Review of the Sony SRS-XB20 wireless speakers

Packaging

The Sony SRS-XB20 column is conveniently located in a small rectangular cardboard box. The box is standard: the outer part is cardboard, the molded foam inside, in the center of which is a column.

Equipment

Modeling column modest:

• Speaker
• USB cable
• Instruction
• Warranty card and user memo

Design

The Sony SRS-XB20 column has an elongated ellipsoidal shape.
The entire front plane is covered with a stylish metal grille, behind which you can see the speakers.

At the back is another smaller grille and plastic-closed ports: USB, audio jack and a hidden reset button.

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On the top of the column are located the control buttons:

1. Enable / disable
2. Volume control
3. Button for adding a new XB20 / XB30 series speaker for audio enhancement
4. Play / Stop
5. Accept / Reject Voice Call Button
6. Extra Bass button
7. The Sony SRS-XB20 column comes in five different colors: red, green, blue, white, and black.

 

The column has a single-color front panel illumination, the color of the backlight is combined with the color of the column itself, it cannot be changed. In the companion application, you can select 3 backlight modes:

1. Completely disabled
2. Part of the backlight is always on, part is flashing to the music
3. All lights are flashing to the music.
4. The backlight is just on, not blinking

Water protection

The Sony SRS-XB20 column is IPX5 certified, which guarantees that the column has reliable protection against splashing water, i.e. it can work normally even in the rain. But it can not be immersed in the water entirely, from this it is not protected and will fail.
Thanks to the IPX5 certificate, you can take a column with you on a hike, on a picnic or on the beach, occasional splashes of water will not be able to damage it.

Most of the column is covered with soft rubberized plastic, it is pleasant to the touch and protects the electronics inside the column when it falls. But this coating has a disadvantage – it is easily soiled, especially as regards water. If there are many drops of liquid on the column and it dries out, there will be noticeable stains, so I recommend regularly wiping the column with a soft cloth to keep it beautiful for a long time.

Battery life

The claimed battery life of the column is 12 hours, in my case, it confidently worked for about 10 hours at a volume slightly above average.
A long time will allow you to take a speaker with you to a party and not worry that the battery will sit down and you will be left without music.

The total charging time varies from 1.5 to 4 hours depending on which charger you connect it to. If you connect the Sony SRS-XB20 to charging from a modern smartphone, then the time will be minimal, and if the USB port of a regular laptop, then the time may increase to 4 hours. The thing is in the strength of the current that the charger can provide; the minimum charge time is achieved with a current of 1.5 Amperes.

Sony SRS-XB20 sound quality

The Sony SRS-XB20 speaker is small, but plays music surprisingly loudly. I did not expect from the speakers of its size a similar sound.
When the Extra Bass function is turned off, the speaker plays quite smoothly, without pulling out the bass and not the high frequency spark. Simple, as far as possible, smooth sound, which even sounds good at high volume.

If you turn on Extra Bass, which is a complex post-processing of the sound, rather than the usual bass boost, the sound becomes brighter, more dynamic and active. The bass becomes capacious and more powerful, with the higher frequencies becoming more resonant and the artist’s vocals are emphasized. But at the same time, the middle of the sound range goes into the background, a powerful pop sound is produced, in which the bass, the performer’s voice and the instrument, which outputs the melody of the song, are heard well, and everything else fades into the background. Probably, for a mobile wireless speaker this is the right solution, because no one seriously thinks about seriously and thoughtfully listening to new music using the Sony SRS-XB20. This class of devices aims to create a background sound during a picnic, going to the beach or on a hike.

When changing one codec to another, I didn’t notice a serious difference in sounding, perhaps the whole thing is that even the basic SBC codec has enough power to spare the Sony SRS-XB20 and LDAC support is nothing more than a marketing ploy.

The sound of the Sony SRS-XB20 was good for a compact portable wireless speaker, and sometimes it was even better than I expected. If you have been looking at wireless speakers for a long time, but do not know which one to choose, I can safely recommend the Sony SRS-XB20, it will definitely not disappoint you with its sound.

conclusion

The Sony SRS-XB20 wireless speaker turned out to be successful: a stylish appearance, good sound quality, powerful bass and a long battery life, what else do you need from a gadget for outdoor recreation?
The speaker has an illumination that will appeal to young people, especially if it is beautiful if you combine several speakers of different colors into a single sound reproduction system.

Protection against splashing water IPX5 ensures a long service life of the device, it is not so easy to break the column, which is protected from falling and exposure to water.

If you are looking for a good compact wireless speaker with water protection and long battery life, I recommend to pay attention to the Sony SRS-XB20.

Pros:

• Good sound quality
• Stylish appearance
• Protection against falling and water
• Monochrome lighting (it is possible to completely disable it)
• Convenient companion app for your phone
• Ability to combine up to 10 speakers into a single sound reproduction system
• LDAC codec support
• Stable wireless connection to the phone

Minuses:

• For some fine-tuning of the column, it is necessary to install the branded Music Center application.