This is the review of the comparison between two Bluetooth speakers from two different popular brands. The comparison here is between the Tribit StormBox Micro and the Sony SRS-XB12. There is no difference in their price range, they both are retailing for around fifty dollars currently on Amazon but there is a difference in their performances. To know which one is good for you, go to the detailed review.

Tribit StormBox Micro	Sony SRS-XB12
BUY NOW	BUY NOW
PROS	PROS
Very compact (pocket-friendly). Good bass for a small speaker. USB-C charger. Waterproof. Affordable price. Exceptional Bluetooth range.	Good sound quality. Tough IP67 build. Ruggedized body. Shockproof. The app includes EQ.
CONS	CONS
The battery could be better. Not the most directional-sounding speaker. Not the most directional-sounding speaker. No app.	Built-in mic too muddy. Using the button-combinations can be confusing. The low end is too strong for my taste. Large and heavy.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Detail Review:

INTRODUCTION:

Tribit StormBox Micro

The Tribit StormBox Micro is one of the budget-friendly Bluetooth speakers available in the market. This speaker is retailing for around fifty dollars currently on Amazon. Even though it is retailing for a lower price, the quality on this was not at all diminished and it sounds really very good. Also, it looks really very good and small which makes it portable.

Sony SRS-XB12

The Sony SRS-XB12 is an extra bass Bluetooth speaker and this speaker is retailing for around fifty dollars on Amazon, which comes in six colors you got black, blue, gray, green, violet, and red. As you all know, Sony makes many audio-related products and those all are of really good quality both in build and sound, these are also of good quality build and also, sounds really good.

DESIGN:

Tribit StormBox Micro

As far as the design of this Bluetooth speaker, it took a lot of inspiration from the leader in little micro Bluetooth speakers and that’s the Bose SoundLink Micro. Definitely, the similarities aren’t exact but the shape is very similar. The USB Type-C charging port is on the side of the speaker and when we flip it to the backside, we have the silicone band there which you can use to attach to your handlebars or your bike. They claim that the silicone band is tear-resistant and the entire top of the speaker is wrapped in this fabric mesh.

If we turn it around to the backside, we have rugged feeling rubber but I’ve checked everywhere there is no impact resistance rating on this speaker, so I’m not really sure how far I can drop it and it’ll still be okay. In the front of the speaker, we have the power button and Bluetooth pairing button. In the center of the side right there, we have our status light indicator and then we have a five-light battery indicator right there which will tell you how much battery life you have left, based on how many lights are lit up. On the top of the speaker, we have our plus, minus, and multi-function buttons. The bass is projected to the bottom of the speaker, then it has four little rubberized feet, so it lifts it off the ground a little bit, so when the bass is shooting through the bottom, it actually sounds really good. 

Sony SRS-XB12

As far as the design of this speaker, it’s very small and fits right into the palm of my hand. Just for size comparison, if I compare this with the Wonderboom, the XB12 is just a little bit smaller than the Wonderboom. I compared these two together because they’re pretty much the same price. On the back, you got your power button, you got the volume up and down, you got to play and pause, you got add button so if you want to pair another speaker together, you got one LED for your charging and there’s your mic. On the top, you got a speaker and on the bottom, there’s your radiator, so one speaker firing down and one speaker firing up.

Also, this has got a little rubber on the bottom that’s going to keep it in place on your table. then you do have the carrying strap and if you want you can take this off too. On the front, there is a little Sony Brandon and there is a flap, when you open up the flap, there’s your micro USB charging slot, you got a little reset button, and your 3.5 audio-in and that’s pretty much about the design of this speaker.

FEATURES:

Tribit StormBox Micro

In the box, you are going to get a user manual, warranty card, USB Type-C charging cable, and your Tribit StormBox Micro. As far as the features go, the StormBox Micro has eight hours of playtime on a three and a half-hour charge and it features USB Type-C for charging. You can connect two of these speakers together for party mode or just have them side by side for stereo sound. Pairing the speaker to your phone is extremely simple as it has Bluetooth 5.0. It has an IP rating of 67 meaning it’s dustproof and waterproof, submersible up to 3 meters for up to 30 minutes, and it also has an output of 9 watts. 

The power button is a short press on and short press off operation, and as soon as you power the speaker on, it’ll automatically start searching for the last paired device, whether it be your phone or laptop. If you want to add new devices, you just have to hold the Bluetooth button for a few seconds, it’ll start searching and get paired. The plus and minus buttons on the top of the speaker are for volume up and volume down, and the multi-function button in the middle there has multiple uses.

If you press the multi-function button once while streaming, it acts as a play-pause button, if you long-press it activates Siri on your iPhone, two short presses skip the track, three short presses goes backward a track, and if you’re streaming and get a phone call short press that multi-function button it answers the phone call. You can hear whoever you’re talking to through the speaker and you can talk through the little microphone right there. They claim it has surprisingly booming sound and deep bass with extra bass built-in, that’s just Tribit’s registered trademark for it has bass. 

This speaker features Bluetooth 5.0 and it has a 100-foot range. I didn’t test that full 100 feet but I did a test about 30 feet and when I got about 30 feet away, it still sounded great and wasn’t skipping didn’t cut out at all. But for most people in most situations, you’re probably not going to go any farther than 30 feet anyways. The StormBox Micro measures in at 3.87 inches by 3.87 inches and has a height of 1.37 inches.

Sony SRS-XB12

On the box, you can see the Sony SRS-XB12 and the box also claims that it is an extra bass Bluetooth speaker. Inside the box, you are going to get your usual books, your nice and small speaker, and a micro USB charging cable, that’s pretty much it in the box. As far as the features on this, it’s running Bluetooth 4.2, you get a 3.5-millimeter auxiliary input for non-Bluetooth devices, you got extra bass for deep punchy sound, it’s Ip67 dust and water-resistant, you’re getting 16 hours worth of battery life that’s a 50% volume so if you’re rocking this at max volume you’re looking at around 10 to 12 hours, it comes with a carrying strap, you can add an extra speaker for stereo sound, and it has a built-in speakerphone with voice assistance.

As far as the button controls, you got play-pause and that also doubles as answering the phone calls. One tap to start the music and one tap to stop it, as far as the volume controls, the minus button is for volume down and the plus button for volume up. Double-tap the play-pause button to skip to the next song, and triple tap to reverse the song. Long press on the play-pause button to activate your Siri or your Google assistant. Then you have your add button to add one more speaker to this get the stereo effect.

I tested out the sound quality and performance of the speakerphone on this by calling one of my friends, she sounded nice and loud and also I sound really good to her, so really nice and loud speakerphone. The pairing process is really simple, so once you power up the speaker it’s gonna be in Bluetooth pairing mode, then go to your phone’s Bluetooth menu and select the XB12 and you are done. To get two of these pair together, you’re just gonna hold down the add button on each speaker, you will hear a little beep, and then they’ll connect to each other and that takes about five seconds. Also, I tested out the lag-latency on this speaker, and what I mean by that is when you’re watching a video, is there any delay from the person’s lips to what you hear. By test, I can conclude that basically there is no lag with these.

There are few things that I don’t like about this and I wish it could be something else. First thing is that I wish it would have been Bluetooth 5.0 instead of Bluetooth 4.2, it’s 2021 it should have had the latest technology. Next, I wish it would have had USB Type-C charging instead of micro USB, again it’s 2021 everything is USB Type-C and one less cable to walk around with. Lastly, this is one of the things that I hate about a lot of Sony speakers is once your battery goes down to 20%, you can’t play the volume above 50%.

These may have some downsides but there are definitely more good things about this speaker such as this speaker comes in a bunch of different colors, it’s IP67 dust and water-resistant perfect for the beach perfect for the pool perfect for your late night’s scumbag tactics, you’re getting around 10 hours with the battery on maximum volume, and at 50% volume 16 hours with the battery, that’s pretty good you got a built-in carrying strap that you can remove if you want, you got a 3.5-millimeter auxiliary input, and you’ve got full button controls including skip, reverse tracks, answer and end phone calls, and you can activate your voice assistant.

Also, you’ve got a built-in speakerphone that’s nice and loud and crystal clear, you can pair two of these together for stereo sound, but the best part about this is the bass, the bass on this speaker sounds amazing. It’s not the loudest speaker in the world, so if you’re gonna be putting this on your bike or taking it outside you you might want to get something different but if you’re gonna be in your house in your backyard or you having a little private party and especially if you got a table you’re gonna love this speaker. My advice would be to get two of them, two of them together sound incredible.

SOUND QUALITY:

Tribit StormBox Micro

In my opinion, at 100% volume, when I compare this with the Clip 3 I think the StormBox Micro had a better overall sound than the Clip 3. These have surprisingly booming sound and deep bass, they weren’t lying as far as the bass on this. This thing blows away the Clip 3 with clean sounding bass, I mean when I first heard this I was taken back by just how good the bass sounded in this tiny little speaker. But as far as the mids go at 100 percent, they do get a little muddy and I think that’s where the Clip 3 had the advantage. I think the mids in Clip 3 were a little bit better, and as far as the highs they both sound great. As far as just pure sound coming out, I think the Tribit StormBoxbox Micro is better than the Clip 3 as well and this is playing louder than the Clip 3.

Sony SRS-XB12

I tested out the sound quality on this speaker with the maximum volume on and with a bunch of music from different genres. By my test, I felt like this actually has a lot of bass to it and I’m really impressed with these. Definitely has bass shooting at the bottom, you can feel the table vibrating, and you can see the speaker on the top vibrating. If we compare the sound quality of this speaker with the Wonderboom, then the Wonderboom is definitely louder but the Sony has way more bass. If you’re looking for an outdoor speaker that you’re gonna connect to your bike then the Wonder boom is really good for you because of its loudness. But if you’re looking for a speaker to sit in your house put on your table when you’re playing cards or while at work, definitely go with the XB12, if you’re looking for bass this is where it’s at.

WHICH ONE IS FOR YOU?

Overall, both of these speakers were really well-built rugged little speakers, and at 5o dollars both of them really worth the price as they are about half the price of the Bose SoundLink Micro. But still, you can choose the one for you out of these like if you want a louder one then the StormBox Micro is the one for you but if you want the one which has punchier and heavy bass then the XB12 is the one for you. 

Expert Reviews of Tribit StormBox Micro:

By cnet
Over the years Tribit has made some of the better budget portable Bluetooth headphones and speakers, starting with its XFree Tune and XSound Go…

By Tom’s Guide
The Tribit StormBox Micro Bluetooth speaker packs a lot of sound into a very portable package.

By What Hi-Fi?
Tribit Audio’s talented newcomer arrives as an undeniable contender in the budget speaker sphere…

By GearBrain
The Tribit StormBox Micro is a solid Bluetooth speaker, well-priced, with good sound. The speaker felt secure when attached through the rubber strap…

By Trusted Reviews
The StormBox Micro is a surprisingly good wireless speaker from Tribit. Its rugged design suits outdoor use, and the tear-resistant strap mean it can be used in a number of ways…

Expert Reviews of Sony SRS-XB12:

By techgearlab.com
Though the Sony SRS-XB32 is a good speaker overall, in our opinion it fails to find any sort of balance that makes…

By Sound Guys
While the Sony SRS-XB32 won’t be knocking anything off our best waterproof speakers list, it still has its place. Particularly if you like the idea…

By beebom.com
The Sony SRS-XB32 is a Bluetooth speaker that packs in almost everything I was looking for in a Bluetooth speaker…

By Indian Express
Sony is very serious about its party speakers lineup. It has just refreshed its portable offerings in this space…

By Tech Radar
As a portable Bluetooth speaker with a ruggedized frame and powerful drivers, the Sony XB32 does the job of being a versatile playback…