Sony SRS-XB43 – Review 2020

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

Design

At 4.8 by 12.8 by 4.6 inches (HWD) and 6.5 pounds, the SRS-XB43 is available in black, blue, or taupe. It has LED bands that wrap around its left and right ends, and the drivers behind the grille are also lit by pale LEDs.

The top panel houses a control strip, with buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing, play/pause/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 effect that we recommend leaving off. This strip also houses status LEDs, a battery life indicator, and is an NFC pairing zone.

Behind the grille, dual 0.8-inch tweeters and dual 2.5-by-2.8-inch woofers are aided by large passive radiators on either end 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’s battery. This covered panel also houses buttons for battery life, Party Mode, and Stereo Mode, of which the latter two work in conjunction with other SRS speakers.

Provided the cover 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 up to 3.2 feet, so it’ll be just fine in the rain or by a pool. Sony even claims the SRS-XB43 is salt water resistant, making it a good option to take 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 sound signature) and various sound effects. You can also control the LED strips, choosing from a variety of color schemes, or simply turning them all off. There 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, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the SRS-XB43 delivers powerful low-frequency response. At moderate volume levels, the bass is still robust, and at top volume levels, it doesn’t distort or thin out too much, as is sometimes the case with a portable speaker employing too much DSP (digital signal processing).

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Bill Callahan’s “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 track get a solid amount of bass rumble without going too far—there’s a sense of thunder, but nothing that threatens to overpower the mix. Callahan’s baritone vocals receive some added low-mid richness as well, but benefit from a high-mid and high-frequency presence that keeps things crisp. The acoustic strums and higher-register percussion also benefit from the sculpted treble. If there’s a complaint here, it’s that the scooped-out sound signature favors bass and treble over mids, and will not appeal to those looking for an accurate portrayal of the mix—but the EQ can tame the sculpting somewhat.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives an ideal balance of high-mid presence to accentuate its punchy attack and lower-frequency boosting that gives the loop more overall heft. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with reasonable depth, but to truly experience the power of these particular synth hits, you need a speaker with a subwoofer, and that’s not going to happen in this size. That said, the depth is still solid, it’s just not reaching all the way 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 bass depth than purists will be looking for, but the overall result is still a balanced, crisp sound with solid low-frequency anchoring. The lower-register instrumentation may step forward somewhat in the mix, but it doesn’t overwhelm the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals.

The mic offers solid intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we understood every word we recorded, and while there was a little bit of Bluetooth distortion around the edges, the mic signal was strong.

Conclusions

The SRS-XB43 is the most expensive of Sony’s new SRS speakers, but in terms of both size and price, it fits somewhere in between two other models we really like—the smaller, $180 JBL Charge 4 and the massive, $400 JBL Boombox 2. The SRS-XB43’s excellent waterproof rating and powerful audio 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 audio firepower but the same rugged, waterproof build. For the price, however, the SRS-XB43 delivers, and earns our Editors’ Choice award.

Sony SRS-XB43 Specs

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Further Reading