Sony XB20 Portable Wireless Speaker with Bluetooth, Black

I am not an audiophile by any means, but I give the Sony XB20 Portable Wireless Speaker with Bluetooth a 4.5 star rating. However, this must be taken in context. I rated this speaker taking in consideration into which category of speakers it belongs. As a small, portable, BT speaker system it rates 4.5 stars. It delivers crisp sound and even good bass for its respective category of speakers. Will it compare to a purpose built large 100+ watt surround sound home speaker system? Of course not. It isn't designed to compete with systems costing hundreds of dollars and containing large speakers in large cabinets for better separation. But as far as a small, portable, BT speaker system costing less than $100 goes, it more than delivers terrific sound that I think is above average within that category.If you are looking for a personal speaker system that delivers crisp sound and good base in your office, study, bedroom, etc, and you are not going to try to vibrate the entire house with loud music, then you cannot go wrong with this speaker. It is not designed to rock the house. But it is designed to deliver excellent music quality at volumes that are louder than most people would use in their office, study, bedroom. It was easy to set up both as a wired speaker system using a standard after-market dual 3.5mm speaker cable and also easy to set up using BT. (Note: I suggest not using that crap Sony calls an app though. It is total garbage and you don't need it anyway.) The buttons/controls on the speaker are easy to read and operate and function very well. The sound quality is extremely good for casual entertainment purposes. If you want to rock the house during parties, then spend more and get a speaker system designed for that purpose.My primary use of these speakers: I used a wired connection to connect the Sony XB20 with my Amazon Echo Dot 2nd generation. Needless to say the sound is much better than what the Dot alone provides. Well, duh! The Dot has a single and very small tweeter and was not designed to deliver great musical sound quality. But I must say I have an original Echo 1st generation (fullsize Echo) and briefly owned the new Echo 2nd generation (fullsize Echo), and I also briefly owned a VAUX Cordless Home Speaker + Portable Battery for Amazon Echo Dot Gen 2. All three of these speaker system have a single driver powering a single set of tweeter and woofer speakers. All three are claimed to provide room filling musical sound of great quality. None of them deliver on their promise though. You will never get a true stereo sound from a speaker system containing one driver, one woofer, and on tweeter. The sound might be loud and might fill the room, but the quality will be terrible with muddy bass and tinny high and mid ranges. They all sucked at even casual music listening in my home office/study. They could fill the room with terrible sounding music, but who wants that? I returned both the Echo 2nd generation (fullsize Echo) and VAUX Cordless Home Speaker as they were very disappointing, especially the latter one. The newer Echo 2nd generation was supposed to be a great improvement over the 1st generation, but it only did a tiny bit better, even with the updated firmware. But with the Sony XB20 connected to my Echo Dot 2nd generation I get room filling musical sound with great quality. No muddy bass, no tinny highs or mid ranges. Just top quality music that one expects from great quality speakers of this size and design. The Sony XB20 speaker system has the advantage here though, to be fair, because it contains two separate drivers independently powering two woofers and two tweeters to provide true stereo. The two drivers provide sound from different frequencies to provide a higher quality of sound which none of the single driver systems can provide. Sony's Extra Bass function is icing on the cake as it boosts the quality of bass when the speaker is turned up loud. I find the sound is better with the Extra Bass function turned ON when the volume is loud and turned OFF if the volume is low.My secondary use of these speakers: I connect the Sony XB20 with my iPad Pro 9.7 via BT. I mostly use this setup for listening to Spotify. I can also listen to spotify via the Dot and Sony XB20, so that setup gets used much more often than this one. The comments I made above for my primary use of these speakers applies here as well. Same great room filling, high quality, musical sound.So to sum up my comments, the Sony XB20 is terrific for what it was designed to accomplish. It will blow away single driver speakers with only one woofer and one tweeter. So the Sony XB20 is going to blow away the Amazon Echo, the Google Home, and other similar speakers. But don't expect the Sony XB20 to compete with larger portable and home stereo systems containing larger speakers and more physical separation of speakers within the cabinets. But if you want to turn your Amazon Echo, Google Home, smartphone, tablet, or computer into a much greatly improved room filling musical sound system, the Sony XB20 will do that and at a reasonable price. If you want to aggrevate your neighbors with sound that rocks the whole street, buy a more expensive and more appropriate sound system.

The media could not be loaded. Summary:I've been using this speaker since 2017, and so far I'm happy with it.The sound that this speaker generates is impressive compared to other speakers that might go head to head with it.I enjoyed listening to music with this speaker, and most of the time there weren't any distortions, which occurs only if there's a hardcore bass music. And in this case, you can turn the "Extra Bass" off to tender the sound quality.The volume level it reaches can fill a large space (yoga instructors will love it) and it would be a great companion for those who party outdoors and seek after a sound solution.The speaker looks great and its build quality is good as well, as it can withstand a bump here and there.Sony claims the battery should last up to 12 hours. It is possible, depending on the way you will use it. If you plan to listen to audio in max. volume, then it will run out in about 3 hours.It is water resistant, which makes it very useful for outdoor activity, but personally, I didn't use it near water (unless you consider placing it in the kitchen while washing the dishes...).Operating this speaker, including the special features is an easy task that doesn’t require a college degree.It can be connected with other speakers (2 creates “Stereo” mode, or 2-99 as a “Wire Party Chain”), but this feature is limited to certain models which is a bit frustrating in my opinion.The wireless signal works well in up to 10 meters and even more than that. The connectivity deteriorates when the distance is large & additional speaker is added to the audio streaming (in "Stereo" mode).The speaker is compatible with Siri (which I didn't test) & Google voice assistance, which I tried and works well (I didn’t try it with Alexa though…).Some of its features are good to have (built-in microphone for phone calls & voice assistance, extra bass, paired with 1-to-99 speakers, supports NFC), while others don't matter that much me (such as the light that I prefer to shut off to save battery life).There’s an app you can use with this speaker (media player, connect with other speakers, etc.) but so far, I didn’t use it and I’m fine with it…I managed to purchase this speaker on sale, for about $50 which was a great deal. When it is not on sale, the price seems far from being attractive, since there are many alternatives in the market.There are newer models in the market (the Sony SRS-XB21) but I'm not sure if it offers that much of an improvement compared to the Sony SRS-XB20.Overall, this is one of the best portable speakers I ever purchased, so I strongly recommend it. But if you plan to use it with other speakers, just make sure they all support the same features so you can use them together.Please note I attached to this review screenshots + a video review I made about my experience with this controller.The pros:• Elegant design• Superb build quality• Satisfying volume level & excellent audio quality• Water resistant to a certain degree• Easy to operate• Can be paired with another speaker to create stereo mode• Supports "Wireless Party Chain"• Supports NFC• Reasonable battery life when using it modestly.• Can be used as a speakerphone for phone calls.• Allows voice assistance• Offers lightning featureThe cons:• Price when not on sale• There's a newer model that is quite similar.• The wireless connection has its flaws when adding a second speaker to create a "Stereo" mode• It requires specific speakers by Sony that supports the "Add" & "Wireless Party Chain" to use these features****FAQ :****If you have any, please do ask and I will do my best to answer them.

*It has a really clear sound that doesn’t lose quality when the volume is raised*The extra bass setting really makes a difference so I usually just leave it on*Bass guitars and 808s are leveled well and don’t get drowned out*It’s easy to connect*The call feature is convenient so you don’t have to disconnect (your caller can hear you well but they may sound a little muffled to you)*The light setting is really cool to watch*The sound can fill my 2 bedroom apartment but I think it sounds best in smaller settings. The sound is pretty directional*I’ve dropped it in the shower a few times and aside from a few tiny dings, it’s perfectly fineOverall: Easy to use, good quality, and durable