Sony remains a powerful brand in the consumer audio arena and, while the sound on the XB21 can easily be overshadowed by its bass-heavy format, its still a well designed speaker with high quality finishes. It certainly gets loud enough and the app-controlled flashing lights and sound profiles are a nice touch to augment the listening experience.
Sony remains a powerful brand in the consumer audio arena and, while the sound on the XB21 can easily be overshadowed by its bass-heavy format, its still a well designed speaker with high quality finishes. It certainly gets loud enough and the app-controlled flashing lights and sound profiles are a nice touch to augment the listening experience.
True to the Sony pedigree it sounds far better than any budget speaker but it is merely on par with the other big brands competing at this price point. The irregular tube shape make it easy to wrap you fingers around and helps intuitively figure out which side is front.
Unlike some competitors you can’t stand the Sony’s speaker on end; it must lie horizontal. The control panel is rubberised and sealed, and provides very little tactile feedback, but thanks to the rubber feet underneath you can press firmly without toppling the speaker.
Inside are two full range 42mm drivers and a dedicated woofer which Sony says makes use of material Mica Reinforced Cellular (MRC) to add strength but not weight. Tested with both compressed streaming audio and uncompressed high bitrate tracks the sound performance of the XB21 proved to be well above average.
You like pop, rap and dance music The promised extra bass is impressive and the weaker mid-range frequencies won’t affect you too much. You have audiophile pretensions If you’re looking for a detailed but balanced sound or you like classical music, delicate vocals and jazz, you might want to look elsewhere.
Customer Reviews: Sony SRS-XB21 Portable Bluetooth Speaker White SRSXB21/W
Sony has engineered and designed this versatile BT speaker for almost any kind indoor / outdoor activities you can imagine. For example, over this past two weeks I have used this speaker listening to Pandora while working in my garden, yard, and garage.
It delivers amazing sound clarity, depth, and bass for a speaker so small (7 5/8” W x 2 7/8” H x 2 5/8” D) and light-weight (only 19 oz). I took this Sony SRS-XB21 speaker along last Tuesday on my fishing trip with my Brother-In-Law since it is basically waterproof (IP67), rustproof, and dustproof. Since we have two of these SRS-XB21 units my wife enjoys using her speaker in the kitchen listening to ‘Music To Cook By’ (yeah, right), and, when she knits, sews, or chores of cleaning rooms in our house. My Grand Kids showed me that there are 15 additional sounds that you can customize the SRS-XB21 using the Sony Music Center App while the music is playing: * Synth Kick * Hi-Hat * Cymbal * Synth Snare * Synth Tom * Cowbell * Conga High * Conga Low * Rim-Shot * Shaker * Explosion * Base Effect * Reverse * Scratch * Scratch Double Additionally, there are five positions to tap the speaker manually while dancing or grooving: – both sides (2) – top – bottom – front of speaker You tap hard for a loud sound and light for a soft sound. I am 75 now and Grandma is 72, but we both are learning how to groove, with the Grand Kids help, using the Sony Music Center App and the SRS-XB21 speaker. Depending on your Smart Phone or your BT connected device, this is what you can control with the Sony Music Center App: * Playback of music files included with High-Resolution (Hi-Res) audio content which are located on a device such as a smartphone or iPhone. It lasts up to 12 hours on low sound with no lights, and, can be dropped safely from a height of approximately four feet. It is small enough to place in a fishing tackle box, picnic basket, ladies’ handbag, a child’s backpack, or lunchbox. Now in order to be fair and give a comprehensive review, I must list my dislikes: * The manual control buttons under the waterproof cap on the back of the unit are in muted black, which makes it extremely difficult to read the lettering without available, bright lighting. None of these included instructions contain the necessary details and illustrations that are available at the ‘Sony Support’ website to fully understand the various features and operations of this fantastic speaker.
At this price point you will not find another BT speaker with as many features and spectacular sound reproduction.
Sony SRS-XB21 Review
The Sony SRS-XB21 is a fairly good all-around speaker that kind of drops the ball when it comes to battery life. Impressing in both sound quality and volume but not in battery life, the SRS-XB21 was overall an average performer in our testing. Sony has proven that they can coax decent sound quality out of small and/or inexpensive speakers, and the SRS-XB21 is no exception. Earning an above average 7 out of 10 in our sound quality testing, it builds a solid foundation with impressively deep and resonant bass.
In fact, the only speakers we heard better bass quality from were much more expensive and generally larger (namely the Bose models that we tested). It is also clear enough that we only noticed any sort of distortion or clipping with very high notes or particularly crowded melodies. It sounds noticeably clearer and more powerful than budget models like the Anker SoundCore 2 and the TribitI XSound Go. The pill shape generally lets you slide the SRS-XB21 into the side of a bag or backpack without too much trouble.
Honestly, we kind of wish they dropped these sensors and used the extra space for a slightly larger battery. Both the UE Roll 2 and Sony XB10 end up costing less, are more portable, and last longer on a single charge.
Review of Sony Speaker- SRS-XB21 (Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker)
In the CES 2018, Sony showcased their latest upgrade devices in the popular extra bass lineup XB series. The new SRS-XB21 Portable Wireless Bluetooth speaker has two additional unique features which should appeal a certain section of the crowd. It is rated IP67 for water resistance and dust and can withstand against moderate pressure from jets, provided the cap covering the connections panel is closed.
Another feature which works only if you are using through Sony’s Music App that is extra electronic sound effect drum beats like a snare, kick, or record-scratch which can be played on hitting on the speakers on five different spots (Top, Bottom, front and both left and right-hand sides).
Personally, I would prefer to listen on lower or half volume range to enjoy music on the Sony SRS-XB21. Sony claims 12 hours’ continuous play on a single full of battery. At the back, under the silicon tightly sealed cover, it has the 3.5mm jack for the people who would like to connect the XB-21 speakers via the wire. As per my preference listening at 50% volume, the speaker’s Highs, Mids and Bass pretty good compared to XB-40.
The Bass improvement is much better and you can change the sound preference via the Sony Music Center App. I am not a great fan of lighted speakers but sure some consumer will like it, it has some preset mode of sound and control via the App. Also, the new feature about making music with hitting 5 different places on the speaker, didn’t appeal to me but maybe children will love it. So overall good buy for consumers who are looking to sturdy, beautiful, premium looking, IP67 Certified portable Bluetooth speaker.
Sony SRS-XB21 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker Review
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Sony SRS-XB21 review: is too much bass a bad thing?
But while it looks like every other fabric-covered portable speaker launched this decade, it stands out with a number of key features. However, I did use it poolside, and changing volume and tracks with wet hands while resisting splashes from wayward cannonballs, is all possible for this guy. Lights located at the top and bottom of the speaker are sensitive to sounds, pulsing on each bass drop. It’s possibly the best sounding speaker in its price range, going up against the likes of the UE Boom and JBL Flip 4 below R2000. Often headphones and speakers will struggle with specific genres, but house, dubstep, post-rock and even classic rock resonate with deep bass and crisp treble. While the bass never drowns out highs or mids, tracks like Alison Wonderland’s “I Want U” drones could be heard across the neighbours wall when the volume was near its lowest setting.
The drops really kick, and while that is brilliant for parties, the car, or the outdoors, it’s not conducive to more restrictive venues, like a bedroom in a shared house or hotel. Annoyingly, Sony does claim there are ways to change the speaker’s equaliser, but you have to download an accompanying app.
Sony Extra Bass XB21 Portable Speaker Review
But, of course, a concern here would be with regards to just how well these threads would hold up to the effects of daily usage and other wear and tear factors. Along the top we can see a little NFC logo which is where you’d tap an NFC-capable device for easy pairing. The first button, starting from the top, allows you to enable or disable the lighting effects as well as giving you a voice prompt of the estimated battery level remaining.
The middle button is labelled WPC which is short for Wireless Party Chain. This will essentially work in the same manner as the WPC feature, meaning that you’d press this button on 2 compatible devices and they’ll link up with one another. Each speaker on its own has left and right channels, but by being able to connect 2 speakers to each other wirelessly and then physically being able to sperate the left and right channels further from each other will allow you to get a wider and more realistic stereo image, along with giving you more punchy overall sound system. When this function is enabled the speaker will produce specific sound effects depending on where you tap the the device. This could probably turn out to be a fun little feature if you’ve got a group of people and a couple of compatible Sony speakers all linked up to one another.
What Live Sound attempts to do is to artificially widen the stereo image, giving you somewhat of the illusion of a bigger speaker. It’s a pretty simplistic EQ at best, giving you just 3 bands to work with and so allowing you only to only make broad changes within the bass, mid, and treble regions.
Of the most recent additions to Sony’s Extra Bass line of portable speakers, the XB21 is the smallest. You can definitely tell that Sony has been tinkering with the digital signal processing to try and extract as much bass response as you could expect from such relatively small drivers, but in the end physics won.
To get deep, power bass, you need to be able to move a decent amount of air, and for that you’d need larger drivers. Of course it’ll still work outdoors, at the pool, at beach, or whatever, just don’t expect to have a “wow” sound. Then there’s also the Live mode which does serve to widen the stereo image, but as a side effect the high frequencies become far more prominent than the rest of the spectrum. Doing this proved to get a noticeably more full and balanced sound signature, one which extracted an extra spoonful of bass too.
In terms of overall value I’d say that the XB21 is nearly on par with the middle-child of Sony’s recent Extra Bass portable speakers – the XB31.
32 facts and highlights
4. weather-sealed (splashproof) ✔ Sony SRS-XB21 The device is protected with extra seals to prevent failures caused by dust, raindrops, and water splashes. A lower weight is also an advantage for home appliances, as it makes transportation easier, and for many other types of products.
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