Design & Construction

JBL being the biggest player in the wireless portable speaker market has seen itself grow year after year with well-designed and party-focused rugged speakers. Announced earlier this year, the JBL Pulse series is finally receiving its long-awaited upgrade. And just how improved is this new variant? Well, there is only one way to find out. Diving straight into the design, we can see some similarities between the new Pulse 5 and its predecessors. For starters, the new models still features a full all-acrylic build on all sides of the speaker. The most striking change has to be the now enlarged JBL logo that is found on the front of every new series of JBL speakers. Some may not be a fan of its prominent look as it may come off as over-branding, however, on the Pulse 5, I felt that it was a change for the better as the logo now plays well with the LED backlight instead of the small orange box logo that cannot be seen in the dark when the LED lights are going in the previous generation. To clean up the entire design, the physical buttons are now hidden away in plain sight by shifting all the controls to the back portion of the speaker in a single strip. From the top, you have the power button, the light show switch, the Bluetooth pairing button and the PartyBoost button. The buttons do light up in white so you can still easily see the controls in the dark. The power button allows you to power on/off the speaker with a single press while the light show switch button cycles through different modes of basic lighting presets without the need for the JBL app, Meanwhile, a long press on the Bluetooth pairing button lets you pair your speaker to a new device while the PartyBoost button activates the daisy-chain feature that JBL is famous for. Now if you haven't realised, one of the most blatant features that is missing is the lack of any playback or volume controls. And that means to say that it is impossible for one to skip songs or change volumes straight from the speaker. You can only do so via your phone. To make up for the loss of controls, JBL has now built-in a sturdy rubber loop at the top of the speaker so as to let you hang the speaker anywhere from beach umbrella, wall hooks or even to a backpack. This has made it easy for users to carry the speaker around easily and not have to try and grip the rather wide circumference of the speaker body and risk dropping or cracking the speaker. Notably, having a loop also equates to no fingerprints on the clear acrylic surface for the ultimate classy aesthetic. Lastly, just below the button control strip, there is a USB-C port with a single LED light strip to indicates its remaining battery life. In terms of durability, the Pulse 5 is definitely not drop-proof but it is rated at IP67 dust and water-resistance for a peace of mind. Moving onto the main feature here, the light show is by far the industry standard and the only speaker that has achieved this impressive feat till date. Now, larger than before, the circumference of the speaker has grown to increase the amount of lighted area, creating a bigger presence. As an step-up, the light show is now extended down to the passive radiator too to give it a strobe-type effect. The strobe light does a great job flashing off from a table and it would definitely impress especially when used on a tabletop with a reflective gloss surface. At 1.47kg, the new model is slightly heavier and wider than the 1.2kg Pulse 4. The light show is way more pronounced and syncs up with the music playback more accurately and have no lag whatsoever. To change the light modes, you can use the light mode switch button to do so quickly or seek more customisation of it via the JBL Portable app, available on the App and Play Store. In the app, you will first need to pair up the speaker. You will first be greeted with the battery life status and then see the full customisation of light themes, There are many fun options to choose from including Nature, Party, Spiritual, Cocktail, Weather and Canvas. Each of these presets have default settings built-in to sync up with the music playback. With each preset, you can further enhance this experience by clicking the edit button on the top right where the more light modes are listed for you to select specifically a combination of options you would like and deselect those that you didn't like as much. You may selectively choose a colour via the colour picker in all the themes except Canvas mode to output just one shade of hue or leave it on colour loop for a rainbow experience. Now, that's not all as you can alter the brightness of the lights, choose to turn on/off the main light show as well as the strobe separately too. Lastly, you can change the tempo of the light sync to your music where the light can be adjusted via a slider that ranges from slow to fast. 

Sound Quality

Moving on to sound quality, the Pulse 5 uses a 30W 64mm single upward firing woofer and a bottom-firing 16mm passive radiator to produce an upbeat, energetic and lively sound signature, To start off, the bass is punchy and boomy but nowhere as deep and immersive as speakers of its price point since it doesn't house such a big passive radiator and only has one woofer to pretty much handle all the frequencies. However, that is not to discredit the bass since it still does a great job at maintaining its clarity to ensure that it does not bleed into the mids or distort at near maximum volumes. The mids on the other hand have excellent and crisp details while the highs sounds exceptional with great vocals reproduction. The instrument separation is decent with a relatively perceivable soundstage. However, there is no distinct left and right channels since the speaker is a mono setup. To achieve a stereo sound, the Pulse 5 does allow for another Pulse 5 to be paired up as left and right channels. At 40% volume, a single Pulse 5 does successfully fill up a medium-sized room. Together with the said upward-firing driver, it is a 360° soundscape that is great for inducing atmosphere at big parties. The Pulse 5's sound signature is tuned for modern day Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B, Indie and many other of its sub-genres. However, those who like to listen to more extreme ends of Electronic Dance Music, may find the need to tune the sound in the JBL Portable app for it to fit their tastes. Back to the app, there is a simple 3-band equaliser for the low, mids and highs adjustments. Since there are no presets available. the process is very much straightforward and Do-It-Yourself. Personally, I like to re-create the most common V-shaped sound with stronger low end to compliment for the bright highs that the Pulse already outputs while letting the mids take a backseat. Do note that when the Pulse 5 is in Party Mode, the equaliser will not be available for customisation as JBL wants to ensure that all the speaker are in Balance EQ mode for cleaner and more even surround. Next, we have a new addition to the app, known as Ambient Sounds, where one can choose from a range of white noises such as waves, night, campfire, nature and stream. There is a dedicated play/pause button too with the timer slider ranging from as short as 1 minute to 1 hour long. You can also choose to play all the white noise together, select a few or just use one at any one time, the choice is limitless, however you cannot combine the playback of ambient sound alongside your music as either one will pause when the other is played. There is also the option to turn on/off the feedback tone for when you press a button. In other settings, you can update the speakers software, change the app language as well as read the user guide. As with all JBL products, one speaker is never enough and that is where PartyBoost really shines to create a full-on party in just seconds. Compatible JBL speakers range from the Flip 5, Pulse 4, Charge 5, Xtreme 3, Boombox 2 onwards with promise for support with any newer models that will be launched in the future. There is hardly a limit of the maximum number of speakers that can be paired together as it tops out at 100. Of course, to pair each one of those other speakers, a simple press on the PartyBoost button gets the speakers ready. If you wished for more clearer pairing, you may also use the JBL Portable app to selectively pick which speakers to pair together with a more visual guide. In my use case here, I had my Pulse 5 paired with my older Pulse 4 to give off a louder studio-filling sound. Overall, I have to say that the sound signature is slightly better in the new model as the bass is more pronounced, the highs are more detailed and the mids are more crisp. Together with a wider soundstage, the Pulse 5 seems to have step up significantly on the sound quality too. There was one issues that I found with pairing both speakers via PartyBoost is the fact that I cannot individual control the Pulse 4; secondary speaker's lightshow in the JBL app since I have set the primary speaker as the Pulse 5. That means to say that you are only left with the option to use the button on the speaker to change the lightshow modes and both JBL speakers lightshow almost never syncs up with each other, throwing off the users in light aesthetic at every instant. Now those who are into using their smart assistants or using their speakers as a speakerphone will be disappointed since it does not have a mic nor any Google Assistant, Siri or Amazon Alexa integration for your smart home needs.

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Connectivity & Portability

In terms of connectivity, Bluetooth 5.3 is offered without the disclosure of any codecs. However, that only means the speaker uses the standard SBC and AAC codecs. If you watch movie or videos with the Pulse 5, it doesn't have much latency. On the bright side, the Pulse 5 supports Bluetooth multipoint connection so you can take calls on your phone and listen to music on your laptop. With the move to a wireless world, there is no 3.5mm audio-in port available and you cannot use the USB-C port for wired use. The USB-C port is for charging purposes only with the package including a JBL-branded USB-C cable. The battery life peaks a 12 hours per use at an moderate volume, however, having the lightshow on and louder music volumes will also meant that the speaker is likely to run out of juice sooner than it can last. It does take a rather long 4 hours to charge the speaker up from a dead battery with no support for quick charge.

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PROS​

• Dynamic Sound Signature

• Iconic Design

• Built-in Utility Loop

• IP67 Dust and Water Resistant

• Mesmerizing Lightshow

• Customisable Lightshow Themes

• Energetic Sound Signature

• Customisable Equaliser Presets

• 360° Sound

• Bluetooth Multipoint

• Hassle-free PartyBoost Pairing

• PartyBoost Backwards Compatibility

• Comprehensive App Support

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CONS​

• No Audio-In Port

• No Speakerphone

• No Smart Home Integration

• Lack of Playback Buttons

• No AptX Codecs Support

 

The Bottom Line

In all, the JBL Pulse 5 is a mesmerising feature speaker that sure to turn heads at parties. The top selling features include its distinct JBL sound, immersive lightshow, IP67 dust and water-resistance, 360° sound as well as comprehensive app support. Designed with an all-acrylic aesthetic, it shines well beyond all the conventional looking speakers to give them a run for your money.