Tech Review: Sony’s new Bluetooth speaker is the perfect invitation to party

It has a very loud and clear sound system: Its deep and punching bass may shake the floors of your home when the volume is high its mega bass function is activated.

The XP500 is larger and heavier than a typical portable Bluetooth, but it has a nifty handle on the top and a 20-hour battery.

It is 275mm wide, 572mm high, 295mm in depth and weighs 11.2kg.

You can grab and carry it to play party music pool side or on a beach. It has an IPX4 Water resistant3 rating so you can keep on playing tunes even if a few raindrops fall.

Thank Sony’s X-Balanced Speaker technology for its crisp sound quality.

Sony does not disclose the wattage of the XP500, arguing it doesn’t want to engage in a spec contest and that there are different ways to measure the wattage of amplifiers.

ChatGPT, however, says the XP500 has a maximum power output of 60 watts. The AI adviser says it bases its measurement on third party-websites, reviewers, retailers and e-commerce portals.

The XP500 is equipped with two 14-centimetre X-Balanced woofers and two 5-CM tweeters.

The X-Balanced Speaker has a non-circular diaphragm that’s wider than it is tall. This shape helps to distribute the sound pressure more evenly, which results in clearer and more natural sound. The X-Balanced Speaker also has a larger radiating area than traditional speakers, which helps to produce its deeper bass. The technology has been praised by critics for its ability to deliver high-quality sound with less distortion.

The XP500 is designed to be a floor-standing speaker. Its controls – power button, Bluetooth pairing button, play/pause button, volume control buttons and a toggle button for the Mega Bass function – are niftily arranged on the top.

You can also use Sony’s Music Centre app to control the speaker’s functions.

You can stream music from your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth simply plug a flash drive with digital music files into either of the two USB ports. These are conveniently placed at the back, as is the 3.5mm audio-in jack for connecting to your digital music player. A microphone jack and guitar jack are also provided next to a USB port and audio-in port.

The USB ports can be used to recharge your smartphone if you’re on the go and have need to plug in.

Worth noting, is that the XP500 supports the wireless Bluetooth audio codec LDAC. This allows you to stream music from a smartphone or other device that supports the LDAC codec on a speaker with much better sound quality.

During the test, I found that streaming Hi-Res Audio music from a Sony MP3 player that supports LDAC codec to the XP500 resulted in good quality music playback: the high and mid-level notes were crisp and clear, while the bass was deep and powerful.

The XP500’s ambient lightning makes it ideal for party music. It has Led lights near the top and an array of lighting patterns to select from near the bottom – some pulsate energy, others are more somber of soothing in their mood.

The Music Centre app provides a link for installing and using the Fiestable app to have more fun with the XP500.

The Fiestable has plenty of fun functions, including DJ Control, Illumination, Karaoke, Voice Control, Party Light, and Party Playlist.

The DJ Control lets you select sound effects or sample sounds to be played with your party music. The Illumination allows you to select the lighting. The Party Light function allows you to synchronise screen illumination for multiple smartphones with the lighting of XP500.

The Party Playlist allows your guests can to add their favourite tunes to a playlist from multiple smartphones, while the Karaoke function includes a voice changer, echo, and key control.

If you think one XP500 is not enough, you can use the Party Connect feature of the speaker to connect up to 100 compatible speakers to add more power to your party. The Party Connect button for linking to other speakers is placed behind the speaker.

The Music Centre is a must for making most of the XP500. You need to use the Music Centre app to select the source of your music from the Bluetooth connection, USB-storage or from audio-in source.

When using Music Centre to play MP3 files on a connected USB, you can browse to folders to view file names and play music from the selected folders. The app can be used to skip tracks while playing as well.

The XP500 supports three types of music files: MP3, WMA and WAV. UBS storage must be formatted with FAT file system.

You can also use the app to select the sound setting. You can choose among the Mega Bass sound effect, Live Sound and Clear Audio+ or your custom EQ option. The Live Sound recreates a concert atmosphere. However, the EQ custom option lets you adjust only the level of bass, mid and treble in three bars.

Sony SRS-XP500 is available on Sony online store for 14,990 baht. A free wireless microphone (worth 1,990 baht) is included as long as the supply lasts.

Key specs:

Speaker drivers: 2 x 5cm tweeters, 2 x 14mm woofers

Bluetooth: SBC, AAC, LDAC codecs

Interface: Stereo Mini Jack(IN), USB A, Mic Input（φ6.3mm), Guitar/Mic Input（φ6.3mm)

Water protection: IPX4

Battery life: 20 hours

Dimensions: 275mm wide, 572mm high and 295mm depth

Weight: 11.2kg