JBL Authentics L8 Review

Instead of a wooden veneer the L8 uses a shiny plastic coating that resembles the surface of a black piano. It is polished enough to be used as a mirror, and is consequently prone to attract fingerprints. The front and side is covered by a removable foam grille resembling the one you find on the classic Century L100. We´re talking retro-modern styling that can be easily fitted into most modern living rooms and a wooden decór. Removing the grille reveals two 1" tweeters and two 4" woofers. The speaker have a fairly wide frequency range of 55 Hz to 35 kHz.

All controls are placed on top of the speaker. On each side is a silver disc - the left one is switching the sound source, the right one is for adjusting the volume. A translucent ring that lights up and corresponds to the volume level when you turn the volume wheel, which is due to the absence of any designated levels, is useful and effective at the same time. In the middle of this wheel you´ll find a button to turn the L8 on/off.

In this compartment you can also find two USB ports for charging mobile devices and a section around which you can wrap the cable. The chamber has slits on the sides to allow for a cable to run through it, and you´ll also find corresponding slits on the cover. The cover can be replaced with a Qi wireless charging pad (purchased separately) for convenient wireless charging of smartphones and such.

More interesting, however, are the wireless connectivity options. Besides the basic Bluetooth you also find AirPlay and DLNA. Both protocols require the speaker to be connected to your router. This can be achieved in several ways, which are all included the instruction manual. It´s not complicated to connect your iPhone or Mac. The simplest way is to share your iPhone Wi-Fi sync cable. Mac presents a more complex setup, where it is first necessary to connect via Wi-Fi to the speaker and then select Network and enter the password.

Once the L8 is connects to the Wi-Fi it will be available as an AirPlay device and is easily selected from your Mac or iOS device. I appreciate that the speaker detects the app for streaming via AirPlay automatically and there´s no need to manually switch the source. If both devices are on the same network, you'll always find the speaker in the menu option. For PCs running Windows Mobile or Android devices, there is the DLNA protocol, an alternative to AirPlay for non-Apple devices. Since I did not have any compatible devices at hand during the test I was not able to try the DLNA connection, however AirPlay works flawlessly.

Sound Quality

As I previously have tested the bigger brother to the Authentics L8, the L16, I had quite high expectations. It turns out my expectations weren´t far off. First, I must commend the way the L8 handles bass frequencies. The integrated subwoofer is doing an amazing job. It´s able to pump large amounts of bass into the room without overwhelming the upper frequencies, and I noticed no distortion even at high volumes. Every single bass drum or low-frequency beat is perfectly clear and the JBL plays with a really focused and energetic drive. There is nothing to criticize really. And if you find the bass too strong, you can easily adjust it to your liking using the app.

I would like to give a special mention to the Clari-Fi technology, known as Signal Doctor in the app. In a nutshell it is an algorithmic improvement of compressed audio, which normally occurs in all lossy formats, whether it's MP3, AAC or music streamed from Spotify. Clari-Fi more or less 'fixes' what was lost during compression and ends up closer to the original sound. When testing on different samples of various audio bitrates, I must say that the sound can definitely improve. Individual songs seem to be more lively, more spacious and airier. Of course, technology can not make a 64kbps track sound like a CD, but the sound can significantly improve in some cases. I definitely recommend using the function as often as possible.

Conclusion