So the JBL Flip 6 is a very impressive small portable Bluetooth speaker. Its packing a woofer, transducer and dual passive radiator set up, which is rare for a speaker like this. Also, it has a customizable EQ and JBL’s Partyboost. Overall you can’t go wrong with the JBL Flip 6 is you’re looking for a small speaker. But then there’s the Sony XE200 which is almost as big as a mid sized speaker. If you’re trying to choose between the JBL Flip 6 and Sony XE200, lets see which one is right for you.
When it comes to pricing, both of these speakers retail for $130… but they both like to routinely go on sale for $110 and sometimes even a little less. However, you are getting much more bang for your buck with the Flip 6. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these two speakers up they’ll be linked down below, or you can press on the YouTube shopping button. Give it a try.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. First off, the XE200 is noticeably larger than the Flip 6… so taking the XE200 on the go with you or chucking it into your backpack isn’t going to be as easy as with the Flip 6. Something that I think is important to consider if you’re thinking about getting a small sized speaker like this. Now durability wise, technically the XE200 wins cause its passive radiators are covered where as the passive radiators on the Flip 6 are exposed. But other than that, both of these speakers are rocking an IP67 rating, meaning that they are both water and dust resistant. And both of their bodies are going to be able to stand up to constant abuse from bumps and scrapes. However, personally I feel that the mostly fabric wrapped body on the Charge 5 is going to do a better job of looking new for longer, cause the mostly silicon wrapped body on the XE200 can be a scratch magnet. But overall, design and portability wise, the Flip 6 is my pick here cause its noticeably smaller, and its also very rugged. You just have to be mindful of those exposed radiators, which have never been an issue for me when I travel with this speaker.
Now when it comes to tech specs, the XE200 has an advertised battery life of 16 hours… but that’s with this speaker playing at 50% volume… which is very quite cause this speakers does have a very warm sound signature to it, and while its in stamina mode, which is going to severely reduce its bass. Making this speaker sound super flat. Or if you were to use this speaker with its stock EQ… which is how you should use this speaker, then its going to have an advertised battery life of 10 hours.
But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume and with its stock EQ, this speaker is good for about 5 hours of playback time. However, since this speaker is so quiet, I do expect most people to use this speaker at a higher volume, thus draining its battery life faster.
But then there’s the Flip 6 which has an advertised battery life of 12 hours… and thats with this speaker playing at 50% volume. Which is a decent listening volume. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, its good for about 10 hours of playback time. Which is not bad at all. And 80% volume on the Flip 6 is noticeably louder than 80% volume on the XE200.
Now when it comes to connectivity, both of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time, so you and a friend can both be DJ… and when it comes to audio codecs, the Flip 6 only has support for SBC. Where as the XE200 has support for SBC, AAC, and Sony’s own LDAC which is their own in house high res audio codec. Now whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device, AAC is going to work perfectly fine. But if you do want to take advantage of LDAC on the XE200 you do have to be an android user… and also keep in mind that LDAC does take its toll on the battery life.
But unfortunately, you can only use these speakers wirelessly cause neither of these speakers have an audio jack. And even though these speakers do have USB C ports… these USB C ports are strictly used for charging. You can’t use these USB C ports as a wired connection like you can on the Xtreme 3.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these speakers. Regarding speaker set ups, the XE200 has a very standard speaker set up for small sized speakers. It has dual frontward firing woofers and dual passive radiators that shoot out its sides. Where as with the Flip 6, it also has dual passive radiators that shoots out its sides… but it has a single frontward firing woofer that handles the mids, and it has a single frontward firing tweeter that handles the highs. And having this type of set up really does help with the instrument separation. But let me just show you.
So like you may have just seen, with the XE200 both of its woofers are handling the mids and highs, where as with the Flip 6, the woofer is handling the mids and mids lows and the tweeter is handling the highs. And this helps make this speaker sound much more open than the XE200. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. Both of these speakers are playing with their stock EQ’s. However the Flip 6 is playing while at 87% volume and with the XE200 its also playing at 87% volume… but so that it can have a chance of keeping up with the Flip 6… we’re also going to use it at max volume.
Now first off we’re going to have to address max volume performance on these speakers. Like you may have just seen, even at max volume the XE200 was struggling to keep up with the Flip 6 while it was playing at 87% volume. In general, the XE200 is a quiet speaker… combined with the fact that this speaker has a warmer sound signature… this isn’t the best speaker out there if you want to use this speaker out doors on a regular basis. Where as with the Flip 6, this speaker gets decently loud for a small sized speaker. It doesn’t leave you wanting more like the XE200 does. Now with both of these speakers, I did find that if you use them while they are plugged in, you technically will get a performance boost out of them, but it is so small, I doubt that you’ll even notice it. I barely did. But max volume aside, the Flip 6 is simply better sounding speaker as well. Like I have mentioned a few times already, the XE200 is a very warm sounding speaker and it can sound shallow. Where as with the Flip 6, I will admit that right out of the box, this speaker sound a little bright. So personally I like to go into its EQ and I lower the treble by one click and I raise the bass by one click. And with this EQ setting, I find that the flip 6 sounds balanced. Now with the XE200 you can also go in and adjust its EQ, but even if you were to raise the mids and treble on this speaker so that it doesn’t sound so shallow… the XE200 simply doesn’t have as good instrument separation as the Flip 6 cause of its inferior speaker set up. So overall, the Flip 6 is easily the better sounding speaker here. It sounds more open the XE200, and it gets significantly louder as well.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. The Flip 6 is using JBL’s Partyboost. Meaning that you can pair your Flip 6 to other Partyboost speakers like lets say a Boombox 2, an Xtreme 3, a Charge 5, Pulse 4, flip 5 or to a flip 6. Plus you can also pair it up to the up coming Boombox 3 and pulse 5.
However, you can not pair a Partyboost speaker to any older JBL speakers using JBL Connect plus, and you also can’t pair any of your smaller Partyboost speakers to any of JBL’s larger Partybox speakers.
But then there’s the XE200 which is using Sony’s Party Connect and you can pair it up to other party connect speakers like either a Sony XG500, a Sony XG300, an XE300, an XE200, or to an XB43, XB33, or to an XB23 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together, just like how you can with JBL’s speakers, but obviously that just over kills.
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However, with Sony’s party connect, you can pair your smaller more portable speakers to any of Sony’s larger box speakers that are also using party connect like either an XP500 or an XP700. But keep in mind, you can’t pair any Party connect speakers to any of Sony’s older speakers that are using wireless party chain. And also, either of Sony’s or JBL’s speakers, if you want to get left and right stereo sound going, you need to have two of the exact same speakers. Otherwise, they’re only going to play in sync.
Now overall, Sony’s party connect it very accommodating and it gets the job done. But it is not my favorite speaker pairing protocol cause it can be a hassle to use. For starters, with the XE300, you have to use the app which isn’t a convenient as simply pressing a button like before. But also, sometimes it can take forever to get these groups running, sometimes not all of your speakers get paired up, so you’ll have to go through the pairing process multiple times… and sometimes echos do form. Now Party Connect will correct these echo’s after awhile, but its only a matter of time before they come back.
Where as with JBL’s PartyBoost, it just works. You simply press a button on each speaker, they sync up and they just start playing. So if you plan on getting multiple speakers and if you plan on constantly pairing your speakers together, then JBL is the way to go. Personally, I dread anytime that I know that I have to pair my Sony speakers together when I have to get B roll with them, cause I know its going to be a problem.
But finally here’s the microphone test, now the Charge 5 doesn’t have a built in microphone… and I don’t really think it matters. Now the mic on the XE300 isn’t awful… but I still wouldn’t take any phone calls with this speaker.
But with all of that being said, if you’re in the market for a small sized speaker, and if you’re trying to choose between the Flip 6 and Sony XE200… the Flip 6 is the way to go, its not even close. With the Flip 6 you’re going to get much better sound cause thanks to its dedicated woofer and tweeter set up, the Flip 6 sounds more open the XE200… but also, the Flip 6 gets noticeably louder than the XE200… And with the Flip 6, you’re getting a better sounding a louder speaker… in a noticeably smaller package than the XE200.