The most impressive aspect of this speaker is its sound quality. The speakers on this unit are powerful and accurate. And music stays clear at any volume. I can crank up the volume close to max without hearing distortion. It’s seven speakers (3 tweeters, 3 mid, and active 1 sub), do an excellent job reproducing voice, instruments, and bass. Given the speakers unique layout, this unit also does a good job separating sound. It’s not going to match a hi-res stereo setup, but for a standalone speaker, it does cast a somewhat wide sound stage. And when Dolby Atmos music is playing through this speaker, different instruments are even more spread out and distinct. However, I found that Dolby Atmos doesn’t necessarily improve every song that is encoded in this manner. Certain songs sound better in traditional two channel stereo.
But that’s the beauty of this speaker. It’s going to sound great playing everything in stereo, which is pretty much how 99% of people are going to listen to their music. But if you do adventure into the latest Dolby Atmos recordings, you’ll begin to hear instruments in fuller or different ways. For example, when listening to the classic hit, Zombies, by The Cranberries, the drums hits have more depth, like if I was listening in person. I went back and forth between the stereo version and the Dolby Atmos version and could tell how in the stereo version, the drums were compressed with the rest of the instruments and vocals. I’m not saying that the stereo version is any lesser in quality though; the speaker plays the music wonderfully. It’s just nice to be able to hear music spatially because of the speaker’s ability to play music encoded in Dolby Atmos. I’ve tried to experience Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio through a headset that supports these formats, but haven’t had much success in hearing the difference. So, I’ve never appreciated this format in the past. But JBL’s implementation of this new format has allowed me to start appreciating it more.
A couple of other examples of songs that allowed this speaker to shine are Yeah!, by Usher, and Chaise Longue by Wet Leg. Yeah! is a club song, which is heavy on the bass. I was able to hear and feel the speaker’s ability to produce strong low frequencies, and at high volume without distortion. The 6.5 inch down firing subwoofer will not disappoint when playing bass heavy songs. When playing the Dolby Atmos version of Chaise Longue, the vocals and beat sounded clear with the right amount of separation. I preferred the Atmos version of this song over the stereo version. As a side note, I listened to the different versions of songs through Tidal. Tidal has a section dedicated to songs encoded in Dolby Atmos music. And to get the most potential out of the songs, I cast the songs from the Tidal app to the speaker. This allows for a higher bandwidth of data transmitted to the speaker, as opposed to using a Bluetooth connection. With more data transmitted, the better the sound reproduction.
A few things to note: the Google assistant works as expected, but like most speakers, the voice assistant speaks at the volume level last used. So, if you are rocking out to loud music, then ask Google something, he/she will respond in an extremely loud voice. Given the fact that this speaker can get extremely loud, it can scare the heck out of you. It happened to me enough times that I turned off the assistant feature. I already had a small Google speaker in the room that handled my assistant requests.
Another thing, I do wish there was the ability to save customized equalizer settings. Right now, the app only allows for one low, medium, and high setting at a time. Hopefully, in a future app update, these adjustments can be saved and applied to different kinds of music. Also, it would be nice if left and right RCA inputs were built into the speaker; only a 2.5mm auxiliary input is included. Other than that, I am extremely happy with this speaker.

First thing you’re eyes go to is the price… I know it is expensive. I already have a high end component system in my living room, but my kids are always in there watching TV. I bought this for a smaller room where I can go chill. The sound quality was even better than I expected. The speakers make crystal clear sound while the little woofers have a richness to them. Treat yourself, you won’t regret it. Well done JBL.

The JBL Authentics 500 is a beautifully designed high-end smart home speaker that delivers impressive sound quality, modern features, and a retro finish. The smart speaker features 270 watts of 3.1 channel sound with virtual Dolby Atmos, which creates a lifelike musical experience that makes you feel like you’re hearing your music live. The speaker also has three 2.5mm tweeters, three 2.75″ midrange woofers, and a 6.5″ down-firing subwoofer, which provide clear and balanced sound with bass that you can feel.
The JBL Authentics 500 is a fairly large sized speaker. It measures about 17.6 x 9.5 x 10.1 and weighs about 17.2 lbs. and in terms of features, the JBL Authentics 500 is packed with goodies. It has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so you can stream music from your favorite devices. It also supports voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant simultaneously, so you can control your music, get information, and more with your voice. The speaker also has a built-in Chromecast, so you can cast music, videos, and other content from your smartphone or tablet with room filling audio. You can even answer phone calls to the speaker if you like. Paired with the JBL One app, you can also access supported music services such as Amazon Music, Tidal, Calm Radio, iHeart Music, Napster, Qobuz, and TuneIn. The app also allows you adjust the equalizer if you like, access WIFI settings, connect WIFI streaming, and set up your Google assistant and Amazon Alexa. The speaker also features automatic self-tunning, meaning it automatically calibrates and optimizes the audio every time you power it up and let me tell you the quality of the sound, the music, and the bass will amaze you every time.
The JBL Authentics 500 is also a stylish speaker that will look great in any room. It has a premium aluminum frame, custom leather-like enclosure, and Quadrex grille. The design was inspired by classic JBL heritage designs. This speaker will look amazing in any room of your home.
Pros:
• Powerful sound with virtual Dolby Atmos
• Powerful Bass
• Wide range of features, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, voice assistants, and Chromecast, WIFI Streaming
• Ability to connect multiple speakers throughout your home
• Stylish retro design
Cons:
• Not as portable. The 500 series is a fairly large device and not as easily moved from place to another.
I have been using this speaker for about a week now and every time I put some music on, it leaves me in awe. I love some bass in my music, so I enjoy the deep heart pounding bass that this speaker has to offer, also while being able to control my smart home features all from one place.
Overall, the JBL Authentics 500 is an excellent smart home speaker that delivers impressive sound quality, modern features, and looks. It’s a great choice for anyone looking for a high-end speaker that can fill any room with amazing life-like sound that also make your life a bit more convenient.

JBL Authentics 500 gets very loud and depending on the room the bass is really good. Can sound a bit on the high side and cause ear fatigue, but the sound is pretty clear. The Wi-Fi connection was very good and WiFi streams increased the sound quality a lot. The JBL App could be better. It’s a plug in speaker and with the way it projects sound may narrow its use case a bit, sounds better and more energetic when turned up but at that point can hurt ears and also cause ear fatigue as it’s a bit shouty in its sound signature. It’s a pretty nice speaker in the right use scenario can serve as a good addition. At the full retail price my personal preference would lean to something else that’s easier and more fun for what I like to listen to. For a plug in speaker I prefer using the JBL Partybox Ultimate, yes cost more, yes maybe in a different category but I can listen to that at a lower volume and still sounds excellent and more impactful. For close speaker listening or smaller room, I prefer using the Brane X smart speaker (good bass, sound quality, portable, easy to listen to)