Video Transcript:
This is the Sony XB20 Bluetooth speaker. A Bluetooth speaker with a customizable halo made from 2 LED lights.
Out of the box, you’ll find the speaker itself, and a micro usb cable for charging. That’s it. I was kind of hoping for a usb wall adapter to, you know charge the thing, and what’s with the cable it’s so short. I get it Sony, it’s not about size but rather what it can do, but this isn’t gonna please anyone.
The design of it is very similar to their older SRS X-2 models, but the materials feel different, it feels hard and rubbery on the top half of the speaker and almost this carbon fiber like texture on the bottom. Holding it in your hand, it has a nice heft to it making it feel premium. If you’re carrying this around in a backpack, I don’t think your back would break anytime soon.
The buttons up top display the power button, that’s also used to pair devices, volume buttons, an add button that allows you to connect multiple XB20 speakers, a play/pause button and an answer call button. Oh, and a Bass Boost button.
The coolest feature of this device would be the LED halo of light the speaker has which syncs to any music played on the speaker. The speakers also sound pretty good for its price range unless you turn off bass boost, then it sounds boring. Here’s a few samples of both the sound quality and the led lights syncing to the music. Remember, the sound quality is affected by both my camera’s mic and your headphones or speakers. This is no indication of how it may possibly sound in person. Check it out in person if you’re interested in how it sounds. Now, enjoy the cheesy non-copyrighted music from RU-vid’s audio library!
Now, the market for portable Bluetooth speakers is highly saturated. So, what did Sony do to differentiate this speaker from its competition? Make it ready for raves. No seriously, they advertise this to be used at parties where you can connect multiple of these together. They also advertise its splash resistance but suggest you don’t even get it wet with anything other than water. This includes chlorine from pools. But pools are at parties… and this is for parties…. You get my point. Speaker go in pool, speaker die.
This device was ready to be my favorite candidate for “prettiest Bluetooth speaker” with it’s LED halo except if it wasn’t for one thing. This lighting feature sucks. To understand it I have to explain it in a little more detail.
Sony sells 3 differing models with a similar concept, led lighting to compliment your music. The larger two speakers, the XB30 and XB40 have RGB lighting, allowing you to change them to different colors. But there’s 2 problems (1) color selection and (2) The Sony Music Center App.
The XB20 has only two areas where it lights up and lacks the ability to change to different colors, the one you see with a specific speaker color is the one you get. While its older brothers, the XB30 and XB40 have presets, that you can’t stray from. So if you don’t like the colors sony picked, too bad. Also, you can’t make it have a constant, static ring of light, instead your only options are lights off, rave, chill, and strobe if you’re trying to give someone seizures. For some people this might not be a problem, however, for me, I don’t need my music to be a constant party all that time, sometimes I just want a static ring of light for the aesthetic.
To access special features of the Bluetooth speaker you have to download Sony’s music center app, and then connect to your speaker with Bluetooth, from there, you can do whatever you want with the app. Easy right? Haha…. They managed to mess it up, it disconnects from the app after leaving it alone for awhile, and you can’t connect back to the speaker settings in the app unless you reset the Bluetooth connection and do it all again. It can get annoying..
So here’s my final thoughts. I know it seemed like I was completely hating on this speaker but as an everyday Bluetooth speaker I love the Sony XB20s. It has a familiar yet pleasant design and build, sounds good for its price range, and has features such as a bass boost, and water resistance. It’s LED lights while limited, gives a new dimension and definitely gives that party vibe if that’s what you want to use it for. All this in a speaker that only costs $100 dollars. If we’re looking at price wise, this is just a good value. I was going to use it to replace an older, and bigger Bluetooth speaker but considering I was so hyped for the XB20s and they ended up underwhelming me a bit… I’m keeping my old one. But for those of you looking for a good Bluetooth speaker for $100 dollars, this one is a great value, despite its many flaws, few speakers at that price range have a list of features this extensive.
Anyway I hope you guys found this video useful, if you enjoyed it, give it a thumbs up, comment, and don’t forget to subscribe. I’ll see you guys next time.
29 авг 2024
