I’ve spent plenty of time at the beach in my eight years of living there. Nothing beats the calm quiet of the surf breaking against the shore as seagulls screech something in their seagull language about wanting fries.
Until the tourists show up, that is. Once tourist season hit, I’d be deluged with peoples’ speakers thumping out angry, dissonant talk radio hosts and bad Sublime covers. So I’d do what the truly chill beach bum does when they can’t beat ’em. I’d haul out my own Bluetooth speaker and set my own (volume-appropriate) vibe.
Xtremely portable
The Xtreme 4 is IP67 rated, which means it’s sealed against dust and it’ll survive being submerged in water up to a meter deep for 30 minutes before you suddenly find yourself speaker shopping again.
IP67 is a fair and common rating for a water-resistant speaker that I’d bring around the pool or beach. Unless you’re a complete fumblefingers and knock it into the deep end of the pool and then somehow forget about it, then this JBL can stand up to any cannonballs or errant shaken soda can without frying the components.
You can eke out up to 24 hours of playtime from the Xtreme 4, although that varies based upon how loud you turn it up, like any speaker. You can squeeze another six hours out of it by enabling what JBL calls Playtime Boost.
It simply appears to be a power-saving mode. “(Playtime Boost) tunes and optimizes the performance for louder and crisper,” JBL says. So I wouldn’t expect the mix to be optimized for the best sound truest to how the artists mixed the music, but with roaring waves and squealing kids around, that’s less crucial than keeping the vibes flowing.
The Xtreme 4 is available in blue, black, and for those who want to be heard but not seen, camouflage.
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