So I think both the JBL Partybox 520 and Sony ULT Tower 9 are the perfect sized speakers, they’re big and loud enough to the point where you never ask yourself what if you got something bigger or what if you got a second speaker, but they also aren’t overkill to the point where you start to regret your purchase. But today we’re going to see how the JBL Partybox 520 compares to the Sony ULT Tower 10 which is an extra large bletuooth speaker which I actually think sounds better than the JBL Partybox Ultimate, and its more affordable as well.
Regarding pricing, these speakers are closer than you’d think. The JBL Partybox 520 retails for almost $900 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 pick up some merch.
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 520, this speaker does have a built in battery. Now the 520 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. Any thing above 80% volume is telling your neighbors you really care about them, and max volume is just telling the cops that you need some company.
But the really cool thing about the partybox 520, is that jus like the 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 battery on the 520 is much larger than the battery on the 320 or 120. So no you cant mix and match batteries here, however you’ll might be able to mix and match batteries with the JBL Boombox 4, cause it looks like its going to be using the same removable battery as the Partybox 520.
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. Now its not going to get as loud as the Tower 10, but it is a boost.
So thanks to the Partybox 520’s built in battery, this speaker is a lot more portable than the Tower 10. Also the 520 is significantly smaller than the Tower 10, it weighs in at 56 pounds, plus it has built in wheels so you can easily roll this speaker around. And thankfully these wheels are super chunky so the 520 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 JBL Partybox 520 is a lot more portable, however I do feel that it is preferred that you have help if you’re going to carry this speaker up and down stairs or load it into your car so that you dont damage the walls in your house, the car or the speaker itself. Where as with the Tower 10, you are going to need help to carry this speaker around.
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 520 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 520 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 520 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 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. 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 and the Tower 10 is playing with ULT 2, and with the JBL Partybox 520 we’re going to use it with its bass boost set to deep and with it unplugged and plugged in.
Sound test
So when it comes to sound quality, easily I feel that the Sony just sounds a lot more open, a lot more balanced and it has much strong mids and highs so the vocals are a lot more promitnate. Where as the JBL just sounds a lot more narrow by comparison. Now the thing that the JBL Partybox 520 does have over the Sony is that its bass is more physical, you feel it more in your chest. Where as with the Sony, its bass also has a good amount of kick to it, but it is more on the audible side. But plainly put, with the Sony you are going to get higher quality sound thanks to the mid range drivers which just aren’t present on the JBL and it has twice as many tweeters. And when it comes to max volume performance, I think that both of these speakers are good for like a 50 person party and they are both good for commercial use. Think small DJ gigs, medium sized restaurants, or small events. However the Sony ULT Tower 10 does get noticeably louder than the JBL Partybox 520. But like I mentioned earlier, if you were to 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… but it still wont compare to the max volume of the Sony Tower 10. But overall, the JBL Partybox 520 sounds great, but with the Sony ULT Tower 10 you are going to get better quality 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 10 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 10 to the ULT Field 1 cause it does not have wireless party chain.
Where as with the JBL Partybox 520, 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.
And you can also connect your 520 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 520 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 520 is a lot more versatile and portable than the Sony ULT Tower 10. Its smaller and lighter, but it also 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 10, 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. Also its gets noticeably louder. Honestly I think choosing between these two speakers is going to comes down to preference, but if you’re looking for something to mainly use in your man cave or at home, I recommend the Sony ULT Tower 10, but if you need something more portable, something more on the go, then I recommend the JBL Partybox 520.