So this is the JBL Pulse 5, Now the Pulse 5 sounds good, but you are mainly paying for the light feature. However, the light feature on the Pulse 5 is very impressive and its very dynamic. But today we’re going to see how the Pulse 5 stacks up to both the Sony XG300 and the Sony XE300. Cause in case you didn’t know, the XG300 also technically has a light feature.

Regarding pricing, the Pulse 5 has a retail price of $250, which I will admit is a little steep cause with the Pulse 5 you’re mainly paying for the light feature. Where as with the Sony XG300, this speaker has a retail price of $350… but it can routinely be found on sale for $250. And then there’s the XE300 which has a retail price of $200 but can routinely be found on sale for $150. 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 both the Pulse 5 and XE300 are mid sized speakers. So they are both easy enough to take on the go with you. But the Pulse 5 does have this built in loop which means that you can hang it from places. Where as with the XG300… this is a larger portable bluetooth speaker. Now this isn’t a speaker that you’re going to want to carry around in your backpack… but it does have a built in carrying handle. So the XG300 is also easy enough to take on the go with you. However durability wise, both of Sony’s speakers have mostly fabric wrapped bodies and these fabric wrapped bodies do a really good job of standing up to constant abuse from bumps and scrapes. Whereas the Pulse 5 has an acrylic body, and from my testing, I found that this acrylic body is a lot more durable than I thought. Now you are going to get deep scratches if you were to drop this speaker from two feet above the ground on to some pavement… but this acrylic body doesn’t scratch easily if its in your back pack and it takes a lot of force to shatter this acrylic body. And all of these speakers are IP67 rated meaning that if any of these speakers get wet, rained on, or dropped in a pool they’re going to be fine.

But now let’s talk about the light features on these speakers. Now the XE300 doesn’t have a light feature. Its predecessor did, but not this one. Whereas the XG300 does have a light feature, but this light feature is hidden in the passive radiators, and to be honest its very hard to see this light feature and this light feature isn’t all that impressive. So personally I just turn off this light feature and I enjoy the battery life savings. Where as with the Pulse 5, this light feature is a lot more impressive, its a lot brighter, its a lot more dynamic and there are a lot more lighting styles to choose from. The light feature on the Pulse 5 is going to liven up your bedroom or its just going to look very cool out doors at night. However, this light feature is a little hard to see during the day time. But nonetheless, if you do decide to use light feature… it is going to take its toll on the battery life.

Now when it comes to battery life, the Pulse 5 has an advertised battery life of 12 hours, but this advertised battery life of 12 hours is with this speaker playing at 50% volume and with the volume dimmed down a bit. But real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, which is a really good listening volume for indoor use, the Pulse 5 is good for about 6 to 7 hours of playback time.

But then there are these other two Sony speakers. The XG300 has an advertised battery life of 25 hours, and that’s with this speaker playing at 50 percent 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 a little on the quiet side, especially since this speaker leans towards a very warm sound signature.

But real world use, if you were to use this speaker at 80% volume, with its Mega Bass feature turned on but with its light featured turned off, I’m getting a battery life of about 11 hours. Which is rather impressive. And personally, I recommend that if you do get this speaker you simply use it with its light feature turned off cause its barely noticeable to begin with… and plus that way, you’re going to save on battery life.

However, if you were to use this speaker at max volume, with its mega bass feature turned on and with its light feature turned on, Sony is claming a battery life of 4 hours… And if you want to extend this speaker’s battery life past its advertised battery life of 25 hours you can use it while in stamina mode… but keep in mind, while in stamina mode, this speaker is going to sound very flat cause it severely reduces its bass.

And then there’s the XE300. The XE300 has an advertised battery life of 24 hours, but that’s while this speaker is playing at 50% volume… which is really on the quiet side cause this speaker doesn’t get all that loud and it has a very warm sound signature… and that’s also while this speaker is in stamina mode which is going to severely reduce the bass on this speaker making it sound super flat.

But with stamina mode turned off, this speaker has an advertised battery life of 14 hours while its playing at 50% volume. But real world use with the XE300 playing at 80% volume and with its stock EQ, this speaker is good for about 8 hours of playback time. But since this speaker is so quiet and since it has such a warm sound signature, I expect most people to use this speaker at a higher volume, which is going to mean that its battery life is going to drain faster.

So overall what im saying is Sony likes to put these big numbers on their speakers when it comes to battery life, but the real world number will might not be as impressive. But I do think the XG300 has decent real world battery life. And with the Pulse 5, its battery life is okay… given that it has the big light feature to power.

Now when it comes to charging all of these speakers, they all charge via a USB C port… however, this USB C port is the only port that you’ll find on both the Pulse 5 and XE300… and you can only use these two speakers wirelessly. Where as with the XG300, it still has an audio jack and it still has a USB A port so that you can charge your own devices.

Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, all of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time so that you an a friend can both be DJ. They all have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device. But when it comes to audio codecs, the Pulse 5 only has support for SBC… where as Sony’s speakers have support for SBC, AAC and Sony’s own LDAC.

But now lets talk about actually lisenting to music with these speakers. Regarding speaker setups, the Pulse 5 has the most unique set up here. It has an upwards firing woofer, an upwards firing tweeter and a downward firing passive radiator that bounces sound off of the table. And due to this speaker’s set up, if you want to best sound out of it, you should use it while indoors so that its sound has ceiling to bounce off of. But then there’s the XE300 which has dual frontward firing woofers and dual passive radiators. And then there’s the XG300 which has dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Now the good thing about having woofers and tweeters on both the Pulse 5 and XG300 is that it helps with insutemnet separation cause the woofers handle the mids and the tweeters handles the highs. But so that you can see for yourself, let me just show you with the Charge 5 which also has a woofer and tweeter set up.

So like you may have just seen, the woofer handles the mids and the tweeters handle the highs. So this is going to help your speaker sound more open. But with all of that being said, we’re going to jump into the sound test. All of these speakers are playing with their stock EQ’s. Now both the Pulse 5 and XG300 are playing at 75% volume, but so that the XE300 can keep up, its playing at 87% volume.

So first off, when it comes to the sound signatures on these speakers, the Pulse 5 has a brighter sound signature and the Sonys have a warmer sound signature. However, I feel the Pulse 5 sounds decent enough with its stock EQ… but I still like to go in and raise the bass by two clicks and lower the treble by one click. But in general, I feel the Pulse 5 is still usable with its stock EQ. Where as with both of Sony’s speakers… these speakers just sound too warm to the point where they can sound muffled. So with Sony’s speakers you have to go and lower their bass and raise their mids and treble… but even still they continue to sound a little muffled.

Now when it comes to the actual physicality in the bass… the Pulse 5 has the least amount of kick in its bass and that’s cause this speaker has a single passive radiator and it is a little smaller than the passive radiators found on these other speakers. Where as the XG300 is obviously going to have the most amount of bass cause its simply larger. But when it comes to max volume, the XE300 is just the quietest speaker. This is a speaker that you’re going to have to use at higher volumes on a regular bias and as a result, that’s going to drain the battery life. Now the Pulse 5 gets decently loud for its size and it gets loud enough for indoor use… but for outdoor use it can leave you wanting a little more. And finally there’s the XG300, obviously since this is a largest speaker here its also going to get the loudest. And since it is a frontward firing speaker, this speaker is going to be better for out door use than the pulse 5 cause you can aim the music directly at you.

But since we’re on the topic of sound… I do have to point out that the Pulse 5 no longer has onboard media controls on it. So if you want pause your music, adjust the volume of skip through your music, you’re going to have to do so from your phone, which isn’t always the most convenient. Where as with Sony’s speakers, they both still have their on board media control buttons.

But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. The Pulse 5 is using JBL’s Partyboost. Meaning that you can pair your Pulse 5 to other Partyboost speakers like lets say a Boombox 3, Boombox 2, an Xtreme 3, a Charge 5, Pulse 5, a Pulse 4, flip 5 or to a flip 6

And you can pair up to 100 speakers together which is obviously just overkill.

Now if you’re going to be mixing and matching speakers, your speakers will play in sync, if you want to get let and right stereo sound going, you’re going to need two of the exact same speakers. So if you want to get left and right stereo sound with the Pulse 5 you’re going to need two Pulse 5s. If you have a Pulse 5 and a Pulse 4, they’ll only play in sync. And also keep in mind that you can pair any of JBL’s PartyBoost speakers to any of JBL’s larger party box speakers.

But then there’s the XG300 and XE300 which are both using Sony’s Party Connect and you can pair them 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.

And again, if you’re going to mic and match speakers, they’ll play in sync. If you want to get left and right stereo sound going, you’re going to need two of the exact same speakers. 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.

And keep in mind, with both JBL’s PartyBoost and Sony Party Connect… you can’t pair these speakers to any older speakers that are using older speaker pairing protocols. So with JBL’s PartyBoost, you can’t connect them to any of JBL’s speakers that are using JBL Connect Plus. And with Sony’s Party Connect, you can’t connect them to any of Sony’s older speakers using Wireless Party Chain.

Now overall, Sony’s party connect is 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, 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.

So with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between these three speakers, personally for me the Sony XE300 is a hard pass because sound quality wise, its sounds very muffled and it is rather quite for its size. The JBL Flip 6 easily out performs the Sony XE300 and it is significantly smaller. Now if you’re trying to choose between the Pulse 5 and XG300… the Pulse 5 is an all. Around good speaker, but you are mainly paying for the light feature. Because sound quality wise, speakers like the Flip 6 and Charge 5 both sound better than the Pulse 5 all while being more affordable and smaller. And even though the Sony XG300 isn’t my favorite speaker out there cause of its warm sound signature… when compared to the Pulse 5, the XG300 would be the better choice, regarding sound quality.