Over the last few years, we’ve seen bluetooth speakers of all shapes and sizes. From diminutive pocket-sized units to those that can get a neighbourhood bloc party started. Sony’s XB10 might veer towards the former in size but packs enough punch to suffice for a pool side gathering and might even survive a dunk or two while doing so! Here’s our review of the Sony XB10 Bluetooth speaker.
Design
In terms of design, the SRS-XB10 resembles a classic coke can. Solidly built, it stands straight up and has a fairly small footprint. The size certainly goes in its favour as the XB10 can easily be tossed into the corner of a bag and transported along. Despite the diminutive size, the speaker is on the heavier side but we’d wager that this is a positive. The added weight helps keep the speaker planted even when you crank up the volume high. A thick rubber coating runs all around the Sony SRS-XB10 that makes it rugged, to a degree. Don’t expect it to survive a fall from your window but it’ll take a knock or two. Similarly for water resistance, the XB10 can easily survive a few splashes around the pool side but you probably shouldn’t dunk it in water for long.
We jostled the speaker a fair bit in our review duration and the speaker came out absolutely unscathed which speaks volumes about the build quality. The rubber coating is of course a gigantic dust and lint magnet but a quick wipe with a damp cloth gets it clean again.
What we didn’t really appreciate were the control buttons. Placed along the lower half of the speaker, the spongy exterior coating makes it hard to press down on the buttons. On more than a few occasions we found ourselves pressing down on the buttons multiple times to no avail. Removing a rubber flap at the back of the speaker reveals the microUSB charging connector and the 3.5mm audio jack which offers a backup in case you want to connect the speaker over a cable to your computer or music player. A rubber strap attached to the speaker lets you hang it from a bicycle handle, a door handle or whatever may come to your mind. In practise we found this to be rather fiddly and it was often more convenient to just place it on a flat surface.
Performance
Let’s start with connectivity. The Sony SRS-XB10 has bluetooth 4.2 built in but does not support multi point connectivity. What this means is that you can only have a single phone paired with the speaker at a time. Fortunately, the onboard NFC chip makes it easy to quickly tap and connect or disconnect. Meanwhile, there’s the 3.5mm audio jack over at the back as we’d mentioned earlier.
The Sony XB-10 has a large 46mm driver along with a passive radiator mounted at the bottom. This in addition to the vents at the bottom allow for impressive bass response. Without getting too technical, the movement of the driver causes the air inside the body of the speaker to move. This air movement further moves the passive radiator responsible for lower end frequencies. The overall effect is that the XB-10 manages to go surprisingly loud without distortion. Nobody is going to be doing critical listening on a mono bluetooth speaker and the sound profile is suitably entertaining. As with a vast majority of Sony audio products, bass is overemphasised and the speaker would be best suited to pop, hip-hop and yes, Bollywood music. When listening to classic rock, the speaker was not terrible but with highs that sounded a bit fatiguing and the lows just a bit muddy, we’re not sure the XB10 would’ve been our first choice. Clearly Sony has meant these as take along party speakers first and foremost. To that effect, it is possible to pair another XB-10 should you have one hand to complete the stereo effect.
Conclusion
The Sony XB-10 is a good product which earns our recommendation because of the rugged outer coating and IPX5 rating. Based on pure sound quality, the XB10 delivers for someone who wants to carry a speaker along while traveling or wants one out by the pool, balcony. It most certainly isn’t meant for critical listening.
Bass heavy music is where the XB10 seems to be most comfortable. We observed that the mono speaker went loud enough to easily fill a room. More importantly, the music was loud, clear and free of any distortion. The Sony SRS XB10 is priced at Rs. 4,990 and is well worth taking a look at if you are looking to buy a high quality entry-level Bluetooth speaker. You can get it from Amazon.in for as low as Rs. 3,999.