Sony GTK-XB90 Speaker Review

The Sony GTK-XB90 is a large party speaker with customizable RGB lights, and you can place it vertically or horizontally. There are built-in handles on either side of the speaker to carry it, and mirrors advertised to help enhance the speaker's visual effects by bouncing the light off of them.

Unlike the Sony GTK-XB72, this speaker is battery-powered, so you can transport it with you without needing to look for an outlet. There are also built-in handles to help with transporting it. However, this large speaker can be pretty bulky and could be too heavy to carry for some users. If you're looking for a smaller and more portable speaker with party features, check out the Sony SRS-XG500 that also features its very own mic/guitar input, and customizable RGB lights.

Its body is mostly solid matte plastic, and there are rubber feet on two of its sides so you can place it horizontally or vertically. Its drivers are protected by a metal grille, and there are carrying handles built into the speaker to help with transporting it.

Much like the Sony GTK-XB72, this speaker isn't rated for water or dust resistance, and we don't test for this. Sony warns not to splash water onto the speaker or place it in extremely hot, cold, dusty, dirty, or humid environments. They also warn against placing it in an inclined position, under direct sunlight, or under lighting equipment. For a party speaker with an IPX4 rating for water resistance, check out the Sony SRS-XP700.

The controls are similar to those of the Sony GTK-XB72. You can use the play/pause buttons to answer and reject phone calls, activate voice assistants, and skip tracks. You can pair the speaker to your device via Bluetooth by holding the Function button, which triggers audible feedback from the speaker and causes the Bluetooth indicator light to flash rapidly. To turn the lights on the speaker on and off, you can press and hold the 'W. PARTY CHAIN' button. You can also use this button to wirelessly daisy chain the speaker to other compatible speakers.

On the rear of the speaker, you can find a mic input with its own volume knob, a Party Chain button, and In/Out ports you can use when you want to daisy chain speakers using audio cables, as well as a USB port you can use to playback your files.

• Sony XB90 speaker
• Polarized power cable
• Operating instructions

This speaker has a fair frequency response accuracy. It has a boomy sound profile overall, so you can feel the punch in bass-heavy music, though this may also overwhelm some listeners. It has a somewhat well-balanced mid-range that ensures vocals and lead instruments sound clear and present in the mix. However, the underemphasis in the treble range can make higher-pitched voices and instruments sound dark. The GTK-XB90 also struggles to reproduce some low-bass, making it difficult to feel the deep rumble in bass-heavy music. Fortunately, you can use the graphic EQ and presets available in its companion app to tweak its sound to your liking.

Note: Our sound tests were performed with the speaker placed vertically. We used its default 'EDM' EQ preset and turned the 'Extra Bass' on. When enabling the Extra Bass feature, Sony ClearAudio+ is enabled, which is the recommended sound setting for music listening.

This speaker has a good soundstage. It has a built-in sensor that senses the speaker's orientation automatically. This means it can play stereo content without downmixing it to mono when placed horizontally and vertically. Its directivity is also alright, so you can hear your audio clearly from most angles.

The Sony GTK-XB90 has decent dynamics. While it doesn't get as loud as the SOUNDBOKS (Gen. 3), it can still get quite loud, making it fit to use at large parties. However, there are compression artifacts at max volume that can affect the clarity of your audio when listening at louder volumes.

This speaker can last over 15 hours from a single charge, though battery performance can vary depending on your usage, and your real-world experience may vary. There's also a handy power-saving feature that shuts the speaker off after 15 minutes of inactivity. You can enable and disable this feature in the Sony Music Center app.

Since it doesn't have any voice assistants built-in, this speaker uses the voice assistants on your smartphone. To test the speaker's voice assistant performance, we use recorded voice commands. Unfortunately, the Sony GTK-XB90 struggled to register these commands, even without any ambient noise present. That said, like the Sony GTK-XB72 and the Sony SRS-XB33, it could register commands from a normal speaking voice, though this isn't part of our methodology.

The Sony Music Center app features a graphic EQ and EQ presets, so you can customize the speaker's sound to your liking. It features shortcuts to music service apps like Spotify, as well as the 'Fiestable' app that allows you to access and customize multiple extra party features. You can also use Sony Music Center to customize the speaker's lights, pair multiple compatible speakers to create a stereo pair, and daisy chain speakers together. Additionally, if you want to play your audio from a USB key, you can connect it to the speaker's USB port and use the app's USB function to control the media you want to play.

Much like the Sony GTK-XB72, the Sony GTK-XB90 features In and Out RCA ports you can use to daisy chain speakers together, as well as a mic input with its own volume knob. There's also a USB key playback port that supports mp3, WMA, WAV, and ACC audio formats. That said, it doesn't support USB Audio.

To daisy chain multiple speakers together, you can use the function button to set the input on your speaker to either USB or Bluetooth and connect your compatible speakers using audio cables, though these don't come in the box. That said, the first and last speakers of the chain need to be connected. If you want to daisy chain your speakers wirelessly, you can do so via the 'W. PARTY CHAIN' and Function buttons on your speakers.

You can pair up to three separate devices to this speaker at once, so you can quickly and easily switch between audio sources. That said, when more than one phone connects to the speaker, it won't receive and answer phone calls. The Sony GTK-XB90 also has low latency with Android and iOS devices, making it suitable for watching movies and videos, though some apps compensate for latency differently, and your experience may vary. Additionally, if you have an NFC-capable device, you can tap it to the speaker to quickly pair it to it.