The JBL PartyBox 310 is a large, battery-powered speaker with circular RGB lights. As the name implies, it's ready for your next party. It's positioned in the middle of JBL's line of party speakers: more powerful than the JBL PartyBox 100 but still lacking in volume compared to the PartyBox 710. It has a Bass Boost feature to add more thump and punch to its sound profile, and you can customize its sound to your liking using the graphic EQ in its companion app. It's also well-suited to musicians and buskers as it has a mic and guitar input alongside bass, treble, and echo controls for the mic.
Our Verdict
The JBL PartyBox 310 is very good for music. It has a slightly boomy sound profile that you can use to add even more bass using its Bass Boost feature. It can also play stereo content and can get really loud, although there are slight compression artifacts at max volume. You can also customize its sound to your liking using the graphic EQ featured in its companion app.
- Can get very loud.
- Bass Boost feature.
- Narrow-sounding soundstage.
The JBL PartyBox 310 is alright for videos and movies. It has a boomy sound profile that can help bring out the intensity of sound effects in action-packed movies. It can play stereo content, and it can get very loud. Sadly, its directivity isn't the best, so audio won't sound the same from every angle. While its latency on iOS will be okay for streaming video, you may notice more audio lag using an Android device. Some apps compensate for latency, so your experience may vary.
- Can get very loud.
- Narrow-sounding soundstage.
The JBL PartyBox 310 is decent for podcasts. It has a balanced mid-range, so vocals are clear and detailed. It can get very loud, although there are some compression artifacts at max volume. Unfortunately, it isn't very portable, and its directivity isn't very wide, so your podcasts won't sound clear from all angles.
- Can get very loud.
- Narrow-sounding soundstage.
The JBL PartyBox 310 doesn't have any voice assistant capabilities.
The JBL PartyBox 310 is very good for outdoor use. Although it's not very portable, it has wheels and a carrying handle, making it easier to take it on the go. It lasts over 17 hours on a single charge and gets very loud, although some compression artifacts are present at max volume. Also, when placed vertically and the flaps protecting its inputs are tightly sealed, it's rated IPX4 for water resistance, meaning it can withstand small water splashes.
- IPX4 rating for water resistance.
- Can get very loud.
- Not very portable.
Changelog
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Updated Oct 22, 2024:
We've added a comparison between this speaker and the JBL PartyBox Stage 320 in the Battery section.
- Updated Jun 07, 2024: We've added a comparison between this speaker and the JBL PartyBox Club 120 in Battery.
- Updated Apr 17, 2024: We've added a comparison between this speaker and the Sony SRS-XV500 in Controls.
- Updated Apr 12, 2024: We've updated this review to ensure it's up-to-date and the information contained is accurate. We also downloaded the latest firmware update, 1.32.0, and reran our tests for frequency response accuracy based on users' reports of the sound profile changing. However, we found no difference in results.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The JBL PartyBox 310 comes in one color variant: 'Black.' You can see the label of our model here. If you come across another variant, please let us know in the forums and we'll update our review.
Popular Speaker Comparisons
The JBL PartyBox 310 is a large party speaker. Like the JBL PartyBox 300 and JBL PartyBox 100, it has two circular RGB lights and dedicated inputs for guitar and microphone. However, the PartyBox 310 has a more balanced sound profile than these speakers and better build quality, featuring an IPX4 rating for water resistance. While it can get louder than the Klipsch GIG XXL, there's much more compression present at max volume, so you'll hear some pumping artifacts. The JBL has a considerably longer battery life, making it a better fit for outdoor parties.
Check out our recommendations for the best Bluetooth speakers for parties, the best Bluetooth speakers for bass, and the best JBL speakers.
The JBL Boombox 3 and JBL PartyBox 310 are portable Bluetooth speakers with different feature sets that might sway you either way. The PartyBox 310 has a feature set that's perfect for parties, with an RGB light show, karaoke features, and more volume on tap. While its sound profile is more balanced overall, it skews towards being boomy, and there's even a Bass Boost feature you can enable for even more bass. By contrast, the Boombox 3 is more portable and has a longer battery life, so it's better suited for outdoor excursions. While the PartyBox 310 is IPX4 rated for protection against water splashes, the Boombox 3 will be better protected against the elements, as it's rated IPX7 for submersibility in water and IPX6 for protection against dust.
The JBL PartyBox 310 is a better speaker for music than the Bose S1 Pro System. The JBL can reproduce more low bass, play stereo content, and get louder. It also has longer-lasting battery life and is rated IPX4 for water resistance, meaning it can withstand small water splashes. However, the Bose is more portable.
Depending on your preferences, you may prefer either the JBL PartyBox 710 or the JBL PartyBox 310. The 710 is a larger speaker that can produce a more extended low bass than the 310. It has better directivity, resulting in a wider-sounding soundstage. The 310 is battery-powered and comes with a 12 DC In port to charge it from your car's lighter port. It's smaller, lighter, and has a telescopic handle and wheels built-in, making it more portable. Also, it has less compression present at max volume, resulting in cleaner audio during louder listening sessions.
The JBL PartyBox 310 is better for music than the Bose S1 Pro+. The JBL has a unique design with customizable RGB lights that may be more suitable for some users. Plus, it can reproduce a more extended low bass, so you get more thump and rumble in the mix. Its battery life is longer, too. While both speakers let you connect instruments like microphones, the Bose has a few more settings for this use. The Bose is smaller, too.
Test Results
The JBL PartyBox 310 is a large speaker that's mostly made from plastic. It has two circular RGB lights that you can set to different colors via the companion app or by using the light button on the speaker, and a black metal grille to protect its drivers. Also, like the ION Pathfinder 280 and the Monster Rockin' Roller 270X, it has a telescopic handle and wheels to make it easier to transport. You can place this speaker vertically or horizontally.
The JBL PartyBox 310 isn't very portable. It's very tall and heavy, making moving it to different places difficult. Luckily, it has a handle and wheels, so you don't necessarily need to pick it up. Since it's battery-powered, you don't need to keep it connected to a power outlet to use it. Check out the JBL PartyBox On-The-Go if you want a similar speaker that's smaller and easier to take with you on the go.
The build quality is decent. It has the same solid and sturdy build as the JBL PartyBox 300 and JBL PartyBox 100, with a metal grille to protect its drivers and a plastic body. There's a groove on its top side to support a smartphone or tablet and a telescopic handle. There are also rubber feet on two sides, as well as on its bottom side, and two built-in wheels. It has an IPX4 rating for water resistance when the flaps protecting its inputs are tightly sealed, meaning it's certified to be protected from small water splashes.
This speaker has satisfactory controls. They're easy to press and intuitive to use. There are dedicated buttons for Bluetooth pairing, Bass Boost, Sound Effect (which you can customize in the app), Input, and Karaoke Setting, which allows you to adjust voice and mic volume knobs and gain adjustments for the mic and guitar inputs on the rear side. However it lacks the key transposition features of the Sony SRS-XV500 and the more musician-friendly features of the Bose S1 Pro+.
Some of the controls have feedback. When you're in Bluetooth pairing mode, there's a chime, and a blue indicator light comes on. There's also a battery life indicator, a chime when you've reached max volume, and an indicator light for the input you're currently using. There are also the following multi-function button commands.
'Play' button:
- Single tap: Plays audio.
- Double tap: Skips to next track.
- Triple tap: Skips back a track.
Volume (+/-) buttons:
- Single tap: Adjusts volume up/down.
- Press both buttons together: Mutes speaker.
The JBL PartyBox 310 has very good frequency response accuracy. It offers a slightly boomy sound profile with a little extra emphasis in the bass, though it's still suitable for listening to many different music genres. Plus, thanks to the graphic EQ in its companion app, you can customize its sound. The Bass Boost button can also help add even more bass to your audio. We tested this speaker in a horizontal position while operating on battery power. If you connect it to a power outlet, it gets a slight performance boost. Though this doesn't affect its overall sound profile, it does make audio playback slightly louder. You can find the graph for this test here. We also tested the speaker's performance when it's set up vertically as opposed to horizontally, and you can see that there's very little difference in the overall sound with the graph here, though the slope is a touch more neutral.
The soundstage performance is okay. Although it can play stereo content, it has a narrow and directional soundstage, so your audio doesn't sound as clear from all angles. Again, these results represent the speaker's performance in a horizontal position. There's no change in the overall score when you position it vertically, and you can see the resulting directivity graph here. For a party speaker with better directivity, check out the Sony GTK-XB90.
This speaker has an impressive dynamics performance. It can get very loud, which is ideal for parties. Remember that these results represent the speaker's performance when operating on battery power and positioned horizontally. However, it gets slightly louder when connected to a power source, reaching a maximum volume level of 106.6 dB. It doesn't get as loud when positioned vertically, though, with a max volume of 100.9 dB SPL. These results will be suitable for most uses, but if you're looking for a party speaker that can get even louder, check out the SOUNDBOKS (Gen. 3).
This speaker has an amazing battery performance. It has over 17 hours of continuous playback time and charges in under three hours, though it lacks a swappable battery pack design like the JBL PartyBox Club 120 or JBL PartyBox Stage 320. It also enters standby mode after 20 minutes without any operations. Battery performance can vary according to usage, so your real-life experience may differ. If you want an outdoor speaker with an even longer-lasting battery life that doesn't need an outlet to charge, check out the Alpine Corporation Solar Bluetooth Rock Speaker.
The JBL PartyBox 310 is compatible with the JBL PartyBox app. This app allows you to customize the RGB lighting, pair it with another unit to create a stereo pair and link multiple units together to cover a large space. There are also some audio effects that you can use to enhance your listening experience. You can tweak the speaker's sound profile to your liking, thanks to its 3-band graphic EQ. There are also bass, treble, and echo parameters to adjust its voice and mic performance when using the Karaoke setting.
This speaker has several wired input options. There's a 12V DC In port so that you can connect it to your car's lighter port, an AUX In, a Mic input with its own volume knob and gain adjustment, and a 'Mic or Guitar' input. It doesn't have a microphone like the Klipsch GIG XXL, though. While there's a USB port, it only supports .mp3, .wma, and .wav files, which is quite limiting. This speaker also has In and Out ports, so you can daisy-chain speakers together.
This speaker has great Bluetooth connectivity. You can connect this speaker with up to two devices at a time, which is great if two people want to take turns playing audio from their smartphones. While it has high latency on Android devices, it's lower on iOS, which is suitable if you like to stream video. Some apps compensate for latency differently, so your experience may vary.