If you’re searching for the big, booming speaker for your next barbecue, Sony has two solid choices that cost the same $449.99. On one end, you’ve got the SRS-XG500 which is slightly smaller than the boombox sized. There’s the relatively gargantuan kitchen-trash-can-sized Sony SRS-XP700 on the even larger side.
Yes, it is a big boy, yet SRS-XP700 is technically portable, and can do about 4-5 hours of music on a single charge But moving it around is a little cumbersome despite the two integrated handles on this speaker. Both come equipped with LED light shows and facilities for playing karaoke and can power your next outdoor party,
although, in terms of potentially much larger sound, the SRS-XP700 is certainly the better value – it is larger, louder and inherently more capable of delivering a deeper bass response. However, the SRS-XG500 will be less invasive due to its relatively smaller size and yet it should pack quite a punch as far as sound output is concerned.
Huge and Hefty
Physically however at 27.4 inches tall, 12.4 inches wide, and 14.5 inches deep, and weighing a rather imposing 37.3 pounds, the SRS-XP700 stands taller than it does wide and shares more in common with amps for bass guitars than it does with portable speakers. It has extra rubber feet for when it can be laid down sideways to optimize the configuration of the stereo drivers.
When in the vertical position, the controls are at the top; there are the Power, Bluetooth, Play/Pause, Volume +, – and MegaBass control buttons. There are two 6.75 inch woofers three front-firing 2.4 inch tweeters behind the grille, and one 2 inch tweeter on the top panel which fires upward and backward. At the top and bottom of the grille lie LEDs that light up when the speaker is active.
The back side of the speaker is fitted with hidden sockets for two mic inputs with a 1/4-inch jack, accompanied by the volume controls for each input. One of which can also be used for guitars, all allowing the speaker to act as an amp. Remember the lighting connector to charge your iOS device, another normal USB port to feed your portable music player and input for the 3.5mm audio cable that is not included, and the port for the included power cord.
The IPX4 is not that impressive for a portable Bluetooth speaker, but for a system this size, that is adequate. It is splashproof and mistproof so you can take the speaker outside under the rain and wipe it with a wet cloth. Don’t, however, go over to it with the garden hose and spray it down until it looks like the surface of the moon.
The SRS-XG500 is somewhat more robust with an IP66 certification for resistance against high-pressure water jets and the device is protected against the ingress of solid particulate matter.
Surprisingly, the Sony Music Center app seems somewhat redundant. Synth effects including flanger and isolator are cool for a while and a sound section tests a very basic three-band equalizer that is only Functional when MegaBass is turned off. The app also allows you to turn on or off some of the other, typically, we set to
the off modes like ClearAudio+, LiveSound, and MegaBass. If you want to use MegaBass, it can be switched on or off on the body of the speaker, thereby not requiring you to navigate through the application for it. Perhaps the most helpful part of the app is the Illumination in which you can select several LED patterns including the all-important Off.
The SRS-XP700 supports Bluetooth version 5.0 and has Bluetooth codecs of AAC, SBC, and LDAC. It is impossible to test the battery life of the SRS-XP700 to the exact accuracy Sony tag of about 25 hours, however, the volume level will determine the battery life. The manual specifies that in the MegaBass and LED
lights on mode and in the volume set at the maximum level when streaming Bluetooth audio, the battery duration reduces to five hours. This is not shocking; what is fascinating, however, is that a speaker this large can deliver this much sound from a battery without needing to constantly be plugged in. It would be advisable to use the power cable wherever possible, but this means exposing the connection port and this means the IPX4 water resistance rating no longer applies.
Thundering Bass
On the bass, even with the MegaBass switched off, the SRS-XP700 is bossing a huge low–end bump that can make club thrash-type bass pale in comparison. This isn’t the kind of bass depth where a passive radiator mimics what a subwoofer driver is not— the drivers are truly punching out a bass impact. Engaging MegaBass while the playback level is high should make any lover of deep bass hit the G-string – er G-button, and almost get on the nerves of the neighbors
Amid frequencies at which there is a really powerful sub-bass content such as the Knife – Silent Shout, and the user will get an insane bass. I cannot endure top volume at all, at least not for more than 10 seconds, and this is even when I have MegaBass turned off, and speaking into my iPhone 8 at half volume – the cabinets of
my testing space shake. More importantly, with MegaBass turned up to maximum levels, the bass is further reduced by the DSP (Digital Signal Processing) to spare the speaker drivers the torture. Kick drums on rock tracks are not as intense as the signal you get from a live kick drum through a PA but they are as close to Thor’s hammer feeling as one can get.
When You Need Big Sound
While we mentioned that the Sony SRS-XP700 provides a type of thunder that few individuals are going to require. If that much audio horsepower does interest you though it’s more of a bargain than its ‘boom box’ styled stablemate the SRS-XG500 which costs the same. Of course, there can be no doubt that the SRS-XP700 is certainly the more potent speaker, but many users will prefer the more modest dimensions of this
smaller model which still packs a substantial wallop. The $400 JBL Boombox 2 and now, the $400 JBL PartyBox 300 are also similarly placed, with the former offering power that is as per the SRS-XG500 and the latter being as large and potent as the SRS-XP700. JBL PartyBox 300 and SRS-XP700 both deliver good sound and have lights and karaoke connections but this one perhaps Sony has the upper hand given this model is more recent than its JBL counterpart.
