The JBL Hyperlink 20 is a Google Residence speaker. It will get you all the advantages of the unique Google Home, however provides battery-powered portability, nice water resistance and JBL’s personal sound signature.
At £199/$199 it’s not low cost, although.
Should you don’t care an excessive amount of about portability, the Sonos One sounds considerably higher. Nevertheless, the JBL Hyperlink 20 continues to be a strong good speaker with higher sound than some, and is price contemplating if you happen to see it bought at an excellent worth.
Design
The JBL Hyperlink 20 is a mid-size wi-fi speaker. It’s most likely too huge to simply hold in your rucksack each day, “simply in case” it’s wanted, however continues to be simply sufficiently small to hold round the home. It weighs 960g: not heavy.
It is a hybrid speaker of types. The Google Residence assistant is its most blatant function, one thing you’ll virtually actually use solely at house. However the JBL Hyperlink 20 additionally has the design, the Bluetooth streaming and built-in battery wanted for an excellent all-terrain speaker.
Just like the UE Megaboom, the JBL Hyperlink 20’s prime and backside are rubbery plastic, the perimeters a curved column topped with robust nylon weave.
That is extra resilient than the painted aluminium grilles of some options. Whereas we don’t are likely to torture the merchandise we overview, the Hyperlink 20 feels prefer it might face up to some tough remedy and the odd drop off a desk.
One different a part of its ruggedisation doesn’t should depend on our hypothetical anecdotes both. The JBL Hyperlink 20 is rated to IPX7, that means it will probably face up to rain, water jets and even being submerged in water.
You can even put it on a bathe shelf for some tunes whilst you wash. To do with a Sonos One can be a foul transfer. Trailing energy leads into the bathe is not the neatest of concepts.
A rubber flap close to the underside of the JBL Hyperlink 20’s rear must be in-place for the water resistance to depend. This covers the microUSB port used to cost the battery.
In some methods the JBL Hyperlink 20 is a really feature-rich, versatile speaker. Nevertheless, in contrast to most pure Bluetooth fashions there isn’t any aux enter. It’s a disgrace, however in our opinion nowhere close to as a lot a difficulty because the telephones that omit a headphone jack. We might have a Bluetooth-less iPod Basic within the cabinet, however can’t keep in mind the final time it had a day trip.
The JBL Hyperlink 20 can skip between roles as a house and transportable speaker. Nevertheless, its seems are these of a transportable Bluetooth one, and the design will not be optimised for cramming right into a bookshelf between your well-worn Harry Potters and John Grishams. The drivers sit on the perimeters of the Hyperlink 20’s column, so positioning it like this may partially block them.
It’s not a speaker that screams “front room centrepiece”, however this driver array does make it ship 360-sh diploma sound.
Flip it on utilizing the facility button on the again and somewhat LED array alongside will present you the way a lot of the battery is left. A full cost lasts as much as 10 hours, which is ok in sensible phrases for many events, however under, for instance, the Bluetooth-only UE MegaBoom. That speaker lasts as much as 20 hours.
As soon as setup utilizing the Google Residence app you’ll be able to merely say the same old “Good day Google” immediate to activate the speaker. This makes an LED array on the entrance mild up, to indicate it’s listening. When taking part in again audio these lights additionally act as a quantity indicator.
Due to a twin microphone array on the highest plate that’s much more delicate than your common Bluetooth speaker mic, you’ll be able to speak from any course and don’t have to be too shut. We had been in a position to speak to the JBL Hyperlink 20 from 5m away at a traditional, pretty quiet, talking quantity and it understood the command.
When you might have music taking part in at a good quantity you do want to talk up somewhat, although, and the JBL Hyperlink 30 predictably does not work all that properly from one other room. Nevertheless, microphone sensitivity is definitely ok to make this appear a “correct” good speaker. JBL hasn’t simply crammed Google Residence into considered one of its present fashions.
We’re glad there are bodily controls on prime, thoughts, as a result of saying “Okay Google” on a regular basis will get outdated fast, faster than saying “Alexa”. 4 syllables could also be an excessive amount of.
Urgent the central button up prime helps you to communicate your command with out the wake phrase: most welcome. There are additionally quantity and playback controls, and a button to change to the Bluetooth mode. For these but to make use of a Google Residence speaker, it’s additionally price noting you’ll be able to “Forged” to the JBL Hyperlink 20 utilizing many telephone apps, and stream straight via the Spotify app.
Google Residence can be a multi-room system.
In our expertise no less than, the JBL Hyperlink 20 works flawlessly. No points with setup, no points with Wi-Fi streaming, and none with Bluetooth both. Quicker charging would have been smart, although. The 5V, 2.3A charger delivers much less juice than that of most fast-charging telephones, and due to this fact a full recharge takes a couple of hours.
Sound high quality
The JBL Hyperlink 20 sounds pretty good. It makes use of two 2-inch full-range drivers that sit in the direction of the underside of every facet of the tower, presumably utilizing the remainder of the area for electronics and cupboard area.
Given the dearth of bass radiator, utilized in many wi-fi audio system however surprisingly few good house ones, low-end energy is reassuringly strong. The sound’s decrease frequencies are full and respectably highly effective given the scale. Sonos’s One has considerably higher very low bass energy, however the Hyperlink 20 embarrasses the Amazon Echo, which simply doesn’t have the low-bass punch to make kick drums sound correct.
In contrast to another JBL audio system, the bass can be not murky. It’s not super-taut both, however that is principally one thing we’ve solely seen in direct comparability with the most effective on this class.
That is an gratifying speaker that we discover significantly strong for digital and instrumental music. There’s no harshness, and it sounds proper at low or excessive volumes. Nevertheless, there are some clearer points with the mids and treble meaning the JBL Hyperlink 20 is the best-sounding £200/$200 wi-fi speaker.
The treble is barely delicate, missing the chew and readability of a speaker with a separate tweeter, or one which makes use of a radiator to tackle the accountability for the bass.
It’s the JBL Hyperlink 20’s mids that make the speaker sound a league under the Sonos One, although. They’re comparatively low on element don’t have nice presence. Because of this, the Hyperlink 20 can’t venture vocals wherever close to in addition to the most effective small wi-fi audio system.
A comparability with the less expensive (if additionally less complicated) Jam Heavy Steel is revealing. Vocals leap out of this £69/$60 speaker, sounding rather more alive and important than they do via the JBL, significantly at low and mid-level volumes.
Evaluating with the smallest Sonos is extra worthwhile, although, because the Jam Heavy Steel additionally doesn’t fairly maintain up as properly when attempting to fill massive rooms. It’s a smaller speaker, in any case.
The Sonos One’s extra refined mids lend preparations rather more area, leading to a extra dynamic and well-rendered sound that’s nearer to that of a correct hifi. At instances vocals can appear constrained inside the JBL Hyperlink 20 tower’s dimensions.
Put together you expectations. Whereas this can be a fine-sounding speaker, it’s higher at delivering energy than constancy.
Verdict
The JBL Hyperlink 20 is a wi-fi speaker that flips with a button press between roles as a sensible house unit and a transportable Bluetooth music unit you’ll be able to take wherever.
It’s robust, water-resistant, and has microphones delicate sufficient to allow you to speak to it casually, not like somebody caught on an automatic financial institution telephone line.
Sound high quality is sweet, though due to a barely congested soundstage and restricted mid-range projection, it doesn’t problem one thing just like the home-tethered Sonos One.