Gadgetory

I've always really liked the sony xba-40 it's a good sounding midsize speaker for somebody who really likes bass heavy music it has a built-in light feature on the front and it's very reasonably priced and now there's a sony xba-1 it's not entirely new but it's much more refined so here are the improvements on the sony xba-40 one here's what I like what I don't like and you really have to run on an upgrade if you already have the Sony X be the sony xba-1 sits right in the middle of Sony's new portable speaker line up in a retails for one $49.99 and the XPS 31 comes in 4 colorways black blue red or white the outgoing XP 30 is now going for 90 bucks if you want to pick up either of these speakers I'll have a link of description below and if you use the link really helps out the channel personally I think 90 bucks for the XP 30 is a very good deal and I highly suggest you check out the XP 31 because so many speakers routinely go on sale so you might get lucky at a glance the Sony XP 31 is just a reskin Sony XP 30 they have a tentacle speaker setups they're both rocking 1.8 9 inch diameter transducers and dual passive radiators that fire out the front and out the back and you'll get a better visualization of the speakers at work when we get over to the water portion of the video both of these speakers also have identical light feature setups elationship on the front and strobe lights on the sides the biggest difference from the XP 30 to the XP 31 is design the XP 31 has a much more sophisticated yet futuristic look to it with the fabric mesh covering the whole body and a light strip that wraps the front and the size of the speaker whereas the XP 30 has a much more industrial look to it with it's exposed speaker pizza middle grill and stuff those material covering its body partially I prefer the new design language of the sony xba-40 one it's much sleeker than you control buttons or small but they are very easy to tell apart they have great tactile feedback and they do their job just fine I like how the light feature extends to the sides and in general the light feature on the sony xba-40 one looks much better than the one on the XP 30 the light feature on the XP 31 is much more vibrant and easier to see in brighter environments and I read like the new vertical pattern built into the light strip whereas on the XP 30 it's really only worth using the light feature if you're in a dimly lit room or at night and regarding size the XP 31 is just slightly longer and slightly thinner than the XP 30 and for those wondering both the XP 31 and XP 30 can either be laid flat or on their sides and surprisingly the XP 31 does a better job of staying upright than the XP 30 if the XP 30 gets hit by the slightest tab it'll topple over but the XP 31 is much more resilient another improvement the XP 31 has over the XP 30 is just its overall durability the XP 30 is IP x5 Raiders so a splash of water here in there won't harm it but personally I'm gonna submerge it just to be safe and since the speakers are so exposed I would really try to be extra careful not to get sand in it if I were to take the XP 30 to the beach the XP 41 on the other hand is ip67 rated and that means two things it's dustproof thanks to the fabric mesh on the front so dirt or sand isn't going to be a problem and it's waterproof so submerging it isn't going to be a problem either and I also found that it floats which makes retrieving it much easier if it falls into a pool or a lake another improvement the XP 31 has over the XP 30 is the way you charge it the XP 30 uses a 5 volt DC input so if you're going to be taking the XP 30 with you somewhere you have to bring the charging cable along and you better not lose it but the XP 31 now charges through a mic USB port and this is great you can use any micro USB cable you have lying around the XP 31 does come with its own short mic USB cable but unfortunately it doesn't bring a wall adaptor so you're gonna have to use your own one of these speakers also have a USB out we can charge your own devices and they both have an ask Jack if you want to use a wired connection all of these speakers advertise a battery life of 24 hours and they perform pretty much the same but advertised battery life is very different from actual battery life I can hit 24 hours to play that time on these speakers with the leg feature turned off and with the volume set at 50% but that's no fun what the life feature turned on and what the volume set at 80% I a bridge eight hours of playback time which is still pretty good and when I say eight hours of playback time I mean eight hours until either these speakers get to twin some battery because unfortunately they actually 31 still does that thing that when it's battery gets to 20% it will stop the music say please charge and then we'll continue playing music but no louder than 50% volume you need a charge personally I hate this feature but I guess it's there to help you prolong the life of your battery and like I mentioned earlier both of these speakers have identical speaker setups and they sound exactly the same the only difference I managed to notice between these two speakers is that the xB 31 manages to get a little louder than the xB 30 we'll win like I said at the beginning of this video these speakers are a great option for people who listen to a lot of bass heavy music rap hip-hop EDM and so on but if you listen to rock or to something with a lot of emphasis on vocalists then you're going to think these speakers sound a little money in their default setting these speakers are going to put an emphasis on the bass and they're going to push the mix back a little bit the bass on the speaker isn't going to punch you in the chest like to go go home max does but the lows do get pretty deep and these speakers do a very good job of preventing major sound distortion with clear Audio plus enabled but if you go into Sony's music center app and go through the settings you'll find a preset mode called a live sound and I like to call this the JBL button when live sound is turned on the bass on the HP 31 is tamed down a little bit maids in vocals or broad front and center and the trouble gets dialed up a little bit as well this mode is good for rocking vocals but I do find you're a little more prone to sound distortion at higher volumes but it's nice to have options but unfortunately the XP sorry doesn't have this setting but you can go and adjust the equalizer on either of these speakers directly from the app as well even though I love bass in my music there are times where the bass on these speakers can get a little overwhelming and for those situations I would just turn off the extra bass feature on the XP 30 with a single tap the HP 31 doesn't have a dedicated extra bass button anymore but you can turn off the extra bass feature by pressing and holding the play and minus button simultaneously for a few seconds until the power indicator light turns green I usually turn off the extra bass feature when I'm going to watch just getting news or listen to your H 3 H 3 podcast in the background Sony's app also allows you to choose from a few different lighting modes and both of these speakers shared the same light settings as well there's rave mode where the light strip and strobe lights will flash to the beat of your music there's chill which is my favorite where the light strip will gradually change colors there's a rave mode without the annoying strobe lights off to the sides and their strobe which looks much better on the XP 31 then it does on the XP 30 and there are a few other color settings to choose from as well but even though the light feature on the xB 31 is much better than the one on the SP 30 Sony doesn't allow you to customize it you can't then the light feature and you can choose your own colors so Fiesta Bowl AB which used to connect to the XP 30 and gave you some customization options now when can I take either these speakers and it's a shame because there's so much potential here regarding connectivity and both of these speakers are using bluetooth 4.2 and they both have a range of about 50 feet with direct line of sight before the signal starts to stutter and at closer range I really don't have any connection issues at all but in my testing I did notice the xB 31 has slightly less latency when watching video compared to the xB 30 there's still a little bit of latency but is not as bad as the xB 30 since we're on the topic of connectivity you can pair up to a 100 Stoney speakers together anything from the xB 20 all the way up to the xB 90 and the newer xB 31 does pair up with the older xB 30 and they'll play in sync but unfortunately the xB 31 and xB 30 won't play in left and right stereo mode in order to get that going you need to have two of the same speakers if you want to learn how to get party chain going on these speakers check out my tutorial both of these speakers also have an NFC touch points so pairing is a little easier if you have an Android device and you can be connected up to three devices at the same time on something else on the xB 30 doesn't have this party booster maybe some thing I guess you can make your own beat even though I really do like the new Sony XP 31 I think there is still room for improvement first up let's talk about ads because if Sony wanted to they could fix that with a software update Sony's Music Center app can be a pain in the butt sometimes due to connectivity issues so nice - ballade is an eyesore and a nightmare to use but I really do want to have more customization options regarding the light feature on both of these speakers I also think it's ridiculous I can't get stereo sound going with the XP 30 + XP 31 given that these sound exactly the same and I think all of these issues can be fixed over a software update and here are the hardware improvements I would like to see on the sony xba-40 one first up I would like to be able to cycle through the four main light settings directly from the speaker like a can on the JBL pull three rather than having to open up the app every single time right now you can only turn the light feature on or off by pressing and holding the battery button I would have also liked if the speaker used a USB C port instead of a microUSB port but still kept to you as the a port as well I would like to be able to charge the speaker through the USB C port but also be able to use the same port to charge my pixel to excel or get a wired connection going with it as well and I would like to have the USB a port just in case I need it but still I really like the new Sony XP 31 they got the Sony expedient it up and refined the overall look if you already have the XP 30 you don't really have to go and upgrade unless you're constantly taking it on the go with you the xp for the ones added durability and ability to charge via on mic USB cable should make life a whole lot easier if you're looking for a bargain and you're only interested in sound I would still pick up the XP 30 before they're gone but I think the Sony XP 41 is the whole package whether you like bass or one an emphasis on vocals the XP 31 can do both it's super adorable and it has a much better life feature if you made it this far I guess you enjoyed the video so hit that like button and get subscribed it helps out more than you realize support the channel by clicking on the links down below and I'll catch you next time