So JBL Just put out two bangers of Partybox’s, first theres the JBL Partybox 520 which I feel is the perfect size. It gives you more then enough power where you never ask for more… but you never get overwhelmed and feel like you made a mistake. But then theres the JBL Partybox 720 which basically says, Oh you think the 520 is crazy, check this one out… Now the 720 can be a little over whelming… but its still as versatile as the Partybox 520. However, Sony also recently put out the ULT Tower 9, which is very similar to the Partybox 720, but it does have something the 720 is sorely missing, and thats Mid Range drivers.
Regarding pricing, the JBL Partybox 720 has a retail price of $1100… which is a lot, but trust me you never wonder what if you had something bigger and it can still be a little overwhelming at times. But then theres the Sony ULT Tower 9 which has a retail price of $900, and just like the 720, the Tower 9 is more than loud enough. Nonetheless if you want to pick either of these two speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button, and if you want to further support the channel then you can always watch some of the related videos in the description below.
So first theres the design of these speakers, they’re roughly the same size as one another, however the Sony is a little lighter weighing in at 65 pounds, where as the 720 weighs in at 69 pounds, nice. But more importantly, both of these speakers are still fairly portable thanks to their built in wheels, so you can easily roll them around. And the great thing is that both of these wheels are very chunky so you can still roll these speakers around in a parking lot, the side walk, in the grass or on a thick carpet. However with both of these speakers, it is preferred that you have some help if you’re going to load them into the car, or take them up and down stairs if you dont want to damage the speakers themselves, the car or the walls in your house.
But when it comes to durability, both of these speakers have a mostly plastic body which can get scratched very easily and they both have thin metal grills on the front which can get dented easily as well… so you do want to be carful with both of these speakers. However the JBL Partybox 520 does have an IPX4 water resistant rating where as the Sony doesn’t cause the Sony doesn’t have a cover for its plug. So in general, I do feel that if you plan on using your speaker by the pool, I would recommend that JBL cause of the water resistant rating… but also, the control panel on the JBL are physical buttons… so even if your hands are wet, your going to be fine. Where as the Sony has a touchpad on the top… it looks good and its easy to use… but it might not work as well if your fingers are wet from the pool.
But then there are the light features on these speakers… now I think the light feature on the Sony looks good and I really like that it has floor lights and these floor lights have a large area of effect… so it really gives this speaker a very big presence especially at night. However I do feel that JBL’s light feature is more impressive and dynamic and its a lot more visible by comparison. But also, with the JBL since this speaker is using auracast you can connect it up to JBL’s Partylights and sync them up and extend your light feature if you want. But like I said in the full review… I do wish the JBL Partybox 720 had floor lights like the Ultimate. Nonetheless if you decide to use the light feature on either of these two speakers that is going to take it toll on the battery life.
Now when it comes to battery life… these speakers are very different from one another. The Sony does have slightly better stamina… cause with this speaker if you use it at 40% volume, and with the light feature turned off but with the ULT feature turned on, it going to be good for around 20 hours of playback time… which is really good and 40% is already a really good lisnteing volume. Where as with the JBL Partybox 520, if you use this speaker at 40% volume as well and with the light feature turned off and with the bass boost feature turned off… its going to be good for around 15 hours of playback time.
But battery life on both of these speakers really varies depending on how you use them, but real world use for me with both of these speakers playing at 60% volume and with the light feature turned on with their bass boost or ULT feature turned on… they’re both going to be good for like 8 hours of playback time but the Sony is going to be a little louder than the JBL.
But the main difference between these two speakers is that with the JBL you can quickly and easily take out this battery, so if you want you can either get multiple batteries and keep the party going, or if you get to the point where you battery can no longer hold a charge, you just need to get a new battery instead of having to get a new speaker, which is great for the overall life of your investment. But with the 720, this speaker is actually using dual JBL 600 batteries, the same batteries as the 520 and Boombox 4. Except they’re both just one. But regardless, you’ll actually be able to mix and match batteries between these three speakers if you want.
And to charge both of these speakers they both charge via a double barrel AC port… and with both 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’re both going to get louder and they are going to have more bass.
But then there are the ports on these speakers, and this is another area where the JBL beats the Sony. First off the JBL is using XLR combo jack so if you want you can plug it into a mixer… making its great for someone that might want to moon light as a DJ… where as with the Sony, you can use it with a mixer but you’re either going to have to use the audio jack or a bluetooth connection. It works but having the XLR input is more solid.
But more importantly with both of these speakers you can plug in 2 microphones for karaoke or you can plug in a guitar… but I think two mics for kakroke is more important. Now with both of these speakers you can add in an echo if you want which is good cause you can hide how off key you are… but I do think the mic is a little better on the JBL cause you can adjust the sound of your mic by adjusting the bass and treble.
Now like I said, with both of these speakers you can plug in 2 wired mics or you can also use JBL’s or Sony’s own wireless mics. Now I do think JBL’s mics sound a little better and they do a better job of not making any noise when you’re handling these mics… but the weird thing with the JBL is, their mics have a 20 hour battery life but the receiver has a 12 hour battery life… where as with the Sony, both the mics and the receiver have a 20 hour battery life. But regardless you can use these wireless mics with any speaker out there.
But with the Partybox 720 this speaker has a USB C port which you can use to charge your phone… or you can also use it to charge your mics or receiver and you can also use this USB C port as a wired connection with your phone. Where as with the ULT Tower 9, this speaker has a USB A port which I dont feel is as convenient, but you can plug in a USB Stick if you want. But with both of these speakers you can use them with a wired connection cause they both have an audio jack.
However the Partybox 720 also has an audio out jack so you can always daisy chain this speaker up to any other speaker and get them to play in sync, regardless of size or brand, and I really feel that this is a super useful feature. Now the Sony doesn’t have this… but it does have an optical port so if you want you can connect this speaker to your tv and use it as a sound bar… and I also feel that this feature is super useful.
But when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity, both of these speaker can be connected to two devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ. Latency is not an issue for these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone, but when it comes to audio codecs, the JBL has support for SBC and AAC where as the Sony has support for SBC, AAC and LDAC which is Sony’s high res audio codec, but if you want to use LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC, but regardless the Sony still sounds great even with AAC.
But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound, regarding speaker set up, these two speakers are very different from one another. The JBL Partybox 520 has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back and dual frontward firing tweeters. A pretty basic speaker set up. Where as the Sony ULT Tower 9 has a single frontward firing woofer with a downward firing exhaust, dual frontward firing mid range drivers and a total of 4 tweeters, two that shoot out the front and two that shoot out the back. And like I have said multiple times already, I really wish the 720 had these mid range drivers, cause the partybox Ultimate also has mid range drivers which does help this speaker sound more open the 720. So I do think the 720 not having mid range drivers is a shame given its size and price.
Now the tower 9 also has its ULT feature, ULT 1 is going to increase your bass and this is the setting that I like to use while indoors… and ULT 2 is going to increase both your bass and the sound pressure on your speaker so the mids and highs are going to be more prominent. And ULT 2 is going to be better for out door use. Where as the JBL has its bass boost, deep and punchy and personally I prefer deep cause I feel that it has more kick to it where as punchy give you more resoncace so it can mess with your music. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test, both to these speaker are playing at 75% volume while unplugged, and the JBL is playing with bass boost set to deep and the Sony is playing with ULT 2.
Soundtest
So when it comes to sound quality, these two speakers do sound fairly different from one another. Now first off there’s the bass, both of these speakers have a lot of bass, but they are different. The bass on the JBL is a lot more violent and physical than the bass you’ll find on the Tower 9. The Bass on the JBL will rattle the walls in your house more than the bass on the Sony. However, the bass on the Tower 9 is much smoother and cleaner than the bass on the 720. But more importantly, we have to talk about the instrument separation on these speakers. Plainly said, the JBL Partybox 720 sounds little more nasally than the Tower 9 cause it puts more of an emphasis on the highs, and the mids aren’t as defined. Where as with the Sony, this speakers sounds more open than the 720 thanks to those additional mid range drivers. So first off, the Tower 9 doesn’t put as much emphasis on the highs, cause it doesn’t have to, and instead the mids have better detail thanks to those mid range drivers. So as a result, the Sony ULT Tower 9 sounds more balanced and more open than the 720, where as the 720 sounds more violent. Nonetheless, both of these speakers sound good, but the Sony ULT Tower 9 does give you better quality sound.
And then theres the max volume performance on these speakers. Now while they are running off of their internal batteries, both of these speakers are going to have no problem with a 50 person party and they are bth good for commercial use. Think medium sized restaurants, a small DJ gig or some type of event booth. But with both 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 both going to get louder and they are both going to have more bass. And when both of these speakers are plugged in, they get almost as loud as the JBL Partybox Ultimate. But overall I do feel that the Partybox 720 gets a little louder than the Tower 9, but the tower 9 does give you better sound.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now with both of these speakers if you have two of the same speakers then you can pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode, but they have to be 2 of the exact same speakers.
Now the Sony ULT Tower 9 is using Sony’s wireless party chain and you can pair it up to Sony’s other speakers that are using wireless party chain like the tower 10, tower 9, XV800, XV500 or to the XP700 or XP500… or you can also pair it up to Sony’s smaller speakers that are also using wireless party chain like either the Sony ULT field 7, ULT 5, or ULT 3, or to the Sony XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200 or to the XB43, XB33, or XB23. The only thing is, you can not connect your tower 9 to the ULT Field 1 cause it does not have wireless party chain.
Where as with the JBL Partybox 720, its using aura cast so you can pair it up to other Aura Cast speakers like the encore 2, partybox 120, 320, 520 or ultimate and get them to play in sync… or you can also pair it up to JBL’s smaller speakers that are also using aura cast like the Charge 6, Xtreme 4, Flip 7, Go 4 or clip 5. Or the to new grip or JBL Boombox 4.
And you can also connect your 720 up to any of JBL’s older partyboxes that are using TWS like either the original encore or partybox 110, 310 or 710… the only thing is you can only have a total of 2 speakers wirelessly paired to one another. But also keep in mind that you can not connect your JBL Partybox 720 up to any of JBL’s older speakers that are using Partyboost like either the JBL boombox 3, Boombox 2, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, Pulse 5, Pulse 4, Flip 6 or Flip 5.
But also with Aura cast, you’ll be able to connect your JBL Partybox 520 up to other non JBL speakers that are also using aura cast, and like I mentioned earlier, the Partybox 520 does have that audio out jack so you can always daisy chain it up to any other speaker and get them to play in sync.
But with all of that being said, I think both of these speakers are great, but they are very different from one another. I think the JBL Partybox 720 is a lot more versatile than the Sony ULT Tower 9. It has an easy to remove battery… its also has those XLR inputs so you can easily plug it into a mixer, it has an audio out jack and its using Aura cast, so you can pair it up to JBL speakers and non JBL Speakers and you can pair it up to JBL’s Partylights. However with the Sony ULT Tower 9, this speaker does sound better than the JBL Partybox 520 cause it sounds more balanced, more open and theres much better definition in the mids thanks to the mid range drivers and quad tweeters. Honestly I think choosing between these two speakers is going to come down to preference and if you’ve already invested in either the Sony or JBL eco system. Personally I do prefer the Sony ULT Tower 9 cause first off, it is a little more affordable, but it also sounds better thanks to those extra mid range drivers. But with the 720, maybe you’ll might want those XLR combo jacks, maybe you want that audio out jack, or maybe you want that better looking light feature.