Sony SRS-XE200 review: sweet sound from a small and tough speaker MSRP $130.00 Score Details DT Editors' Choice “Versatile, tough, and capable of powering a small party.
The main consideration is where the sound is actually coming from, and that fabric sliver makes that very clear.[/pullqoute] The control layout is pretty easy to figure out. The power button is at the top, followed by Bluetooth, playback/calls, volume up, volume down, battery, and mute. The quick-start guide points out some extras you should note, like how double-pressing the playback button will skip forward to the next track, while triple-pressing skips back. Press the battery button and a voice will pipe up to tell you how much you have left.
There’s also an option to switch from mono to stereo — making the XE200 one of the only speakers in this class to offer both sound modes. In mono, Sony’s diffuser tech comes out more prominently. Set it down horizontally, toggle stereo on, and you get some stereo separation. There’s a slight difference, though I’m not sure it was all that significant for most of the music I was listening to.
The Music Center app lets you adjust the EQ if you want more bass, mids, or treble, and I think it’s well worth tinkering with those sliders to gauge whether you get more of what your ears want out of this speaker. Regardless, the clarity is just as easy to appreciate because it doesn’t suddenly drop off at louder volumes.
I liked the XE200 more standing up in mono than laid out horizontally in stereo, including in the scenarios and use cases I noted here. The sweet spot for the best sound is fairly wide at between 50% and 80% volume, covering your own personal space on the lower end of that scale, and boisterously filling a room at the higher end. It is, in many ways, the kind of speaker you can chill out with as much as it is one to entertain a small group, and it doesn’t matter if you’re outside or indoors.
If you’re in a rush for some tunes, plug in for 10 minutes and get up to 70 minutes to play them. Again, the same parameters apply, so if you’re pumping up the volume, it won’t make it that far.