**Sony's XBA41 and XBA31 Wireless Speakers: A Review**
As I held the Sony XBA41 wireless speaker, I couldn't help but think about how far technology has come. Gone are the days of cumbersome power bricks and finding a wall outlet to charge your device on the go. The Sony XBA series offers a sleek solution with its USB charging capability, making it easy to top up your phone or tablet without any hassle.
One of the standout features of these speakers is their lighting system. The XBA41 has a lot of light available around the edge, which is reminiscent of traditional LED lights. But what's impressive is how Sony has incorporated this lighting into the design of the speaker. Not only do you get ambient light, but also strobe effects that add to the overall visual experience. It's clear that Sony has put thought into creating a speaker that not only sounds great but also looks fantastic.
But beyond its aesthetics, the XBA41 is also a serious speaker with impressive sound quality. The two active drivers are designed to work in tandem with the passive radiator to deliver deep bass notes and crisp high-frequency sounds. Additionally, Sony's EXTRA BASS technology amplifies low frequencies, making these speakers capable of producing high-quality audio that rivals some of the best portable speakers on the market.
The XBA41 also features an app that allows users to customize their listening experience in a variety of ways. One of the fun tricks available through the app is the Party Boost feature, which lets you add sounds to your music playback. Want to make your party go wild? Simply assign some cowbell or conga sounds to your track, and get ready to rave. But don't worry – this speaker is also optimized for vocal clarity, ensuring that your favorite tunes sound great whether you're listening solo or with a crowd.
But what really sets these speakers apart is their ability to work together as part of a system. The XBA41 can be paired in stereo, allowing users to enjoy wide, immersive soundscapes in a single room. But if you want to take it up a notch, Sony has also created the XBA31 and XBA21 models, which allow for even more flexibility when it comes to pairing speakers together. In fact, with the XBA21, you can pair up to 100 speakers to cover an entire house in sound – all managed through a single app and single interface.
**A Closer Look at the Features**
Let's take a closer look at some of the features that make these speakers so compelling. The XBA41 has been optimized for bass output, with two active drivers working together to deliver deep, rumbling notes. Additionally, Sony's EL (Extra Light) Deck technology enhances sound quality by reducing coloration and distortion.
But one feature that caught my attention was the Live Mode, which allows users to experience a wider soundstage. This is achieved through a combination of advanced processing algorithms and clever design choices. When I first heard it, I thought it might be a bit gimmicky – but in fact, it's genuinely impressive. The added width and depth make these speakers feel like they're filling an entire room with sound.
**The Verdict**
Overall, the Sony XBA41 wireless speaker is a compelling choice for anyone looking for high-quality audio on-the-go. With its sleek design, excellent sound quality, and innovative features like Party Boost and Live Mode, it's clear that Sony has done something special here. While the XBA21 model takes things to the next level with its ability to pair up to 100 speakers together, even the smaller XBA31 offers a great listening experience.
If you're in the market for a new wireless speaker, I highly recommend giving these a try. With their impressive sound quality, stylish design, and innovative features, they're sure to impress. And at an affordable price point, it's hard to go wrong. So whether you're looking for a party speaker or just want to enjoy your favorite tunes on-the-go, the Sony XBA41 is definitely worth considering.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey there Caleb Tennyson with Digital Trends comin at you from New York where I'm visiting with Sony checking out the new extra bass wireless speakers today we're going to take a look at the xB 41 the xB 31 and the smallest version the xB 21 I'm here with Chris Durr Sarkissian if I got that correct and yeah there's quite a bit to look at here now a first-time commentary bluetooth speakers are kind of a commodity item now right everybody's got one there's tons of them out there super cheap options available on Amazon so how do you differentiate yourself in a supersaturated market with something like a Bluetooth speaker where Sony's take is to take a look at some some key design features and really amp them up make them a lot more interactive a lot more personable and a lot more utilitarian there's a ton going on here so we're gonna start by focusing on the xB 41 here that's the largest available in the lineup it retails for 249 and it does a lot of stuff the first thing you want to note the exterior on this speaker is not only super resilient but this is an ip67 rated speaker which means that you know you could dunk it and some water Chris wanted to dunk that sucker for us really quick you can dunkin it up to a meter or you know three point three feet of water for up to 30 minutes and it's gonna be fine that's not gonna happen maybe it falls in your pool and you pull it out no big deal but you know if you take it to the beach whether it's salt water or chlorinated water it's your pool you're not gonna have a problem with the speaker going belly-up and in fact if you need cleaning you can just run it under some water there also a 24 hour battery life available with all three of the speakers and the line and Chris if you could show me at the back of one of these speakers really quick they are going to charge your device the the xB forty-one and xB 31 the large and the medium size will charge your device that's what that USB port is for right there but you'll also notice that there is a microUSB port as well and that means that you can charge the speaker with a micro USB cable you don't necessarily have to have the power pack so you know that makes a lot of sense if you're going out and about you don't want to drag that big old power brick around and find a you know wall outlet power you can actually charge the speaker with another battery you could charge it in your car that USB charging capability is something that seems really obvious not sure why we didn't have that before from a number of different speaker brands but I'm glad to see it here with Sony obviously these guys light up so if we flip this speaker around there's a lot of light available here Sony's done this with their speakers in the past but you'll notice the lighting goes all the way around the edge here we have lighted drivers here and there's some strobe stuff that we'll check out near here in a second you can also customize the light color with an app that Sony makes available free download that also will allow you to change the EQ and do some other fun tricks one of those fun tricks is a party mode feature that allows you to actually get some interesting sounds out of the speaker so we're gonna dry this guy off and you know let's say that you're hosting a party you want to add some sounds to the the party experience you can do that through the app as Chris is pulling up here we'll just change the balance there yeah so you have the option to go into party booster and you can assign different sounds so that we've got cowbell here there's congas there's a I think there was a rimshot you've also got explosion or reggae horn and you can fold that in through the app like while you're playing music you can you can initiate a sound but you can also do it by tapping the speaker so if you've got the speaker in your hand you can just pop it and get yourself more cowbell or any number of different sounds now I know like some hardcore audio enthusiasts or kind of probably balk at something like that but this is meant to be a fun speaker and I can think of all kinds of my kids are absolutely going to love this so with a light interaction with the party boost capable there's a lot of fun involved but it's also a serious speaker as well so this is the speaker has been optimized for bass output you do get the Sony extra bass with these we have two active drivers here and then in the center you can't really see it but there's a passive radiator that works with the pressure from these two drivers to enhance the bass response certainly also folds in there el deck technology here so you're gonna get you know close to high res it's certainly going to be better than 320 kbps if you have higher quality audio files that you're using but you know if you subscribe to high-quality Spotify you're gonna get the best sound you can from that they do get very loud this is definitely a party speaker so it's capable of getting very loud but they also put an emphasis on vocal clarity too so you're getting a you know a wide range of audio performance from the speaker both from a party's perspective but also from a more active listening perspective another thing they added here is a wider sound field there is a live mode that they've integrated into this and you can do this through the app or you can do it through the speaker but if you want a more spacious sound something that sounds more akin to a live venue then you can initiate that live mode it it it Rob's the speaker just a tiny little bit of the bass because of the way it's doing that's processing at least that was my initial experience well dig into that some more on the review but you do get a much bigger more room filling wider sort of live sound which i think is very cool and then finally I wanted to mention that the speakers can be paired in stereo if you want them to but more than that if you really want a huge party you can pair up to 100 of these speakers put them in different rooms cover the entire house with sound and and manage them all from a single speaker a single app so they're all playing the exact same thing in the exact same way once you step down to the xB 21 you do lose that USB charging capability for charging your own device but it still maintains most of the other features of the speaker's we've got the full rundown of the pricing and availability at the post that you'll see below or you can visit Digital Trends calm to get that information if your will happen to be watching this on YouTube so that is a really intriguing line of extra-base wireless speakers from Sony again the X be 41 X be 31 and X be 21 which should be available just around the corner here ready for spring and definitely for summer as we look to get out of some of this nasty weather I'm Caleb Denison for Digital Trends thanks for watching and I will see you on the next onehey there Caleb Tennyson with Digital Trends comin at you from New York where I'm visiting with Sony checking out the new extra bass wireless speakers today we're going to take a look at the xB 41 the xB 31 and the smallest version the xB 21 I'm here with Chris Durr Sarkissian if I got that correct and yeah there's quite a bit to look at here now a first-time commentary bluetooth speakers are kind of a commodity item now right everybody's got one there's tons of them out there super cheap options available on Amazon so how do you differentiate yourself in a supersaturated market with something like a Bluetooth speaker where Sony's take is to take a look at some some key design features and really amp them up make them a lot more interactive a lot more personable and a lot more utilitarian there's a ton going on here so we're gonna start by focusing on the xB 41 here that's the largest available in the lineup it retails for 249 and it does a lot of stuff the first thing you want to note the exterior on this speaker is not only super resilient but this is an ip67 rated speaker which means that you know you could dunk it and some water Chris wanted to dunk that sucker for us really quick you can dunkin it up to a meter or you know three point three feet of water for up to 30 minutes and it's gonna be fine that's not gonna happen maybe it falls in your pool and you pull it out no big deal but you know if you take it to the beach whether it's salt water or chlorinated water it's your pool you're not gonna have a problem with the speaker going belly-up and in fact if you need cleaning you can just run it under some water there also a 24 hour battery life available with all three of the speakers and the line and Chris if you could show me at the back of one of these speakers really quick they are going to charge your device the the xB forty-one and xB 31 the large and the medium size will charge your device that's what that USB port is for right there but you'll also notice that there is a microUSB port as well and that means that you can charge the speaker with a micro USB cable you don't necessarily have to have the power pack so you know that makes a lot of sense if you're going out and about you don't want to drag that big old power brick around and find a you know wall outlet power you can actually charge the speaker with another battery you could charge it in your car that USB charging capability is something that seems really obvious not sure why we didn't have that before from a number of different speaker brands but I'm glad to see it here with Sony obviously these guys light up so if we flip this speaker around there's a lot of light available here Sony's done this with their speakers in the past but you'll notice the lighting goes all the way around the edge here we have lighted drivers here and there's some strobe stuff that we'll check out near here in a second you can also customize the light color with an app that Sony makes available free download that also will allow you to change the EQ and do some other fun tricks one of those fun tricks is a party mode feature that allows you to actually get some interesting sounds out of the speaker so we're gonna dry this guy off and you know let's say that you're hosting a party you want to add some sounds to the the party experience you can do that through the app as Chris is pulling up here we'll just change the balance there yeah so you have the option to go into party booster and you can assign different sounds so that we've got cowbell here there's congas there's a I think there was a rimshot you've also got explosion or reggae horn and you can fold that in through the app like while you're playing music you can you can initiate a sound but you can also do it by tapping the speaker so if you've got the speaker in your hand you can just pop it and get yourself more cowbell or any number of different sounds now I know like some hardcore audio enthusiasts or kind of probably balk at something like that but this is meant to be a fun speaker and I can think of all kinds of my kids are absolutely going to love this so with a light interaction with the party boost capable there's a lot of fun involved but it's also a serious speaker as well so this is the speaker has been optimized for bass output you do get the Sony extra bass with these we have two active drivers here and then in the center you can't really see it but there's a passive radiator that works with the pressure from these two drivers to enhance the bass response certainly also folds in there el deck technology here so you're gonna get you know close to high res it's certainly going to be better than 320 kbps if you have higher quality audio files that you're using but you know if you subscribe to high-quality Spotify you're gonna get the best sound you can from that they do get very loud this is definitely a party speaker so it's capable of getting very loud but they also put an emphasis on vocal clarity too so you're getting a you know a wide range of audio performance from the speaker both from a party's perspective but also from a more active listening perspective another thing they added here is a wider sound field there is a live mode that they've integrated into this and you can do this through the app or you can do it through the speaker but if you want a more spacious sound something that sounds more akin to a live venue then you can initiate that live mode it it it Rob's the speaker just a tiny little bit of the bass because of the way it's doing that's processing at least that was my initial experience well dig into that some more on the review but you do get a much bigger more room filling wider sort of live sound which i think is very cool and then finally I wanted to mention that the speakers can be paired in stereo if you want them to but more than that if you really want a huge party you can pair up to 100 of these speakers put them in different rooms cover the entire house with sound and and manage them all from a single speaker a single app so they're all playing the exact same thing in the exact same way once you step down to the xB 21 you do lose that USB charging capability for charging your own device but it still maintains most of the other features of the speaker's we've got the full rundown of the pricing and availability at the post that you'll see below or you can visit Digital Trends calm to get that information if your will happen to be watching this on YouTube so that is a really intriguing line of extra-base wireless speakers from Sony again the X be 41 X be 31 and X be 21 which should be available just around the corner here ready for spring and definitely for summer as we look to get out of some of this nasty weather I'm Caleb Denison for Digital Trends thanks for watching and I will see you on the next one\n"
