Sony SRS-XB10 Extra Bass Wireless Speaker Review

Sony’s latest speaker, is a teeny tiny unit that packs a big bassy punch. Read on for all the details on the Sony SRS-XB10 Extra Bass wireless speaker.

Sony SRS-XB10 Extra Bass Wireless Speaker Review

Design & Build

The SRS-XB10 is a short stack. The speaker is a short cylindrical speaker not much taller than my ChapStick, measuring up at about 3.5 inches tall and weighing in at 9.17 oz or a little more than half a pound. It easily fits into the palm of my open hand meaning the SRS-XB10 is very very portable and can easily be taken from point A to Point B and back and so forth. The speaker is a mono speaker with the grill situated at the top of the unit.

Sony SRS-XB10 is covered in a soft and smooth fabric that feels as if it’s some sort of silicone-rubber polymer. Maybe it’s all rubber. I’m not too sure, but it feels very smooth. This material also makes this cute little unit water-resistant. More on that in the features section.

In addition, along the bottom of the speaker there are buttons built into the soft and smooth silicone fabric-covered frame. There is also a water seal grip that conceals the aux, microUSB, and reset ports from water damage.

Features

Sony SRS-XB10, while small, is loaded with a ton of cool features. First off, the tiny unit is built with a hanging silicone loop to seamlessly secure itself to your bicycle or anything with a pole rather. This can also be used as a stand for the speaker if you’d like to project your audio directly at you by laying it on its side. The unit, as I previously mentioned, has a few buttons along the bottom of the speaker meaning you don’t need need to have your phone in your hand to make a few adjustments. Buttons include power to pair the speaker to your device, pause/play to well pause and play and answer/end calls. Double-tapping the pause/play button also skips forward a track. There isn’t an option to skip backwards – sorry bout it! The “-” and “+” symbols indicate volume adjustments.

If you have two speakers, or your friend also has a speaker, you can use the “ADD” function to sync them to one another and set them as either left and right channels or play together as mono speakers. What fun!

And probably the most exciting feature is the fact that the shell is water resistant. Sony SRS-XB10 possesses an IP rating of 5 meaning it can withstand jetting water.

Connectivity

Being a wireless speaker, the SRS-XB10 operates over Bluetooth. It uses version 4.2 which is more energy efficient than previous versions.

The unit is also designed with Near Field Communication (NFC) which enables very simple synchronization to your device. No need to go through all the Bluetooth steps involved in trying to pair your device.

In order to ensure CD-like quality playback over a 33 ft range, Sony SRS-XB10 also features SBS and AAC codecs.

Battery Life

The speaker promises a solid 16 hour battery life, though other reviewers have found it to fall short of that. I unfortunately haven’t run the speaker for that long. However, I’d say their findings seem relatively true as the battery life of a wireless speaker is normally affected by volume and I didn’t find myself playing this speaker at any point under about 65% volume. In fact, 80% was the most comfortable and best sounding volume level in my book. In addition, once the battery is drained, it takes about 4 hours or so to charge.

Sound

Sony SRS-XB10 speaker promises to deliver extra bass. It is able to do so thanks to a passive radiator working with the monaural speaker to enhance low-end tones, giving bass a boost, regardless of its small stature. So how does it fare?

Lows: Yeah, I’d say the bass is pretty darn good. It reaches the sub-bass with ease and showcases a nice bit of depth. The bass is punchy and rtich. It really shines on EDM, hip-hop, and anything that’s really bass heavy – OBVI! At about 80% I found the bass and sub-bass present, however moving at an volume past that the bass becomes over-modulated.

Mids: As for the mids, I find them to still be pretty lively even with a banging bass line. That’s a good thing. While pulsing and moving, at times (depending on genre mainly), I also found elements of the mids buried behind the bass and lacking the detail and clarity I’d prefer. However, vocals – especially those that are higher pitched – are more detailed and shine brighter than expected. For example, in orchestral pieces accompanied by vocals,  some of the instruments in the mids are lost, but the bass sounds excellent and so does the vocal accompaniment.

Highs: As for the highs they are quite detailed and crisp. As I previously mentioned, vocals surprisingly astound on this bass-heavy speaker.

Overall Performance

The Sony SRS-XB10 is impressive in that it provides depth than I expected and the vocals are quite impressive as well. In terms of volume, I found that the XB10 is a comfortable volume above 60%. Anything lower than that sounded too low for me. Unless, this is on your desk and directly in front of you, I can’t imagine playing the speaker any lower. In fact 80% was the most comfortable in terms of good volume, sound quality, and overall projection for me. Taking into account that the SRS-XB10 is also water resistant and supports quite a long battery life I’d say it is well worth the $59.99 price tag.

If interested, grab SRS-XB10 for the lowest price on Amazon.

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Specs

Frequency Response Range: 20 Hz–20,000 Hz
Bluetooth Version: 4.2
Bluetooth Range: 33 ft
Codecs: SBS, AAC
NFC: Yes
Battery Life: 16 Hrs
Charging Time: 4 Hrs
Height: 3.5 inches
Weight: 0.57 lbs