Today, Sony has not one but two new Bluetooth speakers to add to their vast audio products w/ the small XB100 and the larger XV800. Starting off w/ the smaller $59 XB100, it is small but checks offs many boxes of what one would want in a Bluetooth speaker.
Handling the sound is a passive radiator w/ Sound Diffusion Processor to boost the sound in any space, housed inside of a durable, IP67 dust-proof/water-resistant body, a built-in strap to hang in a shower or beach chair, a built-in mic for hands-free calling, and a 16 hour battery. It even has built-in Echo Cancelling for avoid that ‘lovely’ echo on 1-on-1 Bluetooth calls. Not bad, right?
And next up we have the much larger $649 XV800 speaker from Sony. Now this is a larger speaker that has its own handle + wheels to roll around but it’s not unmovable as it can be carried. It is equipped w/ Sony calls Omni-directional Party Sound which is comprised of a total of 5 tweeters (2 on the rear + 3 on the front) for both music and TV sound booster features, then add dual X-Balanced Speaker Units to handle the bass, and an S-shaped Bass Reflex on deep bass duty.
Outside of the sound department, it has an IPX4 rated body to combat splashes, a 25-hour battery life w/ quick charging to grant you 3 hours of juice in a 10 minute charge. And for party/karaoke purposes, you have Indirect Illumination for ambient lighting emitting around the top and bottom to can sync to the beat of whatever you’re listening to. Speaking of karaoke, you can plug in up to 2 mics as well as your guitar directly into this speaker.
We were in NYC for an pre-briefing for the 2 speakers and got an awesome performance from JemBleu doing vocals and on a guitar on the XV800 and it sounded awesome. Both speakers are available for pre-order now. The XB100 will go on sale on 5/22 while the XV800 on 5/15.
