So the Sounboks Go is Sounboks’s newest speaker that’s super portable and super durable all while still being able to get super loud and it also has a super long battery life. And if you’re looking for a speaker to constantly take on the go with you, then the Go is a great option. But since I do feel that the Go is going to be cross referenced with multiple speakers… and there are more portable options out there… today we’re going to compare the Go to the JBL Boombox 2, Sony XG500, and the UE Hyperboom.
Now when it comes to pricing… the Hyperboom has a retail price of $450… due to inflation it has gotten a $50 price increase. Then there are the XG500 and Boombox 2 which both retail for $500. The XG500 has also gotten a $50 price increase since I initially reviewed it. But then there’s the Soundboks Go which has a retail price of $700… and if you want to optional shoulder strap, that’s going to be an additional $50. Now depending on your needs, you will be better off with one over the other. 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. Now all of these speakers are meant to be super portable so that you can easily take them on go with you. However, the GO is the most cumbersome and heaviest speaker here weighing in at 20 pounds. Where as all of these other speakers weigh in 13 pounds. Now don’t get me wrong, the Go is very easy to carry around especially considering the performance that you get out of it… but these other speakers are noticeably easier to carry around. But one petpeve that I do have about both the Boombox 2 and XG500 is their cylindrical design. If you’re going to throw either of these speakers in the trunk of your car… you always gotta remember to tie these speakers down or brace them against something… or else these speakers are going to roll all around your trunk. Where as with both the Go and Hyperboom… since they both have a rectangular design to them… they don’t shift around as much. Now regarding durability… all of these speakers are water resistant… so getting splashed on or getting caught in the rain shouldn’t be a problem for any of these speakers. And both the Soundboks and XG500 are officially dust resistant as well. Now all of these speakers should have no problem standing up to constant abuse thanks to their mostly fabric wrapped bodies… however… the Soundboks Go is just much more durable than these other speakers thanks to is super dense plastic body and honey comb grill… and its also got these extruded rubber bumpers that do a good job of absorbing any shock that hits this speaker. Now even though the Soundboks Go is super durable and admidtily, this is a main selling point of this speaker… I would still be mindful about not getting any drift or water in to the exhaust ports on this speaker which are found around the main woofer. And with both the Boombox 2 and XG500… you want to be carful about not pressing their exposed passive radiators. But besides the extra durability found on the Soundboks Go, the Go also has two extra goodies like a built in loop strap do you can always attach somethings to this speaker if you have to… and it also has a built in speaker stand mount on the bottom which is nice.
But then there’s the Sony XG500 which is the only speaker here that has a built in light feature. Now personally I don’t think this light feature is really worth using… its not super bright so you’re barely going to see it during the day… but also it is pretty hard to see in general cause its tucked away in the passive radiator of this speaker. So personally, I never use the light feature on this speaker… and instead, I enjoy the slightly longer battery life.
Now when it comes to battery life… the XG500 has an advertised battery life of 30 hours… but that with this speaker playing at 50% volume, with its light feature turned off but with its mega bass feature turned on. And under similar circumstances… both the Boombox 2 and Hyperboom have an advertised battery life of 24 hours.
However, real world use with the XG500 playing at 80% volume, with the light feature turned off, but with its mega bass feature turned on… its good for a very healthy 10 hours of playback time. Where as under the same circumstances, the Hyperboom is good for about 8 and half hours of playback time and the Boombox 2 is good for about 7 hours of playback time. Overall, all of these speaker will have now problem keeping up with you… but the Sony does have the best stamina here.
But then there’s the Soundboks go which is just on a whole other level. The Soundboks go has an advertised battery life of 40 Hours and that’s with this speaker playing at 50% volume and while in its power EQ. And for context, having the Go at 50% volume is like having these smaller speakers playing around 80% volume. So 50% volume on the Go is already is a really good listening volume. And at max volume, which is super loud, none of these other speakers can get close to it… the Go is good for up to 10 hours of playback time which is still a lot.
But if you were to use this speaker while in its bass plus EQ, which is my preferred EQ cause you're going to get the most of this speaker… its going to get louder and have more bass… but you are going to have to sacrifice some battery life cause at max volume its only good for up to 6 hours of playback time, which is still a lot. Or if you want to extend the battery life of this speaker… you can use it while its indoors EQ, but while in its indoors EQ this speaker isn’t going to get as loud or have as much bass. But at max volume which speaker is good for up to 14 hours of playback time, which is a lot. Overall, battery life on the Soundboks Go is just on a whole other level.
But also with the Go, you can easily swap out its 99.84 watt hour battery. And this is good for two reasons. The first of which is that this is going to extend the life of your investment. If your battery were to die on you, like mine did on my Soundboks 3 after three years… I can just get a new battery. Or if you’re going to be off grid for awhile and have multiple batteries, then you can easily swap them out and keep the party going.
Now even though I really like the swappable battery on the Go, there are somethings to keep in mind. Now you can use the Go while its plugged in and charging your battery at the same time… but Soundboks is very adamant that you don use this speaker past 50% volume while its plugged in. And also, you shouldn’t use this speaker while its plugged in without a battery… cause I tried doing this, and my Go literally started screeching.
But now, lets talk about the port set up on these speakers… now the Go has the weakest port set up here. It only has an audio jack and that’s it. And overall, this is very disappointing cause there’s a lot of horse power that is just going on used here.
But then there are all of these other speakers… now all of these speakers also have an audio jack… and all of these speakers have a USB A port so that you can charge your own devices if you must… And the Hyperboom has an optical port… so if you want you can use it as a soundbar for your TV.
But then there’s the XG500 which kicks its port game here up a notch. Now yes this speaker has USB A ports… but this is the only speaker where you can plug in a USB stick and play music off of it if you want. And also, the XG500 has a quarter inch input… so you can plug in a microphone as well. And I really feel the GO should have at least has a quarter inch input as well.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, the Go is using bluetooth 5.0… but more importantly, it can only be connected to one device at a time and its still only using SBC. Where as with all of these other speakers… they can all be connected to two devices at the same time, so you and a friend can both be DJ… Now both the Boombox 2 and Hyperboom are still only using SBC… where as the XG500 has support for SBC, AAC and even Sony’s on LDAC.
Now before we move onto the soundtest, I do want to point out one pet peeve that I have about the Go and that’s its dial. Now you can control the local volume of this speaker… but you can’t control your music playback directly from the speaker itself… you gotta do all of that from your phone or whatever media source you’re using. Where as with all of these other speakers, you can control your media playback directly from their control panels up top.
But now lets talk about sound cause these speakers a very different from one another. Now the Soundboks Go has a single frontward firing woofer and a single frontward firing tweeter. But the very important thing to keep in mind here is that you can’t amplify its bass by simply placing it up against a wall cause it has frontward firing exhausts ports well. But then there’s the Boombox 2 and XG500 which both have dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. So with both of these speakers you can amplify their bass if you place them in a corner. And finally there’s the Hyperboom which also has dual frontward firing woofers and dual frontward firing tweeters… but its passive radiators shoot out the back. So its a little easier to amplify the bass on this speaker cause you can place it up against any wall instead of having to look for a corner. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest, the Soundboks Go is playing while at 75% volume where as well of these other speakers are playing at max volume.
So first lets address max volume, like you may have just seen, the Go was coasting here at 75% volume where as all of these other speakers were playing at max volume. Simply put, none of these other speakers can keep up with the Go at max… and if you’re looking for a speaker to mostly use while outdoors… than the Go’s max volume performance can come in handy. And when it comes to max volume performance… the hyperboom is the next loudest speaker here… followed by the Boombox 2, and then there’s the XG500 which is the quietist speaker here in this line up. However, with both the XG500 and Boombox 2 if you were to use them while plugged in, you will get a performance bump out of them. They will get louder and have more bass. But with the Hyperboom, you don’t get any performance bump out of it while its plugged in. And like I mentioned earlier… you shouldn’t use the Go past 50% volume if you have it plugged in… but I did it for science reasons… and you also don’t get a performance bump out of it.
Now the fact that the Go get super loud is great for outdoor use… but I would only recommend that you get the Soundboks Go if you plan on using it like 90% of the time while outdoors. The Go leans towards a brighter sound signature. Its tweeter handles the highs and a good amount of the mids as well. So if you were to use this speaker at lower volumes… it is going to sound relatively bright and flat. Now you can go in and make your own EQ. And I went in and raised the bass on this speaker and lowered the highs… so that this speaker would have some physically in its bass at the lower volumes that you would want to use this speaker at while indoors… but even still its bass can be a little lacking and it can sound a little narrow.
Where as with all of these other speakers… they get decently loud while out doors… but more importantly they have a good amount of physicality in their bass while at lower volumes. But personally, I do feel the Hyperboom is the best sounding speaker. It has strong and pronounced vocals similar to the Boombox 2… but it has more physicality in its bass. And unlike the Boombox 2 who’s bass stops increasing once you raise the volume past 80% percent… after that the Boombox 2 starts to sound a little bright… the bass on the hyperboom continues to increase even past 80% volume. Plus, thanks to the Hyperboom’s layout, its easier to amplify its bass. Now with the Hyperboom you can also go in and make your own EQ… but personally I think the hyperboom sounds perfect with its stock EQ. And while we’re talking about customizable EQ’s… you can also adjust the EQ on the XG500 to your liking… but then there’s the Boombox 2 where you just can’t. JBL is saving their customizable EQ for their upcoming Boombox 3. But with all of that being said, I highly recommend the Hyperboom cause it can pefrom very well both at lower and higher volumes… where as with the Soundboks Go… this is a speaker that you’re better off using while outdoors and at higher volumes… cause the Go just needs that extra room so that it can stretch its legs and get its bass going.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with one another. Now Sony is super accommodating here cause you can pair your XG500 up to Sony’ larger box speakers like either their XP500 or XP700… or you can also pair it up to an XB43, XB33, or to an XB23, and you can pair upto 100 speakers together which is unnecessary. Now even though Sony’s speaker pairing protocol is very accommodating… its not my favorite. Sometimes not all of your speakers get paired up and sometimes you will hearing skipping in your music. But it works when it does.
Then there’s JBL’s party boost. Now JBL’s speaker pairing protocol is very easy to use, all of your speakers always pair up, skipping is not an issue and you can have a lot of range between your speakers. However, you can’t pair any of JBL’s smaller party boost speakers to any of their Partybox speakers like you can with Sony’s speaker pairing protocol.
Then there’s UE’s speaker pairing protocol which is also very easy to use… but they do have a rather small eco system of speakers to choose from. But its also very easy to use and skipping is not an issue.
And finally there’s Soundbok’s speaker pairing protocol which is also pretty good. Just like with JBL and UE… its very easy to use, skipping is not an issue and you can do everything from the app. Now you can pair a Soundboks Go to a Soundboks 3 and you can have upto 5 speakers paired together, which I feel is plenty. But the cool thing about Soundboks’s speaker pairing protocol is that you can use any EQ that you want with it and you can also assign whatever channel you want to your speakers. You don’t need to have 2 of the same speakers to get left and right stereo sound going like you do with all of these other brands.
But with all of that being said, the Soundboks Go is Soundbok’s ultra portable and ultra durable bluetooth speaker that still gets super loud and has a super long battery life all while in a relatively small package. And if that’s what you’re looking for, then the Soundboks Go will not disappoint. However, I do have to stress that the Soundboks Go is only worth getting if you plan on mostly using it while out doors and at higher volumes. Since the tweeter on the Go is putting in over time here… the Go is a very hard speaker to use while indoors and at lower volumes. And you also gotta keep in mind the port set up on this speaker. Unfortunalty, it is disappointing. You can’t plug in a microphone or an instrument.
But if you’re looking for something a little more tamed… all of these are good options to consider… but they each have their own specific attribute. If you’re looking for the best sound… then the hyperboom is the way to go. If you’re looking for the best battery life, then the XG500 is a the way to go, plus you can plug in a microphone and even play music off of a USB stick if you must… and finally there’s the Boombox 2 which I feel sounds better than the XG500… but its main attribute is Partyboost and JBL’s speaker eco system. However, if you do decide to pick up the Boombox 2, just keep in mind that the Boombox 3 is expected in the Summer of 2022.