Sony has no shortage of Bluetooth speakers to choose from, some of which are massive in terms of both size and sound. On the other end of the spectrum, the $59.99 Sony SRS-XB13 is small enough to be thrown in a tote and taken wherever you go. It’s waterproof, has a removable strap, and delivers solid volume levels and decent bass depth for its size. It's pretty barebones otherwise, but that’s to be expected at this price. Ultimately, the SRS-XB13 is a perfectly serviceable outdoor-friendly speaker that will serve you well on your next vacation/summer/camping trip.
Small But Sturdy
Available in black, dark blue, light blue, pink, or taupe, the cylindrical SRS-XB13 measures approximately 3.8 inches wide all around and weighs in at roughly 9 ounces. The upward-firing 46mm driver delivers a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. It has some respectable thump, but the SRS-XB13 is all about portability and durability.
The base of the speaker has rubber footing, ostensibly to prevent movement due to vibrations, but it danced across our desktop and wiggled dramatically with bass-heavy mixes—and even some not-so-bass-heavy tunes when the volume was pumped. The lower half of the speaker also packs in a passive radiator to bulk up the audio a bit, but most bass depth here is felt (and seen) more than heard. There’s also a sturdy, sporty strap that can be removed; hanging it from the strap is probably a better choice than placing it on a resonant surface.
Along the side panel, there are rubberized buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing, play/pause, and volume. A double press of the play/pause button skips forward a track, while a triple press navigates backward. The play/pause button also answers/ends incoming calls using the speakerphone function. Next to these controls, there’s a covered USB-C port for the included USB-C-to-USB-A charging cable.
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The SRS-XB13 is fully waterproof and protected from dust. Its IP67 rating means it’s completely safe against solids and can be submerged up to one meter for 30 minutes. Of course, Bluetooth signal won’t work well underwater, but the point is the SRS-XB13 can get a little dirty and be rinsed off, dunked, and/or exposed to moderate water pressure without worry.
There’s no app, which isn’t a surprise for a speaker this simple. The SRS-XB13 is compatible with Bluetooth 4.2, and supports AAC and SBC codecs. Sony estimates battery life to be roughly 16 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels.
SRS-XB13 Audio Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like the Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the SRS-XB13 handles the deep low frequencies pretty well—meaning, it flirts with distortion but never quite gets there. However, if you have the speaker sitting on a flat surface and play this track at high volumes, the vibrations from the speaker’s base (and bass) are powerful enough to create a distortion-like sound. Thus, as mentioned, it would be wise to hang the speaker from something so that it doesn't make contact with any resonant surfaces when pumping up the volume.
This vibration effect can also happen on less bass-heavy tracks, like Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song,” and we did actually hear slight distortion on some tracks at maximum volume. It’s more likely to happen with tracks that have rich low-end and low-mids rather than thumping subwoofer bass‚ as the SRS-XB13 can’t recreate sub-bass, but it’ll try to recreate low-mids and can run into trouble if they're dialed up in the mix. We’re talking about a $60 speaker, so this isn’t really even a serious criticism—no speaker this size or price is going to excel at bass response, although some manage to sound less overwhelmed at top volumes.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the SRS-XB13’s general sound signature. The drums on this track get the slightest bit of extra bass presence, but it’s Callahan’s baritone vocals that get most of the bass response here. The acoustic strums are bright, as are the higher-register percussive hits. The passive radiator does a good job in its supporting role, adding a sense of richness and resonance to the solo driver’s modest bass presence. For a portable speaker this size, the SRS-XB13 does a good job of delivering rich lows and crisp highs at a relatively high volume.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence for its attack to retain its punchiness in the mix, while the sub-bass synth hits obviously lack any real subwoofer-like power, though they do get some added low-mid push that makes things sound a little more full. The drum loop also gets some low-mid boosting, make it sound a bit fuller and heavier, and the vocals on this track are delivered cleanly and clearly, with a smidge of sibilance added to the equation.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, don’t make the speaker dance across desktops, though even this track gets some added low-mid resonance that sets off the passive radiator slightly. When not on a resonant surface, much of the perceived depth vanishes, especially on a track like this.
The speakerphone mic offers decent intelligibility. The signal is a bit weak and there's definitely some Bluetooth fuzz in the mix, but callers should be able to understand you.
Powerful and Portable
Neither the Sony SRS-XB13 nor its main competitor, the $70 JBL Clip 4, are mind-blowing, game-changing speakers. That said, they're both perfectly good for taking to the pool or on a camping trip, and the audio performance is better than you might expect for the size. You can get fuller-sounding audio in a relatively portable design, but it’ll cost more. If you're willing to spend $150, the Marshall Emberton delivers the best sound quality for the size. For $100, meanwhile, there's the Sony SRS-XB23, which is a nice step up in terms of price and performance from the XB-13, while for far less, we like the $40 JBL Go 3.
Sony SRS-XB13
The Bottom Line
Sony's outdoor-friendly SRS-XB13 speaker waterproof build is probably its best selling point—the audio performance is roughly what you’d expect from a speaker this size.
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June 25, 2021 at 10:39PM
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Sony SRS-XB13 Review - PCMag
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