The Soundcore Rave 3S is a very imrepssive mid sized box speaker cause it sounds good, and it looks good… but its also an amazing option to consider for karaoke cause it comes included with two wireless microphones, but more importantly, it has this really cool AI vocal removal tool so you can remove the vocals from any song you’re playing, and it does all of this locally from the device. But today we’re going to see how the Soundcore Rave 3S compares to both the JBL Partybox 120 and the Sony XV500.
Regarding pricing, both the JBL partybox 120 and the Sony XV500 have a retail price of $400, but they like to go on sale for $350 on a regular basis. Where as with the Soundcore Rave 3S, this speaker has a retail price of $350 and it comes included with two wireless mics. Cause for comparison sake, if you want JBL’s wireless mics therye going to cost you an additional $150 or you can get them on sale $100. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’ll be linked down below or you can press on the YouTube shopping button and if you want to further support the channel then you can always pick up some merch.
So first theres the design of these speakers, now all three of these speakers are mid sized speakers, so they’re small and light enough to easily take them on the go with you, they all have built in carrying handles and they’re all water resistant cause they are all rocking an IPX4 rating. However, the JBL Partybox 120 does feel more premium than the Spoundcore Rave 3S cause the plastics feel sturdier, the carrying handle on this speaker feels very sturdy and smooth when it folds up and down, and this speaker has hints of soft touch silicone in places where you’re going to be touching this speaker. And the sony also feels more premium cause the plastics also feel sturdier, and the control panel on this speaker is touch sensitive. Where as with the Soundcore… it feels good and its going to get the job done, no problem. But it doesn’t feel as premium.
Now even though the Soundcore Rave 3S doesn’t feel as premium… it defiantly still looks premium cause the built in light feature on this speaker looks really good. Now first off the Rave 3S has this unique layer hexagon design to it which I personally really like. You also have a few different lighting modes to choose from and you can also customize this light features and you can even make your own. Now ive always really liked JBL’s light feature cause they are very dynamic and bright. But I do have to admit that I like the look of the Rave 3S’s lights over the JBL here. And then theres Sony’s light feature, this one is a lot more tame and its certainly not on the same level as these other two speakers. However 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, all of these speakers have a built in battery. However, both the Soundcore Rave 3S and JBL Partybox 120 have an advertised battery life of 12 hours where as the Sony has an advertised battery life of 25 hours. But the advertised battery life on the Soundcore Rave 3S is with this speaker playing at 50 volume which is already a really good volume but that with the light feature turned off and with the bass up feature turned off.
And real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, which is a great volume when you’re with friends and doing karaoke, with the light feature turned on and with the bass up feature turned on, for me its good for about 7 hours of playback time. Still not bad at all.
But then theres the JBL partybox 120 who’s advertised battery life of 12 hours is with it playing at 20% volume and with the bass boost turned off and with the light feature turned off, which is good for like ambiance. And real world use with it playing at 65% volume which is good for a crowd, with the bass boost set to deep and with the light feature turned on, its going to be good for about 7 hours. And the reason why I use the Partybox 120 at a lower volume is cause this speaker gets louder and has more bass than the Soundcore Rave 3S.
And then theres the Sony XV500 which has an advertised battery life of 25 hours… which is huge. But that’s with this speaker playing at 36% volume which is good for like ambiance, with the light feature turned off but with its mega bass feature turned on. And if you were to use this speaker with its light feature turned on, then its going to have an advertised battery life of 12 hours. But 36% on the Sony is like the JBL playing at 20%.
And real world use if you were to use the Sony at 80% volume, then its going to be good for about 8 hours of playback time. But keep in mind, you have to use the Sony at a higher volume than you would the JBL cause the Sony doesn’t get as loud when its running off of its internal battery. But overall, I do feel that the JBL has the better performing battery here cause you dont have to use it higher volumes like you do with the Sony or Soundcore.
And when it comes to charnging these speakers, both the JBL and Sony charge via a double AC port… which I feel is super common for box speakers like these and if you were to use these speakers while they are plugged in you are going to get a performance boost out of them. Where as with the Rave 3S, it charges via a USB C port, which is super convenient. However, you do not get a performance boost out of it if you use it while its plugged in.
But the main feature that really makes the JBL special here is that you can swap out its battery. Which is great for two things, either you can get multiple batteries and keep the party going if you’re somewhere where you cant plug in… or if you get to a point where your battery can no longer hold a charge, then you can just replace your battery instead of replacing your whole speaker, and this is just great for over longevity of your investment.
But then there are the ports on these speakers, Now both the JBL and Sony have 2 3 quarter inch inputs so you can plug in 2 mics if you want for karaoke or you can plug in a guitar. Where as with the Soundcore, it has a single 3 quarter inch input so if you want you can plug in a mic or guitar as well.
But the main thing here is, the Soundcore comes included with two wireless mics. Now these mics take 2 double A batteries and you can adjust the gain directly from the mics themselves. So the Soundcore Rave 3S is a solid karaoke machine right out of the box.
But the really cool thing about the Soundcore Rave 3S is its AI Vocal removal tool. With the press of a button, this speaker will automatically remove the vocals from any song you’re playing regardless of streaming service. And all of this is done locally on the speaker it self. But the really cool thing is that either through the app or from the mic themselves, you can adjust how much of the vocals are removed.
AI Removal Tool Demo
So I think that it is great that you can choose how much of the vocals you want to remove cause if you’re someone that knows the words to a song than you can crank the AI tool all the way up and shine, or if you’re someone that needs a little help with the words or with the tone, than you can always leave the vocals in. Overall, this is an amazing speaker for karaoke, it just makes it so easy.
But continuing on the topic of ports, all of these speakers have an audio jack so you can use them with a wired connection. However, the partybox also has an audio out jack so if you want can daisy chain it up to any other speaker out there, regardless of size or brand and get them to play in sync. And I personally really like this feature on the Partybox
And obviously, all of these speakers have bluetooth and they can all be connected to 2 devices at the same time and latency is not an issue for any of these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set up, the Soundcore Rave 3S has a single frontward firing woofer with an exhaust port that shoots out the back and it has a total of 3 frontward firing drivers. Where as with Sony XV500 has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the front and it has dual frontward firing tweeters. And then theres the JBL Partybox 120 which has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back and it has dual frontward firing tweeters. But with all of that being said, we’re going to jump into the soundtest. Now all of these speakers are playing at 75% volume while running off of their internal batteries, they are all using their stock EQs, and they are all using their bass boost feature turned on.
Sound Test
So like you may have just seen, all of these speakers sound very different from one another. Now they all sound good, however both the JBL and the Sony have better instrument separation and they sound more open the Soundcore Rave 3S. And both the JBL and Sony have more bass than the Soundcore as well. Now the bass on the Sony is a lot more on the audible side cause its exhaust port shoots out the front… and it tends to resonate more. But then theres the JBL which is just noticeably louder than these other two speakers and it has a lot more kick in its bass cause its exhaust port shoots out the back. And then theres the max volume performance on these speakers. Now both the Sony and Soundcore tend to get as loud as one another, and both of these speakers are going to be good for like a 15 person party. But the JBL does manage to get noticeably louder than these other two speakers. But also, with both the JBL and Sony, if you were to used them while they are plugged in, you are going to get a performance boost out of them. They are going to get louder and they are going to have more bass. And when the Sony is plugged in, it gets almost as loud as the JBL when its plugged in as well. Where as with the Soundcore, since this speakers charges via a USB C port, you dont get a performance boost out of it. So overall, the Soundcore Rave 3S sounds good and it gets the job done. However both the Sony and JBL do give you better sound performance than the Soundcore cause they both have better instrument separation, they both sound more open and their bass is cleaner. And the JBL is the loudest speaker here and it has the most kick in its bass here.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now with all of these speakers, if you have 2 of the same speakers then you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode.
Now the Soundcore Rave 3S is using Aurcast, and if you want you can get up to 10 Rave 3S’s together and get them to play in sync and the light features will play in sync as well. However even though the Soundcore Rave 3S is using aura cast… I haven’t been able to get it to pair with other aura cast speakers out there. Now maybe this feature will come in a future software update… but right now I haven’t been able to pair this speaker up with non Soundcore speakers.
Where as with the JBL, this speaker has actually gotten some very big updates over the last few months. Now if you have two of the same speakers then you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode… or you can pair it up to any of JBL’s other speakers that are also using aura cast like either a partybox 120, 320, ultimate, or the up coming 520 and get them to play in sync. And since this speaker is using Aura cast you can pair it up to JBL’s other speakers that are also using Auracast like either an Xtreme 4, Clip 4, or a Go 4, or to any other speaker out there that uses Auracast, even if its not from JBL.
But also, you can now wirelessly connect this speaker up to JBL’s older partyboxes that are using TWS like either a partybox 110, 310, or 710 and get them to play in sync. However, if over to do this you have to do so through JBL’s app. But this is a lot better than when these Partybox’s first came out. However, you cant connect you partybox 120 or 320 up to any of JBL’s smaller older speakers that are using party connect.
But then theres also the audio out jack that I mentioned earlier, so you can always daisy chain this speaker up to any other speaker and get them to play in sync.
And then theres the Sony which is using Sony’s Party Connect which is a lot simpler to use. Again if you have two of the same speakers then you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode. Or you can pair this sony speaker up to a Sony XV900, XV800, XV500, XP700, XP500 or to an ULT Tower 10… and you can also pair it up to any of Sony’s smaller speakers that are also using party connect like either an ULT 7, XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33 or XB23.
And overall I do feel that Party Connect is faster and easier to use than Aura Cast on JBL’s speakers cause sometimes they take for ever to pair up, skipping might happen or echos might form. But more importantly, both Sony’s and JBL’s speakers allow you to easily grow your collection of speakers.
But with all of that being said, the Soundcore Rave 3S is a great speaker for karaoke and it give you a very big bang for your buck. First off this speaker comes with 2 wireless mics and if you want you can add a third wired mic, and when it comes to karaoke, the more mics the better. But the coolest thing about this speaker is the AI vocals removable tool which works very well and its just makes it so easy to do karaoke. This speaker also sounds good, it looks good and it has a decent performing battery. Overall, the soundcore Rave 3S is a solid option especially if you want to do kakroke.
However, both the JBL partybox 120 and Sony XV500 do give you some improvements over the Soundcore Rave 3S. From a sound quality standpoint, both of these speakers sound more open and they have better performing bass. They both also get louder and they both give you a performance boost when they are used while plugged in. They also feel more premium… but what makes the JBL really stand out here is that you can swap out its battery if you want.