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If you love music, you probably enjoy taking it with you.  JBL has introduced the latest in their amazing family of portables, the Flip 7, which is the 7th generation of their first Bluetooth speaker. It’s available in six colors: black, blue, red, purple, camo or white. Let’s see how Flip 7 is an upgrade vs the prior Flip 6. 

Flip 7 is easier to carry. We love JBL’s Pushlock system with the included JBL-branded carabiner, or with the simple loop attachment.  These clip-in to a locking mechanism; just press the button, clip in, and it’s nice and secure for your bike ride 

Flip 7 has a bit better treble with a new dome tweeter, and tighter bass, as they upgraded to 35 watts vs 30 in Flip 6. Kudos to JBL that they upgraded at similar size and weight as Flip 6, which won a REDDOT Design Award for its awesome looks and portability. What folks love about this: good sound that you can easily carry.

The 7-band customizable EQ is a terrific addition. If offers personal control over your sound, so Flip 7 can sound like YOUR Flip 7.  This provides easy customization vs Flip 6’s 3-band EQ. 

Connections: You can connect wirelessly to your phone with Bluetooth 5.4, the latest generation of Bluetooth.  5.4 offers greater range before dropouts, and a little better sound than older Bluetooth versions. You can also connect hardwired to a laptop or tablet with a USB-C, even more stable than Bluetooth 5.4. If you have a service that offers lossless audio, such as Apple Music or Tidal, you can even get lossless audio over USB-C.  

Another cool feature is JBL’s proprietary technology AI Sound Boost, which uses AI to dynamically analyze your music, and adjusts EQ “on the fly” in subtle ways. This makes music clearer and keeps distortion low, without you having to adjust anything.

What did we hear with music?  On a favorite Fleetwood Mac song, Hypnotized, we got a surprisingly strong bass line for a speaker that can fit into a pocket. On Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know, vocals sounded realistic. Flip 7 won’t do concert volumes, or subwoofer-level bass, but JBL makes larger wireless Bluetooth portables like Charge 6 if you want more output. 

JBL also upgraded how shock resistant this is. Flip 7 is certified drop-proof from a height of 1 meter / 3 feet. Its two bass radiators are better protected by 4 rubber guards at either end of the Flip 7. Flip 6 had three. That’s important in a product designed to be taken with you when jogging, at a picnic, or the beach. 

Flip 7 is even safer around water, with an IP 68 rating vs. IP 67 for the Flip 6. It’s also dust-proof, and if you drop it into the pool, it’s rated to handle submersion up to 1.5 meters or 4 ½ feet for as much as 30 minutes. Keep it out of the ocean salt water though, as salt won’t be good for some of the parts.

You can have music all day!  JBL upgraded to 14 hours of playtime on a single charge (vs Flip 6’s 12 hours), though total playtime varies with how much volume and bass you crank. You can add 2 more hours with Playtime Boost, which cuts back the deep bass content, so the speaker doesn’t work so hard. That’s no issue if there is little bass content, but try it to see if you like it. 

Controls: Flip 7 trades a PartyBoost button for an Auracast™ button, to the left of the Bluetooth and power buttons.  AuraCast is a JBL feature that lets you pair with another Flip 7, for stereo, or even with other JBL AuraCast-enabled speakers.  The same music playlist can be shared in several areas of the home. The buttons are back-lit, quite useful at night. Be aware that it’s not backwards compatible w older JBL PartyBoost speakers. 

If you want even more bass and the ability to play louder, check out JBL’s Charge 6. Yes, it’s a bit bigger and more costly, but can play louder before distorting, and has more and better bottom end. 

Flip 7 fits in a large pocket, sounds really good for its size, and is more rugged and customizable than the prior Flip 6. In our view, JBL loaded Flip 7 with enough upgrades to make it worth the slight up-charge. Come visit us for a demo, or to buy your own Flip 7 with a visit to www.SKYbygramophone.com.  We hope this has been informative for you. Please reach out with any questions; ask@gramophone.com.