Sony SRS-XB30 Speaker

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Very good but a little expensive
 

This is a good speaker.  Sony have a reputation for quality and this is a very well-made, well-performing speaker.  I think it's a bit expensive compared to some in its class, but it does have features which you may find useful.

It comes well packaged and the speaker itself is splash-proof and very well made. I'm not that keen on the styling, but that's just personal taste.  There are good push-panel controls on the top and a well sealed input/output panel at the back.  Here you can connect an AUX jack (supplied) to non-Bluetooth devices, a power lead (also supplied) to charge the speaker, and there's also a USB port which acts as a power bank to charge a phone or similar.

It all works very well.  Bluetooth pairing is simple both conventionally and via NFC and the signal is very solid up to at least 8 metres.  Battery life is good; I haven't run it to exhaustion so I can't vouch for the advertised 24 hours' life, but it will certainly last a good long time between charges.  If you have two (or more) of these you can connect them up in a cascade to give a multi-speaker output, which may be handy – although at 150 quid a go, I'm not sure how many you'd want to buy.  It also has a light display which (thank heavens!) is easy to turn off.  It seems to be a pretty randomly changing colour display with the occasional strobe flash, which isn't something I'll ever use, but it may be an addition to a party.

The sound quality is impressive.  The top and middles are very crisp and well-articulated, and the bass is powerful from such a small unit, with a bass-boost feature which really blasts it out.    Classical music sounds rich and full, with cellos ringing beautifully and orchestral music articulated with real crispness. Rock is great, and even the deep sub-bass in London Grammar's Hey Now comes through beautifully.  I've played a lot of music through this speaker, from 16th century choral music to modern, high-production rocky stuff, and everything sounds great: Nigel North's lute, Eric Clapton's guitar, Rachel Podger's violin, Danny Thompson's bass, full orchestras, Wolf Alice, a string quartet and the voices of Emma Kirkby, Roger Daltrey, Leonard Cohen, Thea Gilmore, The Tallis Scholars…and so on.  I have given this a thorough workout and I haven't really found a weakness.

It's a very impressive speaker.  For sound and build quality, both the ADX Pulse V4 the Vava Voom 20 are as good, I think, and only cost around half the price so they would be a preferred option for me, and the August WS300 is also excellent and has wi-fi connectivity, too.  However, if you want the cascade feature or lights, or just trust the Sony name, this is a very good-sounding, durable speaker which I can recommend.

(Amazon page HERE )