JBL is no stranger to outdoor-friendly Bluetooth speakers—the company knows how to deliver rugged, portable designs that can pump out powerful bass response.
The Xtreme 2 earns its title in various regards: it gets extremely loud, it pumps out a ton of bass, it's relatively big, and it's completely waterproof.
The $299.95 price might seem a bit extreme as well, but ultimately the speaker has no glaring weaknesses and delivers quality audio.
In fact, it's the best portable outdoor speaker for bass lovers we've tested, and that earns it our Editors' Choice award.
Design
Available in black, blue, or dark green, the 5.4-by-5.2-by-11.4-inch (HWD) Xtreme 2 has a somewhat cylindrical shape that bulges in the middle.
Rubberized feet on the bottom panel keep the speaker from rolling around, and dual 20mm/20-watt drivers project sound forward, through the grill-covered front section.
They get some help from the dual 2.75-inch passive bass radiators located on both ends of the enclosure.
Two metallic loops allow for the included strap to hook into place with its built-in carabiners for easy toting.
At 5.3 pounds, the Xtreme 2 is heavy for a portable speaker, and its size means it's not exactly easy to throw in a backpack.
But its IPX7 rating means it's waterproof and even submersible up to a meter, so what it lacks in easy portability it makes up for in its tough build.
A control panel across the top of the speaker has a central power button, as well as a Connect+ button for connecting to other compatible JBL speakers.
(You can link up to 100 JBL speakers in Party mode, or two speakers in stereo left/right mode).
To the left, there's a Bluetooth pairing button and a volume down button, and to the right there's volume up and play/pause, which also doubles as the call management and voice assistance button (when held in for a couple of seconds).
There are no track navigation buttons.
On the bottom of the front panel, there's an LED battery life indicator.
The back panel houses a snap-shut compartment that can be difficult to open, but is essential to the speaker's IPX7 rating—if it's open, this thing is far from waterproof.
Inside, there are connections for the included power adapter, a USB charging port, a micro USB service port, and a 3.5mm aux input (audio cable not included).
The mic offers solid intelligibility for speakerphone calls.
Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand every word recorded.
There was no obvious distortion or fuzziness, just some serious dynamic limiting that made the audio dip here and there, but overall, the Xtreme 2 offers better-than-average clarity.
The free JBL Connect app allows you to download firmware upgrades.
It also lets you assign either play/pause or voice assistant controls to the play button on the speaker, but holding down the play button for a few seconds already summons the voice assistant, so, there's not much point to doing this.
JBL estimates the Xtreme 2's battery life to be roughly 15 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels and your mix of wireless and wired playback.
Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Xtreme 2 delivers near-subwoofer-like low-frequency response.
This is impressive considering the woofers on either side are actually passive radiators and not powered.
The bass doesn't distort, even at top volumes—and the Xtreme 2 can get quite loud.
It's clear there's some DSP (digital signal processing) at play here that thins out the bass slightly at top volumes, but not so much that the track loses its power.
At more moderate volumes, the bass sounds a little more full.
For a speaker this size—especially a portable model—this is a powerful low-frequency output that will appeal to fans of big bass.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the general sound signature.
The drums on this track sound downright thunderous through the Xtreme 2—a clear sign that there's some heavy bass-boosting in play here.
In other words, purists seeking an accurate sound signature are likely to be disappointed with the heavy bass that's added to the mix.
From Callahan's baritone vocals, to the drums, to the electric bass itself, the lows on this track stand out dramatically more than they would on a more accurate system, though the Xtreme 2 does a fine job of balancing things out with some added sculpting and boosting in the high-mids and highs.
The result is a crisp, bass-heavy sound signature.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence to keep its attack punchy, but it's the sustain that gets more notice here—the lows are boosted, and the loop sounds thicker and heavier as a result.
The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with less deep low-end than we have heard on other systems before—so it seems that the bulk of the bass boosting occurs slightly higher than the sub-bass realm.
You still hear sub-bass content, but the more powerful bass is often heard on drums, deep vocals, or electric bass parts.
The higher you raise the volume, the less powerful the bass on this track sounds and the more the high-mid attack of the loop gains prominence.
The vocals here are delivered cleanly and clearly, though the bass is boosted enough that sometimes the vocals can sound as if they're doing battle with the drum loop for the spotlight.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, have far more bass presence than purists will want to hear.
The low register instrumentation is profoundly pushed forward in the mix with added bass depth.
The higher register brass, strings, and vocals remain crisp and clear, but this is a highly sculpted sound signature.
Conclusions
The JBL Xtreme 2 isn't cheap, but for the price, it delivers a solid feature set combined with high-quality audio performance.
If you want some added thump in the bass department, the portable XTreme 2 delivers.
When you throw in the waterproof build, it's a great speaker for powering your next backyard party, and out Editors' Choice.
If a waterproof build is less important to you than top-notch audio, consider checking out the Klipsch The One.
And if the Xtreme 2 is too bulky and heavy for your tastes, the Libratone Zipp and the Sony SRS-XB40 are solid, slightly smaller options, but they aren't as powerful.
The Bottom Line
The portable JBL Xtreme 2 speaker can be submerged in water and still pump out loud tunes with intense bass depth, making it ideal for outdoor use
