I received the SRSX99B speaker this morning and here are my first impressions. The speaker looks like a very small Retangular prism type 80s Boombox but perhaps better built then any of those units, premium metals wood and plastic are used in the construction. The front of the speaker is covered in a metal mesh grill, this hides the sub-woofer, the two mid-range and two tweeters all of which are driven by their own dedicated Class D amplifiers. The top panel is a flat surface where the touch panel is situated along with another two tweeters that fire high frequency’s up, I was skeptical about this arrangement until I heard it for myself. The touch panel probably won’t be too accessible to those without sight but this really doesn’t matter given the user has full control over the speaker in so many other ways. The back panel is graced with a fair few connections, two USB ports - one for connecting USB sticks and so on, the other for connecting to a PC, HD Walkman or other compatible device -, an Ethernet port for hard wiring to a network, an Aux-In Analogue jack and the regular AC mains World Power connector. The SRSX99B can be connected to your network in various ways - using your IOS or Android Device, using WPS or using the web Interface initially available through the Ethernet port -, I chose the latter and here I found the first hurdle to jump over. The Operations Guide tells you to select a document to download for each of the various network setup procedures so be warned, you’ll need the correct setup document before you start. One the SRSX99B was connected to the network - which took a surprisingly short time once I had obtained the correct setup guide - it was pretty much child’s play to get the Speaker playing music. The best experience can be had from this speaker using the Sony “Songpal” App available for IOS and Android, both versions are incredibly accessible and straight forward to use. The controls for the SRSX99B are in the home screen and from here you can select additional music sources. The Songpal App does things the way I believe they should be done when it comes to music sources, you want to play your songs from Spotify? You install the Spotify App and allow Songpal to access the Spotify App. You want to hear Internet radio? Then install Tunein Radio and allow the Songpal App to access Tunein, all easy and straight-forward. Bluetooth pairing with the SRSX99B is very easy and is done by holding down the Bluetooth button on the top of the speaker or the remote control, the SRSX99B handles AptX. The playing of HD audio sources can be achieved in a number of ways, by playing from a compatible Walkman device, by paling from your computer through the USB port or by playing from a USB stick, also HD files can be streamed using DLNA. I’m currently streaming to the SRSX99B using Googlecast, I told my Google Home to, “Play Elton John on Dane’s Sony”, the new name I’ve given the SRSX99B speaker. If you don’t fancy all that then the traditional streaming methods of DLNA Rendered Device and AirPlay are available.
********** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
