JBL Flip 7 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Portable speakers occupy a strange place in modern civilisation. Somebody brings one to a picnic, and within minutes they have become unpaid entertainment manager for twelve people, three snacks and a dog that dislikes the bass. The JBL Flip 7 makes a sensible case for being that speaker: it is compact at 18.3 × 7.0 × 7.2 cm and built around a 45 × 80 mm woofer plus a 16 mm tweeter. The sensible bit continues with Bluetooth 5.4, while the less usual bit is USB-C lossless audio playback from a compatible lossless source. That is a welcome escape hatch for the person who has carefully acquired higher-quality music files, then remembers that most portable audio lives at the mercy of whatever Bluetooth is doing that day. JBL states 14 hours of playback on one charge, rising to up to 16 hours with Playtime Boost. We appreciate the clarity, because “up to” has long been technology’s preferred way of putting a tiny asterisk on a big ambition. The stated 25 W RMS woofer output and 10 W RMS tweeter output tell buyers what JBL specifies, rather than asking them to decode a vague adjective such as “epic”. This particular blue bundle adds a Megen hardshell protection case, which makes it especially handy for a bag already full of chargers, crushed cereal bars and unexplained receipts. The Flip 7 also has JBL’s PushLock system, with a loop and carabiner included in the standard box, so it has a credible plan for not immediately disappearing into the black hole at the bottom of that bag.