So the Soundboks Go is Soundbok’s more portable but still ultra rugged and super loud bluetooth speaker that does a good job of keeping up with its larger brother… the Soundboks 3. Now like I said in the full review, I think the Soundboks Go is a very niche speaker and I also feel that it is going to get cross referenced with a lot of other speakers out there. But today we’re going to compare the Soundboks Go to both the JBL Partybox 310 and Sony XP700. Price wise… these are some very close competitors.
Now both the 310 and XP700 have a retail price of $550. Unfortunately since I reviewed these speakers, they have gotten price increases. The 310 went up by $50 and the XP700 went up by $100. However, both of these speakers are more affordable than the Soundboks Go which retails for $700. And if you want the additional carrying strap, that’s going to be an additional $60. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. Now obviously the Go is significantly smaller than these other two speakers. And its also much lighter weighing in at 20 pounds. So taking this speaker on the go with you is going to be much easier than these other two speakers. Where as the XP700 weighs in at 37.2 pounds and the only way you can transport this speaker is by carrying it. And then there’s the 310 which weighs in at 38.4 pounds… but it has built in wheels. So you can roll this speaker around. However, if you plan on taking your speaker into the woods, or to the beach… then these wheels aren’t going to be of much use. And in those circumstances… you’ll might want something smaller like the Soundboks Go. But another major differences between these other two speakers is their durability. Now both the 310 and XP700 have a mostly plastic body and metal grill on the front. Now don’t get me wrong, these speakers are very well built. But their softer plastic bodies love to collect scratches anytime you're transporting either of these two speakers and you do run the risk of denting their fairly thin metal grills. Where as the Soundboks Go, that a whole other story. The Go also has a mostly plastic body and front honeycomb grill… however, the plastic used on the Go is way denser than the plastic used on these other two speakers and the Go does a phenomenal job of standing up to constant abuse. The only wear and tear that I have seen the Go collect is just some dirt that is found around its Extruded Rubber Bumpers. So if you are looking for a portable bluetooth speaker, and you need something super rugged… then the Go is the obvious choice. And besides just being way more durable than these other two speakers, the Go is also rocking higher IP water and dust resistance certification coming in with a rating of IP65. Where as both the 310 and XP700 are both rocking IPX4 ratings. Basically all of this means is that both of these Speakers aren’t afraid of a little bit of water… so rain or getting splashed on isn’t going to be an issue… But the Go is also officially Dust resistant. Now even though the Go is technically more resistant than these other two speakers… and clearly this is a main selling point of this speaker… I would still be mindful about not getting any dust or water into the front firing exhaust ports found around the main woofer of this speaker. And the same goes for the 310 and XP700. But durability and portability aside, I also have to point out that the both the Go and 310 have speaker stand mounts on the bottom… where as the XP700 doesn’t. Which is a small but still very important detail for some. And as a bonus, the Go does have a built in loop strap, so you can always attach something to it if you need to.
However, something that these other two speakers have over the GO are their built in light features. Now you shouldn’t make your speaker purchase decision solely on a light feature… but if you were… obviously the 310 has a much better and way more dynamic looking light feature than the XP700. And if you plan on mostly using any of these box speakers mostly at home, at a lower volume while you entertain guests while on your deck, or if you plan on using them in your man cave on a regular basis… then the light feature on the is really going to come in handy. The light feature on the XP700 is also nice… but it just doesn’t compare to the larger, more vibrant and more dynamic looking light feature found on the 310.
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 2 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 XG500 or Boombox 2 playing at 85% volume.
So over all real world use I expect most people will use these speakers between 35 to 45 percent volume and if thats the case both of these 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.
But then there’s the Soundboks Go which is just on a whole other level. The Go has an advertised battery life of 40 hours and that’s with this speaker playing at 50% volume and while it using its power EQ. And for context… having the GO at 50% volume is like having the Partybox 110 playing ay 75% volume. And if you were to use the Go at max volume… you’re going to have an advertised battery life of 10 hours. And max volume on this speaker is just begging to get a visit from the cops.
However, if you were to use this speaker while in its Bass plus EQ, which is my preferred EQ setting cause its going to get louder and you’re going to get more bass… you are going to have to sacrifice some battery life… and at max volume its good for 6 hours… or if you want to extend your battery life, you can always use it while in indoors mode and at max volume its good for unto 14 hours. Nonetheless, the important thing here is that the Go’s battery life just doesn’t compare to these other two speakers. Its on a whole other level.
And the really cool thing about the Go is that you can easily swap out the battery. So if you have multiple batteries you can keep the party going even if you’re off the grid… but also this is going to extend the life of your investment. Cause if your batteries completely dies like mine did on my Soundboks 3… I can just get a new battery.
So even though I really love the battery life performance on the Soundboks Go and I really like the easy to remove battery on it… something that I really don’t like about the Go is its port set up. The Soundboks Go only has an audio jack. Now yeah, you can use a wired connection with the Go… but the port setup here is really lacking when compared to these other two speakers.
Where as with these other two speakers, they both have 2 quarter inch inputs so you can plug in a pair of microphones. And they both have USB A ports so you can either plug in a USB Stick and play music off of it.. or you can charge your own devices if you really need to.
But then there’s the 310 which has two ports that really makes this speaker standout out here. First off this speaker has an audio out jack, so you can always daisy chain any other speaker to this speaker and have them play in sync… but the other port on this speaker is its 12 volt DC port. Now you can’t actually charge this speaker with this port… but you can power it. So you can always get a charger for this speaker and power it that way. Now JBL used to include a car charger with the 300… but not the 310. But the 310 still has the port.
And when it comes to bluetooth connectivity even though the GO is using Bluetooth 5.0 it can only be connected to one device at a time and its still only using SBC. But latency is not an issue, so if you are going to watch a video with the Go… your audio will still be in sync.
Where as with these other two speakers… they can both be connected to two devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ… and they also don’t have any latency issues. However, the 310 is using SBC and AAC… where as the XP700 is using SBC, AAC, and Sony’s own LDAC.
And before we move onto sound and speaker set up, I do want to address one petpeeve that I have about the Go. Now you can adjust the local volume of this speaker by using its dial… but you can’t play or pause your music or skip through your music directly from the speaker itself… you gotta do that from your phone or whatever media source you’re using. Where as with these other two speakers… you can control your music playback directly from their control panels.
But with all of that out of the way… lets talk about sound. Now when it comes to speaker set ups the Go has a single frontward firing 10 inch woofer and a single frontward firing tweeter horn. But the really important thing to keep in mind here is that the Go has frontward firing exhausts ports… and this is a big deal cause you can’t amplify the bass on this speaker by placing it up against a wall like you can with other box speakers out there. Where as with these other two speakers… they both have dual frontward firing woofers and exhaust ports that shoot out the back. So with both of these speakers, you can amplify their bass by placing them up against a wall. But then there are the tweeters on these speakers. The 310 has a total of 2 tweeters and they're both found on top. Where as the XP700 has a total of 4 tweeters. Three on the front and one on the back. However, all of these tweeters aren’t always firing. If you’ve got this speaker laying down like this it’ll use these two tweeters… and if you’ve got it standing upright it’ll use these two tweeters and the one on the back. But the really important thing to keep in mind with these speakers is that the Go is a mono speaker… where as both the 310 and XP700 have a left channel and a right channel whether you have them laying down or standing up. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest. All of these speakers are playing while at 75% volume, the Go is playing while in its Power EQ, the 310 is playing while its bass boost is set to deep and the XP700 is playing with Mega Bass turned on.
So like you may have just heard, both the Partybox 310 and Sony XP700 sound much more open and have a lot more physicality in their bass than the Soundboks Go. The Soundboks Go really likes to put its tweeter horn to work. It covers the highs and a good amount of the mids as well. So in general the Soundboks Go does lean towards a brighter sound signature. And since the Go really likes to put it tweeter on over time… this is a very hard speaker to use while indoors. Cause at lower volumes… the Go has very little physicality in its bass. Now you can go in and make your own EQ, and went in and raise the bass and lowered the highs… so that this speaker doesn’t sound super bright at lower volumes… but even still that bass is lacking and it can sound very narrow. Where as with these other two speakers… they sound much more balanced than then Go. And I feel the 310 sound more balanced and sounds more open than the XP700. But more importantly, at lower volumes these speakers still have a good amount of physicality in their bass. So you can thoroughly enjoy your music if you’re using these speakers indoors.
However, when it comes to outdoors use and max volume, that’s where the Go finally gets to stretch its legs. At louder volumes that’s where the bass on the Go really gets going… however, the Go just isn’t going to have as much bass as these other speaker even at max volume cause its single woofer just can’t move as much air. But at max volume, the Go will sound and get louder than these other two speakers cause of its brighter sound signature. Now both both the 310 and XP700 do a good job of keeping up with the GO at max volume while running off of their internal batteries… but the Go still manages to inch out ahead. But with both the 310 and XP700, if you were to use them while they are plugged in, you are going to get a performance boost out of them. Theyre both going to get a little louder and have a little more bass. But the Go still manages to inch out ahead. And unlike these other two speakers, you’re not going to get a performance boost out of the Go if you use it while its plugged in. And also, Soundboks is very adamant that you don’t use the Go past 50% volume while its plugged in and charging your battery. But I did it for science reasons. And while we are here… you also shouldn’t use the Go while its plugged in without a battery. I did this and my Go started screeching literally.
The Soundboks Go is a speaker that you should only consider picking up if you plan on mostly using it while out doors. And by mostly outdoors, I mean like 90% of the time, cause the brighter sound signature on this speaker isn’t great for out door use… but its great while you’re at the beach, or camping in the woods. But if you plan on using your speaker while half indoors and half outdoors… and if you don’t plan on cranking your volume too much while outdoors… then the Partybox 310 is a better pick up cause of its more balanced sound and more physicality in its bass while at lower volumes.
However with the 310… I do have to point out that you can customize its EQ like you can with these other two speakers. Now you have 3 different bass mode to choose from… but you can’t adjust the mids and highs to you liking on this speaker like you can with these other two speakers.
But finally lets talk about paring these speakers up with other speakers. Now the XP700 is the most accommodating speaker here. You can pair it up to another XP700 or to an XP500… and you can also pair it up to Sony’s more portable speakers like either an XG500 or even an XB43, XB33 or XB23… and you can pair upto 100 speakers together. Now even though Sony is super accommodating… their speaker paring protocol isn’t the best. Syncing your speakers together can sometimes be a pain and sometimes they will cut out when they are playing. Its not my favorite… but it works when it does.
Then there’s the Partybox 310, which is a lot more restrictive by comparison. You can only pair your 310 up to another 310, a 110, a 710 or to a party box encore. And you can only have 2 speakers wirelessly connected to one another… which I feel isn’t enough. However, JBL’s speaker pairing protocol is easier to use than Sony’s and its a much more stable. However, the unique thing the 110 has going for it here is that it has that audio out jack that mentioned earlier. So you can always daisy any other speaker to it. So there’s that.
And finally there’s Soundbok’s speaker pairing protocol. It works very well, and you can pair a Soundboks Go and Soundboks 3 together. And you can have upto 5 speakers paired together, which I personally feel is plenty. And the good thing about Soundboks is that you can assign whatever channel you want to your speaker. You don’t need to have 2 of the same speakers to get left and right stereo sound going like you do with these other two speakers.
So with all of that being said, even though the Soundboks Go does have its short comings like a very disappointing port setup, and this isn’t the best speaker for indoor use cause at lower volumes it does sound bright and flat… the Soundboks Go is still an amazing road worrier that isn’t meant to be used while indoors or at lower volumes. The Soundboks Go is designed to be in the middle of the action and off grid. Thanks to its super durable construction the Go can easily take a beating… and thank to it 99.84 watt hour battery… its going to have no problem keeping up with you on a single charge. And if you’re going to be off grid for awhile or if you demand lots of battery life… then you can always swap out the battery and keep the party going. But more importantly this thing gets loud… it gets dangerously loud.
But if you’re look for something that it much more balanced and give you a much better bang for your buck… then the Partybox 310 is a great option. From a sound quality stand point, this speaker sounds the most balanced here and it still gets super loud. But more importantly, since the 310 doesn’t have such a bright sound signature… it’s still going to have a lot of physicality in its bass at lower volumes. The 310 also has those dual quarter inch inputs so you can plug in a pair of microphones, its got that audio out jack, and its also has that 12 volt DC port if you want to use it. But when it comes to durability and portability… the 310 just doesn’t compare to the Soundboks Go. Yes, the 310 has those built in wheels, and I love them… but these wheels are useless if you’re nature. Plus the sheer size of this speaker makes it hard to transport this speaker… and even though this speaker is durable… you’re still going to have to baby it a little bit. And even though the 310 has decent battery life… it can’t keep up with you like the Go can and you can’t swap out the battery. Where as the Go can take any physical abuse that you can throw at it… and its battery can just keep going and going, .