So this is the Sony SRS-XG500… its Sony’s direct response to the super popular JBL Boombox
2 and one of my favorite bluetooth speakers the UE Hyperboom. But its perfectly clear
that Sony isn’t playing around here… they went in and added more bass, more ports and
they even threw in a light feature for good measure. Overall the XG500 is pretty impressive…
so lets check it out
Regarding pricing the XG500 has a retail price of $450… $50 less than the JBL Boombox 2
and $50 more than the UE Hyperboom. Its direct competitors. Now if you want to watch that
versus video you can click or tap in the top right or check out the description below.
Nonetheless I do think the XG500 is fairly priced… but if it does go on sale I would
jump on it. But regardless if you want to pick this speaker up it’ll be linked down
below.
Now first lets talk about the design of this speaker. Now yes the XG500 has a stark resemblance
to the Boombox 2… however it is a little larger, but I don’t think its a big deal.
Now weight wise the XG500 clocks in at 12.3 pounds and for comparison sake the Boombox
2 clocks in at 13 pounds. And just like the Boombox 2 the XG500 has a built in carrying
handle so that you can take it on the go with you and it also has a mostly fabric wrapped
body so that it can stand up to constant bumps and scrapes without any problems. And what
portable bluetooth speaker would be complete these days without an IP66 ratting meaning
that this speaker is dust proof and water resistant. Meaning that if you take this speaker
to the beach sand isn’t going to be an issue, and if it starts raining during your party
a little water isn’t going to be a problem.
However something that really sets the XG500 apart from the Boombox 2 is its built in light
feature that illuminates its dual passive radiators. Now from Sony’s app you have
a few different lighting modes to choose. The main ones are delightful, rave, chill,
and strobe. And from Sony’s fiestable app you can customize the color of your light
feature. Now personally I think its cool and all that Sony managed to throw in a light
feature… but personally for me I don’t see myself using this light feature on a regular
basis cause its not very visible and would much rather extend the battery life of this
speaker. But if you want that light feature its always there.
But now lets talk about battery life… the XG500 has an advertised battery life of 30
hours but thats with this speaker playing a little below 50% volume, while in mega bass
mode and with the light feature turned off. And you know sony is definitely trying to
out spec both the Boombox 2 and Hyperboom here which both have and advertised battery
life of 24 hours under similar conditions.
Now real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, with mega boost turned on,
and with the light feature turned on im getting a very healthy 8 hours of playback time. Now
keep in mind if you were to use this speaker at max volume then you’re battery life is
going to go down… but thing about this speaker is that you can really play around with it
to extend your battery life even more.
For starters you can turn off the light feature on this speaker to extend its battery life,
but you can also turn off megaboost which severely reduces the bass on this speaker
so that you can extend its battery life even more. Now when you’re listening to music
you definitely want to have mega boost turned on… but lets say you’re listening to a
podcast then you’ll want to turn off mega boost so that people sound more natural.
But also this speaker has stamina mode which you can activate by pressing and holding the
mega bass button and it turns off the light feature and mega boost with the press of one
button. But a really neat feature about the XG500 is that it has a battery care function
where the battery won’t charge past 90%. Now yeah you’re going to have a sacrifice
from battery life… but the hope here is that this will extend the over all life of
your battery.
Now when it comes to actually charging this speaker it charges via an AC port which is
to be expected for a speaker of this size… but sony also advertises that you’ll get
3 hours of play time if you charge this speaker up for 10 minutes from a dead battery.
But now lets talk about ports cause this is really a stand out feature of the XG500. Most
notably the XG500 has a quarter inch mic slash guitar input. So you can either plug in your
guitar and jam out, you can use it for karaoke, and I wouldn’t be surprised if people also
used it to either host small events or maybe even protesting.
But the XG500 also has 2 USB A ports which you can use to charge your own devices if
you’re on the go… but you can also use one of these USB A ports to play music off
of a USB stick. But finally this speaker still has an audio jack if you want to use a wired
connection.
Now the port set up on the XG500 is impressive relative to its competition, especially that
mic input… But personally I really wish this speaker also had a USB C port so that
you can use it as a wired connection and also use it to charge your own devices cause most
phones these days now come included with USB C to USB C charging cables or USB C to lighting
charging cables. So its cool and all that the XG500 has 2 USB A ports… but I think
if Sony threw in at USB C port it would have future proofed it much better.
But now lets talk about bluetooth connectivity. The XG500 is using Bluetooth 5.0 but more
importantly it can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so that you and a friend
can both be DJ, there’s zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on
your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… and when it comes
to audio codecs the XG500 has support for SBC, AAC, and Sony’s own LDAC which is Sony’s
standard set up nowadays.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with this speaker. Regarding speaker
set ups the XG500 is rocking a dual woofer, dual tweeter and dual passive radiator set
up very similar to the JBL boombox 2. And just like a lot of other speakers that charge
via an AC port… you do get a performance bump out of this speaker if you use it while
its plugged in. While its plugged in this speaker is going to get a little louder and
its bass is going to punch a little harder. Now in general just like with most other Sony
speakers the XG500 is a very warm sounding speaker. As in it has a lot of bass and the
mids and highs aren’t as forward. Now some people will might like this and other not
so much. But so that you can hear for yourself we’re going to jump into a sound test. Now
while in this sound test we’re going to be using this speaker while in stamina mode,
we’re also going to use it while its unplugged but with Mega bass turned on which is how
I think most people will use this speaker the majority of the time, and we’re also
going to use it while its plugged in with mega bass turned on.
So like you may have just heard the XG500 has a lot of bass to it. But while in stamina
mode that bass doesn’t punch as hard which is a trick sony is using to help extend the
battery life of this speaker and its a feature you might want to use from time to time. But
nonetheless while in stamina mode the XG500 still sounds pretty good. Now for the record
this sound test was conducted with the XG500 playing at 85% volume. So you really didn’t
hear a difference between this speaker playing while its unplugged and plugged in. But you
do hear and feel a difference when this speaker is playing at max volume when its either plugged
in or unplugged. So if you want to get the most out of this speaker you wanna use it
while its plugged in. But over all I really gotta drive home that this speaker has a lot
of bass to it and if you use it while its indoors then the XG500 is just going to have
a good time shaking the walls in your house. But when it comes to instrument separation
and sound stage… I do gotta say the XG500 can sound a little shallow cause the mids
and highs are pushed down bit. Now again some people will might like the bass heavy nature
of this speaker… but through Sony’s app you can always raise the mids and treble on
this speaker so that vocals can be a little more prominent. But over all I can’t help
but feel that I wish this speaker sounded a little more open. Cause even though this
speaker has a lot of bass and its a lot of fun… the mids and highs can be a little
harder to pick out when compared to the XG500’s direct competitors. Nonetheless I enjoy how
this speaker sounds and it definitely delivers… but I would mainly recommend this speaker
to someone who really likes bass.
But now lets talk about pairing this speaker up to other speakers. The XG500 has Sony’s
new party connect. Meaning that you can pair the XG500 to other sony speakers that have
party connect like either another Sony XG500, a sony XB43, Sony XB33, sony XB23, and you
can also pair it up to sonys other larger box speakers like a Sony XP500 or Sony XP700.
However just keep in mind you can’t pair any Sony Party connect speakers to any of
Sony’s older speakers that are using wireless party chain like either a Sony XB41, XB32,
XB22, XB31, XB21 and the list just goes on.
Now over all Sony’s speaker pairing protocol gets the job done but it not as easy or as
fast as either JBL’s Partyboost or UE PartyUP. Sometimes Sony’s speakers take forever to
pair up, or sometimes all of your speakers don’t pair, or they just get disconnected
from your phone. So Sony’s party connect gets the job done, but sometimes you’ll
might have to try it a few times.
But with all that being said… its clear that Sony grabbed a JBL Boombox 2 and said
how can we do this but better. And in some respects Sony really out performs the JBL
Boombox 2 here. Sound quality wise the Sony XG500 has a ton of bass to it… and for comparison
sake the Boombox 2 is a much brighter sounding speaker. But also the XG500 really differentiates
its self from the Boombox 2 by having that mic and guitar input. And then there’s the
light feature which I feel sony threw in for good measure. But like I mentioned earlier
if you were to use this speaker with its light feature turned off you can get more battery
life out of it. But in general this speaker has an impressive real world battery life
even while its mega bass feature and light feature is turned on. And you can always extend
that battery life even more if you were to switch this speaker over to stamina mode.
Overall I think the Sony XG500 is a solid pick if you’re looking for a larger portable
bluetooth speaker to take on the go with you from time to time. But like I mentioned earlier,
I would mainly recommend this speaker to someone who really like bass.