There will always be people that balk at the notion of spending so much money and not putting it toward a traditional surround sound system - and that’s especially true (and a fair argument) when you reach this price level. You can spend a fraction of that on a perfectly competent Vizio soundbar, and even premium options like the Sonos Arc cost hundreds less.
#SONY MUSIC CENTER DOESNT FIND OTHER SPEAKERS PORTABLE#
However, at the same time, if you’re just looking for a good value portable speaker that’s heavy on the bass, this is a pretty good value option to go with - even if it is a little limited when it comes to customisation.A $1,300 soundbar doesn’t have much room for compromises. I wouldn’t necessarily push the competition out of the way to put the SRS-XB31 on a pedestal as ‘the portable speaker’ to buy. This is one of those times If the target is offering a mostly-solid party speaker with an appealing price-point and battery life attached, the SRS-XB31 hits the mark. Most of the time, they deliver the goods when it comes to value. Sony aren’t one of the most iconic and recognisable brands in the consumer electronics world for no reason. The SRS-XB31 isn’t necessarily pushing forward any sort of great innovation for the category - but it’s not convinced that’s what Sony are trying to do here. Your mileage may vary here based on your own setting and acoustics - but it’s definitely a detail worth keeping in mind if you’re looking to buy. Notably, I found that the Sony SRS-XB31 sounded a noticeably better when set up in a vertical orientation versus a horizontal one. Read more Sonos Roam review: Now you really can take the exceptional Sonos sound anywhere Stacked up against the competition, we’d rate it above the Bose SoundLink Micro and JBL Link 10 but, again, found it fell short of the Ultimate Ears Megablast.
![sony music center doesnt find other speakers sony music center doesnt find other speakers](http://www.bassheadspeakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Sony-BDVE3100-5.1-Surround-Sound-Speakers.jpg)
The fact that the SRS-XB31 has a solid 24 hours of playback to its name is just icing on the cake. If you’re a fan of music that benefits from that, you’ll probably like the way this speaker sounds. As the name (and the branding around the product around it) suggests, the sound signature ends up leaning pretty heavy on the bass. Generally speaking though, the SRS-XB3 sounded pretty good. Comparisons to the Ultimate Ears Megablast see it fall short, but in fairness, the Megablast is about $100 more expensive and almost twice as bulky. When it comes to performance, the SRS-XB31 definitely lived up to its branding when it came to extra bass. I could envision a situation where fishing it out of a body of water would be made easier by the flashing light show - but for the most part, your mileage is ultimately going to vary based on what you’re looking for in a speaker. If you’re after the same house-party disco effect you can find in Sony’s larger audio products, its inclusion here is a strong point-of-difference against the competition, and, if you don’t care for, you can always turn it off. In addition, the lighting on the SRS-XB31 doesn’t really add all that much.
![sony music center doesnt find other speakers sony music center doesnt find other speakers](https://ads.cwa.sellercloud.com/images/products/1761534.jpg)
You have to use the app - which is a slight shame. Unfortunately, unlike the competition, there’s no physical way to just do this using the buttons on the SRS XB31. Assuming the other speakers are all Sony-branded and compatible, you’re able to chain together up to ten speaker. The Sony Music Center app to create groups of synchronized speakers and create a ‘party chain’. Again, I’m still a little bitter there’s no sort of synthesizer mode or setting available here. You can also juggle the unit between standard, extra bass and live sound modes.
![sony music center doesnt find other speakers sony music center doesnt find other speakers](https://klip-xtreme-frontend.s3.amazonaws.com/media/img/Banners-productos-destacados-KLS-901-2.png)
Once you’ve installed this and connected your phone or tablet to the speaker, you’re able to toggle the illumination on the SRS-XB31 between about a dozen or so presets. Thankfully, some additional customizability is available through the Sony Music Center app. By default, it’s set to Rave mode - which looks alright, but I was a little bit disappointed that you couldn’t synchronize my music and color patterns together.
![sony music center doesnt find other speakers sony music center doesnt find other speakers](https://soundinout.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Sony-SRS-XB41-waterproof-Wireless-Bluetooth-Speaker.jpg)
Once activated using the rubber control panel on the speaker’s side, the edges of the Sony SRS-XB31 lights up like your latest RGB Razer keyboard. Thankfully, this visually-mundane look only really last until you turn the thing on. Compared to the rest, it’s a little underwhelming but mostly as inoffensive as it is innocuous. However, our experience was with the all-black SRS-XB31. There are other, more eye-catching colored variants available. In our case, this mostly came down to the black aesthetics of the thing. If there’s any clear, visual delineation to be made between the approach that Sony have taken to the party speaker niche usually catered to by competitors JBL and Ultimate Ears, it’s that - at least at first glance - their SRS-XB31 look a little more conventional and professional.