JLab Pop Party Review

Introduction

With the notable exception of premium products like the Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay P2, pocketable Bluetooth speakers have a habit of over-promising and under-delivering — and JLab’s Pop Party walks that familiar tightrope.

At £25, it’s undeniably affordable and marketed as an ultra-portable party accessory, with RGB lighting, a clever magnetic mounting system, LabSync for connecting up to 100 speakers, and comprehensive app support.

That’s before you even get the speaker part, which comprises 5 watts of power from a 2-inch driver and a 2-inch passive woofer, leading me to surmise whether the Pop Party has bitten off more than it can chew for something so cheap.

JLab has been absent from the Bluetooth speaker market for years, and its return with a four-strong lineup includes the larger JLab Go Party. The Pop Party sits at the bottom of this range, but with features typically found on much pricier speakers.

But in a market where smartphones increasingly produce better audio, much to the chagrin of fellow public transport users, and established players like JBL dominate the Bluetooth speaker market, can the Pop Party justify its existence?

Design

• Compact soap bar shape
• Durable build
• Single-button approach is misguided

At 247g, the soap-bar-shaped Pop Party certainly achieves its ultra-portable brief and genuinely slips into a jacket pocket.

A mix of black fabric and black plastic sandwiches a ring of RGB lighting, all of which feels acceptable for the price. It’s durable, too, leaving you confident it can take a few knocks, while the IP55 rating is fine for occasional splashes.

The magnetic backing is surprisingly strong and represents the speaker’s best feature. Rather than the weak novelty magnets you might expect, these grip securely to metal surfaces and stay put. This single feature elevates the Pop Party above most conventional ultra-portable speakers.

A rear-facing passive radiator benefits from this arrangement, though the acoustic improvement is marginal.

Where the design falls is the single-button interface. JLab has prioritised visual minimalism over practical usability, requiring users to memorise various press combinations for basic functions.

Want to skip a track? Hold for two seconds. Change lighting patterns? Tap twice. EQ change? Three times. LabSync? Five times. But nothing on the device to adjust the volume.

The RGB lighting ring dominates when active, and the colours are vibrant enough, but the overall effect feels more like a children’s toy than serious audio equipment… but let’s not be miserable now, this is supposed to be fun.

Its loop strap is well designed with one end that can be slipped out of its holster for wrapping around wherever you’re hooking it.

Features

• RGB lighting
• Feature-rich app

LabSync technology promises a connection with up to 100 speakers, which is impressive. Setup requires patience, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

The JLab app offers comprehensive customisation. A 10-band equaliser is welcome, but no amount of digital signal processing can overcome the fundamental physical limitations of a speaker this size.

RGB lighting provides the expected party atmosphere, cycling through colours and patterns that sync reasonably well with music. However, the battery penalty is severe enough that you’ll only use it on special occasions.

Voice prompts can thankfully be disabled, though you’ll find them useful when using LabSync, so you know it’s in the correct pairing mode. There’s no speakerphone or power bank support. Either would have been exceptional at this price.

App support

• Bluetooth works adequately
• App reliability is questionable
• LabSync setup can be complex

Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity pairs quickly with most devices and maintains stable connections across typical room distances. The range is adequate for a speaker this size.

The JLab app is largely very useful, but connection timeouts can be common. Basic functions like EQ and lighting adjustments work reliably, but anything more complex, like LabSync setup, requires patience.

Multiple speakers need to be paired individually, designated as cast or receive units, and then convinced to synchronise — a process that can take several attempts and the occasional reboot.

In fairness, this was only on the iOS app, and JLab’s official response is that accessing the app on iOS while in LabSync mode is not possible. This is due to Apple’s protocols for how apps communicate with products (Bluetooth Low Energy).

Since LabSync is through the same Bluetooth Low Energy connection, the two cannot coexist. To change lights, EQs, etc., this can all be done via the product controls, and the change will apply to all connected speakers while in LabSync.

When it works, the multi-speaker experience is genuinely impressive for the price point. You can try two Pop Party speakers for stereo sound, while I connected to the larger JLab Go Party for a bit more impact.

RGB lighting synchronisation with music works well, even with spoken word, and you can adjust the brightness and speed for those downtime moments when you want to be that bit more zen.

Sound Quality

• Single 2-inch driver
• Passive radiator
• 10-band EQ

Here’s where the Pop Party’s budget nature and compact size should become apparent, but in truth, the single 2-inch full-range driver paired with a rear-firing passive radiator produces a fairly decent sound when you get the EQ just right.

Out of the box, the default JLab Signature tuning errs on the side of treble sparkle and little else, with vocals that sound compressed. Switching to Bass Boost helps marginally, adding some low-end presence but at the expense of midrange clarity.

The custom EQ becomes essential rather than optional, requiring significant adjustment to achieve a nice, happy medium for cross-genre party bangers. It’s fair to say the tiny driver simply can’t reproduce complex material without distortion.

Bass response, thanks to the passive radiator, is better than expected for the size, but still lacking by any objective standard. You just have to accept the JLab Pop Party for what it is.

Magnetic mounting helps here, using whatever surface it’s attached to as an impromptu baffle, but we’re talking about marginal improvements.

Volume levels are adequate for personal listening or background music in small spaces, but push beyond moderate levels, and distortion becomes immediately apparent. Hit half tilt to 75% for the best performance.

Battery Life

• 8-hour claim holds up
• RGB drops this to 5 hours
• 3-hour charge time

JLab’s 8-hour battery claim proves accurate in real-world testing at moderate volume levels with RGB lighting disabled. Push the volume higher or enable the party lights, however, and you’ll be reaching for the charger much sooner.

With RGB lighting enabled, battery life drops to around 5 hours — a significant penalty, making it a costly indulgence. The lights are fun for brief periods but quickly become impractical for extended listening sessions.

USB-C charging takes approximately 3 hours from flat, which is reasonable for the battery capacity. Auto-off functionality helps preserve charge when the speaker’s forgotten, and the app provides clear battery indicators.

The lack of power bank functionality isn’t surprising at this price point, but could be construed as a missed opportunity given the USB-C port and decent battery capacity.

Should you buy it?

FAQs