Sony - SRS-XE300

The Charge has a bit more bass and volume vs Flip. Sony Ult 1 or 300 XE are nice items. I was able to try Ult 1; nice sound. Soundcore Glow, 300, 600 are good speakers too.

Just speaking of general sound quality the Ult 1 and XE 300 sound great including much clearer bass when compared to the older xb line.

XE200 and XE300 sounds muffled out of the box imo. friend has the 300 needed to max out mids and highs in the 3band Sony app EQ. then I thought it sounded "fine" but obviously you are limited because you cant max it out anymore. I suggest you listen to it in store before making a decision. you will probably end up wanting to max out the mids and highs in Sony EQ as well. but if it's not clear sounding enough for you go for the other speaker. ok damn should have read your comment below. seems like you figured it out already.

when I had a close look at the XE300 they definitely took shock protection and water proofing (IP rating) very seriously. like the mesh was thick and multi layered, and the drivers and passives are all mostly protected by those rubber feeling panels. this is just my opinion but I think that's what leads to the sound having a tough time getting out from the actual speakers. it can be compensated for though by as you say using EQ. and yeah I think that paper thin sound impresssion if probably due to the extreme design for great IP rating. glad you found some positives out of the sound though, I probably didn't spend long enough with the speaker to try adjusting listening distances.

I have the Sony xb33 and xb43 … great speakers and sound quality and loudness was great. I purchased a xe300 a few weeks ago and was really unhappy and returned it. Not the same brand as my older speakers that’s for sure. I’m also in the market and have looked at the Harmon Harmon as one of my top options

Ive heard the xe300 sounds better outdoors than indoors. Whatsoever, getting a 2nd xb33 would be better thing, cause you can get stereo, which improves the sound experience a lot (for concentrated listening at least) . Have you you looked for 2nd hand units? If thats not an option i would rather pay a little more to get a xg300, which is superior in many respects to the xe300 . Its like the bigger version of the xb33 with deeper bass and better details. Its also heavier, though. 2 xb100 are also nice and super portable, but will not have neither volume nor the deepness of bass and natural sound of the xb33 or xg300.

I have a Sony SRS-XB33 and have been enjoying it for several years now. I've tested MANY bluetooth speakers throughout the years, and I really like the XB33's sound signature: it goes well with the music I listen to. So I decided to buy a second unit to pair with it and have better sound coverage for gatherings at home. However, I've recently moved to a new country where the XB33 is impossible to buy other than heavily marked up (if you don't mind risking probable scams from a few doubtful online sellers) because it's discontinued. I was looking into the XB300 as an alternative because (a) it's 40% off right now at the Sony store (ie it's 95USD or 88EUR) and (b) it would allow me to pair it to my XB33 (albeit not in stereo mode, unfortunately). But having read reviews online and subsequently heard it in the store, I confirmed I too find its soundstage considerably narrower than the XB33's... I'm not sure if in a specific setup (either physical setup of the unit at, say, a distance, and/or in vertical/horizontal position, or the configuration in the app) you can get a more open sound or if that's just a fail from Sony's Line Shape Diffuser (which seems weird: did no one test the prototype before going into manufacturing?) and you're stuck with narrow coverage. The sound quality, however, seems at least as good as the XB33's. It's just that narrow slit of sound coming at you like compressed in space that I think will lessen the sound coverage I'm looking for in buying a second unit. Which is when I started thinking of alternatives instead of just focussing on something I can pair to my XB33; chiefly the XB100, which is definitely a step down when looked as a single unit, but perhaps if I buy 2 (also heavily discounted, so they would cost even less than the 1 XE300) I might get a decent sound, and perhaps better coverage with the plus of it being in stereo configuration... What are your thoughts?

Thanks for your answer! I've checked out the XG300, which really sounds nice and has good reviews, but unfortunately it's twice the price of the XE300 here. It would cost me around the same price of the XG300 to buy the XB33 from, say, the US on eBay and have it shipped. Though I'm a bit reticent of doing that because there's no "official" seller. Plus, the shipping is almost as much as the speaker... Which seems absurd. I've looked at second hand XB33s here. There's not many, and what I can find seems pretty sketchy. Plus, they're asking for much too close to what its price was brand new before it was discontinued and Sony made it disappear from everywhere. I agree that 2 XB100s are probably not up to the quality I'm looking for. I suspect that much. I seems in the end going with the XE300 and pairing it with my XB33 will be the "best" available option for me at the moment. (Considering my luck, Sony comes out with a new and way better gen a week after!)

Yeah, am married to tbe 300 now 😁 Thanks for your answer anyway! I agree that the sound could be thought of as muffled out of the box. I think it's not as cut and dry as that, though, because it also depends on what kind of music you listen to and what sound signature you prefer. But, yes, this is a speaker that needs tweaking before you can actually enjoy it —if that, because I do believe some people will hate it forever. Personally, I left the mids at 0 because I felt raising them "dirtied up" the sound considerably. I've raised highs to 8 (max is 10 in the Sony app) and lows to 6. That gives me a nice sound for my taste. Is it perfect? Am I announcing to Reddit: buy the XE300 because you can get an awesome sound! No, definitely not. Had I had more budget or, better yet, access to another trusty XB, there'd be no room for doubt in my mind and we wouldn't be talking about the XE300. My main gripe when listening to it in the store wasn't actually the muffled or muddy sound you can get out of the box, it was the extremely narrow, paper-thin razor of sound that comes at you directly from the front. First listen made me think: good bass but I feel like I'm listening to music that's coming out of in-ear headphones someone left on their desk. (Of course, I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the picture; it's not too far off, either.) Second listen convinced me that Sony's design is meant for this speaker to be placed at a distance from the listener. Step back a couple of metres and you can hear a nicer soundstage. Placed in one side of the room, it will reach and even fill the other end. I have it setup on top of a piece of furniture, on its side, next to th sofas and chairs, so that I feel the sound "bathes" the area below it when people are sitting there, ans you can also feel some of it creates a niceish reverb when reflecting off the high ceilings. Not the best, not perfect by any means, nor would it be my choice if I really had one... But my conclusion is that it's not nearly as bad as people are saying it is. Maybe it's strictly to do with personal preference, or maybe it has to do with how one tweaks it, but I don't think this model is a write-off. I do believe, however, Sony should go back to the XBs and go forward from there, as they were a solid win, imo.

Love my Ult 1. Made me buy an Ult 7, 2 xg300, and 2 Xe300. The XE300 had a recent firmware update and sound better for sure.