JBL Flip Wireless Bluetooth Speaker (Black)

I wanted a bluetooth speaker to synch with my Samsung Galaxy and from the reviews, narrowed it to the JBL Flip and the Soundfreaq Sound Kick. The speaker is meant to sit on the kitchen counter and fill up a great room of about 1000 sq ft so portability was not strictly a consideration, but I didn't want anything that would take up too much space.
To cut to the chase, although the Flip did sound very good, I decided to keep the Sound Kick. I was initially biased toward Flip due to brand recognition and I don't like the name Sound Kick, but that's just marketing.
Sound: As I said, both speakers sounded very good, but the Sound Kick had deeper bass response and more spacial separation possibly due to it's slightly larger size. Both got very loud with amazingly low distortion for speakers this size.
Size: The Flip is definitely geared toward portability and it comes with nice zippered case. The Sound Kick is maybe twice the Flip's size and is very rectangular, which might make it a bit harder to fit into an overnight bag.
Operation: Both speakers synched easily. The Flip has very minimal controls and is meant to be controlled via the media source. The Sound Kick has volume and navigation buttons, which makes it easier to adjust playback. Otherwise, with the Flip, I would have to "wake up" my phone and navigate to the music player to change songs or volume. One thing about the Sound Kick is that the power button has a click, but the other buttons are simply touch sensitive in that they don't depress or click. They are kind of twitchy and it takes some getting used to.
USB: In keeping with the minimalist design, the Flip does not have a USB connector. For my use, I like the USB on the Sound Kick so that I can charge the media source and it does eliminate one AC adapter on the counter.
Overall, both are impressive pieces of technology, especially for the price. Sound quality is subjective, but I would recommend the Flip if travel and portability were the main concern. While I preferred the Sound Kick for more of a desktop unit.
Oh, and yes, the Flip does play while plugged into the wall.

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