Sony - SRS-XB41 Portable Bluetooth Speaker - Black

Sony hit a home run with this XB41 BT speaker. The size, features, and battery life should really appeal to most people who are looking for an all-around great wireless speaker. Package comes with speaker, proprietary wall charging unit, and instructional guide. PROS: ----------- * Incredible sound in a small package, but Sony’s largest speaker in this style. BASS is great! * Connected flawlessly with 3 devices I own – all Android. NFC made it even easier. * Lights can make the sound more fun I guess… personally, I’d rather have my speaker take on longer life so it continues to work. But the various light shows are still pretty cool at times. * Fiestable app is a nice/fun added add-on. After playing around with it, it’s something that someone under 10 years old would probably have fun with. After about a minute though, I was over it and just wanted to listen to my music the regular way. * The IP67 rating is great – as many BT speakers have this now. It’s great to be able to take this speaker to the ball park without having to worry about it getting wet or dirty. * The 24 hour battery is one of the BEST features. No one wants their speaker to give out. However, if you do run out of power, you can either use the wall charger provided OR your own microUSB cable for charging. That concept is huge, as no one wants to haul around a proprietary cable around. * USB port available for charging a cell phone in the rear panel. As long as you have plenty of life left, this could be useful. * BT signal was exceptional when connecting with Samsung Note 8. I was able to get around 50’+ for line of site and around 40’ with one wall separating phone and speaker. CONS: ----------- * I’d like to see the Sony “Music Center” app a bit more updated and user friendly. For instance, sound shouldn’t really be in settings, but on the front page as “Audio” or similar. Even the illumination would be better suited to a more accessible area on the main page instead of having so many submenus. * The great idea of having a secondary way of charging the speaker via microUSB is great – however, we are in 2018. This should have been a USB-C cable input for charging. This would allow for possible faster charging AND not have to worry with which way the connector has to be turned. MicroUSB should be a thing of the past on new products such as this going forward. OTHER OBSERVATIONS: ----------- * I find it a bit amusing that ads for this product show teens all holding up a Sony BT speaker… What world is that? As fun as it looks, I don’t recall any party where teens bring their own Sony BT speaker and join them all up together and dance with them. Nice concept, but not sure if that’s a huge selling point. * The product claims to have a 3.94 foot shock proof chassis (on a 1.97” thick piece of plywood. Well, I’m not going to drop it to prove otherwise. Dropping on cement or tile floor from that same distance might get different results. * See picture provided with review to see the ports available in the rear panel which is waterproof. Door latches pretty tightly. * Lights can be turned on/off in the Music Center app in settings along with some simple EQ settings as well. CONCLUSION: ===================== I own a few BT speakers, and this one is likely the best of them all. It has plenty of bass and power, flashing lights, waterproof, and other applications via the Music Center and Fiestable. Connecting (up to 100) many of these together in a room could definitely provide plenty of immersible sounds at a party inside or outside. Being BT, they just need to be within 30-40’ of each other. Line of sight can be longer. There are plenty of pros to buy this speaker and not enough cons not to. Clearly Sony got it right on this one.

A couple month ago , My Europe college advice me to buy this Bluetooth speaker by SONY when we’re talking about sound quality. Then I placed my purchased but the pop up message come out not delivery in my home address, I was shot then 2 week later I chk a gain the price is go up already . wow I was so disappointed and I got special offer early access for Black Friday , I chk it out the price was go down 50% and they will ship my home address too I was so happy , love the song quality and I bought 2 , the other one for my uncle he said he never ever listen before that kind of sound Quality in his life. Btw he is currently 64 years old guy. Thanks best Buy

The XB41 is a big speaker that puts out sound to match. The lights are cool and the Party Booster is stupid, but fun. It doesn’t have the best sound quality, but it’s got a lot of other extras built-in that I think makes it pretty strong party speaker. The speaker is fairly large compared to other portable speakers. It’s easy enough to pick up and move around, but you’d have a hard time fitting it into a book bag or backpack if you don’t have a decent amount of space available. The outside is covered in some faux fabric that feels pretty good. The overall build feels pretty sturdy, though something tells me a hard drop might have bad results. It is sealed up really well though and it’s waterproof, dustproof, and washable, so it’s good go if you’re going camping or to the beach. There are buttons along the top with your basic controls and the charging ports are on the back, along with a 3.5mm line-in and an extra USB port to charge your phone off the speaker battery, which is a nice touch especially since the battery life is rated for 24 hours on its own, so there should be enough juice to keep the speaker and your phone running for a while too. The back ports are covered by a rubber flap and the waterproof/dustproof thing doesn’t apply if the flap is open; something to keep in mind. Besides being a speaker, it also has its own little light show built-in as well. Both speaker cones light up, there’s a line light that goes all the way around the front and sides, and there’s also 2 small strobe lights on either side of the speaker. The lighting effects are pretty cool and go along with whatever’s playing, though the Sony app that controls them doesn’t give you a ton of options for customizing it. It also has something new this year called Party Booster, which basically turns it the speaker into your own little electric tambourine thing. The idea is you hold the speaker in your hand while music is playing and you can add your own effects to the music by banging on different parts of the speaker. There’s about 10 different sounds like hi hat and cowbell that you can activate by hitting either the front, sides, top, and bottom. It’s kind of dumb and I feel like it probably works better on Sony’s smaller speakers that are easier to hold, but it’s also a lot of fun for a few minutes. Listening to the speaker was pretty good. It gets really loud and doesn’t struggle at volume. It seems to me that Sony tunes these speakers for bass above clarity; the XB in the model name does stand for ‘Extra Bass’ after all. I do think the mids and highs come through a little muddy no matter what I set in the app. It’s far from terrible, don’t get me wrong, but if you’re really listening in you’ll notice it. There are 3 different audio presets on the XB41: Standard, Extra Bass, and Live. The default setting and what Sony recommends is the Extra Bass one and I do think that one sounds the best. It adds just a little more fullness to the music compared to the Standard setting and I think most music sounds better on that setting. The Live mode is not great. The best way I can describe is if you have an audio receiver with a ‘Concert Hall’ setting. It adds a bit of dimension and openness to the sound that can be good at times, but most of the time to me it sounds like the song is playing through an echo chamber. I actually found that live music recordings seemed to get the most benefit from it. My wife liked the Live setting though, so I’d recommend taking a listen for yourself. Here’s some miscellaneous things I didn’t mention: - Battery life is rated for 24 hours, but that’s without any lighting effects on. - If your phone has NFC you can pair with the speaker that way. It worked fine on my Pixel 2 XL. - All of the speaker settings are managed through Sony’s Music Center app. It’s a fine app and I haven’t had any issues with it on iOS or Android. There’s also another Sony app called Fiestable that lets you do some extra DJ effects through your phone, but I didn’t really find it worthwhile to have that one. - The speaker uses Bluetooth 4.2, but also has Sony’s LDAC codec onboard, which allows for higher bit rate audio. I know my Pixel 2 supports it and I think most newer Android phones do as well. - You can chain multiple speakers together to all play the same music, or you can use 2 speakers to create a true stereo setup. For what you’re paying for this speaker there probably are other options out there that do sound a little better, but Sony packs so much more into this speaker and I think that makes it worth if you can appreciate at least a few of the things they’re doing. It’s definitely ready to party.

The Sony Audio Engineers have designed this SRS-XB41 as a Mini-Portable Party Center with Smart Features, which enhance 'Live Sound', LED lighting, and fascinating sound effects. You can be your own DJ by customizing various, multi-dimensional sound and lighting effects creating a personal 'club atmosphere' in your own home. After two fun-filled weeks of enjoying, using, and 'learning' this speaker I find it is capable of handling small, large, indoor and, or, outdoor spaces equally well with spectacular acoustics. I was absolutely astounded by the DJ lighting, and especially, the numerous FUN, DJ sound effects, my teenage Grand Kids conjured up, playing with the Sony Music Center and Fiestable Apps on my I-Phone. I am also amazed the SRS-XB41 reproduces such a dynamic, reverberating sound with robust bass playing an array of all music genres. WooHoo! The sound reproduction of the SRS-XB41 focuses on the mid-ranges, and is spirited at higher tones, and crisp at clear voice. It has a full-bodied, rich bass, especially when the 'Extra Bass' (Party Booster) is activated through the speaker's 'Live Sound' button, or, through the Sony Music Center App. Let me start by listing 'What's In The Box': * SRS-XB, Waterproof (IP 67 Rating), Dustproof, and Rustproof. - - Dimensions are 11 1/2 in x 4 1/8 in x 4 1/4 in and the unit weighs approximately 3 lbs and 5 oz. - - Unit operates on the 2.4 GHz radio band and the internal size of its dual, mica reinforced speakers are 2.28 in. - - The speakers are lighted, which sync to the beat of your music. - - Additionally, there are two strobe lights at either end of the front face of the unit. - - Line Lights – There is a line of lighting on the unit's front, which also circles both sides. These lights can be changed through the Sony Music Center App to an unbelievable amount of color variations and automatically sync to the beat of your music. - - Battery Life – This unit can operate for a full 24 hours on low sound with no lights syncing. It took me approximately 3 hours to fully charge this unit. - - Easy Grip Speaker Body – The unit is constructed of high quality fabric, which is waterproof, dustproof, and easily cleanable / washable. It grips and let's you hold on easily easy to manually tap any one of five sides for DJ sound and lighting effects. * Proprietary A/C Charger - Included in the box. However, speaker can also be charged from the Micro USB (DC IN). Connect a USB AC adapter to this jack to charge the speaker. * Quick Start Guide – Numbered steps and illustrations to get you operating your XB41 by manually performing most of its numerous features. * Reference Guide – Standard safety precautions, warnings, notes, and other pertinent operating information. RECOMMENDATION: I went to the Sony Support website and entered the SRS-XB41 model number. I then bookmarked the 'On-Line Help Guide' , which is a much more expanded detailed, easy-to-read, on-line guide, which has numerous helpful illustrations and drawings so you can readily take advantage of the fantastic amount of features this speaker offers. You can also download a printed PDF 'Help Guide', but be aware it is a 'ginormous' 94 pages long. Controls, Buttons & Lights on the SRS-XB 41: * ON / OFF Pairing Burton – Located to the extreme right on the top of the unit. This button has a light, which is OFF when the power is not ON and White when the power is ON. It also turns Orange in the Bluetooth Standby mode while the speaker is OFF; Green when the sound is in the Standard mode; White when either the Live Sound or Extra Bass mode is ON. * Bluetooth Indicator – Light flashes Blue while Bluetooth Pairing is in Process and solid Blue when connected. * Live Button – On top of this speaker and Is ON, White, when realistic, vibrant, 'Live Sound' is being delivered. Light is OFF when either standard of Extra Bass sound mode is ON. Extra Bass is what this speaker is really all about. The 'Extra Bass' feature with the appropriate volume level blows my proverbial socks off. * + Button – Increasing volume button – Note that the connected Bluetooth device controls the upper levels of the total volume. * - Button – Decreases the preset volume level. * + & - Volume Buttons – By depressing both + & - volume buttons at the same time for three seconds, 'Party Booster' function is turned ON manually. This allows you to DJ sound effects by tapping any one of the five sides of the speaker. Tap hard for loud effects and tap lightly for lower sound effects. Keep in mind that you have to physically hold the speaker body for these FUN effects. * > & II Call Button – Press this button to receive a call. Music playing will be halted. Then, press this same button to end the phone call. After making a call from your mobile phone press this same button to end that call, likewise. Under The Cap On The Back Of The Unit: * Batt Button – Turns the lights ON & OFF. * Charge Indicator Light – Glows Orange while charging and Fully charged. * WPC Button With Indicator Light – Wireless Party Chain Button with indicator Light. When other compatible speakers are 'party-chained' the light glows White. * ADD Button With Indicator Light – Any other compatible speaker may be 'added' as a double speaker (plays the same sound) or, in Stereo mode to play as a Left or Right channel. I prefer to add a speaker in Stereo mode, it is so much better quality sound reproduction. * Stereo Mini Jack (Audio IN) – For playing auxiliary sound input devices. * USB A Terminal (DC OUT only) - For charging your Cell Phone or other devices. * Micro USB (DC IN) – Connect a USB AC adapter to this jack to charge the speaker * DC IN – Proprietary 5V, A/C Charger. To fully take advantage of the SRS-XB41 Speaker I downloaded the Sony Music Center App, which is available from both the Apple App Store or at Google Play. When I downloaded the Sony Music Center App. it prompted me to download the Fiestable App. Both of these Apps are need to fully explore the multitude of features offered by the SRTS-XB41. Functions of the Sony Music Center App Using Your Smartphone: * Group With Other Speakers - Control multiple compatible speakers (up to 100) using the Wireless Party Chain or select the Speaker Add function. * Access your own personal Music Library (Need to give App permission to access). * Access directly to Pandora, Tunein Radio, etc. directly from within the App (If installed on your Smartphone). * Access the various Illumination, Lighting Modes and select from Rave, Chill, Hot, Cool, Strobe, Calm Magenta, Calm Cyan, Calm Lime, Calm Cinnabar, Calm Daylight, Calm Light Bulb, and Lights 'OFF' and Random Flash 'OFF'. * Under 'Settings' – You have a multitude of options for Sound, Illumination, Power Options, Bluetooth Settings, System, and Party Booster. * Under 'Sound Mode' – You can choose the 'Preset Mode', which is Standard, Extra Bass, or Live Sound. You can also choose BASS/MID/TRE, which allows you to customize the levels of Bass, Middle, and Treble to your own personal preferences. Change the sound effects through the various DJ EFFECT settings, which allow you to adjust the volume of the effects for personal customization, or shut all DJ Effects OFF. How cool is that? * Additional Sound Settings – Activate Clear Audio (Sony's recommended sound setting) and adding Extra Bass if you so desire (Grand Kids Love this setting). * System - Configure the various settings for the system. * Check the battery's power levels. Functions of the Fiestable App Using Your Smartphone: *DJ Control allows you to completely customize your music genres using Isolator, Notch, Noise, and Jet. My Grand Kids can make these effects in sync with the music and lighting – absolutely entertaining. In DJ mode you can add Drums, Scratch, Audience, Voice (Cool Sayings), Phaser, Reggaehorn, and Rhythm by simply tapping or using your finger swirling around on a circle on the pad of your Smartphone. This App feature is absolutely mind-boggling and pure FUN. The more I use it, the more I love it. And, of course, you can turn the DJ effects 'OFF' any time. * Motion Control is another fascinating feature, which allows you to control DJ and Illumination effects with a side motion, back and forth, or swivel of your Smart Phone. My Grand Kids love this motion control and are quite good at it. * Illumination Controls – Yet, another amazing feature, which you control from the pad of your Smartphone. You can change, blend, and even customize the LED color displays on the speaker by simply moving you finger around the color circle on the pad of your Smartphone. There is a Party Flash feature, which allows you to blink the LED lights by tapping the pad of your Smartphone as fast or slow as you wish, and, the lights react, accordingly. Conclusion: This super-feature packed speaker may not suit everyone, but it is the best quality sounding speaker, and, most entertaining I have ever used (just ask my Grand Kids). I love it! For younger listeners this is a fantastic, interactive, club-like, Party Machine. I highly recommend the purchase of this Sony SRS-XB41 if you like high-caliber sound extra bass, multitude of functions, never ending colorful light shows, and just because my Grand Kids love it so much. It is pricey, but just look at what outstanding and numerous features you get - totally worth the money. Obviously, this would make a great gift for that special young person on your list for birthday, graduation, going away to college, etc. This speaker will not disappoint you . . . .

I really like the new Sony lineup of portable, bass-focused, water/dust resistant Bluetooth speakers. The XB41 is the Grand-daddy of them all, boasting the longest play time, most lighting effects and most extreme party modes! Right away, I paired it up and launched into some music from my iphone. The kids came running. I explained this one is mine. I dazzled them with the Fiesta app to produce different lighting effects and some DJ effects. I used the Sony Music Center to further enhance the experience and sent the kids away whining that they don't get it. Ha. Score one for dad! The waterproof design makes it safer to be used near the pool, on the boat, in the bathroom during a steamy shower, etc. The fact that I can connect up to 100 more in a chain means the boat barge parties can really get going! Using it as a power source for my iphone is a wonderful feature as well. Nice job Sony! The light effects are cool - especially if you turn down your normal lights and just let the speaker and maybe some beer signs guide you. If you don't like them, yes - you can turn them off with the app. Overall - just love it. Go big - get the XB41. Here's picture comparing the sized to my desktop mouse.

Sony is killing it with this new XB speaker line. These are amazing speakers: look great, have solid sound, get very loud, can be combined together, are IP67x rated, beautiful lighting effects, and just all around a stellar product. To start out, they look great. I got the "red", and while it's more maroon-y than the photos make it look, I love it. The fabric is supposedly an exclusive print made in Japan for Sony, so the quality is there. Waterproofing is great, and I had no issues when testing it out (am always skeptical about that IP rating.) Also, the lighting effects, controlled via an app by Sony, are really neat, and are bound to get people talking, whether you want them to or not, about the looks. At any rate, the speaker passed the initial looks area with flying colors. Next up is the sound part: this is a Sony speaker, so know you're getting pretty good sound overall, with enough volume to fill big, open areas, along with a "Live Sound" feature, which changes the sound profile to a concert-like venue. The sound can be tweaked within the Sony Music App, but out of the box sounds good. Treble is a little week, but once tweaked the profile is good. Really no complaints here, and that's good considering the speaker is used for sound. Bass is good, if not too heavy at time, but the subs and size are relatively good for any area (in the bedroom or backyard.) The last things are housekeeping: battery, lighting, features, etc. First off, the battery is pretty good. If you're rocking the lighting effects such as Strobe, the battery is going to drain faster than the claimed time, but still delivers an easy 16 hours average of sound, with lights at medium volume. The Sony Music App download may turn some people off, but it's a good addition to your music apps, and the features you can utilize (such as Party Chain, where you can link up multiple, up to a 100, XB speakers) are really cool, and appreciated. There is a DJ like mode accessible via another app, Fiestable, but I doubt most people will use it. It did work and was fun for a few minutes, but nothing to exciting. Bluetooth never was disconnected, and I could easily step 50 feet away from my speaker without and interference or dropping happening. Overall, I was blown away at the speaker and what it could do. If you're looking for a new, do it all speaker with really good sound, this XB41 should be on the top of your list.

The Sony XB41 is a unique bluetooth speaker that is set around being able to bring a party vibe no matter where you go. They claim 24 hours of run time with big bass boost for all you lovers of bass out there. Flashing strobes and the ability to add in your own personal beats is a different design that i have yet to see on any other device of this nature. And the ability to fully submerge this speaker in water, can it be true? Can Sony live up to some of its claims and is it really worth the buy? Out of the box this is a very nice looking speaker. The design quality of the speaker shows that it was indeed built with strength and water resistance in mind while still looking very good. I wouldn't expect any less from a Sony product. Out of the box your going to get the power cord and speaker. For some reason on the box it says the speaker is built for Iphone users but the speaker will link to any android device via bluetooth or NFC. On the back side of the speaker you will find the charging port along with a usb port and 3.5mm audio jack. The first thing i noticed was that the ports are covered with a sturdy air tight rubber cover which would prevent any debris and water from entering the unit. There are two claims from Sony that i wasn't exactly eager to try but i'll take their word on it. One being that this is an IP67 rating on the frame design which is similar to a lot of cellphones out there. This basically means you can completely submerge the unit under water with no damage to the hardware, speakers or unit itself. It also means it should have no issues resisting dust or any other debris. This makes this speaker IDEAL for a on the go unit seeing as how sand, water, dirt or any other environmental elements should not cause any issue or concern. The second claim is that the unit is also shock resistant due to the design of the frame and fabric covering it. Sony claims that it can handle about a 4ft drop on to a hardwood floor with no damage to the unit. While i don't recommend giving this test a try it is a nice feature to have as a kind of insurance policy in the event one of your thoughtful guest accidentally knocks the speaker off the counter. There is 24 hour battery life with all the lights turned off and what i can say is with all the lights on full blast and the extra bass mode turned on i got about a little over 18 hours of full battery usage. This is actually not bad when you consider just how much power goes in to running all the light bars and strobes. Lets talk about some of the features that make this unit really unique. First off in order to enable most of the features will you need to download Sony's apps. It's going to require you to actually download two apps. The main app you will need is the Sony music center. The second app you will need to download is Fiestable and it will not appear on your phone but is an additional software app needed to access all the features of the speaker such as lighting effects, party mode, DJ effects and other abilities. Now the app is not needed to run the unit seeing as how the top of the unit houses buttons for volume control, pause/play, live mode, power button and the Bluetooth sync button. However without the app you will miss out on some interesting features. Through the app you can control the lighting effects of the speaker and how you want them displayed. IF red is your favorite color then you can have the light bar display red all the time. You can also control the strobe features of your speaker and how active they are. One of the cool features that i found i really liked alot was Rave mode. In Rave mode the light bar will keep changing colors and both speakers light up along with the strobe lights that flash on the side of the unit. What made it really cool though is that all the lights will light up and flash in unison with the music that is being played. It looks all very well orchestrated and while i was worried about it looking kinda of cheesy it actually worked very well to the beat of the sound. Now if all that flash is not your style don't worry you can turn off all the lights and just have audio. There is another mode that is called party booster. While this mode is turned on you can tap on four different areas of the speaker to produce various sounds. For example if you bang on the front of the speaker you can get drum bass. If you tap on the side of the speaker you can get high hat. The sounds can also be customized through the app so you can add whatever sound you want to whatever sensor you want it to be activated by. This feature allows you to make additional music either while the music is playing or turned off. So if you think that country song your listening to is lacking some more cow bell, well then my friend simply activate party booster and jam along to your song and add as much cow bell that you feel is lacking. There is another feature through the app that allows you to be your own DJ and add in effects to your music such as lasers, people cheering, hype men, etc. You can also slow or speed up the track and even scratch on it. This is a really cool feature that i was actually very excited about because it allows you to basically mix your favorite music and add in effects that you may feel would enhance it. I uploaded a picture to show you what that DJ feature looks like. The problem with this feature that i had was sound control. At least as of writing this review there is no ability to control the volume of your DJ sound effects. And what makes it terrible is that the effects are actually louder than your music that is being played. Lets say your jamming to your favorite tune and want to add some lasers. Well when you hit the lasers they come blaring in louder than the music that is being played that it actually startled me at first. Until they can fix this issue with an app update i found this feature to be very disappointing and pointless at this time. Now lets talk sound quality, after all that is what Sony is known for. First thing you need to understand when buying a Bluetooth speaker is a few things. One, it will never sound as good as a full 7.1 audio system with equalizers. Also second these speakers require some burn time or break in period before they truly start to shine. Right off the bat i noticed the sound quality wasn't that great. Once i tuned in my equalizer i noticed an improvement right away. Now Sony is claiming extra bass to push through these speakers that are supposed to be pretty decent. One thing i noticed right off the bat is the Bass tries very hard to push through and sometimes over compensates. While listening to Anberlin " Feel Good Drag" i noticed that the bass was pushing so hard that it actually sounded as if the vocals were being distorted. Im very picky when it comes to my music and i know sometimes i can tend to pick things out that most people don't find but for my wife to walk buy and even point it out to me only confirmed what i was already thinking. Now im not saying the extra bass is a bad thing im only saying it does not work well for the Rock genre. While blasting Young Jeezy " I luv it" man that bass hit so clean and did not take away from any of the vocals or other effects. One thing i noticed about this speaker is it really shines and sounds good with hip hop and dance music. Im not saying that rock or any other genre sound terrible, i'm simply saying that i noticed a little bit of a better quality of sound coming from those type of genre. Now lets talk about Sony's live feature. The live feature is a design that is supposed to give you a 3 dimensional effect and give you a sense of almost being at a live concert. While this feature does not work well for all types of music i did noticed this is where rock music really shined. While listening to some Shinedown on live mode the sound quality got louder with a bigger emphasis on vocals. I actually saw those guys in concert a few years back and i have to say the live mode made me actually feel like i was at their concert minus all the reverb and bad acoustics of the venue i was in. Now while this isn't a 360 speaker one thing i will say is getting sound quality across the room equally was not a problem. No matter what mode or feature you chose to use i found that no matter where i stood in relation to the speaker the sound quality was good and equal, lacking nothing. . Once i blew past my 20 hour mark i noticed the speakers starting to sound even better as they were finally starting to settle in. If you are looking for a good speaker for work. poolside parties, BBQ's or even camping then this is a must have. Really with the sound quality and punch this speaker puts out there is no bad use for this speaker, especially since you have to option to turn off all the flash and lights.

For the size, this speaker by Sony gives you good sound even when the volume level is high! I now have 3 and love that you can wirelessly group the speakers together for play. The lights are cool too!