Do portable Bluetooth speakers need a wired connection?

Do portable Bluetooth speakers need a wired audio connection? It’s not quite a question as old as time, and perhaps not as important as whether there’s life on other planets (definitely) or what the best flavour of Monster Munch (picked onion, obviously), but it has cropped up recently amongst our review team following a spring period packed with Bluetooth speaker testing.

We’ve had the five-star JBL Flip 7 and JBL Charge 6 pass through our doors, as well as the classy Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (3rd Gen), all portable models capable of delivering excellent wireless sound to take with you on your travels. After all, isn’t that the point of a Bluetooth speaker?

Well, yes and no. Connecting your smartphone (or other music source) to any of the aforementioned units’ predecessors was done exclusively via Bluetooth, but according to JBL, one request from customers was the inclusion of a wired audio connection. Why? JBL told us it's because their customers wanted to be able to hear the higher-quality 24-bit lossless audio provided by the best music streaming services these days, like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Qobuz and Tidal.

And that's what JBL did. The new Flip 7 and Charge 6 feature wired listening for the first time, supporting up to 24-bit/96kHz hi-res lossless audio playback from a smartphone, laptop or other source device using USB-C. The new B&O Beosound A1 (3rd Gen) that we just tested offers a wired listening option via USB-C for the first time, too.

This all feels a bit counterintuitive, considering the type of portable products we’re testing, but it’s hard to deny the sonic gains achieved by using a wired cable. Naturally, a wired connection will offer better sound quality than the very compressed and lossy Bluetooth wireless connection, and we can confirm from our testing that all three speakers undoubtedly sound better when using USB-C.

Sound-wise, wired is the way to go

To quote from our recent Beosound A1 (3rd Gen) review: “A wired connection to an iPhone 15 offers noticeable sonic improvements, with the speaker hardening up just a touch but finding new levels of clarity, punch and spriteliness when listening to the same songs on Tidal via wired compared with Bluetooth”.

It’s the same with the two JBL speakers. From our JBL Charge 6 review: “Switch to wired lossless listening, and there is considerably less noise in the background. You get subtler depths to both detail and dynamic shifts when listening via USB-C, too, but the character remains the same as Bluetooth.”

Well, that’s that then, isn’t it? If a wired connection makes your Bluetooth speaker sound better, why wouldn’t you include one and, more importantly, why wouldn’t you use it? We’re all here for better sound, aren’t we?

Better sound, less convenience?

Yes and no. The reason we ask the question in the first place is that we do wonder if people who buy portable Bluetooth speakers (especially the affordable ones) really care enough about sound quality to prioritise a physical connection over the more convenient Bluetooth one.

Better sound is great, of course, but the Bluetooth performance you get is still great by current standards for a portable product. And let’s be honest… isn’t the cable-free convenience of a wireless speaker the whole reason you buy them in the first place?

It’s much less convenient in practical terms to be physically tethered to your JBL or B&O as well. The fun of a Bluetooth buddy is that you can be standing on the other end of a field or have the speaker in any place in the house and still control your tunes. It’s nice to be able to switch tracks quickly from your phone at a house party rather than having to drop what you’re doing and, hunched over like a gremlin, start trying to find Tina Turner on Tidal.

Plus, if you are using a cable, you may have to relinquish use of your smartphone and not have it on your person at all times – which means not being able to check those all-important WhatsApp messages the second they come in, or being able to change the music as easily. Unless you want to be carrying both around at the same time, you’re going to have to leave your smartphone by your speaker in order to keep it connected. That can be impractical if your speaker is placed out of reach, and if you're using a short cable.

A Bluetooth speaker gives you so much freedom and flexibility – that's the whole point. We imagine most people will still use the JBLs and B&O exactly as intended – wirelessly – for the most part, but it's nice to at least have the option for wired listening for those who really want it.

Being able to simply switch from wireless to wired gives you the best of both worlds. It’s having your cake and eating it, but the cake here is a JBL Flip 7. Or maybe it’s a lossless USB-C tether...

It's nice to be heard

What we appreciate most is manufacturers actively listening to consumers about their desires and concerns. JBL is a huge player in the portable speaker game, and it has a proven record of listening to feedback and making improvements to its products. Sony has recently exhibited similar behaviour, adding foldability and strengthened hinges to its five-star WH-1000XM6 over-ears after customer feedback.

Will we start to see a wired connection option become commonplace with Bluetooth speakers going forward? We're not sure, but it is encouraging to know that there is a growing appetite for higher-quality and hi-res music listening from the users of these popular portable Bluetooth speakers.

Across products of all types and prices, users are demanding better sound alongside ever-improving convenience. Now that's something we can get behind.

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