Get Them Here
So the Sony XP700 is a decent box speaker from sony… and for the most part its little brother the Sony XP500 is decent as well. Its got all new drivers and a more dynamic looking light feature. However, the XP500 is a speaker that you’re going to want to use mostly while its plugged in cause running off of its internal battery, performance wise the XP500 really leaves you wanting more.
Regarding pricing, the XP500 retails for $350. And for comparison sake its larger brother the XP700 retails for $450 and the much more portable Sony XG500 also retails for $450. Now if you plan on mostly using this speaker while its plugged in, its fine. But if you’re looking for a speaker to constantly take on the go with you meaning its mainly going to have to rely on its built in battery… personally I would pass on this speaker. Nonetheless if you want to pick this speaker up it’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of this speaker. The XP500 is your typical box speaker with a hight of a little under 2 feet, and it weighs in at a little below 25 pounds. Now this speaker does have built in carrying handles and taking this speaker on the go with you isn’t too bad. Its not as bad as carrying around the XP700. Now material wise the XP500 has a mostly plastic body which can be a scratch magnet if you plan on taking this speaker around with you on a regular basis and there’s a metal grill on the front. Now on the back you’ll find all of your ports which can be sealed off from the elements giving this speaker an IPX4 rating. Meaning that if you plan on regularly using this speaker out doors on lets say the porch… if it starts raining or if you accidentally leave this speaker out doors over night you don’t gotta worry about it cause a little bit of water isn’t going to hurt it. However one crucial design element that I do gotta point out about the XP500 is that you can’t use a speaker stand with it just like with the XP700.
But now lets talk about the light feature on this speaker. For sure the light feature on the XP500 is an upgrade from the light feature found on its predecessor the Sony XB60. And from Sony’s app you can select from a few different lighting modes. Now the main ones are delightful, rave, chill and strobe. And through Sony’s fiestable app you can customize this light feature. Now if you use this light feature either indoors or at night it looks pretty good. And I also found that this light feature has a good back splashing effect. However to be straight up with you this light feature is not worth using while out doors. You barely even see it. So I would recommend that you turn off this light feature if you’re going to use this speaker while out doors cause you will extend your battery life a little bit.
But now lets talk about battery life on this speaker. The XP500 has an advertised battery life of 20 hours. But that’s with this speaker playing at 30% volume with its light feature turned off but with its mega bass feature turned on which is a good thing. However 30% volume on this speaker is nothing especially given its size, its good for like ambiance… but not really for like actually listening to music.
And max volume off of its internal battery is a real issue for the XP500. Cause for comparison sake the XP500 playing at max volume off of its internal battery is like having the smaller Sony XG500 playing at max volume as well. So real world use I except most people will be using the XP500 at around 80% volume. And at 80% volume with mega bass turned on and with the light feature turned on im getting about 8 hours playback time before the battery is fully drained… which is okay, but its not very impressive for the size of this speaker.
Now just like with the XP700, you can always extend the battery life of the XP500 either if you use it with its light feature turned off or with its mega bass feature turned off or you can switch it over to stamina mode while will turn off both the light feature and mega bass. But overall I think the main battery drain on this speaker is just going to be the volume cause I think most people will end up using this speaker between 50 to 100% volume cause this speaker is very quite for its size.
But now lets talk about the ports on this speaker… which fun fact is identical to the XP700. For starters this speaker has 2 quarter inch mic inputs which could be a big deal for people who want to do karaoke or for hosting small events. But if you want you can also plug in a guitar.
Now this speaker also has two USB A Ports so that you can charge your own devices and you can even play music off of a USB stick off of one of these ports. Now personally I think its great that this speaker has two USB A ports but I wish this speaker also had a USB C port so that you can charge your own device cause a lot of newer phones these days now come included with USB C cables.
But finally there is a 3.5 millimeter audio jack if you want to use a wired connection with this speaker. But unfortunately this speaker doesn’t have a RCA inputs for any of you guys that might moon light as a DJ. Which I think is unfortunate cause its predecessor did.
Now regarding bluetooth connectivity, this speaker is using bluetooth 5.0 but more importantly it can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ, there’s zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone and when it comes to audio codecs the XP700 has your standard Sony set up of SBC, AAC and LDAC.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with this speaker. Regarding speaker set ups the XP500 has a pair of frontward firing woofers and a pair of center mounted tweeters. Now whether you have this speaker standing up right or laying down flat you’ve got your left channel and your right channel. This speaker doesn’t turn into a mono speaker if you’ve got it standing up right. Now like with most other speakers that charge via an AC port… if you use this speaker while its plugged in you’re going to get a performance bump out of it. However the performance bump that you get out of the XP500 when its plugged is way more drastic than lets say the XP700. Like I’ve mentioned a few times already at max volume off of its internal battery the XP500 does leave you wanting more relative to its size. But when its plugged in the XP500 starts to sound like what you’d expect from a box speaker of this size. So in this sound test so that you can get what im saying about the XP500’s out put, we’re going to have this speaker playing at max volume. But we’re going to be using this speaker playing at max volume while its plugged in with mega bass turned on, its also going to be playing at max volume but unplugged but with mega bass turned on and its also going to be playing while in stamina mode but at max volume as well.
So like you may have just heard… there’s a big performance difference when this speaker is plugged in versus when its unplugged. When its plugged in the XP500 sounds like what you’d expect from a box speaker of this size. And when its plugged in the XP500 gets almost as loud as the XP700 when its playing a max volume off of its internal battery. But obviously you’re not going to get as much bass. But when the XP500 is unplugged at max volume it only gets as loud as the XG500. Now for its size and portability the XG500 gets plenty loud… where as the XP500 leave you wanting more. So like I said at the top of this video, the XP500 is a speaker that if you plan on mostly using it while its plugged in its fine. But if you’re looking for something more portable id go with something else. However max volume aside, when it comes to sound signature just like with most other Sony speakers the XP500 does lean towards a warmer sound signature. But if you want you can always raise the mids a little bit on the XP500 through sony’s app so that vocals can be a little more prominent. And when it comes to instrument separation and sound stage for sure the XP500 sound much more open than the XB60 which did sound very muffled. And in general this is something that Sony has been improving on all of their speakers as of late. However its also very important to point out that the XP500 has much better instrument separation than the Sony XG500 and unlike the XG500, the bass on the XP500 doesn’t over power the mids when it really gets going. So over all the Sony XP500 sounds good and it offers a fun warm sound signature if you’re into that… but this is a speaker that you want to use while its plugged in. Cause if not its going to leave you wanting a lot more relative to its size.
But finally lets talk about speaker pairing protocols. The XP500 is now using Sony’s new party connect. Meaning that you can pair this speaker up to other party connect speakers like either another XP500 and or an XP700. But the really neat thing about Sony’s party connect is that you can also your larger box speakers to your smaller more portable speakers like either an XG500, XB43, XB33, or even an XB23.
And this is a pretty big deal cause JBL doesn’t allow you to pair their smaller JBL Partyboost speakers to their larger Partybox speakers. However Sony’s Party Connect only works with other sony speakers use Party Connect. If you have older Sony speakers using Wireless Party Chain then you can’t pair them together.
Now over all Sony’s Party Connect gets the job done but its not my favorite speaker pairing protocol. Its not as easy to use, sometimes not all of your speakers will get paired together, and sometimes you will hear some stuttering. However one thing Party Connect does have going for it is that you can pair your large box speakers to your smaller more portable speakers.
So with all that being said, I would really only recommend the Sony XP500 to someone who mostly plans on using this speaker while its plugged in and occasionally plans on using it while its unplugged. Cause while running off of its internal battery the XP500 really leaves you wanting more relative to its size. However when its plugged in the XP500 sounds great. Its gets more than loud enough, you’ve got a good amount of punchy bass, and this speaker sounds clearer and way more open than its predecessor the Sony XB60.