Get Them Here
LG Xboom XL7: https://amzn.to/3Hyw9d2
Sony XP500: https://amzn.to/3OcbwXT
JBL Partybox 110: https://amzn.to/3Hsz8DX
So this is the LG XBOOM XL7, now even though it does have its drawbacks, personally I really like its mellow sound profile and I think the customizable light feature up top is a fun touch. But today we’re going to see how the LG XBOOM XL7 stacks up to its smaller competitors, the JBL Partybox 110 and the Sony XP500.
Regarding pricing, the XBOOM XL7 has a retail price of $600 which is rather steep for this speaker. Personally I would only pick this speaker up if its on sale for $450 or less. But then there are the Partybox 110 and Sony XP500 which both have a retail price of $400, but they like to routinely go on sale for $300. 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 all of these speakers have relatively soft plastic bodies which can get scratched very easily if you’re transporting any of these speakers, and they all haver a thin metal grill on the front which can also get dented easily. Now the XBOOM is relatively larger and heavier than these other two speakers, weighing in at 34 pounds… where as the Partybox weighs in at 23 pounds and the XP500 weighs in at a little under 25 pounds. But to make up for the extra weight, the XBOOM does have built in wheels, which makes transporting this speaker a little easier, and these wheels are decently sized, so they’ll do an okay job of rolling on asphalt. Where as with these other two speakers, you’re going to have to carry them. Now even though I do recommend that you try to be gentle with these speakers cause of their soft plastic bodies, they are all rocking an IPX4 ratting, meaning that if any of these speakers get rained on or splashed on, they’ll be fine. Just remember to keep the ports panel on the back closed. And I also want to quickly point out that the 110 is the only speaker here that has a top hat mount on the bottom, just in case you want to use your speaker with a speaker stand mount.
But next up there’s the light feature. Now the XBOOM has a ring light on it, very similar to the ring lights that you’ll find on the 3=110, but I feel that the ring lights on the 110 have more dynamic animations than the animations found on the XBOOM. But I do think the ring light on the XBOOM looks better than the light feature found on the Sony. But also, the XBOOM has this LED screen on the top which also has it own set of animations and you can also customize it as well. Overall, I think the light feature on the XBOOM is decent, but I don’t think its as dynamic as the light feature found on the 110, but I think prefer this light feature over the much more tamed light feature found on the XP500.
Now obviously you shouldn’t make your speaker purchase decision solely on the light feature, and if you do decide to use the light feature on any of these speakers, that is going to take its toll on the battery life. Now when it comes to battery life, the XBOOM has an advertised battery life of 20 hours… but this advertised battery life of 20 hours is with the light feature turned off, with it playing at 50% volume which is already a really good listening volume and with its sound boost EQ turned on.
Now the XP500 also has an advertised battery life of 20 hours… but this advertised battery life is with this speaker playing at 30% volume… which is very quite, its good for like ambiance, but its not good for actually listening to music. And in general, the XP500 is very quite for its size while its running off of its internal battery. So this is a speaker that you’re going to have to routinely use between 80 to 100 percent volume. And this advertised battery life of 20 hours is also with its light feature turned off, but its with its mega bass feature turned on which is good.
And then there’s the Partybox 110 which has an advertised battery life of 12 hours, but this advertised battery life of 12 hours is with this speaker playing at 20%… which is noticeably louder than the XP500 playing at 30% volume… but with the light feature turned off and with the bass boost feature turned off as well.
Now battery life on all of these speakers really varies depending on how you use them. If you use them at a higher volume that’s going to drain your battery life, if you use them with their light feature turned on, that’s going to drain your battery life, or if you use them with their bass features turned on, that’s going to drain your battery life faster. But in general, the XBOOM does have the longest lasting battery here.
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, latency isn’t a problem for any of these speakers, so you can use them to watch videos with your phone… but when it comes to audio codecs, the JBL only has support for SBC, the XBOOM has support for SBC and AAC, and then there’s the Sony which has support for SBC and AAC, but it also has support for LDAC which is Sony’s own in house high res audio codec. But just keep in mind, if you want to take advantage of LDAC, you do have to be an android user cause iPhone’s top out at AAC.
But now lets talk about connectivity.
But now lets talk about the ports on these speakers cause there are some major differences. First off I have to point out the XBOOM does not have an audio jack, so you can’t use it with a wired connection. And personally I feel that this is redicouls, cause most other box speakers have audio jacks, like these two. But also, the Partybox is the only speaker here that has an audio out jack, meaning that if you have an audio cable laying around, you can connect this speaker to any other speaker and that other speaker is going to play the same music that the partybox is playing.
But with all of these speakers, they have a USB A port so you can plug in a USB stick and play music off of it, or you can also use it to charge your own phone. But I really feel that these speakers need to start coming with USB C ports cause most phones these days come with USB C cables instead.
Now all of these speakers have two quarter inch inputs, so you can plug in a microphone for karaoke… but the sony is the only speaker here that can properly drive two microphones… cause with these other two speakers, one input is meant for a microphone and the other input is meant for a guitar. And this guitar input has a lot more resistance to it. Now the guitar input on the XBOOM has a lot of resistance to it so id say that you can only really use one microphone with the XBOOM, where as with the JBL… its resistance isn’t as bad. But if karaoke is very important to you, and if you want to use two microphones with your speaker, then you’re going to want to go with the sony.
But now lets talk about sound. Now both the Partybox 110 and XP500 have dual frontward firing woofers with exhaust ports that shoot out the back, meaning that you can amplify the bass on both of these speakers by placing them against the wall… and they both have dual frontward firing tweeters. But then there’s the XBOOM which has a single 8 inch frontward firing woofer with exhaust ports that shoot out the front, and it has dual frontward firing tweeters. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. The XBOOM is playing at 75% volume and with its sound boost EQ turned on which I my preferred listening setting… the Partybox 110 is playing at 93% volume with the bass set to deep and the XP500 is playing at max volume with its mega bass turned on.
Now first, I think we need to address max volume performance on these speakers. Obviously since the XBOOM XL7 is a larger speaker than both the Partybox 110 and XP500… the XBOOM is going to get noticeably louder than these other two speakers and it should be good enough for up to 20 persons parties. Now the partybox 110 gets decently loud for its size when its running off of its internal battery and im willing to say that its decent enough for up to 12ish person parties. Where as with the XP500, this is a speaker that is going to leave you wanting more when its running off of its internal battery. However, with all of these speakers, if you use them while they are plugged in, you are going to get a noticeable performance bump out of them. They are all going to get louder and they are going to have more bass. And when you use the XP500 while its plugged in, that’s when this speaker starts to preform as you’d expect. Now when the Partybox 110 is plugged in, it performs very similarly to the XBOOM when its running off of it’s internal battery. But the really interesting thing is that the XBOOM is going to give you a very big performance bump when its plugged in. Overall, just as you’d expect, the XBOOM is going to get louder than these other two speakers, but the partybox 110 does a good job of keeping up relative to its size, but then there’s the XP500 where if you use it while its running off of its battery, its going to leave you wanting more.
But when it comes to the overall sound quality of these speakers, the XBOOM learn towards a brighter sound signature, like the JBL, but not as much, where as the Sony leans towards a warmer sound signature. Overall the vocals on the XBOOM are very well pronounced, but the key thing about this speaker is that its bass is mostly on the audible side, meaning that this speaker doesn’t have as much chest thumping of wall rattling bass as these other two speakers. Now by no means does this mean that the XBOOM sounds flat… but this is a speaker that I would mainly recommend to someone that likes a more vocals focused EQ. And like I mentioned earlier, since the exhaust ports on the XBOOM shoot out the front, you can’t do much to amplify its bass like you can with these other two speakers… and even if you were to go into their EQ and raise their bass all the was up… the bass on this speaker isn’t going to give you the same physicality that you’ll find on these other two speakers. Now if you’re looking for something with a lot rattling bass, then you do want to go with the 110 here cause you can set its bass boost to punchy and raise its bass as well and then you’re really going to feel your bass. Now the XP500 also has a decent amount of chest rattling bass, but even if you were to raise the bass on this speaker all the way up, its not going to match the 110. So overall sound quality wise, I think the Partybox 110 is the most versatile speaker here… where as with the XBOOM this speaker have a much more mellow sound profile to it… but since it is the largest speaker here, it is going to get louder.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers with other speakers. Now with the XL7, if you have XL7’s than you can pair them up wirelessly and get to play in left and right stereo mode… or if you have multiple XL7’s and or XL5’s, then you can pair them up and get them to play in sync and you can pair up to 100 speakers together.
Next up there’s the 110, now again if you have 2 110’s then you can pair them up together and get them to play in left and right stereo mode… or you can wirelessly pair it up to one other Partybox, anything from an encore, 110, 310, or 710 and get them to play in sync. Just keep in mind that you can’t wirelessly pair any of JBL’s Larger Partybox speakers to any of JBL’s smaller Partyboost speakers.
But like I mentioned earlier, the 110 does have that audio out jack, so if you have a spare speaker lying around, it doesn’t matter what brand or size, you can connect it to this speaker and they’ll play in sync.
But finally there’s the XP500, now again if you have two of the same speakers you can connect them and get them to play in left and right stereo mode… or you can pair your XP500 either to another XP500, an XP700, XV900, or the upcoming XV800 and get them all to play in sync. But also, with the XP500, you can wirelessly connect it to any of Sony’s smaller speakers that are also using Sony’s Party Connect. So if you have an XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33, or XB23, they can all connect to the XP700.
Just be warned, even though sony’s Party Connect is super accommodating cause you can pair your large box speakers to Sony’s smaller more portable speakers, sometimes its can be a pain to use. Sometimes all of your speakers don’t get found so you
So with all of that being said, obviously since the XBOOM XL7 is a larger speaker, its going to get louder than these other two speakers and it also has a longer lasting battery life cause it has a larger built in battery. But from a sound profile standpoint, this speaker is better suited for someone that wants a more mellow listening experience cause this speaker don’t have a ton a physicality in its bass. But then there’s the Partybox 110 which can give you a mellow listening experience, but it can also give you chest rattling bass if you want it. And this speaker also gets decently loud for its size, and if you use it while its plugged in, you’re going to get more out of it. But finally there’s the Sony XP500, this is a speaker that you’re probably going to have to use while its plugged in, a lot… but its a good option if you want to do karaoke with friends and it you already have any of Sony’s other speakers. Big or small.