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Is bigger always better? If you walk into a retail store chances are you'll be able to get the Sony XB7 for less than the much smaller JBL Xtreme. And with the recently leaked JBL BoomBox I wanted to see how the sound on the JBL Extreme compared to the Sony XB7 and get an idea of what to expect from the JBL BoomBox when it finally releases. Don't forget to like comment and subscribe and you can watch my Sony XB7 Review Here after you're done watching this video. And there will be a sound comparison at the end of this video as well.
For the most part, the JBL Extreme retails for $299.99 at most stores. But I’ve managed to find it for as low as $228.98 on amazon. When the Sony XB7 first released it was selling for $349.99 but since most of sony’s line up is on sale you can actually get it for $228.44 directly from amazon as well. Which is straight up amazing. If you want to pick either of these products up I’ll have links in the description below and I’ll keep them updated so you can get the best deal possible.
Ok, so lets go over the form factor and speaker set up first. The Sony GTK XB7 weighs in at a whopping 26 and a half pounds or 12 kilos and its 25.59 inches tall by 12.83 inches by 13.39 inches. The JBL Extreme on the other hand weighs in at 4.66 pounds or 2.11 kilos and is 11.14 inches wide, 4.96 inches tall and has a depth of 4.8 inches. The Sony XB7 has 2 6 and three eights inch woofers and 3 2 inch tweeters. The JBL Extreme has 2 2.48 inch passive radiators on each side, 2 2.48 inch full range speakers, and 2 1.38 inch tweeters. And according to leaked specs, the JBL Boombox is said to be 20 inches wide, 10 inches tall (just the main body and not including the handle) and weigh in at 11 pounds. basically its going to be double the size of the JBL Extreme but still be slightly smaller than the XB7 but weigh half as much. And rumors have it at around $500 more or less. You can bet I'm going to be making a JBL BoomBox vs Sony XB7 video.
Like I said, the main focus for this video is comparing the performance of these two speakers. I want to compare their sound quality and loudness. After downloading a decibel reader app on my iPad I got to getting some measurements and really annoying my neighbors. First I placed both of these speakers outside and stood 10 feet away from them. At 50% volume with the JBL Extreme I got an average reading of 60 decibels. At 75% volume the JBL Extreme was getting an average reading of 77 decibels. and at 100% volume the average reading was 81 decibels. Then I did the same thing with the Sony XB7… at 50% volume the average was at 77 decibels, at 75% volume the average was at 83 decibels and at 100% volume the average was at 93 decibels. And when I did the same test indoors the data set was very similar to one another.
When it comes to sound quality obviously the Sony XB7 is going to have way more bass. Like you can feel the bass punch the inside of your chest. But when it comes to the mid and highs the JBL Extreme does a really good job of keeping up. But the sound on the JBL Extreme has more depth while the sound on the Sony XB7 is a little more forward. And I did notice there was much more separation in the XB7 than on the extreme. The punchy bass on the XB7 is its own ententiy, where as with the Extreme if the bass really gets going its going to muddle the sound a bit.
But even though the Sony XB7 can get much louder than the JBL Extreme, when the XB7 is at 100% volume theres a lot of distortion going on and theres a lot of roll off from the bass which muddles the overall sound. In most cases I feel its unusable. I think the XB7 sounds best when its at 75% volume which means its going to achieve the same loudness as the JBL extreme at 100% volume with an average decibel reading of 81 to 83 decibels. And at 100% volume the JBL Extreme suffers much less distortion.
Even though the Sony XB7 completely dwarfs the JBL Extreme… The JBL Extreme can still stand up to the Sony XB7 when it comes to pure sound quality. Yeah obviously the Sony XB7 gets louder, but at those higher volumes theres a lot of distortion. Its not usable for personal listening, but if you're having a pool party or a big get together it'll get the job done. But if you were to compare these two speakers at the same decibel level the Sony XB7 does have better instrument separation and a whole lot of bass, in a good way. But then you have to ask yourself, is the sheer size of the XB7 worth it compared to the JBL Extreme which is significantly smaller, and has less bass but still sounds pretty good compared to the XB7
But does this mean JBL is gunning for the Sony XB7 with their JBL Boombox. Will the JBL BoomBox be able to achieve a loudness of around 93 decibels without suffering from so much distortion like the Sony XB7. And will the JBL BoomBox have more or less the same amount of bass? If JBL can match Sony XB7 performance levels in a slightly smaller and lighter package I would be very impressed. And its supposed to be IPX 7 certified as well where as with the XB7 you cant get it wet. But would you be willing to pay $500 for a larger JBL Extreme? comment down below and let me know.
Ok, so here’s the sound test. Both of these speakers are playing in the same room at the same distance away from the microphone streaming from the same source and playing at the same decibel level so hopefully the only independent variable is sound quality. And comment down below and tell me which one you prefer.