The Wireless Speakers That Will—Not to Exaggerate—Revolutionize Your Shower Time

Photo credit: Allie Holloway
Photo credit: Allie Holloway

From Esquire

Buy Go 2 $30, amazon.com

Buy Clip 3 $60, amazon.com


Welcome to The Esquire Endorsement. Heavily researched. Thoroughly vetted. These picks are the best way to spend your hard-earned cash.


These two Bluetooth speakers from JBL aren't marketed as shower speakers. But damn do they work well for exactly that purpose. They’re small but durable, with audio quality that’ll more than match your shower playlist, and full waterproofing. But before we get into the particulars of technology and sound and usability, let's first clear up one thing: Your life will be overwhelmingly improved by the addition of a shower-dedicated wireless speaker. Not marginally. Overwhelmingly.

You see, there’s a nugget of stress that gets placed on your shoulders every time you load up your shower tunes (for me, it's mid-aughts power ballads from the queens of country; thanks, Faith) and precariously place your phone on the furthest shower ledge or on the edge of the tub. That phone costs a lot of money. Water is dangerous. The stakes are high. And god forbid a song comes on shuffle so bad you just have to change it mid-rinse. All that stress compounds. The silent killer weighs you down. Buy a shower speaker.

Photo credit: Allie Holloway
Photo credit: Allie Holloway

You won’t have to worry about water damage.

This goes without saying, but a proper shower speaker needs to be fully waterproof. Both the JBL Go 2 and Clip 3 are just that. They have an IPX7 waterproof rating, which is a complicated way of saying that they’re completely safe to not only splash with water, but also dunk under the surface completely. Not sure why you'd ever want to do that on purpose, except perhaps to test out underwater acoustics, but it's an extra layer of insurance if you're a bath-taker and one of these is playing music nearby.

Buy Go 2 $30, amazon.com

Buy Clip 3 $60, amazon.com

Photo credit: Allie Holloway
Photo credit: Allie Holloway

You have two options for price and audio quality. Neither is bad.

To put it bluntly, the Go 2 will not wow you with its audio power, but showers generally have good acoustics themselves, and it’s only five (maybe 25) minutes out of your day, so there’s really no need to go all in on a higher-end speaker. Plus, it’s really inexpensive, and still better than an off-brand speaker you might root out on Amazon. The Clip 3 is double the price, with better audio to show for it. It also lasts twice as long on a charge. Pick wisely.

Photo credit: Allie Holloway
Photo credit: Allie Holloway

One of these speakers will suit whatever kind of shower you have, guaranteed.

Still not ready to pick wisely? One final benefit of the Clip 3 is that it comes with a carabiner clip (hence the name), which you can use to hang it off the shower rod, curtain, or even the shower head. It’s more versatile. That being said, the Go 2 is small, tiny in fact, and won’t hog all the flat space; it’s perfect for the shelf I have built into my shower.

Both wireless speakers come in multiple colors, so feel free to match your bathroom decor. And each has tactile buttons you’ll be able use even with wet hands. Unfortunately, neither has the ability to skip songs, so cue your power ballads accordingly. Showers are so much more relaxing with stress-free music.

Buy Go 2 $30, amazon.com

Buy Clip 3 $60, amazon.com

Photo credit: Allie Holloway
Photo credit: Allie Holloway


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