So the JBL Boombox 3 is ultra portable, ultra durable, and thanks to its new additional frontward firing subwoofer, the Boombox 3 has considerably more bass than its predecessors. However, the Boombox 3 is a premium priced speaker… Now you could either go with the Boombox 3… or you could go with a larger box speaker like either the JBL Partybox 310 or Sony XP700. So today we’re going to see how the Boombox 3 stacks up to both the Partybox 310 and Sony XP700… and lets see which one is right for you.
Regarding pricing… both the 310 and XP700 have had different retail prices over the last few months. When the XP700 initially released it had a retail price of $450, and the 310 had a retail price of $500. But in mid 2021, both of these speakers had a retail price of $550. Now the 310 is back to having a retail price of $500 where as the XP700 is listed as being on sale for $450. Making you think that you saved $100 with the XP700. What im trying to say here, be aware that pricing here can fluctuate a bit. Where as with the Boombox 3, it has a retail price of $500. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. Now obviously the Boombox 3 is significantly smaller than both the Partybox 310 and XP700. The Boombox 3 weighs in at 14.7 pounds where as the XP700 weighs in at 37 pounds and the 310 weighs in almost at 39 pounds. But also, the Boombox 3 is able to stand up to much more constant abuse thanks to its mostly fabric wrapped body which is going to do a much better job of standing up to constant bumps and scrapes. And with the Boombox 3, its rocking an IP67 rating meaning that its both dust and water resistant. So plainly said, if you need something to constantly take on the go with you, the Boombox 3 is the obvious choice. Now, the Partybox 310 is easy enough transport from location to location, thanks to its built in wheels, but if there’s grass, then you’re going to have to lift this speaker up. And unfortunately, the XP700 just doesn’t have any wheels, period. Now even though these box speakers are fairly portable… they aren’t anywhere near as rugged as the Boombox 3. Both of these box speakers have mostly plastic bodies that just love to collect scratches. But also, these speakers are only rocking IPX4 ratings. Basically, these speakers aren’t afraid of a little water… so if they get rained on a little bit or even if a drink gets spilled on them, they’ll be fine… but with the Bombox 3, if you were to drop it into a pool, it’ll be fine. So if you need something durable and portable, then the Boombox 3 is a now brainer.
However, something that both of these speakers have that the Boombox 3 doesn’t is that they both have light features. But personally, I feel that the light feature on the 310 is more impressive than the light feature on the XP700. Its brighter and its more dynamic. But if you’re looking for a speaker for your man cave… than the light feature on either of these two speakers is going to look great. But something the 310 has over the XP700 is that it has a top hat mount on the bottom. So if you want, you can always elevate your speaker.
But now lets talk about the battery life on these speakers. Now the XP700 has an advertised battery life of 25 hours where as the Partybox has an advertised battery life of 18 hours. But the XP700’s advertised battery life of 25 hours is with it playing at 25% volume, with its light feature turned off but with its mega bass feature turned on. Where as with the Partybox thats with it playing at 50% volume, with its light feature turned off and with its Bass Boost turned off.
Now if we were talking about lets say the Sony XG500 or JBL Boombox 3 or any other smaller speakers… 25% volume is nothing. But 25% volume on the XP700 is a comfortable listening volume and the Partybox 310 playing at 50% volume is like having either the Boombox 3 playing at 70% volume.
So over all real world use I expect most people will use these box speakers between 35 to 45 percent volume and if thats the case both of these box speakers are evenly matched cause you can get around 18 hours of play back time out of both of these speakers if you got them with their light features turned on and mega bass or bass boost turned on.
However just keep in mind battery life on both of these speakers really depends on how you use them. If you’ve got them at a higher volume your battery is going to drain faster, if you use them with their light features turned on that’s going to take its toll on the battery life, and if you got the bass on the speakers turned up it’ll drain the battery as well.
But for those curious, at max volume Sony claims that you’ll get 4 hours of playback time on the XP700 with its light feature turned on and with its mega bass feature turned on and the Partybox 310 is also along those same lines as well.
But then there’s the Boombox 3 which has an advertised battery life of 24 hours… but that’s with this speaker playing at 50% volume. Now 50% volume on the Boombox 3 is already a very good listening volume and its decent enough for both indoor and out door use. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume its good for about 8 hours of playback time.
So overall, all of these speakers have decent batteries lives on them, and they should all have no problem keeping up with you for a whole day a listening. But these two box speakers sound very different from the Boombox 3, and with these box speakers, their battery lives really vary depending on how you us them.
But when it comes to charging these speakers, they all charge via an AC port, and this is actually new for the Boombox 3 cause before there was an external power brick that you would have to worry about. So personally, I do think that this is a bonus that helps make the Boombox 3 the best portable option here… cause if you were to take this speaker to a friend’s house, if you need to charge it up, its very likely that they have one of these cables lying around.
However, something that the 310 does have going for it is that it has a 12 volt DC port. So if you take the 310 with you camping and if you drain the battery… you can always power this speaker through this port. The problem is, JBL doesn’t include the necessary cable for this like they did with the 300… and you can no longer buy this cable off of their site. But you can always try your luck and use your own cable if you find one that works.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, all of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time so that you and a friend can both be DJ. But when it comes to audio codecs, both of JBL’s speakers are only using SBC… where as the XP700 has support for SBC, AAC, and Sony’s only LDAC which is their own in house high res audio codec. But regardless, whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device, SBC is going to work perfectly fine.
But if you want to, you can always use any of these speakers with a wired connection cause they all still have a 3.5 millimeter audio jack. Now I would expect an audio jack on the Box speakers… but wouldn’t have been surprised if JBL removed the audio jack on the Boombox 3. However, something that is unique to the 310 here over these other two speakers is that it has an audio out jack. So if you have a spare audio cable laying around, you can always daisy chain any other speaker to the 310 and have them play in sync.
Now all of these speakers have USB A ports on them so that you can charge your own devices… but with both the 310 and XP700 you can also plug in a USB Stick and play music off of it. Now personally, I am glad that all of these speakers still have USB A ports… but I also wish that these speakers had USB C ports on them so that you could use them as a wired connection and charge your own devices… like you can with the USB C port found on the Xtreme 3.
But something that is found on these two box speakers that the Boombox 3 simple doesn’t have are dual quarter inch inputs so that you can plug in a guitar and or a microphone. And this is very handy either for hosting events or karaoke.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these speakers. Now regarding speaker set ups, I feel that the 310 has the most basic speaker set up here. It has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back. And it has dual frontward firing tweeters. Where as with the XP700, it also has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back, but the tweeter set up is a little different. The XP700 has a total of 4 tweeters on it. It has 3 frontward firing tweeters and there’s a rear upwards firing tweeter. But all of these tweeters aren’t always firing. If you’ve got this speaker standing up right it’ll use these two tweeters and the one on the back… and if you’ve got it laying down flat, it’ll use these two tweeters. Nonetheless, both of these box speakers always have their left channel and their right channel whether they are standing up right or laying down flat. But then there’s the Boombox 3 who’s set up is significantly different. Now you’ve got dual frontward firing woofers… but they are significantly smaller than the woofers on these other two speakers. Now you’ve also got dual frontward firing tweeters… but these tweeters are stacked on top of the woofers. Now don’t be alarmed, the Boombox 3 doesn’t sound muffled cause the tweeters are stacked on top of the woofers… but JBL did this so that they could squeeze in a frontward firing subwoofer to compliment the dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And overall, this new speaker set up helps the Boombox 3 have a lot more bass than its predecessors and it now does a much better job of linearly increasing its bass as you raise its volume. The Boombox 3 no longer sounds flat or nasally past 90% volume like the Boombox 2 did. But with all of that being said, we’re going to jump into the sound test. Both of these box speakers are playing at 75% volume. The XP700 has mega bass turned on and the bass boost on the 310 is set to deep. Where as the Boombox 3 is playing at 81% volume so that it can keep up with these larger speakers.
Now first, I want to address max volume performance on these speakers. Now the boombox 3 does a really good job of keeping up with these box speakers when it comes to max volume. But the boombox 3 is able to keep up with these speakers cause it has a brighter sound signature to it. And with all of these speakers, if you were to use them while they are plugged in you are going to get a performance boost out of them. They are all going to get louder and they are all going to have more bass. Now even though the Boombox 3 has an impressive amount of physicality in it bass for its size… this speaker simply just doesn’t have as much physicality to it as these other two larger box speakers. But also, at higher volumes both the 310 and XP700 are going to sound much more balanced than the Boombox 3 cause they aren’t going to have to blare their mids and highs. And at lower volumes, both of these box speakers sound more open than the Boombox 3, all while having more bass as well. Now personally, I do feel that the 310 puts a little more emphasis on the mids than the XP700… cause the XP700 does sound a little warmer… but at least the 310 doesn’t sound as bright as the Boombox 3 when its in its stock EQ, which I feel can get a little harsh at times. But thankfully, the Boombox 3 now has an adjustable EQ… a rather new concept for JBL’s speakers. And I feel that if you want to get the best sound out of the Boombox 3’s you gotta go in and raise the bass by two clicks and lower the treble by one click. And thanks to a recent software up date, the 310 now also has an adjustable EQ. So not only can you choose between your different bass boost settings… But if you wanted to you could go in and raise the bass on this speaker for more bass… or you could switch it over to a brighter EQ so that it can get louder for outdoors use. And finally, there’s the XP700 which has always had an adjustable EQ. But personally, if I had to choose between the XP700 and 310, I am going to go with the 310 cause from a performance standpoint, it does sound a little more open… but also, if you really want that physicality in your bass… then the 310 can provide it a little more than the XP700 can. But overall, if sound quality is your main priority, you’re still going to want to go with either of these two box speakers cause they have a lot more phsycialty in their bass, they sound more open, and they sound more balanced at higher volumes. Where as with the Boombox 3, this speaker sounds good, but it simply just doesn’t have as much bass, and it does skew towards a brighter sound signature.
But now lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. With the boombox 3, its using JBL’s PartyBoost, meaning that it can get pairing up to other PartyBoost speakers like either another Boombox 3, a Boombox 2, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Pulse 4, Flip 5, or flip 6, and you’ll also be able to pair it up to the upcoming Pulse 5 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together which is obviously over kill.
Where as with the Partybox 310, you can only wirelessly pair it up to one other Partybox. Now you can either pair your 310 up to another 310, or to a 110, 710, or even up to an encore… but you can only have a total of two party boxes wirelessly paired together. And also, you can not pair any of your larger Partybox speakers to any of JBL’s smaller, PartyBoost speakers. So if you have a 310, you can not wirelessly pair it to a boombox 3. However, the Partybox 310 does have that audio out jack, so you could always daisy chain it to a boombox 3 or any other speaker by using an audio cable.
But then there’s the XP700 which is using Sony’s Party Connect. Now you can either pair your XP700 to another XP700 or to an XP500… but you can also wirelessly connect your XP700 to any of Sony’s smaller speakers that are also using party connect like either an XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33, or to an XB23… and you can pair up to 100 speakers together as well.
Now even though Sony’s speaker pairing protocol is very accommodating and it gets the job done, it is not my favorite speaker pairing protocol out there. Sometimes it can be a hassle to get all of your speakers paired together and sometimes echos do form. Now Party connect does correct these echos, but its only a matter of time for these echos to come back. So like I said, its not perfect and it can be a hassle to use, but it gets the job done.
Where as with the Partyboxes… this speaker pairing protocol is much easier to use, but it is very limited and you can only have one other speaker wirelessly connected to the 310… but at the least the 310 has that audio out jack that I mentioned earlier.
But finally there’s PartyBoost. Now this is my preferred speaker pairing protocol cause its very easy to use and I never have any issue with it. And you also have a healthy ECO system of speakers to choose from. But unfortunately you can’t pair any of your smaller PartyBoost speakers to you larger Partybox speakers.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between getting the Boombox 3 or either of these two similarly priced box speakers… it come down to your needs. If you need something that smaller, portable, and durable… then the Boombox 3 is the obvious choice. Now performance wise, this speaker has an impressive amount of bass for its size and due to its brighter sounding EQ, the Boombox 3 is able to get very loud. And if you plan on getting multiple speakers and constantly pairing them together, then I feel the Boombox 3 is the best option here cause Partyboost has a healthy ecosystem of speakers to choose from and plus Partyboost just works. However, if you want the better sound quality and more physicality in your bass, then you are better off with either of these two box speakers. Now if you’re trying to choose between either of these two box speakers… personally I do lean towards the Partybox 310 cause I feel it sounds a little better, plus if you want, it can kick out a little more bass than the XP700. But I also feel the 310 has the better looking light feature and I really appreciate those built in wheels whenever I can use them. The only draw back with the 310 is its very limited speaker pairing protocol. But I still prefer it over the XP700. Personally, I would only go with the XP700 here if you already have XG500, XB43, or XB33 cause then you’ll be able to pair them up if you want to. But like I said, Partyconnect gets the job done… but it can be a hassle at times.