The JLab Pop Party is the cheapest speaker I’ve ever tested — but at what cost

The JLab Pop Party Bluetooth speaker is an affordable, portable option for anyone who wants to take their music on the go. It features an easy-to-use companion app and cool RGB lighting.

However, that lighting is what holds it back from being amongst the best Bluetooth speakers. The LEDs reduce the Pop Party’s battery life to just 4-5 hours, which is further decreased if you listen at high volumes. On top of that, the single button is finicky and frustrating, which forced me to control the speaker using my phone.

On top of all that, the sound quality is fairly poor, making this a difficult speaker to recommend. If you want to find out more about how I got on with this speaker, you can keep reading this full JLab Pop Party review.

JLab Pop Party review: Specs

JLab Pop Party review: Price & availability

The JLab Pop Party speaker is available for purchase for $24 / £24 at Amazon. This price tag makes it one of the cheapest options available, and the cheapest speaker I have ever tested.

While this is a low price, I have to admit that after listening to the speaker, it’s about right. I certainly wouldn’t pay more for a speaker that sounds like this.

For just $5 more, you could pick up the Tozo PE1 ($29), which packs way more of a punch in the volume department. Or for an extra $10, you can pick up (my personal favorite) the Tribit PocketGo ($34), which has awesome sound profile settings and, as the name would suggest, fits right into your pocket. But the JLab Pop Party offers more battery life (with RGB lights off) than the JBL Go 4, which has a battery life of just seven hours.

JLab Pop Party review: Design & controls

• Compact size
• Loop handle
• Only one control button

The JLab Pop Party is a portable speaker with RGB lighting. With the lighting on, it’s a pretty funky speaker, but with them off, it looks pretty cheap (which it is at $24) and ugly. An oval mesh covers the front of the speaker, which is surrounded by the lighting around the edges.

It measures 7.6 x 3.1 x 1.9 inches, so it’s extremely compact and as portable as the Tribit PocketGo (4.2 x 3.1 x 1.6 inches). The Pop Party weighs 8.7 ounces, which is pretty heavy compared to the 7.8-ounce Tribit PocketGo, which feels much lighter when carrying it around.

You can control the speaker with one multifunctional button. This button turns the speaker on and off with a long press, but if you want to be able to control volume and skip songs with it, you have to button mash. You can change these controls in the JLab app, but it becomes laborious.

The Pop Party speaker can be attached to virtually anything thanks to its loop handle. I was able to easily attach it around the strap of my bag, so it was easy to carry around. This design is similar to the Ultimate Ears Miniroll ($79), and is a great feature for smaller speakers like this.

The loop handle makes it ideal for taking on outdoor adventures, but you may want something a little more rugged to withstand harsher conditions. The Pop Party has a waterproof rating of IP55, which means it’s protected from water splashes in all directions.

If you’re in the market for a virtually indestructible speaker, I would recommend the Tribit PocketGo, which has a waterproof rating of IP68, or the Tozo PE1, which has a waterproof rating of IPX8. Both of these speakers can even go in the shower with you and come out unscathed (at least in the short term — as steam and soaps can break down the internal waterproofing of IP-rated products).

JLab Pop Party review: Connectivity & app

• Bluetooth
• No multipoint connectivity
• JLab app is easy to use

The JLab Pop Party speaker uses Bluetooth 5.3 to stream music over SBC and AAC audio codecs. It was easy to connect to my phone, but there’s no multipoint connectivity, so to switch devices, I had to fully disconnect and reconnect every time.

Like the JLab Go Party, the Pop Party is ‘LabSync Stereo Pairing’ compatible. LabSync allows up to 100 JLab speakers to be connected in stereo, creating bigger sound. This can be used with any JLab speaker; they don’t need to be the same model.

The JLab app provides a lot of opportunities for customization. You can adjust the single control button, EQ settings, and the RGB lighting.

JLab Pop Party review: Sound quality

• Doesn’t get very loud
• Poor audio quality
• Frequency masking

If you’re looking for a powerful speaker to fill a room with sound, the JLab Pop Party is not the one. But if you want a cheap speaker to play music very casually with some fun lights, then it’s fine. It’s not going to blow anyone away with Hi-Fi audio, but it is $24 after all.

Firstly, I listened to ‘Blue Monday’ by New Order to test out electronic genres. I initially listened to this with the default JLab signature EQ setting and was disappointed by how flat it sounded, so I headed to the JLab app to attempt to salvage the sound.

I tried the bass boost setting, but it made the song sound incredibly tinny. This is a shame because this song would be perfect for showcasing bass capabilities. I ended up creating a custom EQ setting for this song in a V-shape, using increased bass, lower mids and increased highs. If you're ever in doubt, this is a great way to adjust your sound profile.

Many other audio brands, such as Skullcandy and Beats, use this V-shape EQ setting to achieve the most pleasing sound for a wide range of consumers. This worked really well for me and made the song sound more full-bodied, but the sound still wasn’t as good as when I listened on the Tribit PocketGo.

I then listened to ‘Goodnight’ by Florence Road with the “Balanced” EQ preset, and, again, it sounded extremely tinny. ‘Goodnight’ usually sounds very clear thanks to its well-mixed soundscape, but the Pop Party struggled to replicate this. The speaker couldn’t discern between the high-frequency vocals and lead guitar, which resulted in a confused sound.

Finally, I listened to ‘I CARE’ by Turnstile, which is a melodic alt-rock song, using the JLab “Signature” preset. For this song, the preset worked pretty well. However, the same issue occurred with confusion of the vocals, but this time with the drums. It’s as if the two were becoming one sound, and this frequency masking became really annoying. But the rest of the song sounded good, especially during the softer, more melodic parts.

JLab Pop Party review: Battery life

• Short battery life
• RGB lighting makes battery life even shorter
• Takes 3 hours to fully charge

The first thing I noticed about the JLab Pop Party speaker is that I wasn’t getting anywhere near the advertised 8+ hours of battery. The speaker had just 50% battery left after two hours of listening, so I was a little confused.

After doing some digging, I discovered that the 8+ hours of battery life are only applicable if you’re using the speaker without the RGB lighting. With the lighting turned on, you get just 4-5 hours of listening time.

This obviously isn’t great because one of the only draws of this speaker is its funky lighting. If you want flashy lights and better battery life, I’d recommend the JLab Party Go ($34), which lasts eight hours with its lights. But if you aren’t fussed about lights and want something practical and just as small as the Pop Party, I would recommend the Tribit PocketGo with its 20 hours of battery life.

To make matters worse, after your puny four hours of listening time, the Pop Party takes three hours to recharge via USB-C. This is a long time considering how little playtime you actually get.

JLab Pop Party review: Verdict

The JLab Pop Party speaker is an affordable and compact option that looks cool thanks to its funky RGB lighting. Thanks to its user-friendly companion app, you can customize tons of settings. Which works out well, as you’ll need to adjust the EQ to get decent sound.

However, JLab has clearly cut some corners in trying to keep the price low. While it’s the cheapest speaker I’ve tested, you can really tell. The audio quality is poor, with tinny sound in most places and frequency masking that muddies songs. The short battery life also lets this speaker down, and, to top it all off, the single control button means you rely on your phone for any changes you need to make, including volume and skipping songs.

If you want a super-portable speaker for as cheap as possible, you might want to give it a try. But everyone else? It’s skippable.