JBL Charge Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker (Stealth Black)

Well, this happens to be my first review on this forum. So please feel free to criticise and suggest. I'll be trying to focus mostly on Bluetooth/ portable speakers. I have recently bought a JBL Charge and thought it was worth the effort to pen down a few words about it. Oh ya... That's another thing. I sometimes tend to understate a few things.
(Source: Dell Inspiron 3521)
 
Unboxing: The packaging was pretty Spartan, like a clean white box with an illustration of the product and orange sides with instructions on the back. I opened the magnetic lock to reveal the much awaited, JBL Charge - Stealth edition, wrapped in a thin Styrofoam sock sitting snugly in the top half. Below it was a box containing the cover, a charger, a USB micro wire, a few adapter pins for the charger and a minimalistic user manual and other docs.
 
Built: The body exhibits a definite sturdiness, with a slight rubbery feel like the back of an LG Optimus One (Ya, an ancient comparison. I know) or
the Sansa Fuze. It's about the size of a beer can. So portability is not an issue. If you can carry a beer, you shouldn't have trouble moving this A couple of rubber strips and a rubber ring are provided for resting the device horizontally and vertically, respectively. Charging and AUX-in ports are given on the backside, towards the base. And the USB port for charging devices is given on the left, covered with a river bung to prevent entry of dust. The power button is on top and is lined by blue and crimson LED ring, similar to three tiny LEDs that work as the battery indicator. The volume controls are right next to it. Overall, it has a very sturdy built, without being very heavy.
 
Controls: The controls are so easy easy, even RaGa could get it. Press power button, ON. Long press, Bluetooth pairing. That's it.
 
SQ: Finally, the most important section for any audiophile... The sound quality.
The first thing I heard and was astonished by when i switched on the speaker was the loud and resonating beep. I usually like my trebles soft and the bass, deep and room filling. Which was exactly what the beep sounded like.
I took the speaker for a test run through a wide range of tracks, from classical to electro to metal, higher bitrate to lower, etc. I never imagined something this small could be this loud without causing pain to my ears. I did own an X-mini II for some time. It was loud but I couldn't put up with it for a long time.
The JBL Charge however, has a booming bass that doesn't sound too muddy and soft trebles. The mids, although as I said earlier, I don't like 'em too prominent, were in an acceptable range. Unlike most speakers, the Charge emitted the treble and bass of unplugged string instruments like harp/Spanish guitar as a perfect and inseparable combination. As for percussion instruments, the kick in One (Metallica) sounded a little like it it would crack, for a couple of beats. But that was probably due to the track having a low bitrate. High-hats and cymbals do NOT sound crisp. So people who find solace in treble clarity, you maybe disappointed. You'd probably be better off with a BOSE Soundlink. The vocals may seem a bit off sometimes in movies and stuff due to the overpowering bass. I write all this without tweaking my eq even a little. But as I fiddled around with the mids a little and pulled them lower, the difference was impressive. The trebles became a lot clearer with a deeper bass and a lot more reverb. Again, proving it to be a perfect speaker for listening to strings. On the other hand, watching movies can sometimes be a pain. Especially if it's a Russel Crowe movie... I.e. a movie with a lot if dialogues.
 
Tips: The Charge is built to direct maximum sound towards the front. It sounds muffled, like someone sitting on a speaker when heard while it's facing away from you. And since it's bass port is towards the side, it sounds best when placed in an enclosed section of your room, like a corner or an alcove. This way it gives a really awesome room-filling effect, so much so that sometimes you can't track the source of the sound.
It's much louder than the Flip as well as the Pulse. Even though the pulse has a couple of 6W speakers as compared to the 2x5W of the Charge. So, among those three, I'd say the Charge is definitely best in terms of: SQ, volume and battery. It doesn't have the call functions in Flip nor does it have the funky LEDs and NFC pairing of the Pulse. But that wasn't what I was looking for personally.
So I guess that pretty much covers what I had in mind. Please let me know whether you do find this helpful. If not, I'll be happy to get any advice/answer any Qs...