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. But today, we’re going to compare the JBL party box 720 something a little bigger, the Sony ULT Tower 10 which might give you a little bit more bang for your buck.
Regarding pricing, these speakers are closer than you’d think. The JBL Partybox 720 retails for almost $1,100 where as the Sony ULT Tower 10 retails for $1,200… and the Sony ULT Tower 10 does like to go on sale on a regular basis. However, these speakers are very different from one another. 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 down below.
So first we have to talk about the design and portability of these speakers… and most importantly, the built in batteries. The Sony ULT Tower 10 does not have a built in battery. You can only use this speaker while its plugged in… obviously affecting the portability of this speaker.
Where as with the JBL PartyBox 720, this speaker does have a built in battery. Now the 720 has an advertised battery life of 15 hours, which is very impressive. However this advertised battery life of 15 hours is with this speaker playing at 40% volume which is already a really good listening volume, but with the light feature turned off and the bass boost feature turned off. and in general, battery life on this speaker really varies depending on how you use it. If you use it at a higher volume, or with the light feature turned on or with the bass boost feature turned on, all of that is going to affect your battery life.
But real world use with this speaker playing at 60% volume, with the light feature turned on, and with the bass boost turned on, for me its been good for 8 hours of playback time… and honestly, anything above 60% volume while indoors with either of these two speakers is going to require hearing protection
But the really cool thing about the partybox 720, is that just like the 520, 320 and 120, you can quickly and easily swap out the battery on this speaker. So if you want you can get multiple batteries and keep the party going, or if you ever get to a point where you speaker can no longer hold a charge, you just need to get a new battery instead of having to get a whole new speaker.
However, the JBL Partybox 720 is actually using dual 600 batteries… so you can actually mix and match batteries between the JBL Partybox 720, 520 and boombox 4 cause all three of these speakers are using the same batteries. And to charge this speaker it charges via a double barrel AC port, and when you use this speaker while its plugged in, you are going to get a performance boost out of it, its going to get louder and its going to have more bass… honestly, while its plugged in, the Partybox 720 gets almost as loud as the JBL Partybox Ultimate and Sony ULT Tower 10.
So thanks to the Partybox 720’s built in battery, this speaker is a lot more portable than the Sony ULT Tower 10. Also the 720 is noticeably smaller than the tower 10, it weighs in at 69 pounds, plus it has built in wheels so you can easily roll this speaker around. And thankfully these wheels are super chunky so the 720 is easy to roll in a parking lot or on the side walk, on the grass or on a thick carpet. Now the Tower 10 also has built in wheels, but these wheels are tiny, so they’re really only useful on a hard wood floor. So overall, the party box 720 is a lot more portable and a lot more versatile than the tower 10, but with both of these speakers you are going to need help loading them into your car or carrying them up stairs if you don’t want to damage your car, the walls in your house or the speaker themselves.
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 720 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 this speaker that is going to take its toll on the battery life.
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 a microphone for kakroke or you can plug in a guitar. However with the JBL you can plug in 2 wired mics, where as with the Sony you can only plug in one wired mic… but the Sony ULT Tower 10 does come included with a wireless mic… so you can still get this speaker 2 work with mics like you can the JBL.
Now with both of these speakers you can add in an echo to help how off key you are when you’re doing karaoke… but I do prefer the JBL cause you can also adjust the sound of your mic cause you can adjust the bass and treble, where as with the Sony you cant.
But also with both of these speakers you can use them wireless mics if you want. 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 10, 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 720 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 10 has a single frontward firing woofer with a frontward 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 10 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 but we’re going to use the JBL Partybox 720 while its plugged in and unplugged.
Sound Test
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 10. 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 10 is much smoother and cleaner than the bass on the 720. Now the the Tower 10 has a lot of physicality in its bass, but it does like to lean more towards the audible side. 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 10 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 10 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 10 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 10 does give you better quality sound.
But then theres the max volume performance of these speakers. Now both of these speakers are going to have no problem with a 50 person party and we are starting to enter commercial use territory. Think a medium sized resutrnat, small DJ gig or event booth. And the very imrepssive thing is, even when the 720 is running off of its internal battery, this speaker gets imrepssively loud. However when you use this speaker while its plugged in, you are going to get a performance boost out of it, its going to get louder and its going to have more bass. And when the 720 is plugged in, it get almost as loud as the Sony ULT Tower 10 and even the JBL party box Ultimate. Overall, with the JBL part box 720, this speaker get more than loud enough and it has a lot of violent bass… but the Sony ULT Tower 10, you are going to get better quality sound cause this speaker does sound more open and has better definition in the mids thanks to those mid range drivers that are just sorely missing on the 720… but also the bass isn’t as overwhelming or overpowering as the bass found on the 720.
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 do have their key differences. Now the JBL party box 720, this speaker is more portable and more versatile cause first off, it has a built in battery, so you can use it anywhere. But also this speaker is more portable cause it is noticeably smaller, but it also has much larger wheels, so its much easier for a single person to move this speaker around. Also I think this speaker is more versatile thanks to its port set up, and it also has a better looking light feature. And when it comes to sound, the JBL party box 720 gets almost as loud as the Sony ULT Tower 10 while its plugged in, which is very imrepssive. But with the Sony ULT Tower 10, it does sound better than the 720 cause it sounds more open, more balanced and it has better definition in the mids and highs thanks to the additional mid range drivers that are just missing on the 720.