So the new sony XP700 is a decent box speaker from sony.
It sounds much better than its predecessor the Sony XB90, and it has a new more dynamic
looking light feature that looks great either indoors or at night.
Now over all the XP700 gets the job done… but naturally we’ve gotta see how it stakes
up to its direct competitor the JBL Partybox 310.
Regarding pricing, the Sony XP700 retails for $450…
$50 less than the JBL Partybox 310.
Now even though yes you’ll might be tempted to go with the Sony XP700 and save yourself
$50… personally I really feel the extra $50 on the Partybox 310 goes a long way.
The Partybox 310 just feels more refined.
Regardless if you want to pick either of these two speakers up they’ll be linked down below
but personally I would rather pick up the XP700 if its on sale… and if you want to
learn more about either of these two speakers please watch their full reviews cause we’re
only going to go over the main differences here.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers.
Now both of these speakers have mostly plastic bodies which can be a scratch magnet if you
plan on taking them on the go with you.
And they both have metal grills on the front.
However both of these speakers are rocking an IPX4 certification meaning that if you
accidentally leave either of these speakers out doors over night or if it starts raining
during your get together, a little bit of water isn’t going to hurt either of these
speakers.
Now both of these speakers are about two and a half feet tall and they both weigh in at
around 40 pounds.
Now they both have built in carrying handles and carrying them around is doable… but
the first major stand out characteristic about the partybox 310 is that it has built in wheels
and a retractable handle.
So instead of carrying this speaker, you roll it.
Now I don’t care how much you deadlift or squat in the gym, being able to just roll
the Partybox 310 around is a major luxury that you really miss on the Sony XP700.
And finally I also want to point out that with the XP700 you can’t use it with a speaker
stand where as with the Partybox 310 you can.
Next up there’s the light feature on these speakers.
Now the XP700 has a decent looking light feature and I've also noticed that it has a good back
splashing effect.
And through Sony’s app you’ve got a few different lighting modes to choose from.
However when compared to the JBL partybox 310…
I gotta say the 310 has the better looking light feature here.
Its brighter, its more dynamic, and the app with which you control this light feature
is much better than Sony’s app.
However if you do decide to use the light feature on either of these speakers it is
going to take its toll on the battery life.
So personally I recommend that if you’re going to use either of these speakers during
the day time out doors, just turn off the light feature.
But now lets talk about the battery life on these speakers.
Now the XP700 has an advertised battery life of 25 hours where as the Partybox has an advertised
battery life of 18 hours.
However the XP700’s advertised battery life of 25 hours is with it playing at 25% volume,
with its light feature turned off but with its mega bass feature turned on.
Where as with the Partybox thats with it playing at 50% volume, with its light feature turned
off and with its Bass Boost turned off.
Now if we were talking about lets say the Sony XG500 or JBL Boombox 2 or any other smaller
speakers…
25% volume is nothing.
But 25% volume on the XP700 is a comfortable listening volume and the Partybox 310 playing
at 50% volume is like having either the XG500 or Boombox 2 playing at 100% volume.
So over all real world use I expect most people will use these speakers between 35 to 45 percent
volume and if thats the case both of these speakers are evenly matched cause you can
around 18 hours of play back time out of both of these speakers if you got them with their
light features turned on and mega bass or bass boost turned on.
However just keep in mind battery life on both of these speakers really depends on how
your use them.
If you’ve got them at a higher volume your battery is going to drain faster, like I mentioned
earlier the light features on these speakers takes its toll on the battery life, and if
you got the bass on the speakers turned up it’ll drain the battery as well.
But for those curious, at max volume Sony claims that you’ll get 4 hours of playback
time on the XP700 with its light feature turned on and with its mega bass feature turned on
and the Partybox 310 is also along those same lines.
But now lets talk about the ports on these speakers, most importantly both of these speakers
have two quarter inch mic inputs which could be important for someone who either wants
to do karaoke or for hosting small events.
However I do prefer the partybox here cause you can adjust the bass, treble and echo of
your mic directly from the control panel on the speaker itself and there are even some
preloaded sound effects which I never use but they’re there.
However just keep in mind the bass treble and echo only affects your mic, not your music.
Now while we’re on the topic of this control panel…
I do wanna point out that the panel on the Partybox 310 lights up where as with the XP700
it doesn’t.
And again just like the wheels on the Partybox 310 this is a small luxury that you’ll miss
with the Sony XP700.
Next up are the USB A ports on these speakers, the Partybox 310 only has one where as the
XP700 has two.
Nonetheless you can charge your own devices if you’re out and about and you can play
music off of a USB stick on either of these speakers.
Now I thinks its great that both of these speakers have USB A ports but I still wish
these speakers had a USB C port as well cause a lot of newer phones these days now come
included with USB C cables instead.
Next up, both of these speakers have your standard 3.5 millimeter audio jacks so you
can use a wired connection with either of these speakers.
However, the Partybox 310 has an audio in and an audio out jack meaning that if you’ve
got a spare speaker laying around regardless of brand you can daisy chain it to the Partybox
and have it play in sync.
However it is important to point out that neither of these speakers have RCA inputs
which I do think is unfortunate cause their predecessors did.
So if you’re someone that likes to moon light as a DJ then you’ll might have to
pass on these.
But the last thing that I want to mention here regarding ports is that the Partybox
310 has this 12 volt DC port, so you can hook up your partybox to your car and play music.
However this won’t actually charge the internal battery and if you want this cable your going
to have to buy it separately.
It used to come included with the 300 but not the 310.
Nonetheless this is a rather niche feature but could be a big deal if you’re a camper.
But when it comes to bluetooth connectivity the XP700 is using bluetooth 5.0 where as
the Partybox is using bluetooth 5.1.
But more importantly both of these speakers can be connected to 2 devices at the same
time so you and a friend can both be DJ.
They both have zero latency across the board when watching videos, but when it comes to
audio codecs the Partybox only has support for SBC and AAC where as the XP700 has SBC,
AAC and LDAC.
But lets talk about actually listening to music with these speakers.
Regarding speaker sets ups the Partybox 310 has a pair of frontward firing woofers and
a pair of tweeters.
Where as the XP700 also has a pair of forward firing woofers but it has a total of 4 tweeters.
There’s three in front which you can clearly see right here and there’s one on the back
which is going to bounce sound off of the wall if you’ve got this speaker placed up
against a wall.
However all of these tweeters aren’t always firing on the XP700.
If you’ve got this speaker laying down like this then it’ll use these two tweeters or
if you got it stand up right it’ll use these two tweeters and the one on the back.
However with either of these two speakers whether you’ve got them laying down flat
or standing up right you’ve still got your left channel and your right channel.
These speakers don’t turn into a mono speaker if you’ve got them standing up right.
Now regarding mega bass and bass boost.
With the XP700 if you’re going to listening to music you want to have mega bass turned
on cause if not this speaker sounds very flat… where as with the Partybox 310 even with its
bass boost feature turned on it still sounds pretty good.
However the bass boost has 2 levels to it.
Now personally I think bass boost level 1 sounds best but if you want more bass you
can always crank it up to bass boost level two.
But finally with both of these speakers if you were to use them while they’re plugged
in you are going to get a performance boost out of them.
They’re going to get a little louder and they’re going to have a little more bass.
But with all that being said we’re going to jump into the sound test.
Both of these speakers are playing while unplugged, the XP700 with playing with mega bass turned
on while at 50% volume where as were going to have the Partybox playing with bass boost
turned off and with bass boost set to level 1 with the volume set to 55%.
So overall I like how both of these speakers sound, they both sound fairly open and they
both have a good amount of instrument separation.
However I am going to have to say that the partybox 310 does sound a little more open
than the XP700, but nonetheless the XP700 has a decent sound stage and for sure it sounds
much more open than its predecessor the Sony XB90 which did sound very muffled.
But when it comes to sound signature the JBL does like to put a little more emphasis on
the mids so vocals are a little more prominent on the Partybox 310.
Where as the vocals on XP700 does sound a little pushed down cause sony does tend to
lean towards a warmer sound signature on their speakers.
Personally I do prefer the Partybox’s sound signature here, but still the XP700 sounds
good and the important thing here is that the bass on the XP700 doesn’t over power
the mids which is an issue for the Sony XG500.
But finally when it comes to bass, I gotta say that these speakers are evenly matched.
They’re both going to have no problem shaking the walls in your house and their bass stays
consistently smooth.
However with the Partybox you have three levels of bass to choose from and if you do decide
to crank the bass on this speaker the mids continue to stay prominent.
However it is important to point out that with the XP700 you can always go in and adjust
the EQ on this speaker through sony’s app where as JBL still doesn’t allow you to
directly adjust the EQ on their speakers.
The Bass and treble buttons on the control panel on this speaker is strictly for any
microphone or guitar you’ll have plugged into this speaker.
Not your music.
But finally there’s max volume on these speakers… for the most part I think most
people will use these speakers somewhere between 25 to 60 percent volume cause if you try to
use these speakers at max volume indoors you’re going to get hearing damage or if you use
them out doors at max volume you’ll most likely get a visit from the cops.
But nonetheless both of these speakers get equally loud off of their internal batteries.
However the Partybox will might sound a little louder cause it does put a little more emphasis
on the mids than the XP700 which could be useful if you plan on using these speakers
out doors a lot.
But like I mentioned earlier if you use these speakers while they’re plugged in they’ll
get a little louder and their bass will punch a little harder.
But finally lets talk about speaker pairing protocols.
The Sony XP700 is using Sony’s new Party connect meaning that you can pair it up to
other Sony Party connect speakers like either another XP700 and or an XP500.
But the thing about party connect is that you can also pair your large box speakers
to your smaller more portable speakers.
So with the XP700 you can also pair it up either to a sony XG500, XB43, XB33, or even
an XB23.
Where as with the partybox 310, you can only wirelessly pair it up to one other Partybox
310.
You can’t pair it up to any other partybox’s even a Partybox 300… and you can’t pair
it up to any of JBL’s smaller party boost speakers.
However like I mentioned earlier the Partybox 310 does have that audio out jack so you can
daisy it chain it to any other speaker.
So there’s that.
Like I’ve mentioned in the past I just wish JBL would add party boost to their partybox
speakers.
Overall the main selling point about Sony’s Party Connect is that you can pair your larger
box speakers to your smaller more portable speakers where as with JBL you can’t.
Now Sony’s party connect get the job done but it not my favorite speaker pairing protocol.
Its not as easy to use, sometimes not all of your speakers get paired up and sometimes
you will hear some stuttering.
But with all that being said both the Partybox 310 and Sony XP700 are solid box speakers
that will definitely deliver for your casual users.
They both sound good and fairly open, albeit the Partybox does put a little more emphasis
on the mids where as the XP700 has a slightly warmer sound signature.
Both of these speakers have decently long battery lives but keep in mind their battery
live really is contingent on how you use them.
But over all I still prefer and gravitate towards the Partybox 310 over the XP700 cause
the Partybox 310 just feels more refined and offers little extra goodies.
First off it has built in wheels which just makes transporting this speaker much easier.
You can also use a speaker stand with it if you want.
It has the more dynamic looking light feature, it control panel up top lights up which is
great for night use, it has the audio out jack so you can daisy chain any other speaker
to it which is nice and it also has the 12 volt DC port which could come in handy for
any campers out there.
The main weakness of the Partybox 310 is that you can’t pair it up to any of JBL’s smaller
party boost speakers and you can only pair it up to one other Partybox 310.
Where as with the XP700 you can pair it up to multiple XP700’s or to an XP500, or to
any of Sony’s smaller speakers.
Which is nice.