Get Them Here
So the Sony XP500 is a decent little box speaker from sony… however I would mainly recommend this speaker to someone who plans on mostly using it while its plugged in and occasionally plans on using it while unplugged cause running off of its internal battery sound quality wise this speaker does leave you wanting more. However we’ve gotta see how the XP500 stacks up to the JBL Partybox 100.
Regarding pricing, both of these speakers retail for $350. However if you are planning on getting the Partybox 100 just keep in mind the Partybox 110 is right around the corner. So personally I would either try to hold off from the Partybox 100 right now or at the very least get it if its on sale. Nonetheless if you want to pick either of these two speakers up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. Now both of these speakers have mostly plastic bodies which can be a scratch magnet if you plan on taking them on the go with you. And they both have metal grills on the front. However only the Sony has an IPX4 rating here mainly cause you can seal off all of its ports from the elements. Meaning that if this speaker gets a little wet or if it gets rained on you don’t have to worry about it cause a little bit of water isn’t going to hurt it, just as long as the ports compartment on the back is sealed. Where as with the partybox, since all of these ports are exposed you do risk water damage. Now regarding portability both of these speakers are a little under 2 feet tall. And when it comes to weight, the Partybox weighs in at 21 and a half pounds where as the Sony weighs in at 24.7 pounds. And personally I don’t think this 3.2 pound difference is a big deal. However, one important detail that I do have to point out here is that with the Partybox you can use it with a speaker stand where as with the Sony you can’t.
Now regarding these light features… the XP500 has a decent looking light feature and I've also noticed that it has a good back splashing effect. And through Sony’s app you’ve got a few different lighting modes to choose from. You’ve got delightful, rave, chill and strobe. And through Sony’s fiestable app you can customize this light feature. Where as with the Partybox… there isn’t an app for this light feature. However I do feel that the light feature on the Partybox is more impressive than the light feature on the Sony XP500. Its more dynamic and brighter. But just keep in mind if you do decide to use the light feature on either of these speakers it is going to take its toll on the battery life.
But now lets talk about the battery life on these speakers. The Sony XP500 has an advertised battery life of 20 hours where as the Partybox 100 has an advertised battery life of 12 hours. But the XP500’s advertise battery life of 20 hours is with it playing at 30% volume, with its light feature turned off but with its mega bass feature turned on which is good. However 30% volume on this speaker is nothing. Its good for like ambiance but its not good for like actually listening to music.
Where as with the Partybox its advertised battery life is with this speaker playing at a little over 20% volume, but with its light feature turned off and with bass boost turned off. However 20% volume on the Partybox is noticeably louder than 30% volume on the Sony XP500. And in general the Sony XP500 is a little quiet for its size while playing off of its internal battery. So personally I feel most people will be using the Sony between 50 to a hundred percent volume on a regular basis. Where as with the partybox 60 to 80% volume is a good listening volume.
So real world use with the XP500 playing at 80% volume, with its light feature turned on and with mega bass turned on this speaker is good for about 8 hours which is fine. Where as with the partybox playing at 65% volume which is the same loudness as the XP500, with its light feature turned on and with bass boost set to level 1 this speaker is also good for about 8 hours of play back time.
So even though at first glance the Sony XP500 has a much longer advertised battery life than the Partybox 100… since I feel most people are going to have to use the XP500 at higher volumes than what they would with the Partybox 100… thats going to cause their battery life to drain much faster… but also keep in mind battery life on these speakers really depends on how you use them. If you use them at higher volumes thats going to drain your battery. If you have their light features turned on thats going to drain their batteries… and if you have their bass features turned on thats also going to drain their batteries especially on the Partybox 100 since you’ve got 3 levels of bass to choose from.
But now lets talk about ports on these speakers. For starters both of these speakers have 2 quarter inch mic inputs which could be a big deal for someone who either wants to do karaoke or for hosting small events. However with the Partybox you can add an echo to your mic. Now personally I would never use this feature, but its there.
Next up are the USB A ports on these speakers, the Partybox only has one where as the XP500 has two. Nonetheless you can charge your own devices if you’re out and about and you can play music off of a USB stick on either of these speakers. Now I thinks its great that both of these speakers have USB A ports but I still wish these speakers had a USB C port as well cause a lot of newer phones these days now come included with USB C cables instead.
Next up, both of these speakers have your standard 3.5 millimeter audio jacks so you can use a wired connection with either of these speakers. However, the Partybox 310 has an audio in and an audio out jack meaning that if you’ve got a spare speaker laying around regardless of brand you can daisy chain it to the Partybox and have it play in sync.
However it is important to point out that neither of these speakers have RCA inputs which I do think is unfortunate cause their predecessors did. So if you’re someone that likes to moon light as a DJ then you’ll might have to pass on these.
But when it comes to bluetooth connectivity the XP700 is using bluetooth 5.0 where as the Partybox is using bluetooth 4.2. But more importantly both of these speakers can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ. They both have zero latency across the board when watching videos, but when it comes to audio codecs the Partybox only has support for SBC and AAC where as the XP500 has SBC, AAC and LDAC.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these speakers. Both of these speakers have a pair of frontward firing woofers. And they both have a pair of frontward firing tweeters. And with either of these two speakers whether you’ve got them laying down flat or standing up right you’ve still got your left channel and your right channel. These speakers don’t turn into a mono speaker if you’ve got them standing up right. Now regarding mega bass and bass boost. With the XP500 if you’re going to listening to music you want to have mega bass turned on cause if not this speaker sounds very flat… where as with the Partybox 100 even with its bass boost feature turned off it still sounds pretty good. However the bass boost has 2 levels to it. Now personally I think bass boost level 1 sounds best but if you want more bass you can always crank it up to bass boost level two. But finally with both of these speakers if you were to use them while they’re plugged in you are going to get a performance boost out of them. However the performance boost that you get out of the Sony XP500 is way more drastic than the performance boost that you get out of the Partybox 100. Now I’ll dive a little deeper into max volume in a minute… but for now lets just jump into the sound test. Both of these speakers are playing while unplugged but the XP500 is playing at 95% with mega bass turned on where as the Partybox is playing at 75% volume with bass boost set to level 1.
So sound quality wise, I feel the these speakers have the same instrument separation but sound signature wise the Partybox does put a little more emphasis on the mids so vocals are a little more prominent on the Partybox. Now if you want you can always bring the mids out a little bit on the Sony through Sony’s app cause sony lets you adjust the eq on their speakers where as with JBL you can’t directly adjust their EQ. Now over all both of these speakers sound good… but the main performance difference here is just going to be volume. Like I mentioned earlier the XP500 was playing at 95% volume where as the Partybox was playing at 75%. And like I mentioned in the full review, at max volume off of its internal battery the XP500 really leaves you wanting more relative to its size. The XP500 playing at max volume is like having the XG500 playing at max volume as well. Now for its size and portability, the XG500 gets decently loud. But the XP500, not so much. Where as with the Partybox 100 it get decently loud for it size while playing off of its internal battery. However if you use the XP500 while its plugged in thats when it finally wakes up and it starts to sound and perform more like what you’d expect. Now you also get a performance bump out of the Partybox while its plugged in but its not as drastic as the Sony XP500. However even while its plugged in the Partybox 100 still gets a little louder than the XP500. But over all I like how both of these speakers sound. They both have good instrument separation and they both have a good amount of wall shaking bass. However the Partybox does like to put a little more emphasis on the mids than the Sony by default. However with the Sony if you want to get the most out of it you really want to use it while its plugged in. Where as with the Partybox its going to get decently loud whether you’ve got it plugged in or while it’s running off of its internal battery.
But finally lets talk about speaker pairing protocols. The Sony XP500 is using Sony’s new Party connect meaning that you can pair it up to other Sony Party connect speakers like either another XP500 and or an XP700. But the thing about party connect is that you can also pair your large box speakers to your smaller more portable speakers. So with the XP500 you can also pair it up either to a sony XG500, XB43, XB33, or even an XB23.
Where as with the partybox 100, you can only wirelessly pair it up to one other Partybox 100. You can’t pair it up to any other partybox’s… and you can’t pair it up to any of JBL’s smaller party boost speakers. However like I mentioned earlier the Partybox 100 does have that audio out jack so you can daisy it chain it to any other speaker. So there’s that. Like I’ve mentioned in the past I just wish JBL would add party boost to their partybox speakers.
Overall the main selling point about Sony’s Party Connect is that you can pair your larger box speakers to your smaller more portable speakers where as with JBL you can’t. Now Sony’s party connect get the job done but it not my favorite speaker pairing protocol. Its not as easy to use, sometimes not all of your speakers get paired up and sometimes you will hear some stuttering.
So with all that being said, if you’re trying to choose between either of these two speakers sound quality wise I gotta go with the Partybox 100 cause it gets significantly louder than the Sony XP500 while running off of its internal battery. But also the Partybox does have the better looking light feature here and you can always use it with a speaker stand as well. But if you’re not concerned about your speaker getting super loud or if you’re okay with having your speaker plugged in most of the time… then the Sony XP500 is a solid pick up as well. And the XP500 does have some major pros over the Partybox 100 as well. You don’t gotta worry about the ports on the back getting water damaged cause you can seal them off, you can directly adjust the EQ on this speaker if you want, and if you have other sony speakers laying around that are using Party Connect you can pair them up to the XP500.