So right now, we’re in a bit of a transition with Sony’s box speakers… and in general I am liking these new box speakers from Sony. The new XV900 and XV800 have more balanced sound signatures to them, and I think they look sleeker. And I like that they both have an optical port. But the XP700 still isn’t going anywhere. Nonetheless, today we’re going to compare the XV900, to the XV800 and XP700 and lets see which one is right for you.
Regarding pricing, the XP700 has a retail price of $550 but this speaker likes to go on sale for $450. The XV800 has a retail price of $650, but I expect this speaker to go on sale from time to time as well… and then there’s the XV900 which has a retail price of $900, but it likes to go on sale for $800. 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. Now all of three of these speakers have a mostly plastic body which can get scratched up very easily if you try to transport any of these speakers, and they all have a metal grill on the front. Now the XV900 is by far the largest speaker here and it weighs in at 59 pounds and sometimes moving this speaker can be a two person job. Where as both the XV800 and XP700 are considerably smaller when compared to the XV800, and they both weigh in a little less than 40 pounds, and moving either of these two speakers is a one person job. But to make life a little easier, both the newer XV900 and XV800 have built in wheels… so you can always roll these speakers around. The problem is… these wheels are very small. With the XV900, these wheels are only meant for smooth surfaces… where as with the XV800, these wheels are a little larger… but you’re better off just carrying this speaker when on a rougher surface. Nonetheless, all of these speakers are meant to be portable party speakers that you can use where ever you want… but the thing that I don’t like about the XV900 if that it doesn’t have an IP rating… so you’re probably going to want to be carful to not get this speaker wet… where as both the XV800 and XP700 are IPX4 water resistant. But I do want to point out that the control panel on both the XV900 and XV800 are no using capacitive buttons and they now light up. So its much easier to see your buttons at night and with the XV900 you can change the color of your light feature directly from the speaker it self. Where as with the XP700, its control buttons aren’t as elegant.
But next up there’s the light feature on these speakers. Now both the XP700 and XV800 have your typical sony light bars up top and on the bottom. Overall, these light features are okay and they look good while indoors or at night… but then there’s the XV900 who’s light feature is a little more impressive cause it goes all around this speaker… and it also has floor lights which gives this speaker a larger precenss. And personally, I love how the floor lights on the XV900 just floods a large area with color. Basically what im trying to say is… I really wish the XV800 also had floor lights. But just remember, if you decide to use these light features, that is going to take its toll on the battery life.
But then there’s the battery life on these speakers… now all of these speakers have an advertised battery life of 25 hours… but on both the XV900 and XV800, that advertised battery life of 25 hours is with these speakers playing at 30% volume, which is a really good listening volume, and with the mega bass turned on which is good, but that’s with the light feature turned off. And with the XP700, that’s with it playing at 25% volume.
But real world use with both the XV900 and XP700 playing at 65% volume… which I feel is a decent listening volume to use with friends… and with the mega bass feature turned on and with the light feature turned on… both of these speakers are good for about 8 hours of playback time… where as with the XV800 is good for about 10 hours of playback time. So the XV800 does have a slightly longer lasting battery life here… but the important thing here is the XV800 has a longer lasting battery life than the similarly sized XP700.
And at max volume, with the mega bass turned on and with the light feature turned on… sony claims that the XV900 is good for 4 hours of playback time and the XV800 is good for 3 and half hours of playback time. But overall, battery life on all of these speakers really varies depending on how you use them.
Now when it comes to connectivity, all three of these speakers can be connected to two devices at the same time so you and friend can both be DJ, they don’t have any latency issues so you can use them to watch videos on your phone, and when it comes to audio codecs, all three of these speakers have support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC which is Sony’s own in house high res audio codec. Just keep in mind if you want to use LDAC you 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.
Regarding ports, all three of these speakers still have audio jacks so you can use them with a wired connection, but none of them have an audio out jack. They all have a USB A port so that you charge your own devices or play music off of a USB stick… but what is unique to both the XV900 and XV800 is that they have an optical port, so you can always use them with your TV… which I personally feel is a nice touch cause it helps make these speakers a little more versatile.
And finally, all three of these speakers have 2 quarter inch inputs and you can use them with two microphones for karaoke… or you can plug in a microphone. The only thing that I don’t like about Sony’s speakers is that you cant adjust the sound of your microphone. But you can add an echo if you want. Nonetheless, all of these speakers are good options for karaoke.
But now lets talk about sound. When it comes to speaker set ups the XP700 has dual frontward firing woofers with an exhaust port that shoots out the back and it has a total of 4 tweeters. 3 on the front and one on the back. And when it speaker is up right it’ll use these two tweeters and the one on the back… but when its on its side it’ll use these two tweeters. Then there’s the XV800 which also has dual frontward firing woofers… but its exhaust port shoots out the front… and this speaker has a total of 5 tweeters on it. 3 on the front and 2 on the back. Now when this speaker is standing up right it’ll use these two tweeters and the two on the back and when its on its side it’ll use these two tweeters and it’ll continue using the ones on the back as well. And finally there’s the XV900 which has a big frontward firing woofer with an exhaust port that shoots out the front, it has 2 frontward firing mid range drivers… and this thing has a total of 6 tweeters on it. Two on the front, two on the sides and two the shoot upwards. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. All of these speakers are playing with their mega bass turned on, the XV900 is playing at 75% volume and these other two speakers are playing at max volumes and all of these speakers are running off of their internal batteries.
So first we need to address max volume performance here. Obviously, since the XV900 is the largest speaker here, its going to get the loudest and its going to have the most amount of bass here. Now both the XV800 and XP700 get decently loud for their sizes and these two speakers have basically the same max volume performance. But since the XV800 doesn’t sound as warm as the XP700… it does seem a little louder cause the mids are more pronounced. Now with all of these speakers if you were to use them while they are plugged in, you are going to get a noticeable performance bump out of them. They’re all going to get louder and they’re all going to have more bass. Overall id say the XV900 is adequate for a 30 to 35 person party… where as both the XV800 and XP700 are good for about 20 person parties… but in general, the XV800 does seem a little louder than the XP700.
But when it comes to the overall sound quality of these speakers… both the XV900 and XV800 have much more balanced sound signatures to them. They still have a good amount of bass to them, but the bass isn’t overpowering and the vocals actually have room to breath here now. And even though you can adjust the EQ on all of these speakers… personally I think sony got it right with their stock mega bass EQ on both the XV900 and XV800. Where as with the XP700… this speaker doesn’t sound as open cause the bass is more overpowering and the vocals aren’t as forward. But also, another major difference between the XV800 and XP700 is the bass. The Bass on the XP700 has more physicality to it, where as the bass on the XV800 is more on the audible side and smoother. Overall, I do prefer the more balanced sound of the XV800 over the XP700… and if you want more sound than you can go with the XV900.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers with other speakers. With all of these speakers they are using Sony’s party connect so you can pair any of these speakers with and XV900, XV800, XP700, or XP500 and you can get them to play in sync and you can have up to 100 speakers playing together… or if you have two of the same speakers then you can get them to play in left and right stereo mode.
But the cool thing about Sony’s party connect is you can pair your larger box speakers to any of Sony’s smaller speakers that are also using party connect like lets say and XG500, XG300, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33, or XB23 and you can get them to play in sync. And this is a big deal cause this is something that you can’t do with JBL’s speakers.
Now even though Sony’s party connect is very accommodating, and it gets the job done, sometimes it can be a bit of a hassle to use. Sometimes it take awhile for your speakers to get connected. Sometimes all of your speakers don’t get paired on the first try so you’ll have to go through the pairing process multiple times… and sometimes skipping does happen. Now this doesn’t happen all of the time… but this is just a heads up as to what to expect. But I do like having the option to pair my larger box speakers to my smaller more portable speakers.
But with all of that being said, if we directly compare the Sony XV800 to the Sony XP700… overall the XV800 is easily the better speaker and it shows us that sony is heading in the right direction with their speakers. The XV800 has a much more balanced sound signature to it and it sounds more open than the XP700, the XV800 also has a slightly longer lasting battery life. The XV800 also has that new optical port so you can use it with your TV. The XV800 also looks sleeker and the new illuminated lights up top are a big help. The XV800 also has those built in wheels… but these wheels could be better. But overall yes, the XV800 is significantly better than the XP700. But then there’s the XV900… this speaker does everything that the XV800 does… but on a larger and louder scale.