Soundcore Select 4 Go Bluetooth Speaker Review

The Soundcore Select 4 Go Bluetooth Speaker is a budget-friendly speaker from a trusted brand. The loop is cute, and the speaker’s design is about what we’d expect for the price. Will the sound quality and battery life make it a solid choice for travel, or will we constantly move closer and have to plug it in? Let’s dive in and find out.

The Rundown

Most of the speaker is crafted from synthetic materials like plastic and silicone, though some innards are metal. The front and rear faces have a tight weave, which adds texture to the speaker’s look and feel.

The logo is quite large and relatively noisy, depending on your chosen colorway, though most speakers will have this issue. We don’t think this is a huge issue, though we wish it were smaller or blended in more.

At the time of writing, there are Black, White, Blue, Green, Electric Purple, and Red colorway options. Each has a different accent color—some blend in more than others. We dig that everyone can get a model that matches their vibes.

Four feet on the speaker’s bottom keep the bass from sounding compressed and the speaker from rattling around. These feet also help prevent the device from sliding around too much, which is handy when it’s on a side or end table.

There’s a loop on one end, which is handy for attaching the speaker to things. You can’t clip it onto anything, but you can put it through a hook or use another attachment device, like a carabiner or the MODL Outdoors Infinity Tool, to loop it onto things.

As is, attaching it to things can be challenging because of this caveat. We couldn’t always find a spot in every room around the house to hang the speaker. The feet work fine, but sometimes, you want to hang it for the sound that slaps you in the face. Before judging us, cleaning the bathroom is different for everyone, and we hope you can respect that moving forward.

The speaker has proven durable, though we’re curious how long the feet and loop will last. So far, so good!

Additionally, the speaker has an IP67 rating, which means that it’s fully protected from dust intrusion and can be submerged in water for up to one meter for up to 30 minutes. That makes it a solid choice for the beach or pool, as it can be splashed or dropped in the water without worry, as long as you keep it away from the deep end!

The speaker has TWS, or True Wireless Stereo, meaning you can pair two devices simultaneously for stereo playback. It is a neat feature for at home, though we wouldn’t recommend bringing two on a trip. For the price of two, get a better speaker!

The speaker is advertised as having a 20-hour battery life, which may be true for lower volumes, but we’re getting around 12 hours at high volume. That isn’t anything to scoff at, but it’s a letdown if you were expecting 20.

There are five buttons on the speaker. Though they feel like the silicone buttons you often just tap, there are analog buttons beneath the silicone, which we appreciate. The speakers that don’t have clickable buttons are fussy, and we appreciate the process of pressing an actual button. We didn’t often hit buttons by accident when the speaker was hanging and it bumped into something. When in tabletop mode, we had no issues.

The sound quality is quite good, though it doesn’t get as loud as we expected for its size. For the price, it performs well in both categories. The bass thumps and isn’t hindered at max volume.

Packability

You can carry the speaker with one hand, but it isn’t quite palmable—that is, unless you have huge hands. The hanging loop is handy, though bringing a strap or carabiner is more helpful than the loop alone.

The speaker will fit into medium and large-sized slings, a daypack, your travel backpack, or carry on luggage without issue. It’s a solid choice for listening to music at the hotel or Airbnb because it’s small enough to bring along for the trip and cheap enough not to worry about losing or breaking in transit. The IP rating makes it a solid choice for travel, as it can handle almost anything, from nights at the beach to a leaky waterbottle on the airplane.

You get solid sound quality for the size, and for the price, it’s not too large to bring on a trip. That sounds like a happy middle point!

Quick Comparison

One of our favorite speakers is the JBL line of Clip speakers. At the time of writing, the JBL Clip 5 is the most recent addition to the family.

The JBL Clip 5 weighs 10 ounces (283.5 g), slightly more than the Soundcore Select 4 Go Bluetooth Speaker. However, you likely won’t notice a difference unless you’re an ultralight packer. If that’s the case, neither of these speakers is probably a good choice for you!

Both speakers have IP67 ratings and charge using USB-C cables, which is handy for longevity and ease of use out of the box. At some point, you’ll likely spill something near your speaker, and you likely already have a USB-C charger. If you’ve not spilled, congrats, but if you don’t have a compliant charger yet, where have you been?

The hallmark of the JBL Clip 5 is the—you guessed it—clip. It’s more versatile than the Soundcore Select 4 Go Bluetooth Speaker’s loop, as you can actually clip it to things. The Soundcore’s loop is limited by its closed design, though it is handy, especially when paired with a carabiner or strap.

The sound quality of these two speakers is very similar, though we feel the Soundcore may have a touch better bass and sound quality. It should be noted that we’ve had the JBL for much longer and used it more. The Soundcore has only been used for a few weeks, so it’s crispy and clean.

Overall, both these speakers are excellent choices. If you want to attach the speaker to your backpack, belt loop, or anything else, go with the JBL Clip 5. For tabletop listening, the Soundcore Select 4 Go Bluetooth Speaker has a leg (or four) up! With that dad joke, we’re out of here. Happy listening!