{"id":602683,"date":"2026-09-01T14:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T14:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/602683\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T14:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T14:50:16","slug":"new-jbl-cove-wireless-speakers-seem-like-a-worthy-sonos-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/602683\/","title":{"rendered":"New JBL Cove Wireless Speakers Seem Like a Worthy Sonos Alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonos is the big name in whole-home wirelesss audio, but JBL is taking another crack at it with its new Cove Wi-Fi speaker line<\/a>. There are three models at launch: the Cove M1<\/a> ($229), Cove P1<\/a> ($399) and Cove X1<\/a> ($449). The Cove P1 is the only model that\u2019s portable and has a built-in rechargeable battery, though all three speakers have both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. They\u2019re available for preorder now and ship Sept. 13.<\/p>\n

While I haven\u2019t tried the speakers in my own home, I got a taste of them in action at a JBL demo in a swanky loft in New York, and I was impressed by what I saw and heard. As part of the demo, JBL played each speaker on its own and then linked them together with other Cove speakers. It also created a stereo pair using two Cove M1 speakers, which can be used as rear channels when linked with JBL\u2019s Bar Series MK2 soundbars.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Cove P1 in white.David Carnoy\/CNET<\/p>\n

The system works a lot like a Sonos system, with speakers grouped by room (or on their own) using the JBL One app for iOS and Android. There\u2019s an automatic self-tuning option, as well as AI Sound Boost technologies that \u201cwork to optimize performance based on where and how you listen.\u201d They also have built-in microphones and are Alexa-enabled.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, the X1, which has four tweeters and dual woofers, delivers the biggest, richest sound with the strongest bass performance (it\u2019s comparable to Sonos\u2019 $470 Era 300 speaker). But the M1 and P1 deliver big sound for their size, too, and seem to stack up well against their Sonos counterparts. They\u2019re also priced similarly, though the Sonos speakers cost a little more (for example, the Sonos Move 2 portable speaker costs $499 while the P1 is $399).<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Cove X1 is the current flagship speakerDavid Carnoy\/CNET<\/p>\n

Back in the day, I liked JBL\u2019s now-discontinued Link Series Wi-Fi speakers<\/a>, which were released in 2017. They were fairly affordable and sounded decent, but just weren\u2019t as well-designed as Sonos speakers, nor did they have the most user-friendly setup or as polished an app as Sonos\u2019.<\/p>\n

At first listen, its new Cove platform seems like a worthy alternative to Sonos, but I\u2019ll have to A\/B test those Cove speakers side by side with Sonos\u2019 offerings to really get a sense of how their audio quality measures up. It\u2019ll also be interesting to see where street prices for the Cove speakers land, and whether JBL will offer any discounts on speaker bundles. If they sound as good or even slightly better than their Sonos counterparts and cost less, that would certainly help them find a foothold in the whole-home audio marketplace.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"David\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDavid Carnoy\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tExecutive Editor \/ Reviews\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tExecutive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET’s Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He’s also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Kobo e-books and audiobooks.
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSee full bio\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sonos is the big name in whole-home wirelesss audio, but JBL is taking another crack at it with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[85,46,125],"class_list":["post-602683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}