How to Bass Boost Sony XB 43

Sony SRS XB43 Bluetooth speaker front view, all lit up.

You can change how loud the bass is on the Sony XB 43, by turning on and off its bass boost mode. When switched on, this mode makes the passive bass radiators on the sides vibrate much more, and adds a low rumble quality to the playing program, that travels pretty far from the speaker. So, for you boom lovers, this post shows how to bass boost this speaker, to get that extra umph.

You can control bass boost on the XB 43 in a few ways as follows.

1. Use the LIVE button on the speaker itself.
2. Work the bass switch in the Sony Music Center App.
3. Make fine bass adjustments in the EQ section of the Music Center app.

We’ll cover all of these options below.

How to Bass Boost Sony XB 43, with Buttons on the Speaker Itself

By default, this speaker has bass boost mode turned ON when fresh out of the box or after a reset. So any time you run this speaker, and you haven’t switched OFF this bass boost, then both the LIVE and STAMINA lights are dark, as we see in the next two pictures.

The dark LIVE lamp on the Sony XB 43.

When the 43 is running, and both these lamps are OFF, then that means that MEGA BASS (bass boost) mode is in effect.

The dark STAMINA lamp on the Sony XB 43.

Now when active, bass boost also adds a bit of treble in addition to lots of extra bass to the audio output as compared to when this mode is OFF.

Sony XB 43 -Live- button.

How to Turn Off Bass Boost with Speaker Buttons on the Sony XB 43

You can turn bass boost mode OFF by quickly pressing and releasing the LIVE button as pointed out by the green arrow in the last picture. This deactivates bass boost and switches the speaker into LIVE mode. The LIVE lamp lights up orange accordingly, as we see next.

The orange glowing LIVE lamp on the Sony XB 43.

Or, another way to stop bass boost mode is to put the speaker into STAMINA mode, which conserves battery power. In this mode, they weaken the bass. So to turn on STAMINA (low bass) mode, press and hold in the LIVE button until the STAMINA lamp lights up. Takes around two to three seconds of holding.

The orange glowing STAMINA lamp on the Sony XB 43.

How to Turn ON Bass Boost with Speaker Buttons

Note that if either the LIVE or STAMINA lamps is lit, then bass boost is not active. So to enable bass boost in that case, quickly press and release the LIVE button. Bass boost resumes once again when both the LIVE and STAMINA lamps go dark.

How to Bass Boost Sony XB 43, In The Music Center App

In addition to by way of the LIVE button on the speaker itself, you can also control bass boosting in Sony’s Music Center app too.

1. Install the Music Center App

So first, download and install this app on your source Bluetooth device (phone, tablet, computer, or media player). We did this on a test iPad Air.

The Sony Music Center app icon on iPadOS.

2. Pair your Sony XB 43 with This Same Device

We did this as we show next.

iPadOS -Bluetooth Settings- page, showing the Sony XB 43 as Connected..

3. Run the Music Center App to Continue with How to Bass Boost Sony XB 43

Upon startup, Music Center looks for any compatible Sony products. And since the XB 43 indeed works with this app, the app does indeed find the speaker. Then it displays the Home page for it as we see next.

The Sony Music Center app, showing the XB 43 speaker Home page.

4. Bring Up the Settings Page

Then, scroll the screen down to the Settings item at the bottom of the options list.

The Settings option on the Sony XG500 home screen.

Next, tap Settings, and you’ll get the Settings screen, as we see next.

The Sound option on the Settings page.

5. Visit the Sound Page

Tap the Sound option, pointed out in the last screenshot. You then get the Sound page, as we see next.

The Sound Effect option set to Extra Bass in the Sony Music Center app on iPadOS.

6. Bring Up the Sound Options Screen to Continue with How to Bass Boost Sony XB 43

Tap the Sound Effect option that we see in the last picture. Then, the Sound Effects page then comes up, and looks as we see next. Note that depending on which speaker model you’re working with, you’ll see different sound effect options on this page. Thus the screen we show next is specific to the XB 43.

The Sound Effect screen for the Sony XB 43 in the Music Center app on iPadOS.

Now on this screen, note that the EXTRA BASS option is active. You can turn it OFF here by tapping either the OFF (STAMINA) option, or the LIVE SOUND option. And then you can enable it again if you wish, by tapping the EXTRA BASS option. These actions take immediate effect on the speaker, as you’ll be able to see the LIVE or STAMINA lamps on the speaker switching ON and OFF as you work these options in the app.

7. Tap the LIVE SOUND Option to Adjust Bass Boost

Now if you want to do more with the bass boost than simply turn it ON and OFF, then tap the LIVE SOUND item. Note that although you could also adjust the speaker EQ in STAMINA mode, we find that you get more bass when running it in LIVE SOUND mode. So that’s the mode we did for this demo, for you bass lovers. This option is the last item in the list of options on the Sound Effect screen, as we see next.

The LIVE SOUND option on the Sound Effect page.

Tapping LIVE SOUND takes you back to the Sound page that looks a bit different this time, as we show next.

The Sound page with the Sound Effect option set to LIVE SOUND.

Now, the value of the Sound Effect option is now LIVE SOUND, whereas before, it was EXTRA BASS.

8. Bring Up the EQ (equalizer) Page

Tap the BASS / MID / TRE option on the Sound page. We highlight it next.

The BASS/ MID / TRE option on the Sound Effects page.

Touching this option brings up a three band graphic equalizer page. Now by default, this EQ is set to FLAT for all frequency bands, as we see next.

The Custom EQ screen with all sliders set to FLAT.

But you can get maximum bass boost by moving these slider controls as follows. For example, lower the other two frequency bands to minimum, but raise the BASS one to maximum, as we show next.

The Custom EQ page with controls set to max bass boost.

When set this way, you get the highest amount of bass that the XB 43 speaker is capable of producing. But be careful !

Warning

The drivers really thump when bass boost is active. So be cautious in how loudly you play the 43 with the bass boosted, to avoid damage to the speaker drivers. If the bass is crackling, tapping, or otherwise distorting, turn it down or readjust the EQ !