JBL Partybox 310 (Open Box)

So I bought this Ankuka karaoke machine back in 2019. For something that would probably go for under $200 these days if they still made it, it had a good run, scratched my karaoke itch, and died a very unceremonious death this year. So began my hunt for the “perfect” karaoke machine/BT speaker. And seriously, I tried them all. I would order, wait in anticipation, get excited when they arrived, try them out, send them back. I am currently still waiting for refunds on some of them. Anyway, I swear, many of these machines are exactly the same, made by the same people in the same factories, and shipped out under different names. They look the same, they all have their flashy lights, monster and gibberish sounds, no real EQ to speak of, and way overuse the “echo”function as if that’s some kind of good thing. But most of they all sound the same, with little to no difference between them, and none of them were better than the old die hard Ankuka, at least when it was new. I even tried a few of the “all in one” systems, with built-in rechargeable, microphones, built-in tablets, and these crazy claims have incredible wattage and power, none of which were true. All those were great in concept and appearance, but definitely not in the execution, with latency/delay issues, subpar tablets that didn’t connect right or stay connected and microphones that were just - blah. If you really have nothing better to do, you can read separate reviews on all those items. But I won’t name names because it’s not worth it. Bottom line - the JBL Party Box 310 was kinda my last try at this. I figured if I didn’t like it, I’d either keep the flawed but livable all in one that came on the same day, reorder the first cheap copycat of the JBL PB 310 I sent back, or hang up my jock so to speak and not have a home karaoke system/BT speaker at all. I ain’t getting any younger, after all. But then this thing shows up and as listed in the title, it absolutely CRANKS! My house literally shook when I turned it on, connected to my phone (very quickly by the way) and started playing some sample songs. I was worried a little bit as while the volume was super loud, it sounded a little “muddy”, even without the bass boost. Adjusting the EQ settings on my phone helped a little but I was still not overtly thrilled. And then I was like “oh yeah - there’s an app for that!” (Don’t sue me, Apple!). So I dowloaded that, synced it to the device, did the update (really, already?) and with the app’s EQ feature, it sounds much better - more crisp. Oh and did I mention that it CRANKS? Man is this thing loud. Now I did but this thing primarily for karaoke. Unfortunately, mics don’t come with the JBL PB 310 or any of the PB’s, I believe, so I had to order those separately and they just got here today. I don’t consider them to be world class, professional mics but they do the trick well enough, there’s no latency/delay that I could tell, and since JBL makes them, I knew there’d be no issues being compatible with the device, which I had to connect to my iPad for karaoke use as though I can do that with my phone, it’s nice to have the words much larger. I did a few tunes and once again, something was bugging me - the mics were way loud - almost too loud and I realized I spent $99 on mics with no volume control. That couldn’t be right. Luckily it wasn’t as the JBL PB 310 does have mic volume control - but it’s on the back of the speaker, not on the mics themselves. I talked about that in my review of the mics themselves. I don’t see it as a speaker issue, but it is a JBL issue. Maybe someday they’ll make mics with the controls on the mics so I don’t have to spend time crewing around f with the back of the speaker. But at least the issue was resolved. The unit also has a hole in the bottom so it can be mounted. It’s covered so I didn’t think there was one but the cover popped right off and I was like “YES” as I did buy a speaker stand that went with the “all in one” systems I tried. But I wasn’t sure that the JBL PB 310 had one as it’s not mentioned anywhere in the description that I could tell and not shown in any photos. Not worth docking a star for or anything, because it’s definitely a good thing, but its presence would be good to feature so people know in advance. So to sum it up, finally I think I’ve found my “perfect” home karaoke machine and BT speaker! It’s portable, seems to be on good rollers, has a handle, has an app to adjust the EQ and fun party lights (among other features), clearly works well with the JBL mics I got, you can mount it which actually brings the sound and volume to a whole new level - oh and did I mention this thing CRANKS??? It’s not cheap, and JBL offers some others that are presumably even better, louder and crisper (given their costs), but good things usually aren’t - and this one works for me. So with the price and the quality thus far, I’ll really hope this will last a good long time (I mean heck the now discontinued Ankuka I had lasted 5 years), and I won’t be shlepping this one back to the UPS store anytime soon - hopefully not at all. Absolutely 5 stars and I’d highly recommend to anyone looking to up their karaoke game or just looking for a good, loud, powerful, BT speaker! Happy shopping!