So the Sony XV500 is a refined version of the Sony XP500 that has a more balanced sound signature, and better instrument separation… Now we know that the JBL Partybox 120 is right around the corner, but we still have to see how the Sony XV500 stacks up to the super popular JBL Partybox 110.
Regarding pricing, both of these speakers retail for $400… but knowing sony I do expect the XV500 to go on sale on a regular basis, and since the JBL Partybox 120 is right around the corner, I also expect to see the Partybox 110 go on sale on a regular basis as well. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these two speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. Now both of these box speakers are smaller box speakers and they’re both relatively easy to take on the go with you cause they both have built in carrying handles, and the 110 weighs in at 23 pounds and the XV500 weighs in at 25 pounds. And when it comes to durability, these two are the same, they’re both IPX4 rated meaning that a little bit of water wont hurt them, however they both have mostly plastic bodies which can be scratch magnets, and they both have thin metal grills on the front which can get dented easily. But one design difference that I do feel is worth point out is that the 110 has a speaker stand mount on the bottom, where as the sony doesn’t.
But then theres the light feature on these speakers. Plainly said, I do feel the 110 has a much more dynamic looking light feature than the XV500, and from their app you can choose from different styles and you can customize the color from the same app as well. Where as with the XV500… this light feature is decent, but its not as dynamic as the light feature on the 110… and if you want to customize the color of this light feature, you’re going to have to use the separate Fiestable app. Overall, I feel the light feature on the partybox 110 looks a lot more dynamic, but keep in mind, if you decide to use the light feature on either of these two speakers, that is going to take a toll on the battery life.
Now regarding battery life, the XV500 has an advertised battery life of 25 hours where as the Partybox 110 has an advertised battery life of 12 hours. However, this advertised battery life of 25 hours on the XV500 is with it playing at 36% volume which is good for like ambiance, with the light feature turned off but with its mega bass feature turned on. And if you were to use this speaker with its light feature turned on, then its going to have an advertised battery life of 12 hours.
Where as with the Partybox 110, its battery life of 12 hours is with it playing at 20% volume, which is on par with 36% volume on the XV500, but with both its light feature and bass boost feature turned off. But real world use with the 110 playing at 65% volume which I feel is a decent volume when you’re with friends, the light feature turned on and with the bass boost set to deep, its good for about 7 hours of playback where as with the XP500… with it playing at 80% volume, with the light feature turned on and with its mega bass feature turned on, its good for about 8 hours of playback.
But in general, battery life of these speakers really varies depending on how you use them. But the XV500 does have a slightly longer lasting battery under real world conditions.
Regarding connectivity, both of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time so that you and a friend can both be DJ, latency is not an issue with either of these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone. But when it comes to audio codecs, the Partybox only has support for SBC where as the Sony has support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC. However if you want to take advantage of LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out a AAC.
And when it comes to the ports on these speakers, both of these speakers have a 3.5 millimeter audio jack so you can use them with a wired connection, but whats unique here is that the partybox has an audio out jack so that you can daisy chain any other speaker to this speaker and get them to play in sync which I feel is a very useful feature.
But both of these speakers do have an USB A port so that you can either plug in your own devices and charge them up, or you can plug in a USB stick and play music off of it. But personally im still waiting for a box speaker to come with a USB C port cause most phones these days come with USB C to USB C charging cables.
But, both of these speakers have 2 quarter inch inputs so that you can plug in a microphone for karaoke, or so that you can plug in a guitar. But with the sony, you can plug in 2 microphones for karaoke, where as with the JBL, one is for a mic and the other is for a guitar. Now you can plug in a microphone into the guitar port, but it has a lot of resistance, so its not going to sound as loud.
So if karaoke is very important to you, then I do recommend the sony cause you can use two microphones… but with the partybox, you can adjust the sound of your microphone through the app. Where as with the Sony, you can only add an echo. But I still recommend the Sony for karaoke here if you have friends.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Regarding speakers set up, both of these speakers have dual frontward firing woofers and dual frontward firing tweeters. However the exhaust port on the Sony shoots out the front where as the exhaust port on the Partybox shoots out the back, so with the JBL, you can always increase its bass by placing it up against a well cause its bass is going to have something to bounce off of.
But before we jump into the soundtest, we have to take about the max volume performance on these speakers. Now when they are running off of their internal batteries… the Partybox 110 gets decent loud for its size, but with the XV500… this speaker doesn’t get quite as loud as the 110 when its running off of its internal battery. But with both of these speakers, if you use them while they are plugged in, they are going to get a performance bump. They are going to get louder and they are going to have more bass. And when the XV500 is plugged in, its performs as you’d expect and it keeps up with the Partybox 110. So with both of these speakers, you get a performance boost out of them when they are plugged in, but the boost that you get with the Sony is much larger than the boost that you get with the Partybox 110. But with all of that being said we’re going to jump into the soundtest. Both of these speakers are playing at 75% volume and the Sony is playing with mega bass tuned on and the 110 is playing with its bass set to deep.
Sound test
So overall when it comes to sound, the JBL Partybox 110 gets louder and has more bass than the Sony XV500. However when it comes to quality… the Sony has a more balanced sound signature to it and it has slightly better instrument separation, where as with the Partybox 110 its sounds a little brighter cause the highs are a little more harsher. But with both of these speakers you can always go into their app and adjust their EQ’s to your liking. So you can make the 110 sound a little less bright if you want. But if you’re trying to choose between these two speakers, I feel that if you want a more balanced and more open sound you can go with the Sony XV500 or if you want more sound, as in you want more volume and more bass, then you can go with the JBL Partybox 110.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now with the Partybox 110, you can wirelessly pair it up to one other Partybox like a partybox encore, 110, 310, or 710 and get them to play in sync, or if you have 2 of the same speakers you can get them to play in left and right stereo mode.
But with the 110 you can only have a total of 2 speakers wirelessly connected to one another, and you can not pair your large partybox speaker to any of your smaller Partyboost speakers. So if you have a 110 you cannot wirelessly pair it up to either a Boombox 3, Boombox 2, Xtreme 3, Charge 5, pulse 5, pulse 5, flip 5 or to a flip 6… and you cant connect your 110 up to a partybox ultimate either.
However, like I mentioned earlier, the 110 does have that audio out jack, so you can always daisy chain it up to any other speaker regardless of size or brand and get them to play in sync. So at least theres that.
But then theres the XV500 which is using Sony’s Partyconnect and you can pair it up to other speakers that are using party connect like an XV900, XV800, XP700, XP500 or to an XV500 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together and get them to play in sync, or you can get two of the same speakers and get them to play in left and right stereo mode.
But the cool thing about Sony’s party connect is that you can connect your larger box speakers to any of Sony’s smaller speaker that are also using party connect like an XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33 or XB23. So Sony’s speaker pair protocol is a lot more accommodating cause you can wirelessly connect your smaller speakers to your box speaker, where as with the Partybox, you cant.
However, if you do plan on pair multiple speakers with the Sony, I have found that if you try to connect more than 4 speakers together, sometime there can be some skipping. Where as skipping is not an issue with Partybox… and also to pair your sony speakers together you have to use their app, where as with the Partybox’s you just press their TWS buttons and they connect.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between the Sony XV500 and the JBL Partybox 110… I do think that its a close call here. With the Sony XV500 you’re going to have slightly better sound quality cause it sounds more balanced and a little more open. You van also plug in 2 microphones for karaoke. You’re also going to have slightly better battery life and you can connect your larger box speaker to your smaller sony speakers if you want. But with the JBL Partybox 110, this speaker gets louder and it has more bass than the Sony XV500. It also has a much more dynamic looking light feature, and it has that audio out jack so you can daisy chain it to other speakers.