hello my dear friends
surprise surprise I have an infinity one
again this is not my own device I sold
mine some time ago but I borrowed this
from a friend of a friend of another
friend so maybe this is the only
infinity one in Vienna the infinity one
is still not available apart from the US
while the JBL extreme is only available
in Europe so far both cost more or less
the same the JBL extreme 299 euros while
the infinity one goes for 299 dollars
both are also from the same company I
mean infinity JBL Harman Kardon yeah
that's all the same and you can see they
share quite a bit of similarities
design-wise
the JBL is what I would call a blown-up
infinity 1 while the Infinity 1 is a
blown up JBL charge - it's really funny
to see them three like this I mean it's
a whole family it would be great if this
was Harman Kardon so we had JBL infinity
1 Harman Kardon um yeah of course many
people asked about a sound comparison
between these two and I would say both
are great I mean the infinity 1 is
smaller it's also lighter so despite the
size difference it still sounds pretty
decent the only thing oh and this was
also the reason why I sold it it was not
very it didn't perform well at higher
levels there was some intermodulation
distortion that bugged me what is
internet intermodulation Distortion this
is when a driver is forced to reproduce
both bass and treble I mean if a driver
moves a lot with low frequencies and it
has to produce treble high frequencies
it is at the same time you get Internet
elation if this is pushed too hard and
the Infinity one has only 2 full range
drivers here also - at the back and they
are responsible for both bass
and travel with the additional passive
radiators while the JBL extreme has
Twitter's this time
nevertheless the Infiniti one sounds
clearer I mean they really push travel a
lot here we will have a listen I will
turn both on yeah you hear this were the
old JBL Harman Kardon infinity tones and
the new ones check up on mmmm I'm not a
fan of the of the new tones the fellow
truth but as always I'm using high
quality binaural microphones that have a
pretty flat frequency response so if you
listen with flat headphones as well I
mean no beats crap but really to do
quality headphones you should get a very
realistic impression of how both sound I
will start playing some tunes with
different genres the first is some well
smooth jazz acoustic jazz song and I
will start with the Infinity one I match
them volume wise they are about well
above half maybe two thirds volume they
are not a synchronized volume wise I
mean the Infinity one becomes allowed
very quickly while the JBL is more
constant so it's hard to really say you
had to to define the exact volume level
but let's have a listen I'm starting
with the infinity
by the spacious sound because the
drivers at the back
despite being filtered for treble also
contribute a lot a lot of sound to the
back that gets reflected back and so on
the JBL will be more direct
but maybe you'll notice already some
kind of coarseness the treble is not
very clean this these are the first
chains of intermodulation but the JBL
gives a bit of a dual impression
compared to infinity I will show you why
you
it would sound better when placed like
this
despite having Twitter's I don't know
they seem to emit downwards instead of
upwards the infinity one has the driver
tilted slightly so it really emits the
sound upwards while the JBL would sound
better if you placed it on some shelf or
something I don't know it's really
strange I mean it has Twitter's which
should allow a more non directional
sound but the Twitter's seem I mean they
are here probably but they seem to emit
really downwards I'm not sure about this
decision it would be really better if
they were somewhere here so that you get
the sound more upwards when you place it
on the ground with with your friends
sitting around it would definitely sound
better clearer I'm really not sure what
happened here maybe some design error or
something you hear it sounds much better
like this
if you want it in
let's try a harder track with more base
and you will probably already hear what
I'm talking about regarding
intermodulation
here the symbol
it has this course maybe a last sound
get your here list
there are still people who claim the
infinity doesn't distort but if you are
I mean affiliated with music you will
hear that it's it simply doesn't sound
clean and this starts already above half
volume let's listen to another crack
which is pretty bass heavy and this is
what what really this annoyed me with
the infinity you couldn't turn it past
half because the sound simply was not
clean
give me the hi-hat see this electronic
sounds sound a bit the bass effects too
much of their high frequencies a JBL
it sounds a bit forced the JBL sounds
more relaxed let's listen to some kind
of well blues jazz with Hammond organ
they also contain lots of bass I mean
Hammond organs have they may be the
strongest based I've heard let's listen
to this again infinity first this one
still sounds ok to hear that the GTO has
simply more powerful sound it's bigger I
mean the speaker's bigger the Sun is
bigger
the next track is also quite prone to to
intermodulation have a listen especially
the combination of bass and open hi-hat
and also listen to the bass you will
hear that the passive radiators are
rattling on the Infinity they are not
very clean another problem which really
made me well sell it if you hear the
first note far I mean take stream in
comparison although it also struggles a
bit you hear
the GBO also shows a bit of a distortion
you hear the punch of the bass drum is
well there is some click I don't know
how to describe it but if you know the
song you will hear that that JBL is also
not very true to the original sound
another song well a bit harder this is
from soul persona very basic recording
have a listen how unclean or dirty the
infinity one starts to sound with this
the voice hurt
this princess freesias by the way
both are not perfect the JBL is starting
to bubble a little bit the bass makes
this Ruby loop while the Infinity you
can definitely hear intermodulation so
both are not perfect let's listen to a
house track I will turn both well higher
a bit and let's listen how they perform
it's still about two thirds maybe if you
do hip compression clicking in which
becomes pretty strong at maximum volume
JBL
yet maybe we should go out into the
garden and listen to them at maximum
volume to see how they perform outdoors
I'll place the speakers here and then
walk around a little bit in order to
give you a better impression of the
directionality and how the sound
disperses I will play both at maximum
and the Infinity playing first let the
JDL is not very clean either but it's
simply more punchy it seems the Infinity
loses quite a bit from on the sides
a JVM has a more even sound dispersion
although you can hear distortion with a
bass drum
let's listen to another track
therefore outdoors it's obviously punch
of the JBL gives much more satisfaction
especially with that type of music
the infinite is starting to get a bit
lost from some distance
you
okay guys I hope this was helpful
I hope this could give you an impression
what to expect from the table extreme
and if it's worth upgrading the Infinity
one to tell the truth for lower levels I
would maybe even prefer the infinity
this clarity it has with treble is well
more satisfying than the extreme base
from the JBL outdoors at higher levels
the JBL of course shines more than the
infinity this starts to struggle a bit
but it's small I mean it's not as heavy
it's a great-looking speaker I love this
design exits I don't know it looks more
it looks I don't know more futuristic
than the JBL here you have a pullover or
something I don't know I mean both are
cool but both maybe even for different
purposes so you decide here again have a
look at their at the size difference of
both so I mean this is a difference but
both need some back or some kind of
carrying no pouch or something so if you
can put this one inside you will also be
able to put this one it doesn't take
that much space
both are claimed to be waterproof water
resistant to some degree the Infinity
one has this flap here the extreme has
the zip that I always forget to close
and yeah we will turn them off check up
on
you
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.