Sony SRS-XB43 - Review 2022

At $249.99, the SRS-XB43 is the biggest and nearly expensive model in Sony'south new trio of portable, waterproof Bluetooth speakers. It's also priced fairly for the amount of audio firepower it delivers—this a loud, bass-frontwards speaker. In improver to its rugged build and big sound, it features built-in LEDs for a fun lite prove, and adaptable EQ so you can dial in your sound preferences. It as well fills a gap between tiny and massive portable models, earning it an Editors' Choice for outdoor speakers.

Blueprint

At 4.eight by 12.eight by 4.6 inches (HWD) and 6.5 pounds, the SRS-XB43 is available in black, blueish, or taupe. It has LED bands that wrap around its left and right ends, and the drivers behind the grille are also lit by stake LEDs.

The top panel houses a control strip, with buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing, play/pause/telephone call management (or with multiple presses, track navigation), plus and minus for volume, and a Live button that coats the audio in a supposedly "three-dimensional" sound issue that we recommend leaving off. This strip likewise houses status LEDs, a battery life indicator, and is an NFC pairing zone.

Backside the grille, dual 0.eight-inch tweeters and dual 2.five-past-2.8-inch woofers are aided past large passive radiators on either cease of the speaker. These all combine to deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. The SRS-XB43 is compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and supports AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs, but not AptX.

The back of the speaker houses a covered compartment with connections for the included power adapter, a wall unit that terminates in USB-C. There's also a 3.5mm aux input and a USB-A output for charging other devices with the SRS-XB43'due south bombardment. This covered console also houses buttons for battery life, Party Way, and Stereo Mode, of which the latter two piece of work in conjunction with other SRS speakers.

Provided the comprehend for this panel is closed, the SRS-XB43 has an IP67 rating, which is excellent for a portable speaker. It can withstand exposure to dirt and dust, and is waterproof upward to three.2 feet, and so it'll be just fine in the rain or by a pool. Sony even claims the SRS-XB43 is salt water resistant, making information technology a practiced option to accept to the beach.

In the Sony Music Center app for Android and iOS, a one-size-fits-all option for various Sony products, the SRS-XB43's extra features include user-adjustable EQ (useful for fine-tuning the sculpted audio signature) and diverse sound furnishings. You can also control the LED strips, choosing from a diversity of color schemes, or simply turning them all off. At that place are various other useful power settings for preserving battery life.

Sony estimates the SRS-XB43's battery life to be roughly 24 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels.

Performance

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, similar The Knife's "Silent Shout," the SRS-XB43 delivers powerful low-frequency response. At moderate volume levels, the bass is still robust, and at meridian book levels, information technology doesn't misconstrue or thin out besides much, as is sometimes the case with a portable speaker employing too much DSP (digital bespeak processing).

See How We Examination SpeakersSee How We Test Speakers

Neb Callahan'southward "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the SRS-XB43's general sound signature. The drums on this runway get a solid amount of bass rumble without going too far—there's a sense of thunder, only nothing that threatens to overpower the mix. Callahan's baritone vocals receive some added low-mid richness equally well, but benefit from a high-mid and high-frequency presence that keeps things crisp. The audio-visual strums and higher-register percussion also benefit from the sculpted treble. If in that location'southward a complaint here, it's that the scooped-out audio signature favors bass and treble over mids, and will not appeal to those looking for an accurate portrayal of the mix—but the EQ tin tame the sculpting somewhat.

On Jay-Z and Kanye W's "No Church in the Wild," the boot pulsate loop receives an ideal rest of high-mid presence to accentuate its punchy assail and lower-frequency boosting that gives the loop more overall heft. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the trounce are delivered with reasonable depth, simply to truly experience the power of these particular synth hits, you lot need a speaker with a subwoofer, and that'south not going to happen in this size. That said, the depth is notwithstanding solid, it's just not reaching all the manner down to the deepest subwoofer lows. The vocals on this track are delivered with excellent clarity—perhaps there's a little added sibilance, but it aids in maintaining the balance with the boosted lows.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, definitely get more than bass depth than purists volition be looking for, but the overall result is still a balanced, well-baked sound with solid low-frequency anchoring. The lower-register instrumentation may footstep frontwards somewhat in the mix, but it doesn't overwhelm the higher-annals brass, strings, and vocals.

The mic offers solid intelligibility. Using the Phonation Memos app on an iPhone 8, nosotros understood every discussion we recorded, and while at that place was a little bit of Bluetooth baloney around the edges, the mic bespeak was strong.

Conclusions

The SRS-XB43 is the most expensive of Sony'southward new SRS speakers, but in terms of both size and price, it fits somewhere in betwixt two other models we really like—the smaller, $180 JBL Charge iv and the massive, $400 JBL Boombox 2. The SRS-XB43's first-class waterproof rating and powerful sound output are marks in its favor, and the LED lighting is a fun added bonus. If you're wanting to spend less than all of these options, the $100 Sony SRS-XB23 is a solid alternative with less sound firepower just the same rugged, waterproof build. For the price, however, the SRS-XB43 delivers, and earns our Editors' Choice award.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/speakers/37719/sony-srs-xb43

Posted by: brookskeircolty.blogspot.com

Share this post