Get Them Here
Sony XV800: https://amzn.to/3Oaza76
JBL Partybox 310: https://amzn.to/3UaC4N3
JBL Partybox 710: https://amzn.to/3UakybH
So this is the Sony XV800, now personally I like this speaker cause I like its new more mellow sound signature, and it also has an optical port so you can hook it up to your tv which helps make this speaker a little more versatile. Now sony has definitely taken some steps in the right direct with this speaker, but I still have some critiques. But today, we’re going to see how the Sony XV800 stacks up to both the JBL Partybox 310 and the JBL Partybox 710.
Regarding pricing, the XV800 has a retail price of $650, but just knowing sony, I do expect this speaker to go on sale from time to time. But then there’s the Partybox 310 which has a retail price of $550… but it like to go on sale for around $450 from time to time, and then there’s the Partybox 710 which has a retail price of $800, but it like to go on sale for $700. So that’s why im doing this 2 way versus video, instead of just comparing the XV800 to the Partybox 310. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these speakers up, they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. All three of these speakers have mostly plastic bodies which can be scratch magnets any time you’re trying to transport these speakers and they all have a metal grill on the front which can get dented rather easily. Now all three of these speakers are large box speakers… but the XV800 and 310 weigh in at around 40 pounds where as the 710 weighs in at around 62 pounds and its just taller and a little wider. But to make life a little easier, all three of them speakers have built in wheels… however, the execution of these wheels is very different. The 310 get it the most right here… first off the 310 has a retractable handle which makes rolling this speaker more comfortable… and these wheels are decently sized… so they’ll do a decent job while on rough asphalt. But then there’s the 710 which has larger and more rugged wheels, which I love… but it doesn’t have that retractable handle. So its not as comfortable to roll as the 310. And finally there’s the XV800, now the XV800 doesn’t have a retractable handle, so rolling this speaker can be a little awkward especially if you’re taller… and also these wheels are very small… so they’re better suited for smoother surfaces cause if you try to roll this speaker on rough asphalt, its going to bounce all over the place. So overall, all three of these speakers are big, but the partybox 310 is the most portable… the XV800 is fairly portable… and the 710 can sometimes be a 2 person job.
Next up there’s the light feature on these speakers… now I feel the light feature on the XV800 is okay and it looks good either at night or indoors… but I still feel that JBL’s light features are more impressive and more dynamic. With the 310 you have these two light rings on the front and built in strobe lights whereas with the 710, this light feature is even larger with connected light rings, strobe lights, stars, and light rails on the side. Overall, Sony’s light feature is decent, but JBL’s is on another level. But as always, if you decide to use the light feature on any of these speakers, that is going to take its toll on the battery life.
But now lets talk about battery life. The Partybox 710 actually doesn’t have a built in battery, this is a speaker that you can only use while its plugged in. So yeah, at first glance a lot of people assume that the 710 has a battery, but it doesn’t.
But the 310 does have a built in battery. Now the 310 has an advertised battery life of 18 hours… but that is with this speaker playing at 50% volume, which is already a really good listening volume, but that’s with the light feature and the bass boost feature turned off.
But real world use with this speaker playing at 65% volume, which is feel is a really good to use this speaker while you’re with friends, and with the light feature turned on and with the bass boost feature set to deep, its good for about 7 to 8 hours of playback time.
But then there’s the XV800 which has an advertised battery life of 25 hours… but that’s with this speaker playing at 30% volume and with the light feature turned off but with the mega bass turned on. But real world use with this speaker playing at 65% volume and with the light feature turned on and with the mega bass turned on, its good for about 10 hours of playback time, which is very impressive. But just remember, battery life on these box speakers really varies a lot depending on how you use them.
Now regarding connectivity, all three of these speaker can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ, latency isn’t an issue for any of these speakers, so you can use them to watch videos on your phone, but when it comes to audio codecs, JBL’s speakers only have support for SBC, where as the Sony has support for SBC, AAC and LDAC which is Sony’s own high res audio codec. Just keep in mind that if you want to use LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhone’s top out at AAC… and if you do decide to use LDAC, that is going to take an additional toll on the battery life.
But if you want to, you can always just use wired connection with any of these speakers cause they all still have an audio jack. But something that JBL’s speakers have that the XV800 doesn’t is that they both of have audio out jack, so if you have a spare speaker lying around, no matter the size or brand, you can always daisy chain it to either of JBL’s speakers.
But something that the XV800 does have is that it has an optical port, and it comes included with an optical cable. So if you want, you can use your XV800 with your tv. Now personally I think this helps make the XV800 a little more versatile. And it can come in clutch if you just need a little extra something when you’re going to watch the game.
But also, all three of these speakers have 2 quarter inch inputs and you can use two microphones for karaoke. Or you can also plug in a guitar. But the main difference here is that with both of JBL’s speakers you can easily adjust the sound of your microphone from the control panel up top… and you can also add an echo. Where as with the Sony you can’t adjust the sound of your microphone. You can only add an echo.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these speakers. Now both the 310 and 710 have dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back and they both have have dual frontward firing tweeters. Where as the XV800 has a different set up. The XV800 also has dual frontward firing with woofers, but its exhaust port shoots out the front… and this thing has a total of 5 tweeters on it. 3 are on the front and there are 2 on the rear that shoot upwards. Now when this speaker is standing up right, it’ll use these two tweeters and the two on the back and when it laying on its side, it’ll use these two tweeters and the two on the back as well. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. Now to make things interesting we’re going to be using the 710 while its playing at 75% volume while its bass is set to deep… and to keep things fair, we’re going to use the 310 while its unplugged and playing at max volume and with its bass set to deep as well. And we’re also going to be using the XV800 while its playing at max volume and with its mega bass turned on… but we’re going to be using it while its unplugged and plugged in.
Now first I want to address max volume performance on these speakers. Now obviously since the 710 is larger than these other two speakers, its going to get louder and have more bass. But also, since the 710 is a speaker that you have to use while its plugged in, its going to be louder and have more bass as well. Cause with both the 310 and XV800, these two speakers get decently loud for their size when they are running off of their internal batteries, but if you were to use them while they are plugged in, you’re going to get a noticeable performance boost out of them. They’re going to get louder and they are going to have more bass. Now I think the 710 is decent for lets say at 30 to 35 person party where as the 310 and XV800 are good for like 20 person parties. So obviously if you want the most volume, you want to go with the 710 here. But when it comes to comparing max volume performance between the 310 and XV800… they’re evenly matched, but the 310 does sound a little louder cause it has a slightly brighter sound signature to it.
But when it comes to the actual sound quality of these speakers, both of JBL’s speakers have a slightly brighter sound signature to them, so vocals are more pronounced on them than on the XV800. Where as with the XV800, vocals on this speaker are also fairly pronounced, but not as much as the JBL’s. But I think the biggest difference between Sony’s speaker and JBL’s speakers is going to be the bass. The bass on the 310 has a lot more physicality to it than the bass found on the XV800. Plus with the 310, you can always amplify its bass by placing it up against a wall cause of its rear firing exhaust port. Where as with the XV800, its bass is a lot more mellow, less physical and more on the audible side than JBL’s bass. Now the XV800 still has a decent amount of physicality in its bass, partly cause its frontward firing exhaust port shoots towards the ground… but if you’re a bass head, the 310 is going to be able to satiate you a little more than the XV800. And then there’s the 710 who’s bass is just on a whole other level. But also, the thing about JBL’s speakers is that if you want to crank their bass up even more, you can set their bass boost to rumble and you can increase the bass on them as well through their customizable EQ, where as with the sony, you’re not going to get much more bass out of it even if you play around with its EQ. So sound quality wise, I think the Sony is a good option for someone that wants a more mellow sound out of their speaker… but objectively I am going to have to say that the sound of the 310 is more versatile cause if you want a more mellow sound it can do that or if you want more bass it can also do that… and then there’s the 710 which does everything the 310 can, but just beastlier.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now with both of JBL’s partybox’s you can wirelessly pair them up with one other partybox. So if you have a 310 or a 710, you can pair them up with an encore, 110, 310 or 710 and get them to play in sync, or if you have two of the same speakers you can get them to play in left and right stereo mode.
But the most important thing to remember here is that you can’t wirelessly pair any of JBL’s Partybox speakers to any of JBL’s smaller speakers that are using JBL’s Partyboost.
Now personally I think that only being able to wirelessly pair two speaker together is limiting, but like I mentioned earlier, both of JBL’s speakers have audio out jacks so you can always daisy chain them up with one other speaker regardless of size or brand.
But then there’s the XV800 which is using Sony’s party connect and you can pair it up to other party connect speakers like lets say an XV900, XV800, XP700 or XP500 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together and get them to play in sync. Or if you have two of the same speakers, you can get them to play in left and right stereo mode.
But the cool thing about Sony’s party connect is that you can pair your larger box speakers to and of Sony smaller speakers that are also using party connect like lets say an XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33 or XB23.
Now even though Sony’s party connect is very accommodating, and it gets the job done, sometimes it can be a bit of a hassle to use. Sometimes it take awhile for your speakers to get connected. Sometimes all of your speakers don’t get paired on the first try so you’ll have to go through the pairing process multiple times… and sometimes skipping does happen. Now this doesn’t happen all of the time… but this is just a heads up as to what to expect.
Where as with JBL’s pairing protocol, even though its a lot more limited, and you can’t wirelessly connect to your smaller JBL speakers… I have found that it just works better. Paring your two speakers is easier, faster and skipping isn’t as big of an issue.
But with all of that being said if we were to compare the Sony XV800 to the JBL Partybox 310… which I feel is the direct comparison here… The Partybox 310 still has better execution than the Sony XV800. From a portability standpoint the 310 has that retractable handle and those larger wheels, so rolling it easier than the XV800. You can also easily adjust the sound of your microphone from the control panel up top. The 310 also has the more impressive light feature and I feel the audio out jack is a very nice feature to have. And when it comes to sound, I think the sound of the 310 is more versatile. But the XV800 also has its pluses, the XV800 has better performing battery life than the 310. You can also connect the XV800 to your tv and use it as an impromptu sound bar. And with the XV800, you can wirelessly connect it to more speaker and to Sony’s smaller speakers as well. And the sound of the XV800 is also good, but this one comes down to a matter of taste. The XV800 offers you a more mellow and smoother bass experience. And finally there’s the 710. Now obviously if you want more sound this is the one to get. But this one is larger, less portable and it doesn’t have a built in battery. But the 710 is an experience all on its own.