So last year Sony released their XG500 which was their first large portable Bluetooth speaker and response to the JBL Boombox… and they also gave us a sneak peak of their new design language. But now in the summer of 2022, sony has released the rest of their lineup, the XG300, XE300, and XE200. So today, we’re going to break down Sony’s speaker lineup for 2022.
Regarding pricing, the XG500 currently has a retail price of $500 but it likes to go on sale for $400. The XG300 has a retail price of $350 but likes to go on sale for $300. The XE300 has a retail price of $200 but likes to go on sale for $170… and the XE200 has a retail price of $130 but likes to go on sale for $110. Now long story short…both the XG500 and XG300 could be good options to consider depending on your needs… but for me, both the XE300 and XE200 hard passes. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can press on the YouTube shopping, give it a try.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. Now the XG500 is the largest speaker here… but its still fairly portable. It weighs in at 12 pounds and it has a built in carrying handle. The only thing that I don’t like about this speaker is that since its a cylinder, the XG500 loves to roll around in the trunk of your car if you’ve got it back there. But then there the XG300 and its just a smaller version of the XG500. This guy weighs in at 6.6 pounds and it also has a built in carrying handle. And just like the XG500, it loves to roll around in the trunk of your car. So if you’re going to take either of these two speakers on the go with you, you’re going to have to bulk them down. But then there are the XE300 and XE200… now these things have a very different and annular design to them. Now yes, they are smaller than the XG300… but the XE300 and XE200 are pretty big for their respective product categories. The XE300 is noticeably larger than the JBL Charge 5 and the XE200 is noticeably larger than the JBL Flip 6.
Now regarding durability, all of these speakers are water and dust resistant. So if they get splashed on or rained on, that isn’t going to be a problem. However with both the XG500 and XG300… you do have to mindful about their exposed passive radiators. Where as with these smaller speakers… their passive radiators are covered. However, since these speakers have a mostly silicon wrapped body, they can be a scratch magent. Where as since both the XG500 and XG300 have mostly fabric wrapped bodies… I feel that they are going to have an easier time standing up to constant abuse like bumps and scrapes.
But next up lets address the light features on these speakers. Now both the XG500 and XG300 have a built in light feature. But these light features are tucked into the passive radiators. And personally I don’t even think that its even worth using these light features cause they are so hidden, plus you can’t see them during the day. And with both the XE300 and XE200, they don’t have a light feature. And I do have to point out, that over the years, sony has been removing the light feature from their speaker. Cause the XB22 and its predecessors all had a light feature… and the XB33 and beyond all had a light feature. And to be straight up, the light feature on the XG300 is a straight up downgrade from its predecessor, the XB43. So overall what I am getting at here, it looks like Sony is moving away from the light features on the their speakers… and if you do get an XG300 or XG500… I recommend that you don’t even use their light features and instead just enjoy the battery savings.
Cause when it comes to battery life… this is an area where both the XG500 and XG300 do pretty well. Now the XG500 has an advertised battery life of 30 hours and that’s with this speaker playing at 40% volume which is a decent listening volume, with its light feature turned off, which is okay with me… but with its mega bass feature turned on which is good. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% its good for about 10 hours of playback.
And then there’s the XG300 which has an advertised battery life of 25 hours, and that’s with this speaker playing at 50%… which is an okay listening volume… with its light feature turned off, but with its mega bass featured turn on. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80%… its good for about 11 hours of playback time. However, since the XG300 has a warmer sound signature to it, I do expect most people to use this speaker at a high volume… thus draining its battery life faster.
But then there are the XE300 and XE200… now the XE300 has an advertised battery life of 24 hours and the XE200 has an advertised battery life of 16 hours. But that is while both of these speakers are playing at 50% volume and while in their stamina modes. Now what stamina mode does is that it severely reduces the bass on these speakers, making them sound super flat… they are basically not worth using.
But with their Stock EQs, the XE300 has an advertised battery life of 14 hours and the XE200 has an advertised battery life of 10 hours. But real world use with both of these speakers playing at 80% volume, the XE300 is good for about 7 hours and the XE200 is good for about 5 hours. However, since both of these speakers are so white cause of their bass heavy sound signatures, I expect most people to use these speakers at higher volume, thus draining their battery lives faster.
Now when it comes to connectivity, all of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time, so you and a friend can both be DJ. And when it comes to audio codecs, all of these speakers have support for SBC, AAC and Sony’s own LDAC which is Sony’s in house hi res audio codec. Now whether you’re an iPhone user or an android user, AAC is going to work perfectly fine. But if you do want to take advantage of LDAC you do have to be an android user and if you do decide to use LDAC… then that is going to take an additional toll on the battery life.
But if you want to you can use a wired connection with either the XG500 or XG300 cause they both have a 3.5 millimeter audio jack. Where as with both the XE300 and XE200, you can only use these speakers wirelessly cause they don’t have an audio jack. Now even though the XG300, XE300, and XE200 all have a USB C port… these USB C ports are strictly used for charging. You can’t use any of these USB C ports as a weird connection like you can with some other speakers out there.
However, something that is exclusive to the XG500 is that it has a quarter inch input so you can plug in a mic or a guitar. Its also got two USB A ports… and you can use one of these USB A ports to play music off of a USB Stick. Now the XG300 also has a USB A port… but its USB A port is only used for chargning your own device. And personally, I don’t think that the USB A port on the XG300 is going to get much use cause most phones these days come included with USB C cables instead.
But definitely with the XG500, one of its stand out characteristics is that it has that Mic input which is rare for a speaker like this… and you can play music off of a USB Stick if you absolutely must.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these speakers. Now obviously the larger the speaker, the louder and more bass that you’re going to have. Now with the XE200 this speaker has a dual frontward firing woofers and dual passive radiators that shoot out its sides. Very standard for a small sized speaker. Now the XE300 also has a dual frontward firing woofer and dual passive radiator set up… expect a little larger. But then there’s the XG300 which has dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoots out its sides… and finally there’s the XG500 which also has dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out its sides… but its a little larger. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test, all of these speakers are playing with their stock bass heavy EQ and all of these speakers are playing at max volume, except for the XG500 which is playing at 75% volume.
So obviously, the larger the speaker the louder and more bass you’re going to have. Now in general… all of Sony’s speakers have a warmer sound signature to them and both the XG300 and XG500 are a little quieter than their direct competitors… but they still do a decent job of keeping up. Neither the XG500 or XG300 leave you wanting more while they are playing at max volume. Where as with both the XE300 and XE200… these two speakers have a hard time keeping up with their direct competitors and they do leave you wanting more when they are playing at max volume. However, with both the XE300 and XE200… both of these speakers sound very shallow and muffled… something that isn’t as big as a problem with either the XG300 or XG500. And that could be cause these other two speakers have dedicated tweeters that focus on the highs and it could also be cause both of these speakers have exposed passive radiators. Now with all of these speakers, you can go in an adjust their EQ. And with both the XE300 and XE200… you can go in and raise their mids and treble so that they don’t sound so shallow… but still, even with their mids and treble raised… they continue to have this muffleness to them which just isn’t present on their direct competitors and its isn’t as prominent as with either the XG300 or XG500.
And circling back to max volume, like I mentioned already the larger the speaker the louder its going to get. However, with all of these speakers, technically you do get a performance boost out of them when you use them while they are plugged in. Now with the XE200, XE300, and XG300 their performance boosts are very minimal. I bearly personally noticed a difference… but I did manage to record a difference. However, with the XG500 its performance boost is much more noticeable. So if you want to get the most out of the XG500, you’ll might want to use it while its plugged in. But overall, when it comes to sound quality… both the XG500 and XG300 manage to get the job done… but they can fall a little behind their direct competitors. Where as with the both the XE300 and XE200… these are a hard pass for me cause they are fairly quiet for their size, they sound rather muffled and they struggle to keep up with their direct competitors.
But now lets talk about party connect. Now all of these speakers have party connect, so you can pair any of these speakers to other party connect speakers, like either an XG500, XG300, XE300 or to an XG200… and you can also pair them up to sony’s previous speaker line up like the XB43, XB33 or XB23 and you can connect up to 100 speakers together which is obviously over kill.
But also, with Sony’s party connect, you can pair your smaller sony speakers to Sony’s larger box speakers that are also using party connect like either an XP500 or XP700. They only thing that you have to keep in mind here is that you can’t pair any of your newer sony speakers using party connect, to any of Sony’s older speakers using wireless party chain… and also if you wan to get left and right stereo sound going, you have to have 2 of the same exact speakers. Or else they are only going to play in sync.
Now even though Sony’s party connect is very accommodating and it gets the job done. It is not my favorite speaker pairing protocol out there because it can be a hassle to use. Now with the XG300, XE3 and XE200, if you want to get party connect going, you have to use the… it isn’t as streamlined as before where you could just press a physical button on the speaker it self like on the XG500. But also, sometimes it can take forever to get these group to pair… and on a regular basis, all of your speakers don’t get paired so you have to go through the pairing process multiple times… and sometimes echos do form. Now party connect will fix this echo after awhile, but its only a matter of time before it comes back. So like the I said, party connect gets the job done, but it can be a hassle to use. Honestly I dread anytime that I know that I have to pair my sony speakers together to get B roll with them, cause I know its going to be a problem.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now all of these speakers have a built in microphone except for the XG500… but personally I don’t think that matters. Now with all of these speakers their built in microphones aren’t awful… but I wouldn’t take phone calls with my speakers.
But with all of that being said, personally I feel that Sony’s current speaker line up does leave a lot to be desired and and they struggle to compete with their direct competitors. And personally, I still prefer the XB43, XB33 and XB23 line up. Personally for me I feel that both the XE300 and XE200 are hard passes. From a performance stand point these speakers are two quiet and too muffled for their size. But then there’s the XG300… although its not my favorite speaker out there and I do feel that its a downgrade from the XB43… it manages to get the job done. But I would only consider it if I’m getting really good deal on it. And then there’s the XG500… this speaker does a better job of keeping up with its competitors and it has good battery life. But what really helps it stand out is its quarter inch input for mics and guitars… and you can also play music off of a USB stick. If you’re into that.