Customer Ratings & Reviews

Got carried away due to the $55 price tag and some online reviews. But compared to our JBL Flip3 the sound is timid. I would have paid $20 more and got the flip series.

Sound was good, didn’t last but 8 months at best. Stopped charging and that was it. My advice spend the money and get a better one.

I was looking for a new wireless speaker to put in my home office. I didn't want to pay a premium price as it won't be used as much as my high-end speaker. When I like the simple design of this device as it's compact and comes in a variety of colors. Despite the size, the device puts out quality sound. In particular, the high end and low end ranges are particularly crisp and clear. Setup was simple and I had the device connected within 30 seconds of syncing the device with my iPhone. Sony has developed a quality speaker at an affordable price. I highly recommend it due to it's value.

worked great until I got a new iPhone, then the device would randomly power itself down for no reason while playing music even while fully charged...

This is Sony's latest in the line of Sony XB speakers. I am assuming the XB means extra bass and that is totally the case. Let's review the different categories - Build quality and physical features Very solid, the speaker has some heft to it. It has a refined feel of smooth, quality soft plastic. Water resistant IPX 5 certified. Micro USB and 3.5 mm jack. The micro USB is the way you charge the speaker. Overall, a well built and engineered speaker. The speaker has one color LED lights that pulse as the sound is playing. You can control it through the software.Note to Sony, consumers really do not care about this. The gimmick wears off real fast and does not influence the buying decision. Connectivity and features - The most current bluetooth connectivity and controls. It pairs very easily. The speaker does ask to install software but there will be more of that below. NFC and a 3.5 MM input. Sound The sound is just okay, it sounds a bit “muddied to me.” I tried it on both an iPad and an Android phone. It just seems the treble is washed out a bit. I tried adjusting the few settings in the software and it did help. It’s not terrible but should be a bit better at this price point. I found the speakers of the iPad a bit better on the treble range compared to the Sony SRS-XB20. However, the speaker is powerful for it’s size -the volume and bass is more than any iPad or computer. If you like a speaker for bass then this is one you should give you some consideration. Keep in mind that quality of sound is subjective to listener, this may be just fine for you. I did compare it to a cheap $30 speaker, another competitor that is twice the price ( there is no comparison) and computer/Ipad speakers. The volume control is a bit strange with an iPad. The iPad will show one level in the indicator when you increase or decrease the volume on the speaker, the indicator bar levels blink to indicate what the speaker is doing. At first, it appears something is wrong and that the speaker is fighting with the iPad volume control. The speaker does control the volume but it did not change the indicator fully on the iPad. Very strange. Software - The speaker is advertised to have an app called Songpal. There is no Songpal in the Itunes App store and will not be until May ( or so I read.) When you first connect the speaker to an IOS device, it tries to install the software but it is not in Itunes. I did try it on Android and Songpal is in the Google Play store under the name Sony Music Center. There are controls for the lights, voice search, sound controls such as Clear Audio that is supposed to make music sound better and a weak equalizer that has a choice of flat or bass. Conclusion - The Sony SRS-XB20 is a midrange speaker that has excellent build quality but falls a bit short on audio quality and loses some merit that the software at the time of this review was not ready for iOS. I think with some minor software tweaks that the sound for music will be better. At the full list price , I am not sure it is worth it. At a price point about $30 less, you would have a winner. Still, I could recommend it on it’s build quality, feature set and bass in hopes a better equalizer would be coming.

All sounds above 75% percent are distorted. The party chain is cool, but it pushes to hard at high volumes, and the sound quality suffers!

Great speaker but not to connect to another speaker. Speaker has to be completely charged before the volume will go all the up.

Was using this regularly but it’s not compatible with IphoneXR so not anymore. It worked well but I have had no updates done so it’s s big behind.

I love this Sony speaker. It is the perfect size and the sound quality is amazing. Also, the battery life is decent. I have a Bose Soundlink speaker but I prefer the design and features of this speaker over the Bose. Pros: - Sound Quality: Excellent quality to fill a medium to large room. Even at full volume it sounded crisp. - Design: I love the look and feel of this speaker. The lighting design is awesome as well. - Extra Bass Feature: Produces decent Bass for such a small speaker. Cons: - No connect app that I could locate (itunes). It would be nice to make additional changes to the settings. - Charging cable is extremely short (6" at the most). - Battery life is decent at 12 hours. It would be nice if it was around 15-20 hours.

Would not connect to another like speaker in the party pair. Very nice sound, other than that. Had to return as I needed them to be reliable and party pair.

I brought this for my mom And the sound quality is okay not as clear and Loud as my beat speaker but a great buy for the price.

3 out of 5. The speaker works good but have heard better. Easy bluetooth setup and cool lights. I would buy bose instead if this one wasn't on sale.

Sometimes when I'm listening to the speaker, it just turns off. Or if I try to turn it up it will shut off. But when it does work well I like it!

The Sony - XB20 Portable Bluetooth Speaker is a nice speaker. Sound is good. It was for my teenage son so it’s perfect for him.

Terrible. Does not connect well w Bluetooth w my iPhone 7. Connects and cuts out over and over. It will connect w my wife’s iPhone 6.

Sometime I do have an issue with it turning the volume down on its own, then I'd have to turn it off then on for it to work again.

Do not buy this item at all cost. I bought this in July. It failed by December. Incredibly poor performance. I'm trashing it.

Does good for 70 bucks. Not as nice or clear at higher volumes like Bose, but significantly cheaper. Great for work & play.

This speaker is decent if you just want a basic speaker to play music but it was not as loud as I wanted

This is a good small speaker. It easily connected to my phone. I tried BT and NFC connections and they worked with no problems. The speaker isn't heavy, has a nice a shape, and is easy to carry around. I tried it first using it as an output from my phone. Everything sounded good. I tried it with the Sony Music Center app and got some more options. The app lets you easily change the settings and pair up multiple units. The lights around the speaker grill can be fun, but if you don't want them on, it's easy to change to off or other patterns. The app also saw my music apps, like Pandora and music on the phone. So, you can run the music selection directly from the app. Almost all of the settings can be done on the unit itself, but the app really makes it easy, and adds some more options, Sound was crisp and sounded good for smaller speakers. Once you get the sound volume up, you can tell the difference the Extra Bass makes. It is noticeable and sounds nice, but again given the size of the speakers it's not going to be earth shattering. I used it doing some work outside, dropped it twice, and got some mist and dirt on it. No problems for the unit. It also has a line in which is nice and protected by a rubber cover along with the reset and charging port. Using it for a phone call or controlling play selection was easy. Charge time isn't bad to get 12 hours of play using a 1.5amp charger. Overall for a small unit, it sounds nice and is protected from minor incidents that may occur. Should be great to take to outings, as it provides more and better sound than a phone or tablet could. Wish I could try multiple units at once.