So the new XG300 is a little more portable than its predecessor, the XB43 thanks to its new built in carrying handle and better performing battery life. But personally I am not a fan of its super warm sound signature… and unfortunately, the battery life on the XG300 has been down graded from the XB43. Nonetheless, today we’re going to see how the Sony XG300 stacks up to the JBL Xtreme 3.
Regarding pricing… the XG300 has a retail price of $350, where as the JBL Xtreme 3 has a retail price of $380… thanks to inflation its price has gone up. However, both of these speakers routinely go on sale for $300. Now personally, I prefer the Xtreme 3 over the XG300… and if you have an XB43… there’s no need to upgrade. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these two speakers up they’ll be linked down below, of you can press on the YouTube shopping button. Give it a try.
Now first lets talk about the design of these speakers. Now both of these speakers are decently small and they’re both light weight. The XG300 weighs in at six and a half pounds where as the Xtreme 3 weighs in at 4.3 pounds. They’re both rocking an IP67 rating meaning that they’re both water and dust resistant, and they both have a mostly fabric wrapped body so they’re both going to have no problem standing up to constant bumps and scrapes. And in general, both of these speakers are good options to take on the go with you. However, with the XG300, it has a built in retractable carrying handle… which is a big upgrade from its predecessor. Whereas with the Xtreme 3… it has its classic shoulder strap… which I feel is more versatile than the carrying handle found on the XG300. Plus it also has a built in bottle opener, which I feel is a very nice touch. So personally, I still feel the Xtreme 3 has better portability to it thanks to its shoulder strap.
Now while we’re on the topic of design, the XG300 has a built in light feature… just like Sony’s previous speakers. However, this light feature is much harder to see than before cause it has been tucked away into the passive radiators. And personally, I feel that this light feature just doesn’t compare to the XB43’s light feature. I feel that the light feature on the XG300 isn’t even worth using, so that’s why I turn it off. But also this way, you do get some battery savings.
But now lets talk about tech specs. Regarding battery life… yes this is an area where the XG300 out preforms the Xtreme 3 depending on how you use it. The XG300 has an advertised battery life of 25 hours… but that’s with this speaker playing at 50% volume, with its light feature turned off, but with its mega bass feature turned on, which is good. However, 50% volume on this speaker is on the quieter side cause this speaker does lean towards a brighter sound signature.
But with the XG300, if you want to extend its battery life past its advertised battery life of 25 hours… you can use it while in stamina mode, which is going to turn off the light feature and reduce its bass… But while in stamina mode, this speaker sounds very flat. Or if you were to use this speaker with its light feature and mage bass turned on… then its battery life is going to drain faster.
But real world use for me, with this speaker playing at 80% volume, with its light fearer turned off, but with mega bass turned on… I’m getting about 11 hours of playback time, which is not bad at all. However, since this speaker does have a warmer sound signature… I do expect that you’ll have to use it at a higher volume, meaning that you’re going to drain its battery life a little faster.
Where as with the Xtreme 3, which speaker has an advertised battery life of 15 hours… and that’s with this speaker playing at 50% volume. And real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume… which is noticeably louder than 80% volume on the XG300… this speaker is good for about 9 hours of playback time. Still pretty good… but for the Xtreme 4, were going to have to see a 24 hour battery life on it. At least.
Now when it comes to connectivity, the Xtreme 3 is using bluetooth 5.1 and the XG300 is using Bluetooth 5.2 but more importantly, 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 Xtreme 3 only have support for SBC and AAC. Which is normal. Where as the XG300 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 XG300 you do have to be an android user… and also keep in mind that LDAC does take its toll on the battery life.
But if you want to you can still use a wired connection with either of these two speakers cause they both still have a 3.5 millimeter audio jack… something that both mid sized and small sized speakers no longer have. But the really cool thing here is that with the Xtreme 3… its USB C port isn’t just for charging the speaker itself… you can also use it as a wired connection… and you can also charge your own devices with it. Where as with the XG300… its USB C is only used for charging. Now both of these speakers still have a USB A out port so that you can charge your own devices… but I don’t think that these USB A ports are going to get much use cause most phone these days now come included with USB C cable. So personally, I would prefer it if these speakers removed their USB A ports and simple give me a second USB C port.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these speakers. Now regarding speaker set ups… both of these speakers are rocking dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Now like I mentioned earlier, the XG300 has a very warm sound signature… as in it has a lot of bass and it can sound a little shallow. Where as the Xtreme 3 has a brighter sound signature to it, as in the mids and highs are a little stronger on this speaker. Now both of these speakers have customizable EQ’s and well address them in a minute… but for this sound test, both of these speakers are playing with their Stock EQ’s… which means mega bass on the XG300 is turned on… but so that the XG300 can keep up with the Xtreme 3, its going to be playing at max volume where as the Xtreme 3 is playing at 87% volume.
So like I have mentioned a few times already, the XG300 has a warmer sound signature to it where as the Xtreme 3 has a brighter sound signature. Personally I prefer the brighter sound signature found on the Xtreme 3 over the warmer sound on the XG300 cause with the Xtreme 3 vocals are much more front and center, and in general, the Xtreme 3 gets louder than the XG300. But also, the brighter sound signature on the Xtreme 3 is good for out door use cause this is going to help the Xtreme 3 cover a larger area with music. Now with both of these speakers, they both have a customizable EQ. So you can go in and raise the mids and highs on the XG300 so that is doesn’t sound so shallow, and you can go in and lower the treble on the Xtreme 3 and raise the bass so that it doesn’t sound so bright. But even when I have these speakers with my preferred EQ… I can’t help but feel that the Xtreme 3 continues to preform better than the XG300. The Xtreme 3 has noticeably better instrument separation and the bass on this speaker hits a little harder than the bass on the XG300. And then there’s the matter of max volume. Even if you were to go in and raise the mids and highs on the XG300, and even if you were to go in and lower the treble on the Xtreme 3… the Xtreme 3 continues to get louder than the XG300. Now with both of these speakers, I also found that if you use them while they’re plugged in you are going to get a performance boost out of them. However, the performance boost here is so small I doubt that most people will notice a difference. I barely did. But with all of that being said… sound quality wise, the Xtreme 3 easily out performs the XG300. The Xtreme 3 gets noticeably louder, it has better instrument separation, and the bass hits harder. And thanks to its new customizable EQ, you can adjust it to your liking. And personally I like my Xtreme 3 with the bass raised one click and their treble lowered one click.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. The Xtreme 3 is using JBL’s Partyboost. Meaning that you can pair your Xtreme 3 to other Partyboost speakers like lets say a Boombox 2, another 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 XG300 which is using Sony’s Party Connect and you can pair it up to other party connect speakers like either a Sony XG500, another 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.
However, with Sony’s party connect, you can pair your smaller more portable speakers to an 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 XG300, 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.
But finally here’s the microphone test, now the Xtreme 3 doesn’t have a built in microphone… and I don’t really think it matters. Now the mic on the XG300 isn’t awful… but I still wouldn’t take any phone calls with this speaker.
But with all of that being said… the Sony XG300 has gotten some upgrades over its predecessor that help it be a more portable bluetooth speaker. It has that new retractable handle and it has a better preforming battery. However when it comes to sound, even though the XG300 get the job done… I can’t help but feel that it sounds very narrow and shallow thanks to its new super bass heavy EQ. Where as with the Xtreme 3, yes right out of the box it can sound very bright, but thanks to a recent firmware update you can now adjust the EQ on this speaker. And if you raise the bass and lower the treble, the Xtreme 3 is going to sound much more balanced, but its also going to have better instrument separation and harder hitting bass than the XG300, and its also going to get louder. Personally, I feel that if you’re trying to choose between the XG300 and Xtreme 3, the Xtreme 3 is a no brainier…. Cause before, when we were trying to choose between the Xtreme 3 and XB43… for some people the light feature on the XB43 was a compelling enough reason… but now the XG300 doesn’t even have that. So the Xtreme 3 here is the obvious choice… but for the Xtreme 4, I would like to see a battery life of 24 hours at least.