s a lot smaller and less pronounced - so you may not immediately know how to position the speaker. The Flip 4 features many of the same controls, though positioned slightly differently. The speaker is designed to sit horizontally, and when positioned you’ll find battery status lights at the bottom of the device. The Charge 4 steps things up to 11 colors, and it also offers playback controls on the top, along with a battery indicator at the bottom. On the top of the speaker, you’ll find playback control buttons, including a power button, volume buttons and play/pause button. The JBL Charge 3 comes in a range of six different colors. Then there's the Charge 4, and it looks pretty similar to its predecessor too - though it's slightly more angular. One drawback of the Pulse 3, however is that it isn’t as durable as the Flip 4 since the Pulse 3 actually incorporates a fair amount of hard plastic.As usual, the first thing to notice about a new product is its design, and both the JBL Charge 3 and JBL Flip 4 look pretty nice - though they also look pretty similar, though the Charge 3 is quite a bit larger than the Flip 4. This will make for a great desk speaker or speaker for your patio or backyard. This, along with the improved LED animations, helps add a nice visual to your overall listening experience. If you aren’t satisfied with the presets, you have the option to set your own custom animations. The app lets you cycle through many preset light sequences and color options and overall, it’s easy to use. Speaking of the light feature, you can customize the animations using the JBL Connect app. The Pulse 3 no longer has the mesh grill around the lighting area – It’s been replaced with a hard plastic, which looks a lot better. JBL redesigned the LED light feature on the Pulse 3 to look more fluid than the Pulse 2.
JBL Pulse 3 has a Better Visual ExperienceĪside from the sound quality, the other difference between these two speakers is the awesome visual experience. Additionally, given the size of the Pulse 3, it gets louder and has deeper bass. The Flip 4 only has forward facing speakers. We much prefer speakers that feature 360 audio. One thing that is nice with the Pulse, however, is that it incorporates 360 degrees of audio which really helps to fill up a room. Payne Train Enjoying The Light Show On His Desk At the higher volumes, the speaker falls apart somewhat, but overall, the sound quality and overall volume levels are preferable with the Pulse 3, though not by much. On top of that, the bass wasn’t anything special (pretty similar to the Flip 4 in fact), but mids and highs tend to be pretty good. The sound is fairly clear, however, in certain songs we felt the range and depth were missing.
The Pulse 3 is a significant upgrade over the Pulse 2 in terms of sound quality. JBL Pulse 3 Gets the Edge with Sound Quality/Volume So what sets the Pulse 3 apart from the Flip 4? Battery life on both speakers is quoted at 12 hours but when played at max volume, your more likely to get around 8-10 hours. The Pulse 3 comes in black and white while the Flip 4 comes in red, blue, black, grey, teal, and white. Both speakers also come with JBL+ connectivity so they can connect to other JBL speakers. Both speakers are IPX7 waterproof, which means they can be submerged in water down to 3 feet for 30 minutes.
First, let me just say that you can’t go wrong with either speaker.