Sony has launched the SRS-XB31 – their portable speaker with Extra Bass. Their focus on extra bass definitely tells you that it is suited for events like house parties. Speaking of parties, it has party lights which is a line of lights around the front surface. These can change colours too, as well as blink. The speaker is a breeze to connect, especially since it has NFC. I just tapped my phone on the speaker, and within a few seconds it was connected.
The App:
Before I tell you about the sound, let me tell you about the app. It is the Sony Music Centre app that can do a lot of things and I was exploring the various features like a kid.
The app is not mandatory to listen to music through the speaker. You can just connect it via bluetooth and you’re good to go.
Let me start with some details relating to the music experience. When you go to the “Sound Mode” settings in the app, you will see 3 presets. The first one is the “standard” where you get pretty basic kind of a sound. The bass is still higher than most speakers around, but not exorbitant.
The next one is “Extra Bass” preset. When you switch to this mode, you really make sense of the “Extra Bass” that Sony has been advertising about everywhere. There is no doubt that the bass in this mode is really high, and the SRS-XB31 would be making waves (almost literally. Read more about it later in this article).
The third mode was perhaps my favourite. It was called “Live Sound”. In this mode, though the bass isn’t as high, the sound is just superb to hear. It is as if someone was singing live, and gives a feel like you’re in an auditorium where the artist is performing for you. When I’m not looking for the “Extra Bass”, this would surely be my choice of preset.
Apart from the presets, the app also allows you to change the bass, treble, and the middle individually as per your liking.
When you go to the “Lighting Mode” setting, there you will see dozens of colours to choose from. There is also a strobe that flashes intermittently which adds on to the party effect. You can choose to turn off the strobe as well as the party lights if you don’t want them.
Now let me tell you about my favourite feature of this app. This SRS-XB31 can beatbox! When you select “party booster” from the app settings, and turn it on, the speaker makes a sound when you hit it with your palm. There are sensors in the speaker, and this works for all sides of the speaker (except the back). You can change the sound for all the sides individually. There are about 15 different sounds like various drums, bells, beats, etc. and I found this to be a really cool feature.
Here are the download links for iOS and Android.
The Sound:
The Sony SRS XB31 definitely has very good bass. It is definitely loud, and more than enough for something like a party at your house or in your backyard. The various presets and the options to change the settings through the app allows you to get the best from the speaker. For those who like really high bass, the SRS-XB31 will definitely impress. Even for the others, the presets like the “Live Sound” will surely make the speaker live up to their expectation.
Battery and other features:
The speaker boasts a battery life of about 24 hours which is impressive. We used it for about 11 hours and there was still about 50% battery left, so we can believe that it lasts for that long.
It also includes a USB (DC out) port so that you can charge your phone if it is running out of juice.
The “Party Chain” allows you to connect 100 of these speakers together via bluetooth and the music and lights sync up. This is achieved by using the physical buttons behind the speaker that are labelled WPC (wireless party chain) and ADD.
The speaker also has a BATT button which tells you the battery percentage via audio.
The speaker weighs about 900gms which is pretty good considering the kind of sound output that it delivers.
The Sony SRS-XB31 is available in 5 colours – red, yellow, blue, white, and black.
Last, but not the least, the speaker is rated IP67, so it is dustproof as well as waterproof. It can not only be washed, but also submerged in water, without causing it any harm. On that note, we have a little video that made waves that we mentioned earlier in this article.