JBL Boombox 4 vs JBL PartyBox Encore 2, massive win for Boombox 4 in terms of sound

Boombox 4 is a downgrade in terms of design, build and configuration when compared to the previous Boombox 3 speaker. Check out my Boombox 4 article where I wrote about the downgrades in BB4. My last article was about Encore 2 vs Encore 1. I found that the PartyBox Encore 2 is a very balanced good sounding speaker. The price difference between Boombox 4 (BB4) and Encore 2 is around $100. As the Encore 2 offers very good value, I want to know if the Encore 2 can offer similar or somewhat close performance to the Boombox 4 while costing $100 less. In this article I am going to mainly focus on their sound quality as well as their design, build, battery and features.

The JBL Boombox 4 is proper stereo meaning there are separate drivers playing separate channels in a 2-channel stereo track. On the contrary, the PartyBox Encore 2 is not a proper-stereo speaker. It has a kinda semi-stereo configuration. On the Encore 2, there are 2 tweeters and 1 big woofer in terms of active drivers. Only the tweeters play left and right channels separately. The single woofers outputs mono audio. You would need 2 woofers to get proper stereo output. The Boombox 4 is proper stereo because it has 2 tweeters as well as 2 woofers - previous Boombox 3 had an additional subwoofer though.

The Boombox 4 has 3 passive radiators, 2 on the sides and 1 on the back. However, the PartyBox Encore 2 doesn't have passive radiator for bass, instead it has a big bass-port to produce deep-bass. Encore 2 is a 100-watt speaker where the single big woofer is around 5.25 inch in diameter. The new JBL Boombox 4 has 2 x 123 mm woofers and 2 x 20 mm tweeters. It also has an RMS power rating of 210 watts on AC power and 200 watts on battery. The PartyBox Encore 2 will deliver its full 100 watts RMS on AC power. It think this is a clear win for the JBL Boombox 4 speaker as it is way more powerful and proper stereo.

Both speakers are portable but they are neither small nor very big. However, they look totally different from one another. The Boombox 4 has JBL's portable-boombox vibe vs the Encore 2 has a small, square and PartyBox vibe. The Encore 2 is small and not tall considering other PartyBox speakers from JBL. The Boombox 4 has the premium look, feel and build. It looks and feels like a more expensive speaker. The Encore 2 is also built really well and doesn't feel cheap at all, but looks and feels more plasticky. The Encore is heavier at 6.4 kg but the Boombox 4 is not that much lighter at 5.9 kg. Both speakers have upgraded design with hot-swappable battery, this is a very useful thing in my opinion.

The design of PartyBox Encore 2 is better compared to Encore 1 because of the upward-tilt on the Encore 2 that helps with the sound projection. Both speakers are very very different looking, none of them look weird to me, I like them both for their different design. But one thing is clear that the Boombox 4 looks more expensive. The Encore 2 can serve additional purpose as it comes with 2 karaoke mics, which the Boombox 4 doesn't come with. I love how the new microphones look on the PartyBox Encore 2, but didn't like the mics came with Encore 1 speaker. The Boombox 4 has subtle RGB lights on the passive radiators but Encore 2 has way more feature-rich lights to create a party-vibe.

The official specs say that the PartyBox Encore 2 has a frequency response range from 40 Hz to 20 KHz vs the Boombox 4's 37 Hz to 20 KHz range. By looking at their frequency response, both have a peak around 50 Hz in the deep-bass region but there is also a wide dip on both right after the bass-peak. That wide mid-bass dip is there to make the deep-bass appear more prominent while listening to music. Boombox 4 particularly has stronger upper-mids around 2 KHz but dips a bit right after that. On the contrary, the PartyBox Encore 2 is more balanced in the mids. There is nothing severely wrong in any of their frequency response, but the Encore 2 has a more balanced response.

For lower volumes like below 50%, the Boombox 4 sounds very very bass-heavy with the deep-bass mode and kinda bass-heavy with the default standard mode. Similar modes are also present on the PartyBox Encore 2 speaker. However, the Encore 2 doesn't sound that bass-heavy like the Boombox 4 in the deep-bass mode. Both the Boombox 4 and Encore 2 have the deep-bass kick from their 50 Hz peak. They both have deep and impactful bass as you can expect from their size. The Boombox 4 can sound muddy and overpowered in the bass, but its stronger mids help a bit with the situation. The Encore 2 sounds more balanced without overpowering the bass. But the mids and the highs have better quality on the Boombox 4 - sounds more richer, refined and detailed.

Boombox 4 sounds more open and airy with more details on the tracks that you can hear going on in the background. The overpowering low-end on the deep-bass mode can compromise the details sometimes, use the standard mode. As you turn up the volume and go towards 70% volume, the Boombox 4 is still kinda bass-heavy but not that much as it was at lower volumes. The Encore 2 sounds quieter at 70% volume than Boombox 4. The Encore 2 needs to be at around 90% volume to kinds match the volume of Boombox 4 at 70% volume. I think the JBL Boombox 4 has a more detailed and refined sound that has more openness and airiness. It sounds more richer and specious with better soundstage. By the way, the Encore 2 delivers a very convincing well-rounded balanced sound with similar deep-bass, but not as detailed or refined as the Boombox 4 speaker.

When you go towards higher volumes and close to maximum, the PartyBox Encore 2 falls apart pretty quickly. The Boombox 4 sounds way louder with more bass. From their frequency response, the Boombox 4's bass doesn't increase after 80% volume but the Encore 2's bass increase till 100% volume kinda linearly. That means the Encore 2 should sound more balanced. So, this is a bit tricky but even though the Encore 2 sounds more balanced it has less bass than Boombox 4 at max volume. To simplify this, I can say that the Boombox 4 has more bass and a lot more loudness. So, it sounds like a bit more bass but way way louder overall. Boombox 4's loudness comes from the mids and highs at max volume.

At maximum 100% volume, the JBL Boombox 4 is around 4.4 LUFS louder than the Encore 2 - check this video from Dominik Reviews for reference. This is a lot louder, like you have to add a second PartyBox Encore 2 to get kinda close to the loudness of a single Boombox 4 speaker. Even though the Encore 2 sounds more balanced, it wouldn't win if we would bring down the loudness of Boombox 4 to a similar level. The Boombox 4 is a bit bright and less balanced sounding but the bass is still there but less balanced. All the modes like deep-bass mode and punchy-mode follow similar sound signature on both speakers. Punchy mode has boosted mid and upper bass on both. Overall, it's a huge win for the JBL Boombox 4 in the department of sound quality.

The JBL Boombox 4 has a huge battery pack counting at 99 Wh vs PartyBox Encore 2's 34 Wh pack. But the Boombox 4 also has a way way higher power rating at 210 watts. So, you can push the Boombox 4 to higher volumes and still have around 8 to 10 hours of playback vs the PartyBox Encore 2 will be done within around 4 hours. As the marketing say, the Boombox 4 can last around 34 hours with playtime boost at around 50% volume. The Encore 2 can last around 15 hours at around 50% volume with lights off. If you ever need to buy another battery unit for them, the JBL Boombox 4 uses the JBL Battery 600 and the PartyBox Encore 2 uses the smaller JBL Battery 200 model.

Both speakers can be fully charged within 3.5 hours. The crazy advantage with these new generation JBL speakers is, you can buy more battery pack and keep the party going by hot-swapping the replaceable battery pack. The battery pack on Encore 2 physically looks significantly smaller than the BB4's battery, check out this Encore 2 teardown video. Boombox 4's battery has almost 3 times the capacity of Encore 2's battery. A big win for the Boombox 4 in the battery department - kinda justifies the higher price.

Check out those articles from above, you can click on those linked images to read the articles. A while ago I published a review of the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G smartphone, check that out if you are into budget phones. In case you are interested in portable speakers, I compared 3 Boombox type speakers from 3 different brands such as Soundcore, Tribit and JBL. So don't forget to also check out that detailed comparison article about the JBL Boombox 3 vs Tribit Stormbox Blast vs Soundcore Boom 2 Plus.

I like both of these speakers. The JBL PartyBox Encore 2 offers better overall value than the Boombox 4. In my opinion, the included 2 units of high-quality karaoke mics are a huge contribution to the overall value of the PartyBox Encore 2 speaker. This added accessory opens more purpose for the speaker. The Encore 2 is a well-balanced very good sounding speaker. You can use it for normal listening as well as for partying, the karaoke mics come in to play on parties. Even though the Encore 2 is $100 cheaper, the PartyBox-tag gives it more overall features compared to the Boombox 4. You have a lot of flexibility with lights, features and controls with mics as well as some DJ functions for fun in the party.

The PartyBox Encore 2 is kinda a no-brainer if you are on a budget. If you have money in your pocket and you care more about sound quality, you can go for the Boombox 4 that offers a more detailed and refined sound for any type of critical listening. The Boombox 4 has a much richer sound with more openness, airiness and depth. Boombox 4 is better for outdoors as it goes way louder than Encore 2. The battery life is also way better on the Boombox 4. If we are not looking into other speakers from other brands that offer more for less, if we are just talking within the realm of these 2 JBL speakers, Boombox 4's higher price is justified in my opinion. But even if you have money you might still wanna buy the Encore 2 if you are thinking about partying - for its accessories and party-features.

Also, please check out the JBL Charge 6 vs Charge 5 story for highlights.
IF you're interested in mid-sized portable speakers, check my JBL Charge 6 vs Bose SoundLink Plus article. The JBL Charge 6 did better in the head-to-head comparison.