Customer Ratings & Reviews

Wow, I was so pleasantly surprised and impressed by this speaker. I have other bluetooth speakers that promise to be dust and waterproof. And they actually are, but they seriously lacked in sound. On the other hand, Sony hit all of the marks and then went even further, exceeding all of my expectations. First off, the sound as one would want from any speaker is on point. You get a deep, rich sound that truly lets you enjoy all of the parts of any song. Next, although I haven't actually dunked this thing in water, it does seem ready to take on anything I could throw at it. I used it outside while cleaning up my yard and I actually did drop it on the wet ground by accident. No big deal! No damage of any kind, still looked brand new. Lastly, this thing is just fun. I feel like you get a mini light show with your music. Plus, if you sync it up with other speakers and have them all going (haven't tried this yet) the light show will get a whole lot bigger and more entertaining. No complaints here, love this speaker!

I actually really liked the speaker, it was powerful and sounded well, however it wouldn't charge. I had bought it and had it for about a week and a half before using it and I used it maybe three times. I plugged it in to charge multiple times but each time it still got lower until it was just dead. So by this time the 14 days had passed and I lost what I out down for the protection plan and only got store credit.

There are a lot of portable Bluetooth speakers available in the market. Most have the same feature like this Sony SRSXB31 such as water and dust proof, dynamic bass, ability to connect/pair multiple speakers together, etc. But the SRSXB31 has a few things I haven’t seen, 24 hour battery life with the ability to connect and charge device, light effects, and party Booster basically you can hit the speaker in different areas and it will play different sounds. The light effect in my opinion is pointless unless you have multiple speakers. Glad you can turn off the lights from the speakers and not have to use the app.. The Party Booster is something my kids loved playing with.. its like portable drum set. They marched around the house playing their music and hitting the speakers.. Overall build quality is solid.. Feels like it can with stand a drop on a hard surface.. Definitely would recommend this to anyone.

The Sony - SRS-XB31 portable bluetooth speaker is the perfect versatile audio solution for getting rich, clear sound in any environment. It's great for outdoor use, like on a deck or patio and it sounds fantastic in any room in the house. Even in large rooms, the speaker sounds great. There is a good mix of high and mid range sound delivery, complimented by impressive bass that does not drown out other sounds. This speaker is amazing. I really like the illumination around bezel of the speaker, adds a nice affect to the listening experience. The speaker is easy to pair with your bluetooth device and easy to control using the phone or tablet. I even paired it with my computer for a more dynamic listening experience when watching videos and listening to music on my computer. I would definitely recommend the Sony - SRS-XB31 Portable Bluetooth Speaker.

It wouldn’t connect Bluetooth with my phone. Don’t really have the patience to put up with that. Took it back. Not a Best Buy issue. They refunded at the time. Picked another brand. Works great.

The battery just work for 3 hours with all the charge. I was charging my speaker and when to the beach .. when the sound was off.. 3 hours later .. no light on btw .. just Max. Volumen .. I don’t recommended at ALL buy this speaker .. if I was allowed to return this item .. believe me .. I will do it .. but I went to the beach two months after My purchase. Bummer.

The sound quality is clear and very nice, it doesn’t sound muffled at all. The bass on it is great too, and the speaker itself gets pretty loud. It comes with the cable to charge it but not the part that plugs into the wall. The instructions are very vague, there’s basically no words just pictures. I have an iPhone so to pair it you just go to your settings, Bluetooth, then hit the device name to pair. Overall it’s very easy to use, looks nice, sounds great, and has a nice little light show on top.

My family has used various models of portable Sony Bluetooth speakers. We are sold on these products. This model has a somewhat different material on the outside that is a fabric design which is rustproof, waterproof and dustproof. If need be the speaker can be rinsed off should you get sand, dirt or whatever on it. Sony has added some fun features like Party Booster where you can tap the speaker in different places to make different sounds like a scratch, snare, kick drum or cowbell. Volume can also be controlled with gentle touch or a firm hit and Sony retains the fun lights on these speakers that sync to the beat. I strongly recommend this line of speakers for great sound, awesome battery life, durability and just a really nice overall design.

Bottom Line: Gets surprisingly loud, features good bass but that's offset by lackluster highs and a finicky phone app. Light show feature is gimmicky and doesn't seem to have anything to do with the music that's playing, and requires use of a phone app to turn it off. Background: My wife thinks I'm crazy, but I'm always on the hunt for a better Bluetooth speaker. I've got them all, from tiny keychain speakers to big honkin' party speakers. A speaker for every scenario, right? These speakers get used while I'm working, while I'm working out, or while I'm relaxing by the fire pit. Heck, I used to use them in my car because my car didn't have a working stereo system! I wouldn't say I'm a golden ear by any stretch of the imagination, but I am pretty picky about audio quality. The good: The low end on this speaker sounds pretty darned good, as one would expect from the company that introduced the world to the "Mega Bass" feature. While it can't do justice to the low-end drone from a set of Moog Taurus pedals or reproduce the electronic thud of a TR-808 bass drum, you're in pretty good shape at the low end. The speaker supports a couple of different audio modes which can be set from the phone app, and the 'live' mode sounds especially good - it widens the soundstage and delivers sound that should be able to come from a speaker eight inches long. Bluetooth range is fine. There are several pre-set audio equalization settings available in the phone app as well. Battery life was pretty good, running for eight hours without recharging. Includes a USB-A port for charging an external device, like your phone for longer music sessions. Charges from a standard Micro-USB port, which is a big plus. The speaker is well-made, and the fabric covering feels durable and high-quality. The bad: I've tried a number of Sony Bluetooth wireless speakers over the years, and unfortunately, they've all shared the same shortcoming - lackluster high frequency response. The highs just sound dead and lifeless, even if you run the speaker for 10-15 hours to break it in. This speaker features Sony's light-up party system, which confuses me as much on this speaker as it did on others. Unlike, say, the classic "color organs" where different colors would be activated by different audio frequencies, the Sony speakers (even their larger and more expensive party speakers) do something different...essentially they seem to randomly flash the strobes on the front or change color, but not really in time to the music. The color scheme can be changed through the phone app, but that doesn't affect how the lights are sequenced - still the same, apparently random patterns. The light show can be turned off, but again, that requires use of the phone app; a button on the speaker would have been nice. Finally, the custom/user eq settings in the phone app appear to do...nothing. The preset ones do affect the sound, but the custom eq setting seems not to.

within one month this speaker stopped charging! Disappointed in purchase.

This radio is a fun little unit. My six year old and I had a mini dance party testing it out. We played disco music, which paired very well with the light show on the speakers. I could imagine holding this in my hand while roller skating to the music; it was very comfortable to carry around. I had some issues trying to get it to pair with my Samsung 8 phone. It took about 3 tries to get the Bluetooth to sync, then the Sony Music Center app wasn't reading that the speaker was already paired. Once they were finally paired, the app was easy to use and program for use with my various music libraries. My daughter really enjoyed playing the percussion on the unit, but that's not a feature that I would use myself.

This speaker delivers exactly what I expect from Sony - great design and great sound. It's easy to setup and use with convenient controls. It's great for parties or simply playing music in my office.

My old pair of Bluetooth speakers wouldn't hold a charge anymore and would die after a 1/2 hour of playing. I really like them because i could put one on each side of my garage and i could get stereo sound. So I was skeptical of this Sony speaker cuz it was just a single unit and I was worried it wouldn't put out the same stereo sound. I put this speaker up on a shelf and my garage was booming with great sound. Then i turned on the extra bass and it sounded like I was having a concert in my garage. The kids really like it too especially when they turn off the lights and watch the colors light up the room. This is an awesome speaker.

We have had quite a few speakers over the past several years. This one ranks among the best - awesome sound, good bass, and basically waterproof. Highly recommended!

This little speaker packs a lot of bass in such a small form factor. Downloading the app will allow you to adjust the LED lights, and tweak the sound and other features. I'm impressed with the bass, but the mids are a bit muddy. Perhaps it could be due to the speaker being waterproof. Battery lasts a long time, which is a huge plus. The speaker has an audio in, which allow you to use non Bluetooth device with the speaker. The NFC pairing feature is a nice touch for those with Android devices. I was able to pair my speaker to my phone within seconds. So far I'm enjoying this speaker.

Purchased in March. Used rarely. Once or twice a month. Connectivity issues. And the battery wont hold a charge.

Traded this one in and will be refunding it since it can’t hold a charge even while plugged in like the last one.

The Sony SRS-XB31 is a portable bluetooth speaker with added features to promote it as a party speaker - but the frills aren't really exciting and the sound from the speaker is disappointing. Sony touts their trademarked (?) ExtraBass technology that is supposed to produce enhanced bass during playback - and while the bass is surely enhanced, it gets boosted to the detriment of the rest of the spectrum. In my experience, the bass didn't sound strong and pronounced as much as the music, overall, sounded muddy. To help with the ambience of a party, the speaker sports a colorful line light around its perimeter and includes a couple of strobe lights that flash from the face. According to Sony's promotional information, the lights are supposed to sync to the beat of the music but I didn't find that feature to work exactly right. Also, unless I'm missing something, there is no way to turn the flashing feature off so it's party all the time with this speaker. The promotional information also suggested that you could create sound effects though the speaker by interacting with it physically - supposedly you can evoke sounds of a scratch, a snare, a kick drum and (really?) a cowbell by using taps and hits and shakes. I was unable to reproduce any effects at all on my speaker. As with many devices designed for parties, a big selling point is the ability to chain multiple units together to play from a single music source. This speaker is designed for that as well - and is being marketed accordingly - hoping that all of your friends will show up with their own unit to join in the party. The unit is unquestionably solid, though - it feels really well made (and was apparently designed to withstand a lot of hitting and strumming that didn't work out for me). It is also waterproof enough to rinse vigorously. And it sports a battery life of up to 24 hours (even though that would be under ideal circumstances, that still suggests that it has an outrageously good battery inside).

worked great for about 6 months, stopped working the internal battery will not hold charge. now it will not even if plugged in. I was surprised that the Sony product failed so quickly.

I think this is one of the best portable Bluetooth speakers on the market. The Sony SRS-XB31 produces a wonder sound and through the Sony app you can adjust it to fit your listening needs. As an added bonus this speaker has the ability to put on a light show with a multitude of different displaying order. This thing is packed with features and is fun to beat on to the music as it has an interactive percussion setting. With this speaker you’ll be the life of the party. It has great sound and many great features. I would definitely recommend it.