Get Them Here:
Sony ULT Tower 10: https://amzn.to/49XLY8W
JBL Partybox Ultimate: https://amzn.to/49Wvn5J
JBL Partybox 710: https://amzn.to/49UDzDh
So over the last few months, Sony has been refining all of their Box speakers, and now we have the all new Sony ULT Tower 10, and this thing is very impressive and it puts a big emphasis on sound pressure. But naturally we have to see how the Sony ULT Tower 10 compares to both the JBL Partybox Ultimate, JBL’s Largest Partybox ever… and the JBL Partybox 710 which has been a work horse for the last few years.
Regarding pricing, the JBL Partybox 710 is the oldest speaker and it retails for $800… however it now likes to routinely go on sale for $700. Then theres the brand new Sony ULT Tower 10 which retails for $1200 and it also comes included with a wireless microphone. And finally theres the JBL Partybox Ultimate which is also fairly new and it retails for a staggering $1700. Now, all three of these speakers are great so if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers… now all three of these speakers are big. The Sony ULT Tower 10 is the tallest speaker here coming in at a hight of 43 inches… and it weighs in at 64 pounds. But then theres the Partybox Ultimate which has a height of 41 inches… but its the heaviest speaker here cause it weighs in at 87 pounds. And finally theres the JBL Partybox 710 with has a height of 36 inches and it weighs in at 61 pounds. Overall all of these speakers are a bit of a hassle to transport and going up stairs is going to be a 2 person job for all of these speakers. But thankfully all of these speakers can be rolled around cause they all have built in wheels. But rolling both of JBL’s speakers is easier cause these wheels are a lot chunkier. So they do a better job of dealing with asphalt, grass and thick carpets. Now when it comes to durability… all of these speakers have mostly soft plastic bodies which can get scratched easily and they all have thin metal grills on the front which can get dented easily as well. But more importantly, both of JBL’s speakers are IPX4 rated so a little bit of water wont hurt these speakers. Now Sony claims that the top of the ULT Tower 10 is splash proof, but personally I would recommend that you keep this speaker dry cause there are parts where you can see inside and see some of the wiring.
But finally theres the light feature on these speakers, now the light feature on the ULT Tower 10 is decent and I personally really like the floor lights on this speaker cause its gives it a very large presence. And through Sony’s app you have a few different lighting modes to choose from. However, I do have to admit that both of JBL’s light features are more impressive and more dynamic than the light feature thats found on the Tower 10. And the Ultimate’s light feature is more impressive than the light feature on the 710 cause it has been expanded with additional light bars and extra layers in the center rings… plus it also has those floor lights that I really like. Now you shouldn’t pick a speaker solely on its light feature but you do have to admit that JBL’s speakers do look pretty cool at night.
Now when it comes to powering these speakers… none of these speakers have a built in battery like their smaller counterparts… all of these speakers can only be used while they are plugged in. But in order to plug these speakers in they are all using your standard AC port.
But now lets talk about ports and connectivity. Now with all of these speakers, they can all be connected to 2 devices at the same time so that you and a friend can be DJ. Latency is not an issue for any of these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone. And when it comes to audio codecs, both of JBL’s speakers have support for SBC and AAC where as the ULT Tower 10 have support for SBC AAC and LDAC which is Sony’s own in house high res audio codec. Just keep in mind that if you do want to use LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC.
However, something that is unique to the Partybox ultimate here is that it also has wifi… so if you connect this speaker to your wifi network you can always stream music to it either with Air Play or chrome cast. But personally I would prefer to use Bluetooth on this speaker especially if you plan on letting your friends DJ. Its just easier than having to share your wifi password and you dont have to worry about your wifi acting stupid.
Now when it comes to ports… all of these speakers have a USB A port so that you can either plug in your own devices and charge them up, or so that you can plug in a USB Stick and play music off of it. Now I think its great and all that all of these speakers have USB A ports… I still wish that they had USB C ports so that you can either charge your own devices or use it as a wired connection cause most phones these days come with USB C to USB C charging cables.
But all of these speakers still have your standard 3.5 millimeter audio jacks so you can still use them with a wired connection… however, both of JBL’s speaker also have an audio out jack, so you can always daisy chain any other speaker to these speakers and get them to play in sync. Where as with the ULT Tower 10, you cant.
However, what the ULT Tower 10 does have is an optical port. So you can always connect this speaker to your TV and use it as a soundbar. So here you’re going to have to choose, do you want to be able to daisy chain or do you want to be able to hook up your giant speaker to your TV?
But most importantly, none of these speakers have XLR inputs so you cant use them with a mixer and I do feel that this is a shame. However… all of these speakers have quarter inch inputs so you can either plug in a microphone or guitar. The main difference here is that JBL’s speakers have 2 quarter inch in puts where as the Sony has one quarter inch input.
However, all of these speakers can be used with a total of 2 speakers for karaoke cause the ULT Tower 10 comes included with its own wireless microphone… plus you can plug in a wired microphone as well. Just keep in mind that with the ULT Tower 10, you can only use it with one wireless microphone.
Now overall all of this speakers are good options for karaoke cause they can all be used with a total of 2 microphones… however with both of JBL’s speakers you can easily adjust the sound of your microphone directly from the control panel up top and you can add an echo if you want, where as with the ULT Tower 10 you can only add an echo.
But also, both of JBL’s speakers have DJ buttons up top so which can be a lot of fun if you have the right host. Overall, all of these speakers are good for karaoke, I just wish that they all had more quarter inch inputs so you could use them with more microphones.
But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound. Now when it comes to speaker set ups, the Partybox 710 has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back and it has dual frontward firing tweeters. But then theres the Partybox Ultimate which also has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back and it has dual frontward firing tweeters… but it also has dual frontward firing mid range drivers. But finally theres the Sony ULT Tower 10… now this speaker has a single frontward firing woofer with exhaust ports that shoot out the front. It also has dual frontward firing mid range drivers and it has a total of 4 tweeters 2 shoot out the front and 2 shoot out the back. Now with all of these speakers you can go into their apps and you can adjust their EQ to your liking. But personally I jus like to use these speakers with their stock EQ’s. However, JBL’s speakers have their bass boost feature and I like use these speakers with their bass boost set to deep and then theres the ULT button on the ULT Tower 10. And I like to use the ULT Tower 10 when its set to ULT2 cause this is going to give you the most out of this speaker. Specifically Sony is giving you the most sound pressure here. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test here. All of these speakers are playing at 75% volume cause I dont want to get on a first name basis with the police, both party boxes have their bass boost set to deep and the ULT Tower 10 is playing with ULT 2.
Sound Test
So first, we need to talk about the bass on these speakers. Now simply put, both the 710 and Ultimate have a lot more physicality in their bass and its a lot more thunderous. The bass on both the 710 and Ultimate is going to shake the walls in your house and it can even rearrange your furniture. Where as with the ULT Tower 10, you can feel that bass and you can hear the bass but its not as violent as the bass found on the these two Partyboxes. However, where the ULT Tower 10 out shines both the Ultimate and 710 is when it comes to the clarity and details in the mids and when it comes to soundstage and instrument separation. With the ULT Tower 10, this speaker sounds a lot more open, and both your vocals and instrumentals are lot more pronounced than on the Partyboxes. Yes, the Partyboxes have a lot more physicality in their bass, but the rest of your music is getting overpowered. And finally theres the max volume performance on these speakers. The ULT Tower 10 is the loudest speaker. Now I feel that all of these speakers are overkill for at home use, but if you’re going to have a house party they will all have you covered… but especially with both the ULT Tower 10 and Ultimate, these are going to be better suited for full on events. Ultimately, it is hard to say which speaker sound better here, it all comes down to preference. Do you want extra details in the mids and definition? Then go for the ULT tower ten. Or if you just want bass, go with either Partybox.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up to other speakers. With all of these speakers, if you have two of the same speakers than you can pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode.
But with the 710, you can wirelessly pair it up to one other partybox like either an encore, 110, 310, or to another 710 and get them to play in sync. But you can only have a total or 2 speakers wirelessly connected to one another. But like I mentioned earlier, the 710 does have that audio out jack so you can always daisy chain it up to any other speaker.
But then theres the Partybox Ultimate which is using aurcast so you can pair it up to other aura cast speakers and get them to play in sync like either a partybox 120 or partybox 320. Then mainly problem is is that I have noticed that the connection can be very unstable at times which can be very annoying. But most importantly, you can not connect any of your Partyboxes to any of JBL’s smaller party boost speakers.
Now JBL does say that you can connect aura cast speakers to party boost speakers… but the only aurcast speakers that show up here are the Xtreme 4, clip 5 or go 4. Unfortunately there are no party boxes on this list. So I dont know if JBL is going to be adding party boxes through a future firmware update.
However, like I mentioned earlier the Partybox Ultimate is a wifi speaker so you can always group it up to other Wifi speakers and soundbar on your network. But in order for this to work you do need wifi.
But then theres the ULT Tower 10 which is using Sony’s party connect and you can pair it up to other Sony Party connect speakers like either an XV900, XV800, XV500 or XP700 or XP500 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together and get them to play sync… But the cool thing about Sony’s party connect is that you can connect your larger box speakers to any of Sony’s smaller speakers that are also using party connect like either an ULT field 7, an XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200 or to an XB43, XB33 or XB23.
And in order to pair these speakers up you can do so from Sony app and overall pair these speakers together is easy the connection is a lot more stable now. Overall, JBL used to be my go to for pairing multiple speakers together… but unfortunately theres still a lot of fragmentation going on. Where as with Sony’s Party Connect its a lot more accommodating, you can connect your newer speakers to older speaker that are also using party connect and you can connect you larger box speakers with your smaller more portable speakers.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between the Sony ULT Tower 10 or the JBL Partybox Ultimate… personally, I would go with the Sony ULT Tower 10 here. First off theres the most obvious thing here and its price, the ULT Tower 10 is more affordable than the Partybox Ultimate. But more importantly I feel the Sony ULT Tower 10 sounds better than the JBL Partybox Ultimate cause you’re getting a lot more details in the mids when this speaker is set to ULT2. Which is how you should always use this speaker. I also really like that you can very easily connect the ULT Tower 10 to a lot of Sony’s older speakers and Sony’s smaller more portable speakers. And I feel that the included wireless microphone is a very nice touch, plus you can add a wired one as well. However, maybe you just want that earth shattering bass, and if thats the case then either Partybox is a good option. Or maybe you want a really epic light feature, in which case either partybox is a good option as well. But overall I feel the Sony ULT Tower 10 easily out preforms the JBL partybox 710 and the Sony ULT Tower 10 really gives the Partybox Ultimate a real run for its money.