REVIEW: Does the Sony SRS-XB41 Bluetooth speaker bring the party for R3,300?
CAPE TOWN – Rated 4.6 stars out 5 from 117 customer reviews, the Sony SRS-XB41 Bluetooth speaker is seen to be a good choice to select especially because of its good features but after spending two weeks with it, I'm not sure if it is worth for the price tag of nearly R4000.
The speaker itself is very big with dimensions of 291 mm x 104 mm x 105 mm, weighs 1500 g and is 58mm in size.
The design of the speaker features an all-mesh front grille, with the power button, Bluetooth pairing button, and playback and volume controls placed on the top of the device.
At the back of the speaker, you will find the Micro-USB port and a DC input, a 3.5mm socket and a USB port through which can be used to charge your smartphone.
The XB41 is both dust- and water-resistant (IP67-certified), however, it can only handle up to 1 meter of fresh water for 30 minutes.
A cool feature about the speaker is that it has multi-colour LED lights around the speaker the light up whenever you play the music.
However, it seems like a cool feature but on certain occasions, the lights did not sync with the music.
Usually, if I wanted to enjoy a light show, I'd enjoy it more if everything was synchronised.
When using the speaker, I felt that it was big, too big to actually take everywhere with as it was intended to be.
I actually had to plan which days and where it would be appropriate to use it because I was concerned I would drop it or someone would try to steal it because I stay in Cape Town and it's not always safe.
The speaker did provide powerful bass but for the size, I expected it to be louder. Don't get me wrong, it is loud but I expected more.
Sony kept its promise with the 24-hour battery life. I was very impressed as the battery lasts me the entire day.
The price tag on the speaker varies depending on where you feel comfortable purchasing it. On Takealot, it goes for R3,399 and Hifi Corp has it for R3, 299.
My final thoughts on the device are that unless you're a bass-heavy sound fanatic and you don't mind paying a hefty price for it then this speaker is for you.
The design is great but the weight of the speaker is just not practical for the main purpose of a Bluetooth speaker.
If I had personally spent money on it, I would rather have used it as the main speaker for my laptop to watch movies at home or whenever I had a small get together at my house.
Written by: Gabriella Steyn.
Guzzle Media
