Tribit Stormbox Lava outperforms the JBL Xtreme 4 speaker in loudness

Tribit has a speaker that was made to take down the JBL Xtreme 4 at any cost. So, for portable speakers, you know when a cheap speaker is trying to be better than an expensive speaker in a similar-sized category, the cheap one almost always comes out worst sounding. Another crazy way to say this is like it's unfaithful and trying to cheat on you. Same thing here with the Tribit Stormbox Lava speaker, it wants to beat JBL Xtreme 4 by going louder at max volume but sacrificing sound signature - let's dive in the article.

The Xtreme 4 was very extremely priced when it launched. The retail price of Xtreme 4 is $380 vs the Tribit Stormbox Lava's $139 original price. However, the Xtreme 4's didn't live up to its extreme price - so you can get the Xtreme 4 at around $300 on sale. Sometimes, even cheaper at $250 when big sales going on. The Stormbox Lava is around $110 on sale. Overall, you can get 2 Stormbox lava speakers, and still you will have around $60 left to have a nice dinner - at a similar sale price of the JBL Xtreme 4. Isn't this crazy if I tell you that they are similarly powerful. But even being more powerful doesn't always mean you got it right - that's what you're here to see.

The Tribit Stormbox Lava has a weight of 2369 grams vs JBL Xtreme 4's 2100 grams. So, the Stormbox Lava is around 250 grams heavier than the Xtreme 4 speaker. However, the Xtreme 4 looks slightly beefier compared to Stormbox Lava despite being 250 grams lighter. Honestly, I like the design of the JBL Xtreme 4 much better than the Stormbox Lava. The lava overall looks like a way cheaper speaker but with decent build. JBL Xtreme 4 has a premium vibe. But one thing I really like about the Stormbox Lava is, that it has 2 carrying options included in the box as accessories. And the short rope-like handle is a really cool design. The hooks and the base of the handle look like metal. So Stormbox Lava isn't as cheap looking as its price.

Both are around 80-Watt speakers on battery. JBL Xtreme 4 might go upto 100 watts on AC power. Both Stormbox Lava and Xtreme 4 have same configuration of 2 woofers, 2 tweeters and 2 passive radiators. JBL Xtreme 4 has 2x 70-mm woofers and 2x 20-mm tweeters vs the Stormbox Lava's 2x 65-mm woofers and 2x 20-mm tweeters. So both will play tracks in stereo configuration but the stereo separation is better on the JBL Xtreme 4 speaker - design matters.

From their frequency response, you can see that the Stormbox Lava has a huge dip in the upper bass. This is deliberately tuned to challenge the JBL Xtreme 4 in terms of deep bass. Let me explain this - so the Stormbox Lava has a very prominent 55 Hz bass peak and then a huge dip on the 70 to 300 Hz region where the upper-bass slap happens. The dip is there to carefully make it sound pretty deep in sub-bass carrying tracks. By the way, Xtreme 4 also has a dip in the similar region but it way less of a dip than Stormbox Lava's dip. So JBL Xtreme 4 sounds fuller and a bit more balanced at lower to moderate listening volume like 50 to 70% volume.

There is weird things going on in the highs of Stormbox Lava. In real world scenarios, the Stormbox Lava sounds significantly less cleaner and muddy with rolled-off highs. The JBL Xtreme 4 has a much better sounding high-end. It sounds more Hi-Fi with way more details and good characters. Simply the Xtreme 4 is more open and airy sounding with better sound signature and soundstage. Things starts to get worse for the Stormbox Lava as we turn up the volume.

Over 70% volume, both limits their bass but the upper-mids around 2 KHz region is too much pushed on the Tribit Stormbox Lava to make it go loud. Also the high-end on the Stormbox Lava is also cropped-off heavily. So you get a very loud and unpleasant muddy in the high-end but sharp in the mids type of sound with the Tribit Stormbox Lava speaker compared to Xtreme 4. On the contrary, JBL handles the sound significantly better but sounds a bit less loud at maximum volume. I kinda wanted the JBL Xtreme 4 to have a bit more bass at higher volumes but it has a bit less upper-bass compared to Stormbox Lava.

At absolute maximum volume, the Tribit Stormbox Lava measures at -10.7 LUFS vs JBL Xtreme 4's -12.3 LUFS - check out Alan Ross's video for more info. That makes the Stormbox Lava noticeably louder but muddy and unpleasant sounding. Tribit Stormbox Lava has more upper bass and mids but less highs compared to Xtreme 4. The mids push and high-cut make the Lava very screamy. However, even though JBL Xtreme 4 sounds less screamy and better compared to Stormbox Lava, actually the JBL Xtreme 4 doesn't sound very good either. So the Tribit Stormbox Lava beats the JBL Xtreme 4 in max loudness but the Xtreme 4 provides an overall more refined sound with better design, build, battery and features.

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.

The JBL Xtreme 4 has more to offer than just a refined but a bit less loud sound. So, the battery is huge on the JBL Xtreme 4 compared to Stormbox Lava. The Xtreme 4 has a 68-Wh battery pack vs a 43.2-Wh pack for the Tribit Stormbox Lava. The battery on the Xtreme 4 is replaceable and it feels like it was built to last a long time. Both have custom eq in the app - Lava on custom-eq sounds better but not as refined or detailed as the Xtreme 4.

If you can't go over budget, get the Soundcore Boom 2 that outperforms the Xtreme 4. Check out my Xtreme 4 vs Boom 2 article - Boom 2 has better bass. But Stormbox Lava and Xtreme 4 has deeper bass at lower volumes. So if you don't need to play outdoors at high volumes, you can get the Stormbox Lava and eq it a bit - but go with Boom 2 for outdoors. And if you have deep pockets get the Xtreme 4 on a sale.

Also, please check out the JBL Charge 6 vs Charge 5 story for highlights.
IF you're interested in portable small speakers, check my Soundcore Motion 300 vs Bose Soundlink Flex article. Both speakers did well in a head-to-head comparison.