Overall though, the XB100’s strong endurance largely matches up with that of its excellent predecessor, and should get you through a road trip or a long day at the beach just fine. I do wish the speaker itself provided a better idea of how much charge you have left (the charging icon simply blinks orange when you’re running low), though I was able to keep tabs on the XB100’s remaining battery via my iPhone. Sony’s latest speaker is rated for 16 hours of battery life, which largely lines up with my anecdotal testing - I was able to get through nearly five days of heavy on-and-off use (including long hours of music and a few calls) before the speaker’s low battery indicator even lit up. Fortunately, you won’t have to worry about that much with the XB100.
#Sony notetaker review portable
Same goes for when I used the speaker to summon my iPhone’s Siri assistant, which responded accurately to my voice commands.Ī portable speaker is no good if it’s going to die halfway through your trip. The XB100 is just as good at picking up voices as it is at pumping them out, as my friends noted how clear I sounded during phone calls. If you want more immersive stereo sound (and are willing to pay for two speakers), you can pair two XB100s together, which is a nice extra touch.
Overall, this is a fantastic-sounding speaker for $60, but fans of electronic music, hip-hop or anything bass-heavy will likely get the most out of it - especially since there’s no companion app for customizing things. I didn’t notice a huge difference between XB100 and XB13 when listening to the two side by side, though songs were noticeably crisper and louder on the new speaker. However, that thick bass was sometimes a downside, as it would occasionally drown out the rest of the track during guitar-driven rock songs. When I flipped on a podcast, the hosts’ voices were so clear that they may as well have been in the room with me.
The XB13 also handled vocals well, from boygenius’ layered three-part harmonies to the punky snarl of Say Anything’s Max Bemis. That satisfying bass helped elevate pop tracks like Muna’s “One That Got Away” or Shallow Pools’ “IHYK,” which burst out of Sony’s small cylinder with a head-bopping fury. Seriously, this thing’s low end is booming, to the point where I could physically feel the thump of the kick drum whenever I had it sitting on my kitchen counter or office desk. Sony’s portable noise-maker had no problem filling my bedroom and living room with crisp sound that - for better or worse - goes especially big on bass. Like the XB13 before it, the XB100 pumps out impressively loud sound for a speaker that’s shorter than a soda can. Great sound for the size - if you like lots of bass I completely soaked the XB100 via running water in my sink on several occasions, and it kept on jamming out just fine afterwards. Speaking of which, the XB100 is IP67-rated, which means it’s fully protected against dust and sand and can survive being dunked in about 3 feet of water. There’s a flap that covers up the USB-C charging port, which is a useful thing to have on a speaker that might get splashed on by the pool or at the beach. The XB100’s rubber onboard controls proved reliable and snappy in my testing, as I had no problem pausing, playing and skipping tracks or adjusting volume on the fly. The colors are all slight alterations of the previous model, with bold blue and orange (I tested the latter, and it’s gorgeous) alongside more subdued gray and charcoal options. Your CNN account Log in to your CNN account
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