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As a Georgian, it's customary to travel down to Florida to get some sun on the beach during summer vacation. I figured this year, I'd take a few of the latest Bluetooth speakers with me to better gauge their performance.
Also: I flew 2,700 miles with Apple, Sony, and Sennheiser headphones - this pair had the best audio
As with the many headphones I test, it's easy to form a positive opinion of a speaker in controlled environments such as my home office, front porch, or parents' backyard. But throw that same speaker into some uneven loose sand, uncontrollable ocean waves, and a nearby naval base and you have some totally different conditions.
I took the Bose SoundLink Plus, JBL Charge 6, and Sonos Play, outside with me while I relaxed on the shores of Pensacola Beach, using a different speaker each day. Here's how it went.
Day 1: JBL Charge 6
Jada Jones/ZDNET
The good: portability, Auracast
The Charge 6 lies horizontally, and its carrying strap clips one end to the other. Thus, you get a comfortable handle that makes it easy to carry the three-pound speaker. Since JBL supplied the Charge 6 with Auracast, if you have a compatible smartphone, you can play music from one phone to several Auracast-enabled speakers, regardless of manufacturer.
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