So this is the Soundcore Motion X600, Now personally I feel that this is a fairly impressive speaker, its fairly affordable, its a plus sized medium speaker, I think it looks elegant, but more importantly, I think it sounds good and I think the upwards firing driver does wonders. But, today we’re going to see how to motion X600 stacks up to the Sony XG300 and Sony XE300.
Regarding pricing, the XE300 has a retail price of $200, but this thing like to go on sale on a regular basis for around $150. Then there’s the Motion X600 which has a retail price of $200, but likes to go on sale for $180. And finally there’s the Sony XG300 which has a retail price of $350… but this thing likes to go on sale for $200. Now even though I do have my critiques about the XG300… at $200 its very hard to not consider the XG300. 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. The XE300 is technically a medium sized speaker… but its pretty large for a mid sized speaker. Where as the XG300 is a large size portable speaker. And then there’s the X600 which sits in between these two speakers. That’s why I refer to it as a plus sized medium speaker. Nonetheless, all three of these speakers are great for both at home use and to constantly take them on the go with you… but Sony’s speakers are better options if you’re looking for something portable and durable. Now both the XG300 and X600 have built in carrying handles… so they’re both easy to take on the go with you. But then theres also the material choice of these speakers. Now the X600 has a mostly metal body which I think looks and feels very elegant. And personally I would hate to get this metal body scratched. Where as the XG300 has a mostly fabric wrapped body, so its going to do a much better job of standing up to constant abuse… and the XE300 has a mostly soft touch covered body which is also going to be fairly durable. But the important thing here is that all three of these speakers are water resistant.
However, something that the XG300 does have over both of these speakers is that it has a built in light feature. But this light feature in tucked away in the passive radiators of this speaker… making it rather hard to see. So personally I use this speaker with its light feature turned off and instead I enjoy the improved battery life.
Now when it comes to battery life, personally I feel that that battery life on the Motion X600 is decent, especially when you take its size into consideration. Now the motion X600 has an advertised battery life of 12 hours… but real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, with its spatial audio turned and with its bass up feature turned on, its good for about 8 hours of playback time.
But then there’s the XG300 which has an advertised battery life of 25 hours… but real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, with its mega bass feature turned on and with its light feature turned off, its good for about 11 hours of playback time… which is very impressive. But if you were to use this speaker with its light feature turned on, that is going to drain your battery life faster.
And then there’s the XE300 which has an advertised battery life of 14 hours with its mega bass feature turned on… which is how you should be using this speaker… but real world use with this speaker playing at 80% volume, its good for about 8 hours of playback time. Now I know this speaker has an advertised battery life of 24 hours, but that’s while this speaker is playing while in stamina mode which makes this speaker sound very flat.
But when it comes to charging these speakers, they all charge via a USB C port, as they should. Now with the XE300, this is the only port that you’ll find on this speaker. Where as both the X600 and XG300 have audio jacks on them, so you can use them with a wired connection if you want. But the XG300 is the only speaker here that has a USB A out port so that you can charge your own devices.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, all three 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, all three of these speaker have support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC which is Sony’s on in house high res audio codec. Just keep in mind that if you want to take advantage of LDAC yo do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC, and if you do decide to use LDAC, that is going to take an additional toll on the battery life.
But now, lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker setups, the XE300 has a very standard speaker set up of dual frontward firing woofers and dual passive radiators. Then there’s the XG300 which has dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And finally there’s the X600 which also has dual frontward firing woofers and dual frontward firing tweeters and it also has that upwards firing driver. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. Now since both of Sony’s speakers lean towards a warmer sound signature, the XE300 is playing at 94% volume, the XG300 is playing at 87% volume and they both have their mega bass tuned on and the X600 is playing at 75% volume with its spatial audio and bass up feature turned on as well, which is how you should be using this speaker.
So first I think we need to address make volume performance on these speakers. Since the Motion X600 has a more balanced, slightly brighter sound signature to it… this speaker gets decently loud for its size and its the loudest sounding speaker here. Where as with both of Sony’s speakers, since they both lean towards a warmer sound signature… they don’t seem as loud. Now you can always go into their app and you can raise the mids and treble on these speakers… but even still these speakers still lean towards a warmer sound signature. Nonetheless, the XG300 gets as loud as the X600, but it has a lot more bass… but with the XE300, this speaker is the kind of speaker that you’re going to have to use at a higher volume on a regular basis.
But when it comes to the overall sound quality of the speakers, the XE300 has the warmer sound signature to it and it has a lot of bass, but the instrument separation isn’t as good cause it doesn’t have any tweeters. So the highs aren’t as detailed. Where as with the XG300, since this thing has tweeters, it has better instrument separation than the XE300, its gets louder, and it has the most amount of bass here. But then there’s the X600. Now this speaker has as much bass as the XE300… but this speaker sounds a lot more balanced and it also sounds more open than these other two speakers, thanks to that upwards firing driver. Overall, the X600 is the speaker to go with if you want something with great instrument separation, where as the XG300 is the one that you want to go with if you want more bass.
But finally lets talk about paring these speakers with other speaker. With the motion X600, you can wirelessly pair it up with one other motion X600 and you can get them to play in left and right stereo mode.
Where as with both of these sony speakers, they’re both using Sony’s party connect. Now if you have two of the same speakers you can pair them up and get them to play in left and right stereo mode… or you can pair them up to any other of Sony’s Party connect speakers like lets say an XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33 or XB23 and you can get them to play in sync and you can have up to 100 speakers playing together.
But also, you can pair your smaller Sony party connect speakers to Sony’s larger box speakers that are also using party connect like lets say an XV900, XV800, XP700 or XP500. So if you plan on buying multiple speakers and if you plan on pairing them together… then sony is the better option here cause you have a lot of speaker to choose from.
Just keep in mind, even though Sony’s Party Connect is very accommodating, sometimes it can be a hassle to use. Sometimes it take a while for your speakers to get paired, sometimes all of your speakers don’t get paired so you have to go through the pairing process multiple times, and sometimes skipping does happen. This doesn’t happen all of the time, but its just a heads up.
But with all of that being said, for me its a little hard to recommend the XE300 unless you’re getting a very solid deal on it. But when it comes to comparing the Soundcore Motion X600 and the Sony XG300… Personally I do lean towards the XG300 here cause it has a much longer lasting battery life. And personally, I do like a warmer sound signature… it prefer its durable body, and there’s the light feature if you want it. But this is only if the XG300 is on sale for $200. But the Soundcore Motion X600 is also a really good speaker to consider especially if you want the better instrument separation here. Personally I really hope that we see more upwards firing drivers on portable Bluetooth speakers. Now even though the X600 is also a portable bluetooth speaker and you can defeneitly take it on the go with you… this is a speaker that I would rather use mostly at home cause I would hate to get its metal body scratched.