This is hands down the best shower speaker I’ve ever used

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JBLSometimes a product so perfectly fits into a specific part of your life that it becomes more valuable than others in its category, even if they're more expensive and feature-rich. That's been my experience with the JBL Clip 2, which has become my shower speaker. 

Initially, I put it in my shower's small alcove to test if the speaker lived up to JBL's waterproof claims; but after a little over a week it hasn't left my bathroom, and probably won't.

For a small speaker, it can easily slip into a large pocket or purse, and it's capable of delivering loud-yet-clear sound. It's a mono speaker, so don't expect to be blown away by audiophile sound, but if you're used to a tinnier or small sound from your current mini-sized speaker, you'll be pleasantly surprised. 

In addition to music, I also used the Clip 2 to listen to podcasts, which tend to be mono recordings anyway; the results were a perfect match of hardware and media. The podcasters' voices were crystal clear, and loud enough to overcome the sound of rushing water without distorting; I'd imagine the same is true for audiobooks. Don't get me wrong, if you'd like to listen to music through the Clip 2, you'll have a good experience, it just seems like spoken word content really shines.

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I have to hand it to JBL, its claims that the Clip 2 was durable and waterproof have held up. The alcove I set the Clip 2 onto sits about five feet above the ground, and the speaker has since taken more than one tumble into my tub. I panicked a little each time, but whatever I was playing continued to play uninterrupted. On the couple of occasions the Clip 2 landed speaker-side down there would be a few seconds of muddled sound as the water filtered out. Still, through repeated falls and exposure to water, the Clip 2 remains in perfect shape.

The Clip 2's outward appearance is simple-but-nice; it's available in five colors, which gives you some variety in a product category dominated by black and grey boxes. Its trademark clip is significantly larger than it was on the original JBL Clip, and this time it's made out of metal. If you're active, and want to take this speaker hiking or biking, you should be happy with it. 

I was very pleased to find that JBL has included both volume controls and a phone button on such a small speaker, while also cleverly tucking a standard audio cable behind the Clip 2's back for non-smart devices. Because of my use case, I stuck with connecting to the speaker through Bluetooth, which required less than a minute to set up, and never dropped out, even if I kept my phone out of the room.

Its intended purpose might be to provide avid hikers access to music while backpacking through rough terrain, and I have no doubt it can handle exposure to the elements without a problem, but for me the JBL Clip 2 the perfect shower speaker. It's waterproof, can take a tumble, and sounds great.

JBL Clip 2, $59.95, available at Amazon.

This article was originally published on 6/22/2016.