JBL One Series 104 or iLoud Micro Monitor? Which one is better and why? Comparison review

Today we compare two compact studio monitors, new JBL 104 and well established and highly regarded iLoud Micro. Can the new arrival from JBL challange small iLoud, even though 104 is less expensive? Let's find out!

Build Quality & Features

iLoud and JBL are build entirely from plastic moulds and the reasult in precieved quality is similar, but I would give a slight endge in solidity to JBL. The looks are subjective of course, but to my eye JBL is also more pleasing. iLoud is also more compact but there is a cavat to that - iLoud has an external power brickt that You have to take with you whenever you want to travel with the speakers, JBL has power transforem built inside the "master" cabinet. JBL 104, thanks to bigger front area, managed to put the gain control in the more accessible place below the drivers, while iLoud have hidden the gain control knob on the back of "master" speaker cabinet.
JBL, unlike active iLoud, is a passive powered design with one stereo amplifier (2x30W) feeding the power to all drivers via passive crossovers. iLoud on the other hand has 4 separate amplifiers (one for each driver) with total power of 50W active crossovers and uses DPS to shape the frequency response. iLoud also has additional tone controls to help adjust the frequency response to your room (JBL do not have any tone controls). Cool feature in iLoud is Bluetooth connectivity that allows you to stream the music from your mobile device for example, JBL can only be fed the signal via traditional analog inputs. A nice touch in iLoud is the adjustable angle thanks to the foldable front feet, so if your are sitting way above the tweeter level than You can lift the front and angle the tweeter towards your ears. Both JBL and iLoud have some audible hiss coming from the tweeters, but the level of hiss in both is similar and reasonable.

Sound Quality

If I was to summarize the sound of todays competitors, than I would say iLoud sounds "smooth and grown up" while JBL sounds "forced and bright" in comparison. The reasons JBL sounds bright are the big lifts in frequency response around 4kHz to 5.5kHz and 8kHz. This makes the splashes and crashes to be boosted in the mix attacking listener ears relentlessly. What is good about JBL and in iLoud is solid reproduction of vocal range, they both have even frequency response in that area and the vocals sound nicely coherent and neutral (all though JBL again is a bit more forward and brighter here). Treble is better in iLoud with overall higher detail, more air and more natural tone. there is also better coherence and connection between the treble and midrange in iLoud. iLoud also creats more convincing soundstage with more depth and precision, but JLB all though not impressice, is also good in that regard.
Basswise the is no hiding from the fact that iLoud blows JBL out of the water with the extension and "size" of the bass reproduced by this small speakers. iLoud on normal listening levels can go down to 50Hz with ease, but there is a lot of bassport work required in achiveing that and there by quite a bit of port noise coming with certain tones and the low bass itself is not quite as fast and tight as it would be with bigger drivers and enclosures. JBL reach down to around 60Hz with nothing below, but avoids port noise and sounding slow in result (there is a touch of boominess in the upper bass and lower mids though). Neither of these is made to blast huge volumes of air, but they can suprise many listeners with the levels available.

Here is in room frequency response measurement graph taken at 1meter using UMIK-1 microphone:

Here you can listen to sound comparison of JBL and iLoud from my YouTube video comparison:

Conclusion

Probably many of customers hoped that JBL will be much cheaper alternative to highly regarded, ultra compact iLoud Micro, but did JBL deliver? Well, yes and no. Build quality and compact size is where JBL more or less matches iLoud, but in terms of sound quality iLoud shows much more mature and rounded performance. Are you willing to spend that much of extra money for this kind of sound quality improvement?