JBL is a well-known audio and speaker company and they've always made some of the most popular Bluetooth speakers and accessories for smartphones and mobile devices. So when Google Assistant became available for portable speakers , JBL crafted up a brand new line of devices called Link to take...

Really happy with this product. Gives of a fab sound. Easy to set up and use. Looks fab. Would highly recommend.

I was looking for a good overall portable speaker that was also great to handle outdoors at the cottage, beach or by the pool and could survive getting wet. Before buying the JBL Link 20 I purchased the Logitech UE Megaboom 3 speaker.

Harman brand JBL has jumped aboard the smart speaker train with the Link series, a range of Wi-Fi speakers with Google Assistant. An alternative to Mountain View's own Google Home speaker-assistants, we try out the JBL Link 300 and its big brother, the JBL Link 500.

Bluetooth-enabled; Good sound; Multi-room operation with speakers from other manufacturers; Google Chromecast built in

No battery; Lacks wired input; Calls not possible

Just as the JBL Link 10 presents a very strong alternative to the Google Home, the JBL Link 300 is a solid foil to the Google Home Max , or the Amazon Echo Plus . It doesn't have the benefits of portability or ruggedness that the Link 10 offers, but it's significantly less expensive than the Home...

Google Assistant voice control; Reasonably powerful, balanced sound; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Google Cast

Not portable or rugged; Mono

A smart buy for the smart home

FLAC and WAV support; Far-field voice recognition; Google Assistant integration; Great value; Good sound

No aptX support; Must be plugged in

The JBL Link 300 offers great audio quality and tons of smart features but it's too expensive for us to recommend.

Great audio quality; Google Assistant and Chromecast built-in; Streaming via Chromecast provides multiple advantages (see below; Far-field mics do good job of picking up commands

Expensive; No hands-free calling feature; Big and bulky

I use outside in my garden,

The JBL 300 abandons the experimentalism found in the rest of the Link range, and delivers predictably solid results in lieu of it.

Great sound; Slick modern aesthetics

Larger form-factor; Little innovation

Harman and Samsung owned subsidiary, JBL, has further expanded its local smart speaker family, with the release of its "most powerful" and "immersive" offering