Get Them Here
So this is the Sony SRS-XG500… its Sony’s direct response to the super popular JBL Boombox 2 and one of my favorite bluetooth speakers the UE Hyperboom. But its perfectly clear that Sony isn’t playing around here… they went in and added more bass, more ports and they even threw in a light feature for good measure. Overall the XG500 is pretty impressive… so lets check it out
Regarding pricing the XG500 has a retail price of $450… $50 less than the JBL Boombox 2 and $50 more than the UE Hyperboom. Its direct competitors. Now if you want to watch that versus video you can click or tap in the top right or check out the description below. Nonetheless I do think the XG500 is fairly priced… but if it does go on sale I would jump on it. But regardless if you want to pick this speaker up it’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of this speaker. Now yes the XG500 has a stark resemblance to the Boombox 2… however it is a little larger, but I don’t think its a big deal. Now weight wise the XG500 clocks in at 12.3 pounds and for comparison sake the Boombox 2 clocks in at 13 pounds. And just like the Boombox 2 the XG500 has a built in carrying handle so that you can take it on the go with you and it also has a mostly fabric wrapped body so that it can stand up to constant bumps and scrapes without any problems. And what portable bluetooth speaker would be complete these days without an IP66 ratting meaning that this speaker is dust proof and water resistant. Meaning that if you take this speaker to the beach sand isn’t going to be an issue, and if it starts raining during your party a little water isn’t going to be a problem.
However something that really sets the XG500 apart from the Boombox 2 is its built in light feature that illuminates its dual passive radiators. Now from Sony’s app you have a few different lighting modes to choose. The main ones are delightful, rave, chill, and strobe. And from Sony’s fiestable app you can customize the color of your light feature. Now personally I think its cool and all that Sony managed to throw in a light feature… but personally for me I don’t see myself using this light feature on a regular basis cause its not very visible and would much rather extend the battery life of this speaker. But if you want that light feature its always there.
But now lets talk about battery life… the XG500 has an advertised battery life of 30 hours but thats with this speaker playing a little below 50% volume, while in mega bass mode and with the light feature turned off. And you know sony is definitely trying to out spec both the Boombox 2 and Hyperboom here which both have and advertised battery life of 24 hours under similar conditions.
Now real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, with mega boost turned on, and with the light feature turned on im getting a very healthy 8 hours of playback time. Now keep in mind if you were to use this speaker at max volume then you’re battery life is going to go down… but thing about this speaker is that you can really play around with it to extend your battery life even more.
For starters you can turn off the light feature on this speaker to extend its battery life, but you can also turn off megaboost which severely reduces the bass on this speaker so that you can extend its battery life even more. Now when you’re listening to music you definitely want to have mega boost turned on… but lets say you’re listening to a podcast then you’ll want to turn off mega boost so that people sound more natural.
But also this speaker has stamina mode which you can activate by pressing and holding the mega bass button and it turns off the light feature and mega boost with the press of one button. But a really neat feature about the XG500 is that it has a battery care function where the battery won’t charge past 90%. Now yeah you’re going to have a sacrifice from battery life… but the hope here is that this will extend the over all life of your battery.
Now when it comes to actually charging this speaker it charges via an AC port which is to be expected for a speaker of this size… but sony also advertises that you’ll get 3 hours of play time if you charge this speaker up for 10 minutes from a dead battery.
But now lets talk about ports cause this is really a stand out feature of the XG500. Most notably the XG500 has a quarter inch mic slash guitar input. So you can either plug in your guitar and jam out, you can use it for karaoke, and I wouldn’t be surprised if people also used it to either host small events or maybe even protesting.
But the XG500 also has 2 USB A ports which you can use to charge your own devices if you’re on the go… but you can also use one of these USB A ports to play music off of a USB stick. But finally this speaker still has an audio jack if you want to use a wired connection.
Now the port set up on the XG500 is impressive relative to its competition, especially that mic input… But personally I really wish this speaker also had a USB C port so that you can use it as a wired connection and also use it to charge your own devices cause most phones these days now come included with USB C to USB C charging cables or USB C to lighting charging cables. So its cool and all that the XG500 has 2 USB A ports… but I think if Sony threw in at USB C port it would have future proofed it much better.
But now lets talk about bluetooth connectivity. The XG500 is using Bluetooth 5.0 but more importantly it can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so that you and a friend can both be DJ, there’s zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… and when it comes to audio codecs the XG500 has support for SBC, AAC, and Sony’s own LDAC which is Sony’s standard set up nowadays.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with this speaker. Regarding speaker set ups the XG500 is rocking a dual woofer, dual tweeter and dual passive radiator set up very similar to the JBL boombox 2. And just like a lot of other speakers that charge via an AC port… you do get a performance bump out of this speaker if you use it while its plugged in. While its plugged in this speaker is going to get a little louder and its bass is going to punch a little harder. Now in general just like with most other Sony speakers the XG500 is a very warm sounding speaker. As in it has a lot of bass and the mids and highs aren’t as forward. Now some people will might like this and other not so much. But so that you can hear for yourself we’re going to jump into a sound test. Now while in this sound test we’re going to be using this speaker while in stamina mode, we’re also going to use it while its unplugged but with Mega bass turned on which is how I think most people will use this speaker the majority of the time, and we’re also going to use it while its plugged in with mega bass turned on.
So like you may have just heard the XG500 has a lot of bass to it. But while in stamina mode that bass doesn’t punch as hard which is a trick sony is using to help extend the battery life of this speaker and its a feature you might want to use from time to time. But nonetheless while in stamina mode the XG500 still sounds pretty good. Now for the record this sound test was conducted with the XG500 playing at 85% volume. So you really didn’t hear a difference between this speaker playing while its unplugged and plugged in. But you do hear and feel a difference when this speaker is playing at max volume when its either plugged in or unplugged. So if you want to get the most out of this speaker you wanna use it while its plugged in. But over all I really gotta drive home that this speaker has a lot of bass to it and if you use it while its indoors then the XG500 is just going to have a good time shaking the walls in your house. But when it comes to instrument separation and sound stage… I do gotta say the XG500 can sound a little shallow cause the mids and highs are pushed down bit. Now again some people will might like the bass heavy nature of this speaker… but through Sony’s app you can always raise the mids and treble on this speaker so that vocals can be a little more prominent. But over all I can’t help but feel that I wish this speaker sounded a little more open. Cause even though this speaker has a lot of bass and its a lot of fun… the mids and highs can be a little harder to pick out when compared to the XG500’s direct competitors. Nonetheless I enjoy how this speaker sounds and it definitely delivers… but I would mainly recommend this speaker to someone who really likes bass.
But now lets talk about pairing this speaker up to other speakers. The XG500 has Sony’s new party connect. Meaning that you can pair the XG500 to other sony speakers that have party connect like either another Sony XG500, a sony XB43, Sony XB33, sony XB23, and you can also pair it up to sonys other larger box speakers like a Sony XP500 or Sony XP700.
However just keep in mind you can’t pair any Sony Party connect speakers to any of Sony’s older speakers that are using wireless party chain like either a Sony XB41, XB32, XB22, XB31, XB21 and the list just goes on.
Now over all Sony’s speaker pairing protocol gets the job done but it not as easy or as fast as either JBL’s Partyboost or UE PartyUP. Sometimes Sony’s speakers take forever to pair up, or sometimes all of your speakers don’t pair, or they just get disconnected from your phone. So Sony’s party connect gets the job done, but sometimes you’ll might have to try it a few times.
But with all that being said… its clear that Sony grabbed a JBL Boombox 2 and said how can we do this but better. And in some respects Sony really out performs the JBL Boombox 2 here. Sound quality wise the Sony XG500 has a ton of bass to it… and for comparison sake the Boombox 2 is a much brighter sounding speaker. But also the XG500 really differentiates its self from the Boombox 2 by having that mic and guitar input. And then there’s the light feature which I feel sony threw in for good measure. But like I mentioned earlier if you were to use this speaker with its light feature turned off you can get more battery life out of it. But in general this speaker has an impressive real world battery life even while its mega bass feature and light feature is turned on. And you can always extend that battery life even more if you were to switch this speaker over to stamina mode. Overall I think the Sony XG500 is a solid pick if you’re looking for a larger portable bluetooth speaker to take on the go with you from time to time. But like I mentioned earlier, I would mainly recommend this speaker to someone who really like bass.