Sony SRS-X3 Review - an excellent little portable speaker that's LOUD!

I’ve tried quite a few portable speakers over the years, and this Sony SRS-X3 is easily one of the best.

Why so special? Well, it’s so easy to use, it’s compact, has great battery life and it doesn’t look too shabby either.

It’s incredibly simple to connect it to my Macbook via Bluetooth and start listening to Serial.

Speaking as someone who feels a sense of dread anytime I’m obliged to open iTunes, I do anything I can to avoid using it. I streamed Serial direct from their website, and I listen to This American Life and BBC podcasts the same way.

So what I love most about the Sony SRS-X3 is that I can pair it to everything in my house and then just shoot music, podcasts or radio straight to it via Bluetooth.

Perfect for awkward gatherings with 20-somethings.

Jon Ronson loud and clear

Most importantly, it sounds GREAT. Really good bass notes, but also really clear on audio files, so Sarah Koenig and Ira Glass boom out nice and loud , as do Jon Ronson, Josie Long and the assorted audiobooks and Storynory children’s podcasts my daughter listens to.

Meanwhile, music sounds excellent too – and very loud! This is good news for my youngest, who knows how to locate the Sing & Sign album on my phone and can pump it straight to the portable speaker, much to everyone’s delight. (I say delight because there’s a chance her Sing & Sign teacher could be reading this.)

It looks good, fits snugly on every mantelpiece, window sill and shelf in our house, and has already made itself part of our lives.

What else? I’ve used it loads and I haven’t had to charge it yet and it’s got a line in for things that don’t use Bluetooth.

So that’s it! If you listen to a lot of audio on your laptop, phone or iPod, this is a brilliant way to make it sound a whole lot better. Really recommend it as a gift for any techphobes in your life too – it really couldn’t be easier to use as it only has a few buttons and it just works.

Sony SRS-X3 on Amazon

Katie Lee

Dork Adore's Editor! Katie started out life as a tech journalist and blog obsessive, launching the UK's first and biggest blog publishing network, Shiny Media. Favourite dork things: knitting, crochet, Press Gang, Buffy, Battlestar, Doctor Who and lifehacks.