JawboneBig JAMBOX Wireless Bluetooth Speaker - Graphite Hex - Retail Packaging

My brother owned the smaller original Jambox. I was blown away when I heard it, and for a long time I wanted to get my own. After reading so many rave reviews about the Big Jambox online, I decided I definitely wanted to get one. I had very high expectations based on what I read, and honestly the Big Jambox delivered on every front. In this case the overwhelming numbers of great Amazon reviews were correct. I got a red one, and I really love it.As a professional saxophonist and private music instructor I use play along CDs and MP3s both for myself and my students for studying jazz. I was a bit skeptical before it got as to whether or not it would be loud enough for us to play along to, but once I got it and tried it my fears melted away – it was MORE than loud enough and the sound quality was excellent! Honestly this unit packs a real wallop for its size and I am very pleased with the volume level.I know there are a lot of comparisons between the Big Jambox and the Bose Soundlink, and having never owned or heard in person the Bose unit I can’t comment on any difference there may be between the 2. But at the time of this review the Bose Soundlink is about $300 while the Big Jambox is at $187, so to me it would seem to be the better box-for-the-buck.The battery life is really great too. I am able to get over 10 hours of playtime with my Big Jambox before it needed a recharge.The frequency response of the Big Jambox seem very well balanced to my ear for a speaker this size. The bass has a nice punch while not being overwhelming loud, it’s just about where it should be. The mids and highs are very good, although I would have liked the highs to be a bit crisper, but this is really a minor issue. It really fills a room nicely, but it also sounds great outdoors as it did on a recent camping trip I took. I enjoy listening to jazz, classic rock, and classical music mostly, and these 3 very different styles all sound marvelous on my Big Jambox.The Big Jambox has a feature called Live Audio, and I admit I have somewhat mixed feelings on it.On the plus side, the Live Audio feature does something amazing – if you close your eyes and put the Big Jambox in front of you with Live Audio engaged, you would swear that the sound is coming from areas several feet from the right and left of the speaker where there no part of the actual Big Jambox exists! This is really amazing and it gives the Big Jambox the illusion of having stereo separation far beyond it’s actual physical bounds.However, on the minus side, Live Audio seems to bury some frequencies more than others, most notably to my ear lead vocals tend to get somewhat covered up by the band, which is not the case when Live Audio is off. Also the overall volume is lower when Live Audio is activated, so you lose some of that punch you get when using the Big Jambox without it.Overall I would highly recommend the Big Jambox for anyone who is looking for a very powerful, portable bluetooth speaker system with excellent sound quality at a very reasonable price point for any room in your home, or outdoors on your back patio or at your campsite, or for jamming along with if you are a musician like me. It delivers on all accounts and I’m certain if you get one you will be very satisfied with it.

Just found my old Big Jambox in the barn, covered in 13 years of grime. After the hard reset I was able to pair and holy holy **** this thing sounds so so so great.

I am filing for a warranty replacement for the 2nd time in 60 days. The first unit kept powering off as soon as I turned it on. The second unit worked for 15 minutes before it stopped powering up at all. All of this has taken me past the 30 day Amazon return window, and since I bought from Amazon, Jawbone will not refund my money. Other issues were that the Amazon FAQ and their own product literature say you can operate the jambox with the AC cord plugged in all the time, but after the first replacement, I was told that I should not operate the jambox while plugged in as it would cut the battery life IN HALF if I ever decided to use the product on battery. After the first replacement they told me that it has to pair with a phone right out of the box, even if you don't plan to use it that way. Nothing in the documentation about that either. The second unit wasn't working out of the box either, and they required me to download firmware to get it working at all, which during the firmware load process, deleted all of the other Bluetooth device entries on my PC (keyboard and mouse), and I had to unplug both and plug back in to reinitialize the drivers.For each replacement, you can expect to wait at least a month before you get your new speaker. You have to send back the broken unit first, then wait several days before they send another. In my case, it sat in their warehouse for a few weeks before I emailed asking why I had not received a replacement shipment, at which point they sent one out. I'm told they cannot send a replacement without receiving the other one back first, which is fine, but after 2 bad units, I'd probably make an exception. For the 15 minutes total the big jambox actually worked, it sounded great. Maybe my 3rd unit will actually work. It'll be June before I find out.UPDATE 6/30/2016: The 3rd replacement worked for less than a month. It turns on for about 5 seconds, then powers off, same as previous units. Every time I get support they have me load the firmware update, so I went ahead and did that twice, same result. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS SPEAKER. I'm guessing they will send yet another replacement instead of a refund.UPDATE 8/16/2016: The latest replacement has a bad power cord and the only way to charge the speaker is to use the trickle charge through the USB cable. They can't send me a replacement charger unless I go to the website when it's in stock and then email them to ask them to send me one. They can't just put me on backorder. I went to the site today, and it lists In Stock, but when I contacted them they tell me it's not actually in stock and the website is wrong. This is by far the worst electronics purchase I have ever made.