JBL PartyBox Encore review

The JBL PartyBox Encore is a speaker cube that has it all: 100 watts of music power and up to 10 hours of battery life – plus a wireless microphone for karaoke parties. We tested the PartyBox Encore and also compare it to its siblings.

Technical specifications

The JBL PartyBox Encore is the smallest speaker in JBL’s PartyBox family.

With 100 watts RMS music output, you can perfectly sound a house party or spontaneous party in the field.

The cube is not entirely symmetrical, the dimensions are the following: (W x H x D): 276 x 327 x 293 mm. With a weight of 6.3 kg, the speaker is quite light in comparison.

JBL claims up to 10 hours of music playback, but at full volume, 3.5-4.5 hours is more realistic, depending on the music. The 27 Wh battery is charged in 3.5 hours – via a normal mains plug.

A 5.25 inch woofer and two 1.75 inch tweeters are used, which also offer a certain stereo image. As already described, JBL specifies an RMS music output of 100 watts. They support a frequency response from 50Hz to 20kHz. We’ll get to the sound later.

Music comes either via Bluetooth 5.1, via jack or from a USB stick. With Bluetooth, we noticed positively that the music playback remained surprisingly stable, even at distances of more than 10 meters.

You can also charge your smartphone via the USB-A connection, but only with 0.5A at 5V, i.e. 2.5 watts – that is very little. Other party boxes from JBL usually have 2.1A, i.e. 10 watts.

The Encore is also protected against splashing water, according to IPX4.

In addition to the speaker and a 2m power cord, the scope of delivery also includes a wireless microphone. More on that later.

Control and operation

Some time ago, JBL gave the party boxes an update to the operation, the main element is now a large rotary knob that controls the volume. Pressing this button controls playback.

Positioned around this element are four other buttons: a power button, Bluetooth, lighting effects, and a bass boost button. Incidentally, turning on the PartyBox Encore again takes about 10 seconds.

The button for the TWS function is on the back.

The well-known rotary controls are also available for the karaoke function, for microphone volume, treble, bass and reverberation.

The PartyBox Encore can do that

The JBL PartyBox Encore supports JBL’s TWS (True Wireless Stereo) mode, which JBL uses with the party boxes to connect two party boxes to form a wireless stereo speaker pair. However, you can only connect two speakers of the same type here, in this case two PartyBox Encore.

As usual for party boxes, the PartyBox Encore also has its own small light show on board. On the left and right front there is a long strip of lights, around the bass membrane there is a light and at the top 3 flashing (strobe) LEDs round off the picture. The lamps have different modes and adapt to the beat. With JBL, this always looks very high-quality, even during the day the LED units are easy to see.

As usual with the newer party boxes from JBL, the Encore also supports the JBL PartyBox app. Here you have access to all functions that the PartyBox supports. This includes software updates, light settings, a 3-band equalizer, sound effects and settings for the karaoke function.

Karaoke and microphone

A special feature is the karaoke function with the wireless microphone that is included.

Let’s start with the microphone, which has been completely redesigned for the Encore compared to the microphone on the JBL PartyBox On-The-Go. It is now made of metal, which looks very high-quality and also reduces inherent noise, e.g. B. when changing hands. JBL specifies the range as 20 meters.

The design is a bit unusual for a microphone, but JBL has also pulled through its own style, the microphone has many small JBL details.

Acoustically, the microphone is solid, and software prevents feedback in most situations.

If you switch on the microphone, the rotary controls on the top are activated, these are digital here, and show the current status using an LED ring. This is done very smartly.

Unfortunately, you can only connect the microphone that is included in the scope of delivery. Unfortunately, JBL has saved another microphone input, the separately available wireless microphones belong to the JBL PartyBox On-The-Go and are unfortunately not compatible.

Sound

Let’s come to one of the most important criteria for a speaker, the sound. Of course, as always, this is subjective.

The JBL PartyBox Encore actually surprised me at first, JBL makes significantly more out of the 100 watts of power here than, for example, with the Partybox On-The-Go. The sound is amazingly detailed, but I was particularly impressed by the bass range. The Encore also has two settings for the bass boost mode, but not simply in two stages, but with two different profiles. One is particularly powerful, the other especially for deep bass. Depending on the environment, you can get a lot out of the bass range.

The volume is definitely sufficient for a small party, if you need more, you can connect a second speaker wirelessly with TWS.

PartyBox Encore in comparison

The PartyBox Encore convinced us as a stand-alone product, but of course you have to make a comparison, at least to JBL’s own lineup.

PartyBox Encore vs PartyBox Encore Essential

JBL also offers an essential version of the PartyBox Encore. At first glance, the two are very similar, but the Essential does without some features. No microphone is included in the scope of delivery, but you can connect one with a jack here, but the EQ and reverb settings are missing. The LED light show is somewhat reduced.

TWS is also available here, the JBL PartyBox app is incompatible. The biggest problem from our point of view is that the battery life is only 6 hours instead of 10 hours.

In terms of dimensions and music performance, however, the two are identical.

The Essential cost RRP 50 euros less, depending on the desired application, this can be a good or bad deal.

JBL PartyBox Encore vs. PartyBox On-The-Go

Another very exciting comparison is that of the PartyBox On-The-Go, which also costs about 50 euros less, also offers 100 watts, also has a wireless microphone and also offers the option of connecting a microphone and even a guitar via a jack.

But even here you only have 6 hours of music playback in the best case and the sound is significantly worse, although both have 100 watts of music power. The sound here is much less defined and rather loud, but not nice. You can find the whole test report here.

JBL PartyBox Encore vs PartyBox 110

The PartyBox 110 from JBL is the successor to the PartyBox 100 , unfortunately we haven’t tested it yet, but the expectations are high.

Here it is a bit more exciting, the speaker costs 10 euros more at JBL itself, but offers 160 watts of music power and 12 hours of music playback. The microphone is missing, but you can also connect a guitar and microphone via a jack.

So the biggest advantage of the Encore here is the weight (4 kg less) and the dimensions, which are of course much more compact.

For most, however, an update to the 110 should be worthwhile.

Conclusion

The JBL PartyBox Encore convinces with a good sound, a chic design and compact dimensions. The loudspeaker can also be used wonderfully as a karaoke box with the microphone, but unfortunately only with a microphone, and you can’t connect a guitar either.