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What Hi-Fi?
What Hi-Fi?
Technology
Harry McKerrell

Do portable Bluetooth speakers need a wired connection?

JBL Flip 7 in red with a phone attached via USB-C.

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?

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