Get Them Here

LG Xboom XL7: https://amzn.to/3HpudUt

JBL Partybox 310: https://amzn.to/3SsbLRn

Sony XP700: https://amzn.to/3StBvwP

So this is the LG XBOOM XL7, now even though it does have its drawbacks, personally I really like its mellow sound profile and I think the customizable light feature up top is a fun touch. But today we’re going to see how the LG XBOOM XL7 stacks up to its direct competitors, the JBL Partybox 310 and the Sony XP700.

Regarding pricing, I am going to have to be straight up here and admit that the XL7 is a little over priced at $600. Where as these other two speakers have a retail price of $550, but they like to routinely go on sale for $450. So with the XL7, I defeneitly wouldn’t pay more than $450 for it. 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, basically, the XL7 has the same design as the Partybox 310. It has a mostly plastic body, but I would be gentle with it when transporting this speaker cause it can get scratched very easily, and all of these speakers have a metal grill on the front which can get dented easily. But more importantly, just like the 310, the XL7 has a built in carrying handle and it has built in wheels. So transporting either the 310 or XL7 is a little easier, and these wheels are decently sized, so they’ll do an okay job of rolling on asphalt. Whereas with the XP700, this speaker doesn’t have built in wheels, so you’re going to have to strictly carry it around. But also, from a size standpoint, the XL7 is just a little smaller than the these other two speakers, its a little shorter and its a little thinner and its a little lighter weighing in at 34 where as these other two speakers weigh in at around 38 pounds. But durability wise, all of these speakers are rocking an IPX4 rating, which means if any of these speakers get a little wet or rained on, they’ll be fine. Just remember to keep the port panel on the back covered. But one feature the 310 has over these other two speakers is that it has a top hat mount on the bottom. Meaning that you can place this speaker on a stand and elevate it if you want to.

But next up there’s the light feature. Now the XBOOM has a ring light on it, very similar to the ring lights that you’ll find on the 310, but I feel that the ring lights on the 310 have more dynamic animations than the animations found on the XBOOM. But I do think the ring light on the XBOOM looks better than the light feature found on the Sony. But also, the XBOOM has this LED screen on the top which also has it own set of animations and you can also customize it as well. Overall, I think the light feature on the XBOOM is decent, but I don’t think its as dynamic as the light feature found on the 310, but I think prefer this light feature over the much more tamed light feature found on the XP700.

Now obviously you shouldn’t make your speaker purchase decision solely on the light feature, and if you do decide to use the light feature on any of these speakers, that is going to take its toll on the battery life. Now when it comes to battery life, the XBOOM has an advertised battery life of 20 hours… but this advertised battery life of 20 hours is with the light feature turned off, with it playing at 50% volume which is already a really good listening volume and with its sound boost EQ turned on.

Where as with the Partybox 310, it has an advertised battery life of 18 hours, and that’s with this speaker playing at a little more than 50% volume which is a really good listening volume, but that’s with its light feature turned off and with its bass boost turned off as well.

And then there’s the XP700 which has an advertised battery life of 25 hours, but that’s with this speaker playing at 25% volume, which is okay, but that’s also with the light feature turned off but with its mega bass feature turned on which is good.

Overall, I will say that the XBOOM XL7 has the best battery life here cause I was able to get a solid 10 hours of playback time out of it while it was playing at 50% volume, with the light feature turned on and with the sound boost EQ turned on as well… but battery life on all o these speakers really varies depending on how you use them. If you use them at a higher volume, that’s going to drain your battery life, if you use them with their light feature turned on, that’s going to drain your battery life… or is you use them with their bass boost features turned off, that’s going to extend your battery life.

Now when it comes to connectivity, all of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ, latency isn’t a problem for any of these speakers, so you can use them to watch videos with your phone… but when it comes to audio codecs, the JBL only has support for SBC, the XBOOM has support for SBC and AAC, and then there’s the Sony which has support for SBC and AAC, but it also has support for LDAC which is Sony’s own in house high res audio codec. But just keep in mind, if you want to take advantage of LDAC, you do have to be an android user cause iPhone’s top out at AAC.

But now lets talk about the ports on these speakers cause there are some major differences. First off I have to point out the XBOOM does not have an audio jack, so you can’t use it with a wired connection. And personally I feel that this is redicouls, cause most other box speakers have audio jacks, like these two. But also, the Partybox is the only speaker here that has an audio out jack, meaning that if you have an audio cable laying around, you can connect this speaker to any other speaker and that other speaker is going to play the same music that the partybox is playing.

But with all of these speakers, they have a USB A port so you can plug in a USB stick and play music off of it, or you can also use it to charge your own phone. But I really feel that these speakers need to start coming with USB C ports cause most phones these days come with USB C cables instead.

Now with all of these speakers, they all have two quarter inch in ports on the back, so you can plug in a microphone for karaoke. Now with both the JBL and Sony, you can plug in two microphones, and they’re both going to sound great. Where as with the XBoom, there’s one input that is meant for a microphone… and the other input is meant for a guitar, so it has a higher resistance, meaning that if you plug in a microphone into this second input, your microphone isn’t going to get as loud. So if Karaoke is very important to you, and if you want to use 2 microphones at the same time, then you want to go with either the JBL or Sony.

But now lets talk about sound, regarding speaker set ups, I think the 310 has the most conventional set up here, it has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back and its has dual frontward firing tweeters. Then there’s the XP700 which also has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust that shoots out the back, but this speaker has a total of 4 tweeters on it. There are 3 on the front and one that shoots out the back. Now when this speaker is standing up right, it’ll use these two tweeters and the one on the back and when its on its side, it’ll use these two tweeters. But finally there’s the XL7 which has a different set up from these other two speakers. First off it has a single 8 inch frontward firing woofer and frontward firing exhaust ports… and it has dual frontward firing tweeters as well. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. All of these speakers are playing while at 75% volume, the 310 is playing with its bass set to deep, the XL7 is playing with its Sound Boost EQ turned on the and XP700 is playing with its mega bass turned on as well.

So sound quality wise, I want to say that the XBOOM skews more to the Partybox 310 as in it has a slightly brighter EQ to it, putting more of an emphasis on the vocals, where as the Sony leans more towards a slightly warmer EQ. But the really important thing to point out here with the XBOOM, is that its bass is mostly on the audible side, as in, you can hear it, and by no means does this speaker sound flat… but the XBOOM isn’t going to give you that chest rattling bass that you’ll find on either the XP700 or especially the 310. And since the exhaust ports on the XBOOM are found on the front, you can’t do anything to amplify the bass on this speaker. Overall, I would mainly recommend the XBOOM to someone that likes a more vocals focused EQ… and strangely enough, to someone who doesn’t want to be overwhelmed by the bass on their speaker. Personally, I like how the XBOOM sounds… but this is definitely going to be a matter of taste.

Now personally I think the XBOOM sounds best with its Sound Boost EQ, but it also has a customizable EQ so you can make it sound however you like. But even if you were to raise the bass on this speaker all that way up, its still not going to give you that thump that you’ll might be looking for. If you want something with a lot of bass, then you’ll might want to go with the 310 cause you can set its bass boost to rumble, and you can increase its bass as well. Now the XP700 also has an adjustable EQ but even if you were to increase the bass on this speaker all the way up, its not going to match the 310.

Now when it comes to max volume performance, the XBOOM gets decently loud when its playing off of its internal battery. And its get a little louder than the XP700 as well, but that’s partly cause the XBOOM has a slightly brighter sound signature. Now the 310 also has a slightly brighter sound signature, but this speaker gets a little louder than the XBOOM. However, if you were to use any of these speakers while they are plugged in, you’re going to get a noticeable performance bump out of them. They are going to get louder and they are going to have more bass. But surprisingly, the XBOOM gets a little louder than the 310 when its plugged in.  The XBOOM gives you the biggest performance boost here when its plugged in.

But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers with other speakers. Now with the XL7, if you have XL7’s than you can pair them up wirelessly and get to play in left and right stereo mode… or if you have multiple XL7’s and or XL5’s, then you can pair them up and get them to play in sync and you can pair up to 100 speakers together.

Next up there’s the 310, now again if you have 2 310’s then you can pair them up together and get them to play in left and right stereo mode… or you can wirelessly pair it up to one other Partybox, anything from an encore, 110, 310, or 710 and get them to play in sync. Just keep in mind that you can’t wirelessly pair any of JBL’s Larger Partybox speakers to any of JBL’s smaller Partyboost speakers.

But like I mentioned earlier, the 310 does have that audio out jack, so if you have a spare speaker lying around, it doesn’t matter what brand or size, you can connect it to this speaker and they’ll play in sync.

But finally there’s the XP700, now again if you have two of the same speakers you can connect them and get them to play in left and right stereo mode… or you can pair your XP700 either to another XP700, an XP500, XV900, or the upcoming XV800 and get them all to play in sync. But also, with the XP700, you can wirelessly connect it to any of Sony’s smaller speakers that are also using Sony’s Party Connect. So if you have an XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33, or XB23, they can all connect to the XP700.

Just be warned, even though sony’s Party Connect is super accommodating cause you can pair your large box speakers to Sony’s smaller more portable speakers, sometimes its can be a pain to use. Sometimes all of your speakers don’t get found so you have to go through the pairing process multiple times and sometimes echos do form.

But with all of that being said, personally I like the mellow sound profile that you get out of the LG XBOOM XL7, vocals are very pronounced on this speaker and the bass is on the audible side. I also like that the XL7’s copied the 310 deign by adding wheels and a retractable handle, so transporting this speaker is a little easier and I like that its a little smaller and a little lighter. However, the JBL Partybox 310 is still a better version of the XL7. Firstly, the 310 just feels more premium than the XL7, but also, with the 310 you can use 2 microphones with it, it has an audio jack, it has an audio out jack, and I think its light feature looks better. But more importantly, the 310 can give you a mellow sound profile as well… and it can also give you a lot of bass, if you want it. I think the 310 just gives you an overall better user experience than the XL7. And finally there’s the XP700, I feel that this speaker also gives you a better user experience than the XL7… but this is a speaker I would go with over the 310… if you already have some of Sony’s more portable Party Connect Speakers.