Despite advances in passive bass radiators and overall streaming quality, the number of high-quality, affordably priced Bluetooth speakers is pretty low. At the base, there are small cutaways that allow air to escape—the speaker also utilizes a passive bass radiator, located internally, just above these cutouts.
Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we were able to understand every word we recorded, but the overall sound quality was fuzzy and a little quiet, like a weak cell phone connection. Unlike many Sony Bluetooth speakers, the SRS-XB10 doesn’t use an app, which is surprising only because of its ability to be linked as a stereo pair. Battery life is estimated to be roughly 16 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels and your mix of wireless and wired playback. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the SRS-XB10 delivers a solid sense of deep bass.
But at more moderate volume levels, the distortion disappears and the speaker still provides a surprising sense of bass—as well as a palpable thump, thanks to the passive bass radiator. On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop gets plenty of high-mid presence, allowing its attack to retain its sharpness and slice through the layers of the mix.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound slightly richer than normal through the SRS-XB10 at top volumes.
The Bottom Line Sony’s wireless, outdoor-friendly SRS-XB10 speaker delivers some surprising bass depth for its size and price.
Sony SRS-XB10 review: Sony’s tiniest Bluetooth speaker ain’t tinny
These tiny Bluetooth speakers are strongest in the midrange (vocals), so this would do well with movie dialogue and podcasts. My only design nitpick is that the speaker’s rubberized, soft-to-the touch finish attracts some dust and lint.
On the plus side, the base of the XB10 has enough grip to it to keep the speaker from sliding around when you pump up the volume and it vibrates thanks to its built-in passive bass radiator. The more expensive UE Wonderboom and JBL Flip 4 do play louder and sound fuller, but they are larger speakers.
Sony XB10 Review
It perfectly balances sound quality, portability, and price into a value-packed package. Despite its small size the XB10 can belt quite a tune, earning it an above average score of 6 out of 10 in our sound quality testing.
This bass was on par with much larger models like the Tribit XSound Go and clearly outperformed other small speakers like the UE Roll 2. The XB10 earned a near perfect score of 9 out of 10 in our portability testing, bested only by the UE Roll 2.
The only reason it didn’t pick up a perfect 10 is the fact that is merely water resistant instead of completely waterproof. The XB10’s thumb loop doubles as a cradle for putting the speaker on its side. If battery life is your main concern, you may want to sacrifice a bit of sound quality and get the exceptionally long lasting Anker SoundCore 2. For just $60 you get good sound quality, impressive bass, and water resistance in a small and portable package. If you need full waterproofness the UE Roll 2 is only a slight step up in price, though you do sacrifice some bass quality.
Customer Reviews: Sony XB10 Portable Bluetooth Speaker Black SRSXB10/BLK
For me it is important to keep in mind the factors that matter most: sound quality, ease of use, durability, bang for the buck, and whether it is made by a good company with a reputation for quality. This means that it will be protected from water spray from any angle for at least 3 minutes, and dust that would normally interfere with operation of the speaker.
For me this means that I can use it when I workout, and afterwards when I shower without worrying about the speaker being exposed to moisture.
It also has a really cool feature where you can add a second speaker, and they will play in stereo. I honestly like to be critical when I write a review, but I haven’t found anything to complain about yet.
Sony SRS-XB10 Extra Bass Wireless Speaker Review
Sony’s latest speaker, is a teeny tiny unit that packs a big bassy punch. Sony SRS-XB10 is covered in a soft and smooth fabric that feels as if it’s some sort of silicone-rubber polymer.
In addition, along the bottom of the speaker there are buttons built into the soft and smooth silicone fabric-covered frame. First off, the tiny unit is built with a hanging silicone loop to seamlessly secure itself to your bicycle or anything with a pole rather.
The unit, as I previously mentioned, has a few buttons along the bottom of the speaker meaning you don’t need need to have your phone in your hand to make a few adjustments. Buttons include power to pair the speaker to your device, pause/play to well pause and play and answer/end calls.
Sony SRS-XB10 possesses an IP rating of 5 meaning it can withstand jetting water. The unit is also designed with Near Field Communication (NFC) which enables very simple synchronization to your device.
In order to ensure CD-like quality playback over a 33 ft range, Sony SRS-XB10 also features SBS and AAC codecs.
The speaker promises a solid 16 hour battery life, though other reviewers have found it to fall short of that.
It is able to do so thanks to a passive radiator working with the monaural speaker to enhance low-end tones, giving bass a boost, regardless of its small stature. While pulsing and moving, at times (depending on genre mainly), I also found elements of the mids buried behind the bass and lacking the detail and clarity I’d prefer.
As I previously mentioned, vocals surprisingly astound on this bass-heavy speaker. In fact 80% was the most comfortable in terms of good volume, sound quality, and overall projection for me. Taking into account that the SRS-XB10 is also water resistant and supports quite a long battery life I’d say it is well worth the $59.99 price tag.
SRS-XB10 Reviews & Ratings
I travel quite a bit abroad with my work and they are my go to No1 speakers on all my current devices being used primarily for music when indoors or out, and also for watching and streaming media on my iPad/iPhone and Laptop.
Sony SRS-XB10 Portable Bluetooth Speakers Review
However, this design and finishing does seem to somewhat lacking in a “premium feel” as compared to other products in same lineup.Its buttons are painted on and are responsive. The XB10 has an Add button which allows the user to connect to another XB10 to play the same song or serve as a Left and Right stereo sound. It also has a built-in mic for receiving of calls, but its quality is not up to expectations as recorded voices seems be to rather unclear.
The range of the bluetooth is about 10 meters with line of sight, which is a considerably decent distance for most wireless speakers.
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