Customer Ratings & Reviews

Quality is great also has lights that go with the music always good.

The sony blue tooth rocks I've got it set on my Google home and the sound quality is great with just the push of one button

Speaker is loud and works welk for my need my kids love the lights

Just got this and the sound is amazing. Great volume control and ease of use.

My Blue tooth speaker is nice and loud, just what I needed for my Dance class at the senior center. As an extra it has flashing lights.

Amazing sound and also having it waterproof is perfect for showers!!

Awesome speaker, very loud, clear, this speaker bumps!!! If you're looking to buy, I highly recommend this speaker.

Let’s start from the most fun part, the setup. It is quick and simple. In just few steps you can start enjoying the wonders of the Sony SRS-XB43. The speaker can be paired using NFC, so if you have an android OS based smartphone, like me, just tap your phone on the NFC symbol that is located on the left side on top of the speaker and that’s it, the connection is done. You will see it in your Bluetooth list as an “SRS-XB43” device or you can manually add it as a Bluetooth device in your phone. This speaker is full of great capabilities not to mention the powerful, steady, clear sound, and punchy bass. Based on some reviews I have read, I think for some of them the design and concept of this powerful and neat speaker has been misunderstood. It is true that the XB43 might be for some kind of heavy or bulky, definitely it is not the kind of speaker you will hold in your hands while you are jogging, or dancing, like the XB21. From my point of view, this speaker is design to keep a steady and powerful sound even in open spaces, where you can enjoy and appreciate the details and clarity of your favorite music, even at a loud level. I remember my old man used to say when talking about selecting a good speaker, “Heavy is good”. By saying “heavy speaker’ it means, big magnets, solid internal structure, that will guarantee the quality of the sound. This one has the right size and weight to carry in your car or boat or take with you to the backyard. 7.5 pounds that feels and look high quality finish, not like the regular Bluetooth speakers that feels cheap and expendable. While smaller speakers are effective in small and closed spaces, the SRS-XB43 is extremely efficient in open spaces, performing clarity and widens the sound stage with powerful bass with less distortion, so the result is a great listening experience. It has all the capabilities and advantage of the previous Sony SRS speaker models, but comparing to the previous models I have notice the XB43 has a big difference in the MIDs section, it is a lot more defined, crispy, with an outstanding vocal clarity and strong bass. Checking the specs I can see why, it is a 2 way speaker with tweeters and dual side passive radiators that performs a resonant bass sound with low end tones. On top of that there is a “Extra Bass” mode, where you can even enjoyed a well define bass even at louder volume setting. The second feature that caught my attention was the Long battery life, the specs states that it delivers up to 24 hours of battery life even with the lighting feature on. But if you choose the EXTRA BASS mode, it will last up to 14 hours. So I tested this big battery for 18 hours in about 75% of the volume level (I didn’t want to try higher, it was too loud for me, while I was working in a project outdoors and then my daughter took it and continue using it when I finished and the speakers continue working). It is cool the battery status notification feature, and the fact that you can have this option enable or disable. While the full charge took about 2 hours. I might be wrong but this is the first time that I can see a IEC standard in a speaker, in this case the compliance #60529. The IP67 will show how protected is a product from a solid or liquid entering, in this case, the speaker. “6” stands for protected against solid objects from entering the unit, including dust, while the "7" indicates the speaker can be completely submerged in 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes before the moisture penetrates the housing. Then we have the functions that are included with the SRS Speakers Sony Series, like “Party Connect” “ST Pair”, both of them can be set up from the Music Center App or the by the control buttons located in the covered compartment, and will allow you to chain, or work in conjunction with other SRS Sony Series Speaker, a USB-C charging port for the included power adapter, a USB-A output port for charging devices with the XB43 Batt which I have found extremely useful, a 3.5mm aux port, which is another great feature that helps me a lot to chain the XB43 with my big Sony GTK-XB72 wired, and I will explain later, another great addition, a switch for speaker and tweeter lightning and works as well for the Battery life indicator. For more features you can download and install the Music Center app from the play store in the android OS. With those app you will find a lot of different settings that you can adjust for your own preference, like the lightning feature. As a default it comes with the "Rave" setting, but you can enjoy 13 other different combinations, the "Chill" setting for example, if you are in the mood for classical or piano music. The "Hot" setting, which gives you more dramatic and emphasize lightning style for modern music. Other Settings available is the Bluetooth, which you can adjust the type of compression you want or power saving mode connection. The SRS-XB43 supports LDAC, SBC, and AAC codecs. It uses Bluetooth Version 5.0 and LDAC to achieve a frequency transmission range of 20 Hz–20,000 Hz (44.1 kHz sampling) which is way higher than the human ear is capable to perceive. Like the previous SRS models, you can chain speakers. You will find 2 options, add a second XB43 as an extension of the first one, or you can set the 2nd as the stereo speaker, the connection is Bluetooth. The first option is “Wireless Party Chain” (WPC) Function. With this one you can connect multiple devices (up to 100 devices) compatible with the Wireless Party Chain function. The XB43 can only be connected with the following models: SRS-XB43, SRS-XB33, SRS-XB23. For the Stereo Pair function, 2 SRS-XB43 speakers are required. One speaker plays the sound on the right channel and the other speaker plays the sound on the left channel so the final result is a true stereo playback between the speakers. This speaker also includes a microphone, which allows you to use the google app of your phone, this is not an Amazon echo or Google home, but with the mic that this unit has incorporated, and if you have your google assistant or Alexa enable on your phone you can ask or do the same things you do with you google assistant from your cell phone, so it becomes an extension (mic and speakers) of your phone. The hands-free calls is also available with a Bluetooth smartphone that supports the Bluetooth profile HFP (Hands-free Profile) or HSP (Headset Profile) via Bluetooth connection. The Fiestable App is a very fun app, The Fiestable app allows you to dynamically select what colors you want the speaker lights to display. It also has a DJ mode, a Sampler mode and an Illumination mode. You can produce different punchy sounds combining lights and colors, on the speaker, very clever and I am sure the predilection for DJ’s On top of the speaker you will find the most useful and common controls. Power button, Bluetooth, a Play/Pause, Volume, and the Live button. When you hold the Play/Pause button down for a while you will activate Google Assistant on your phone (android based, I have a Samsung Galaxy) or played the audio through the XB43 speaker. Now, talking about range, it is huge, I had my phone in my main entrance and the XB42 in the backyard and the connection was steady and strong. Google Assistant and playing music works flawlessly. The “Live” button option is interesting, when is off, the music is flat. When you turn on it makes the sound in a kind of surround “3-dimensional” sound effect that emphasize the background. For my preference, I like to listen in the normal way my music, even louder if I can get a good quality sound like this case. At last, as I said before I will explain how the auxiliary port was so useful and efficient in my case. I have a XB31 and a GTK-XB72, that I was able to chain together using the “party chain” option. So I was kind of sad at the beginning because I wasn’t able to add the XB43, however with the Audio out that the XB72 includes, so the aux port in my XB43 was perfect to connect them with along RCA/Stereo mini jack cable, and chain together the 3 of them. Every product that Sony delivers has a technology surprise, and this speaker is not the exception, I am really happy with the XB43, quality sound and powerful performance, I give it 5 stars!

Clear, nice bass, but just not loud enough for me.

Excellent clear sound, good battery. Great for every day use.

Worked right out of the box. Easy set up. Great sound. We are really enjoying the sound.

Looked at a lot of options and this speaker is awsome with an app to control it which is a perfect feature to controll sound, lights ,with youtube music, pandora , spotify along with your personal library built in this is a impressive product sounding better than all other top brands I reviewed before I purchased this bluetooth sony speaker

Good bass. It a lot bigger than I thought but for good reason.

Build quality is great but the sound quality is mediocre at best. Human voice sounds especially muffled. Feels like the mid to high frequency range is not crisp and clear enough. Returned it in the end.

Everything I expected, I was checking out different brands and read a lot of views on other products, and I’m satisfied I made the best choice!

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Great sound, cool light show! Would definitely buy again.

I love it!!!!!!!! It's small but the sound is amazing...easy pairing and can be used wirelessly

Awesome speaker. Great sound and the lights are a cool feature

i agreed to all reviews. you will never go wrong with this speaker.