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The JBL Flip 7 finally has direct USB-C audio that’s easy to activate. The previous model also had USB audio, but it’s stupid. You had to press and hold some buttons for 20 seconds to switch into wired mode, whereas on the Flip 7 you simply hold down the play button for 3 seconds while you plug in the cable.

So much easier, and unlike the Charge series, when it’s in wired audio mode it will not suck the battery from your device to charge the speaker, so it’s not a battery vampire. Not to mention, it sounds pretty awesome for its size. It’s super loud, even just being 2 meters from it I had to keep the volume between 50-60% which beats expectations. We’re going to listen to some sound samples, compare its sound quality over Bluetooth versus USB-C, as well as talk about some of its drawbacks. So buckle up!

Sound Quality

Now, it still won’t have as much bass loudness as larger speakers, but bass still sounds meaty and I could feel the heaviness and thump in my music without the bloat. It also sounds very clear and clean in the mids and highs. Vocals don’t sound veiled or boomy, sibilance is kept under control and there’s even an airiness to the sound.

There’s no stereo separation, so this really is a mono speaker, but you can add another one, link it up in the JBL Portable app and get a proper stereo setup. I wouldn’t say it sounds perfect.

I still want a bit more heaviness in the vocals which, being a small speaker without a dedicated full range driver, it’s not going to have much fullness or gravity in the mids. Also while vocals don’t sound shrill, it can sound a bit shouty. So I went into the JBL Portable app and created my own custom EQ for it which I think is an improvement over the default sound. Here’s the difference before and after EQ.

👉 Have a listen to the custom sound quality samples

It sounds good over Bluetooth, but does it sound even better over USB-C? Well, it does. Track separation sounds even more clean, and although there wasn’t any improvement in terms of detail retrieval, it’s a smoother, more relaxed sound overall.

👉 Have a listen to the USB-C and Bluetooth sound quality samples

Another reason to use USB-C is that it also solves the latency issue, because over Bluetooth, there is no low-latency gaming mode on the Flip 7. Even playing something like Among Us you can see that there’s a bit of lag over Bluetooth compared to just using phone speakers.

👉 Have a listen to the latency samples

The drawback of using USB-C is of course, you won’t be able to access any of the features or settings in the JBL Portable app. But, if you did create a custom EQ for it, the Flip 7 will remember your EQ setting while in USB audio configuration.

Bluetooth Conectivity

Now, If we’re simply talking about Bluetooth connectivity, it’s very stable, and multipoint pairing works fast and seamlessly. Playing audio on the second device immediately takes over the first device, and vice versa.

And it’s only over Bluetooth will you get all the features in the JBL Portable app like PartyTogether, which lets you broadcast the audio to multiple JBL speakers that support Auracast, Stereo pairing which lets you connect another Flip 7 to it to make a stereo pair, giving you real stereo separation and soundstaging, as well as Playtime Boost.

This makes the speaker about 10% louder and last a couple of hours longer, but the trade-off is that the graphic Equalizer goes inactive when using Playtime Boost.

Verdict

The Flip 7 is obviously geared towards an active lifestyle, since it’s got great waterproofing, drop-resistance, it even has a carabiner which snaps into place. But even if you’re not really into sports or camping, like me, it’s easy to put this anywhere in the house, from the balcony to the toilet.

That being said, there are some things which can be better. The way Auracast is implemented here doesn’t allow you to receive Auracast streams like you could do with the JBL Tour Pro 3 or Tour One M3. It’s only for broadcasting audio to other compatible JBL speakers. It’s still Auracast, but in a more limited form. Apart from that, I can see the Flip 7 being very popular for its smallness, its ruggedness, and its sound quality.

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