JBL Cove M1 review

Introduction

JBL Cove M1 is the firm’s entry-point in its new whole-home speaker ecosystem, with the Cove series set to tackle mutli-room incumbent Sonos.

It can work on its own, in stereo with another M1, or as a rear surround speaker when paired with JBL’s Bar MK2 series, giving it great versatility. Amazon Alexa is built-in, as is support for the Google Home network, and the smartphone app is also nicely put together.

At £199, the Cove M1 finds itself up against the Sonos Era 100, Denon Home 150 and Apple HomePod mini.

So does JBL have a speaker to worry Sonos? I’ve put the Cove M1 to the test to find out.

Design

• Minimalist, modern design that fades into background
• No physical connections, only Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• Touch controls on the top of the speaker

The JBL Cove M1 – along with its Cove siblings – sheds the brand’s party-speaker aesthetic you might be familiar with. There are no flashing lights, loud colours, or even the brand’s iconic orange logo.

JBL has purposefully opted for an understated look, with the aim for the speaker to blend into the background of your home rather than stand out. It means the all-black cylinder of the M1 (with an all-white version also available online initially) has an almost uninterrupted acoustic fabric grille around all four sides. 

The JBL logo is there on the front, but it’s discreet. From across my lounge, I wasn’t able to make out what the logo showed – giving this speaker an added layer of stealth.

This is the smallest, most compact speaker in the Cove line-up, and its squarish frame stands 18.4cm tall and 12.5cm wide. This allows it to sit comfortably on shelves, side tables, or TV units without drawing much attention.

On the top, a concave plateau houses the touch controls. Volume up and down, play/pause, Bluetooth pairing, and a heart icon Moment button that has a couple of clever functions that I’ll get into in the next section. 

The buttons are easy to locate in good light, and are responsive to gentle taps, but there’s no illumination behind them. That means in low light it can be tricky to locate where each button is if you can’t make out the icons. Microphones are also located on the top edge of the speaker. 

Around the back, there’s a smaller sliding switch allowing you to mute/unmute the microphones, depending on whether you want Alexa listening out for you.

In terms of physical connections, there’s the power cable that comes bundled in the box, and… nothing else. Well, there is a USB port, but it’s for service only (on UK and Europe models at least) – you can’t connect a device to play audio via this. The Cove M1 requires you to connect to it wirelessly over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

There’s no battery inside the Cove M1, which means you’ll have to place it near a mains outlet (or bring out an extension cable) to use it. With the power cable under two meters in length, it slightly limits the positioning freedom.

If you want greater versatility and portable power, the larger JBL Cove P1 can be mains and battery powered.

There’s also a small light on the front edge of the speaker that you won’t notice when off, only illuminating when you wake Alexa, to show the speaker has heard you and that Alexa is listening/thinking.

Features

• Auracast, AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Alexa support, plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• Excellent app and easy setup
• No physical input options

One of the big selling points to the new Cove series of speakers is the simplicity of the setup. JBL is keen to stress just how good its app is at making things easy to pair, connect and play, and from my tests it’s bang on the money.

Download the free JBL One app from your smartphone’s app store, and you’ll be able to set up your new speaker as soon as it’s plugged into the mains. 

And unlike most apps these days, JBL doesn’t force you to create an account to set up and use the Cove M1. There is the option to create one, or sign in if you already have an account, but it’s not a prerequisite. I wish more brands offered this.

Once in the app, it’ll automatically detect the Cove M1 is available to connect with. Tap the on-screen prompt, follow the instructions and tap the Moment button on top of the speaker and you’re ready to rock. It really is super simple, and very quick.

During setup, the Cove M1 will auto-tune itself using its speakers and microphones to work out where it is in a room and balance the sound accordingly. This room tuning allows for space-filling sound, it takes just a second or so, and the result is very good.

There are more options in the app once you’re up and running, including the ability to connect streaming services for fast playback. Amazon Music, Calm Radio, iHeartRadio, Qobuz, Spotify, Tidal and TuneIn are supported, and once you have a service linked, the Moment button offers a new feature.

Walk up to the speaker and give the Moment button a tap and it’ll automatically start playback from your chosen service. I linked my Spotify account in the JBL One app, and tapping the Moment button initiates playback. If you were previously playing something, it will automatically resume. 

It’s a neat feature that allows you to quickly get audio playing without the need for your phone.

The JBL Cove M1 isn’t just a speaker though, as it has Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant built in too. Sign into your Amazon account via the JBL One app, and you’ll be able to summon the assistant by saying Alexa. 

You can ask Alexa to control various playback functions (such as volume adjustments, skip, and pause), as well as ask it questions and tell it commands like you would any other smart speaker.

While there is Google Cast support and the ability to add the Cove M1 to your Google Home setup – which I was successfully able to do – Google’s Gemini assistant isn’t available on the speaker.

The M1 also comes with Bluetooth, and AirPlay 2, Roon Ready, Spotify/Tidal/Qobuz Connect support. There’s Auracast built-in too, for seamless playback with other JBL hardware, ensuring there are plenty of ways to connect and get audio playing on the speaker.

To get the absolute most from the M1 though you’ll want to invest in a second unit, or JBL’s other Cove speakers (the P1 and X1), and possibly even a MK2 soundbar.

If you get two M1 speakers, you can easily set them up as a stereo pair in the app, allowing you to have true left and right channels. Ideal for placing them on opposite sides of a room.

And if you have a series of Cove speakers throughout your home, you can group them together – as well as with JBL soundbars and other supported products for that whole-home audio ecosystem.

And it’s when you have Cove speakers in more than one room where the Moment button performs another party trick. Start playback on a Cove M1 in the lounge, and if you walk into the kitchen where another M1 is placed you can hold the Moment button for a second or so and it’ll automatically bring the music from the other room and start playing it in the kitchen as well.

It means you don’t have to carry your phone around the house to control playback on multiple Cove speakers. I saw this in action during a demo event I attended, but I was only sent one M1 for review, so couldn’t fully test this or the stereo pairing function.

Sound Quality

• Big, room-filling sound
• Useful presets, plus customisable equaliser
• Powerful, but not overpowering bass

Despite its compact size, the JBL Cove M1 packs in three separate 0.75 inch tweeters. There’s one at the front, one on the left, and one on the right. At the back you get a 4-inch ABR woofer, giving the M1 a total power output of close to 100 Watts.

The result? Big sound from a small footprint, with more left and right than you’d expect from a speaker this size. Just the single Cove M1 I had for review was able to comfortably fill my open-plan living space without cranking the volume way up.

Out of the box the equaliser (settings found in the app) is set to JBL Signature. This offers a well balanced sound profile, with a little more weighting given to the bass – but not to a point where it overpowers the midrange or vocals. 

For those of you who just want to plug and play, this setting will suffice for much of your listening needs. However, for those who prefer to fine tune their listening experience, the app offers a variety of controls.

There are a few other presets JBL has created to quickly switch things up, with Vocal promoting singing, Energetic offering a fuller, party atmosphere, and Chill limiting bass for more relaxed sonic playback.

And there’s a fully adjustable equaliser mode for those who really want to fine tune the M1’s playback to suit their ear.

Listening to Inner Light by Elderbrook, vocals are clear and when the bass drops in you get the room-filling warmth of the low tones, while vocals and mids remain pleasingly clear. There’s enough punch here without being overpowering.

Switching to Raven by GoGo Penguin, the Cove M1 does well to distinguish between the constant piano bars and rapid drumming. The timing isn’t perfect – there is a little bit of fogginess – but considering the size of this speaker it’s still perfectly pleasant to listen to. 

With Massive Attack’s Angel, JBL’s AI Sound Boost helps control the bass response. Pushing the volume over 70% and the Cove M1 still delivers powerful low tones, but they don’t distort or overpower the track. Meanwhile, vocals didn’t get totally swallowed by lower-mid frequencies in Fade by Takuya Kuroda.

Overall, the JBL Cove M1 delivers a wider listening sweet spot than you might expect from such a compact speaker, with energetic, punchy low-end tuning and clean mid-range vocal separation.

You couldn’t ask for much more from this size of speaker, but it doesn’t offer the height elevation of Dolby Atmos tracks. For that support you’ll need to look at its larger (and pricier) siblings, the Cove P1 and Cove X1.

Should you buy it?