Picture of the top and front of the Sony SRS XE200 speaker.

Sony SRS XE200 Buttons Manual

The Sony SRS XE200 column Bluetooth speaker has seven buttons on its buttons panel on the right side of the speaker.  The back compartment also has a power input port behind the sealing cap.

Sony SRS XE200 Buttons: Summary

The buttons include

    1. Power,
    2. Pairing,
    3. Play-Pause,
    4. Volume UP,
    5. Volume DOWN,
    6. BATT,
    7. Mic Mute.

So here we give our version of these Sony SRS XE200 buttons details. Herein, for each button, we cover what it does along with how and when to press it. Find also below, descriptions of button combinations, codes, and chords that initiate more speaker functions than pressing a single button does.  Thus with this information, you can fully enjoy most of the features of this excellent sounding wireless speaker. To gain access to the rest of the speaker features, you’ll need the Sony Music Center app.  However, covering that is beyond the scope of this post, since here, we’re addressing the physical buttons on the XE200 itself.

Summary of the Ports on the Sony SRS XE200 

In the port panel, sealed with a semi flexible cover, we also find a USB-C DC input charging port.

Picture of the open port door exposing the only port for power input on the Sony SRS XE200 speaker.
The open port door exposing the only port for power input on the Sony SRS XE200 speaker.

But here, we focus on the use of the buttons, and not the ports. So let’s get to them.

Sony SRS XE200 Buttons: Each One Explained in Detail

First, there is one row of seven buttons on the right side of the XE 200, and each button there has a unique shape as we see in the next picture.

Picture of all the lamps being dark on the speaker.
All lamps are dark on the speaker.

The Power Button

We begin our Sony SRS XE200 buttons tour with the Power button, on  the far left edge of the buttons panel, in the first group of three buttons. We indicate this with the pink arrow in the next picture. Note its round power symbol shape with the plum line through its top.

Picture of the Power button.
The Power button.

Turning the SRS XE200 ON and OFF

Press and release the Power button when the speaker is OFF, to switch it on.  Press and release it again, to turn it back OFF.  The Power  lamp lights up when the speaker powers up, as we show in the next picture.

Picture of the green glowing power lamp on the Sony SRS XE200 speaker.
The green glowing power lamp on the Sony SRS XE200 speaker.

The speaker makes rising electronic notes sound when you turn it on.  It also plays a sort of ding-dong sound if it automatically pairs with a device upon power up, and announces, “Bluetooth connected,” as well. And finally, if so configured via the Sony Music Center app, it announces the percent of battery charge remaining at this time.

The unit plays a falling sequence of notes when you briefly press the Power button to turn the speaker off.

So, to know for sure that this speaker has turned OFF, you must check the Power status lamp, mentioned above. When the speaker is OFF, all lamps should be dark, unless you’re charging the unit.  When OFF in that case, the CHARGE lamp still glows solid orange.





The Pairing Button

This button is essential when you want to connect the XE200 to a source device, and then stream music on that device to this speaker. It’s the second button down from the top in the panel, just below the Power button.

Activating the SRS XE200 Pairing Mode

With the speaker powered ON, you press and release quickly the Pairing button. You then hear the speaker say, “Bluetooth pairing.”  The speaker is now in pairing mode.

Picture of the Pairing button.
The Pairing button.

You need to do this anytime you pair the Sony SRS XE200 with a never-before-paired Bluetooth source device.

When in pairing mode, the pairing status lamp blinks in a pulse-pulse-pause, pulse-pulse-pause pattern.  And while that’s going on, the 300 sends out its name and other connection handle info over the Bluetooth air channels. Then, this allows nearby BT devices to find and pair to it.

Picture of the blue glowing Bluetooth Pairing lamp.
The blue glowing Bluetooth Pairing light.

The Pairing lamp we find immediately to the right of the Pairing button.

When a device subsequently connects to the XE 200, the pairing status lamp stops flashing, and starts glowing a steady blue.





The  Play-Pause-Call Button

The multifunction Play-Pause-Call button looks like a right-pointing arrow / triangle with two vertical lines to the right of that.  There is also a phone receiver icon just above that symbol.

We find this button in the group of buttons on the front right area of the speaker, immediately to the left of the Volume DOWN button, and to the right, across the speaker, from the  MEGA BASS button, as we point out with the green arrow in the next picture.

Picture of the Play-Pause-Call button.
The Play-Pause-Call button.

How to Use the  Play-Pause-Call Button to Stop and Start Program Play

Press and release this button quickly to pause audio play. Rapidly press it again to reverse the pause action, and resume playback.

Note that the Play-Pause-Call button on the XE200 is not a mute button. That is, pausing play in this way stops playback on the source Bluetooth device to which this speaker is currently paired. It does not merely just cut the speaker volume while the stream continues going.  If streaming, the play stops.  So, you won’t miss any content when you pause the speaker, as the source device (your phone, tablet, or computer) remembers where the content paused. Then it picks up playback where it left off, when you press this button again.

How to Use the Play-Pause-Call Button to Change Songs

To skip ahead to the next song in the playlist you’re listening to, quickly press and release this button two times.

To start the currently-playing song over again, quickly press and release this button three times.

If you want to skip backward in the playlist to the start of the previous song, get to the beginning of the current song.  Again, to do that, press the Play-Pause-Call button three times.  Then as soon as the song starts over, quickly press and release this button again three times.

How to Use the  Play-Pause-Call  Button to Answer a Call on the XE200

If you have your 300 paired with your phone, and a call comes in, you can pick it up on this speaker by quickly pressing and releasing this button once. Detail: The phone ringing sound comes through the XB300 and the program you were playing pauses.

The 300 then becomes a speakerphone.  I.e. You’ll hear callers on the speaker, and they will hear you via the built in mic.  See the location of this tiny condenser microphone in the next picture. It’s in the front, just below the Pairing button.

Picture of the location of the microphone on the Sony SRS XE200 speaker, behind the three holes immediately to the left of the Play-Pause-Call button..
The location of the microphone on the Sony SRS XE200 speaker, behind the three holes immediately to the left of the Play-Pause-Call button..

To end the call, just press this button again.  Doing so also resumes music play if any was in progress before you answered the call.

How to Use the Play-Pause-Call Button to Call Up a Voice Assistant

When paired with an Apple device, you can get Siri’s attention as follows. Press the Play-Pause-Call button for three (3) seconds, then release.  When you release it, Siri wakes up on the phone, and hears your requests through the speaker’s mic.  Note though that you must first enable Siri on the source device (phone, tablet) for this to work. Note though that this will not work if you pair more than one device with the speaker at the same time. But it does work on Android phones and tables as long as you, also, set up those devices to do so.





The Volume DOWN and Volume UP Buttons on the SRS XB43

The XE 200 also sports Volume Controls. On the right center portion of the button panel, just right of the Play / Pause button, the Volume buttons look like minus and plus symbols.  We point these these out in the next picture.

Picture of the Volume DOWN and Volume UP buttons.
The Volume DOWN and Volume UP buttons.

When pressed, these lower and raise the output volume respectively, by reducing or increasing the volume setting on the paired source device.  Moreover, you have 50 volume level steps on this unit.

Note that you can also change volume on this Sony column speaker by adjusting volume on your source BT device. And from there, you can also do this in the Sony Music Center app as well.

No other accessibility sounds play when you adjust volume on the 300. But the green  Power  lamp normally blinks once, each time you press and release these controls.  However it quickly pulses three times when the speaker is at maximum volume and you press the Volume UP button to raise the sound level further.  The Power lamp also does this when the speaker is at lowest volume, and you try to turn it down further by pressing the Volume DOWN button.

How to Raise (Turn Up) and Lower (Turn Down) Sony SRS XE200 Volume

With the speaker paired and playing, press and release the minus shaped Volume DOWN button to decrease its audio output level by one step. Press the plus shaped Volume UP button to increase audio output. Or, you can press and hold the buttons to rapidly raise and lower the volume.

Note that these loudness controls affect the volume level setting whether the unit is paired or not. Also, the volume setting may change from paired device to paired device. That is, each paired device remembers its own volume setting. So you might need to re set the sound output when you unpair the speaker from one source device and pair it to another.





The BATT Button

A fast press of this button triggers the speaker to announce the percentage of charge left in the battery.  A longer press switches between normal and STAMINA mode.

Picture of the BATT button on the Sony SRS XE200 speaker.
The BATT button on the Sony SRS XE200 speaker.

How to Get Battery Percentage Remaining

Quickly press and release the same button (the BATT button) any time the speaker is ON. Then the unit speaks that percentage number of battery power left to you in a female voice.

Release it at that time.  The voice can say one of the following…

    • 81% – 100%: “Battery fully charged”
    • 81% – 90% (Battery Care mode): “Battery Care Mode, Fully Charged, Battery About 90%”
    • 61% – 80%: “Battery about 80 percent.”
    • 41% – 60%: “Battery about 60 percent.”
    • 21% – 40%: “Battery about 40 percent.”
    • 1% – 20%: “Low battery, please recharge speaker.”

The Battery Care Mode

This speaker does indeed support Battery Care mode if you choose to use it.  However currently, there is no way to activate this mode using the buttons on the speaker.  To turn on Battery Care, you must use the Sony Music Center app.

The Mic Mute Button

Picture of the Microphone Mute button.
The Microphone Mute button.

How to Turn OFF the Microphone

Press this button during a call to turn off the speaker’s built in microphone. This button has no effect at any other time.

When the mic is OFF and you’re taking the call on this speaker, the caller does not hear anything at your end except silence. Plus, the Mic Mute lamp glows red.

Picture of the red glowing Mic Mute light.
The red glowing Mic Mute lamp.

How to Turn ON the Microphone

To unmute the microphone again, briefly press and release the Mic Mute button. This reactivates the speaker’s microphone and turns off the Mic Mute light.

Picture of the dark Mic Mute light on the Sony SRS XE200 speaker.
The dark Mic Mute lamp on the Sony SRS XE200 speaker.




Sony SRS XE200 Buttons: Combinations, Codes

Change Sound Quality

You can control how the speaker priorities its Bluetooth connections.  Either it can favor connection stability over sound quality, or sound quality over connection stability.  Now by default, the speaker favors sound quality over stability, and this is normally no problem, as long as you keep the 300 well away from sources of microwave interference.

Picture of the Pairing and Play-Pause-Call buttons.
The Pairing and Play-Pause-Call buttons.

How to Change to Prioritize the Connection Stability

With the speaker running, press and hold both the Pairing and Play-Pause-Call buttons until the Power lamp flashes three (3) times.

Picture of the green flashing Power light.
The green blinking Power lamp.

The speaker then disconnects from the paired device and announces, “Bluetooth disconnected.”

Finally after several seconds, it connects again with the same device using the new sound prioritization setting, and announces, “Bluetooth connected.”  At that point, the speaker then favors connection stability over sound quality.

How to Change to Prioritize Sound Quality

Again, press and hold the Bluetooth and Play-Pause-Call buttons at the same time, until the Power lamp flashes green two (2) times.

Once more, after several seconds, the speaker connects again with the same device using the new sound prioritization setting, and announces, “Bluetooth connected.”  At that point, the speaker then favors sound quality over connection stability.

Reset Button Code Combination

You can reset the XE200 to factory default settings and state. To do that, turn on the speaker. Then press and hold the  Pairing  and  Volume DOWN buttons, found in the second and fifth button positions from the top, at the same time until all lights on the unit go dark. See these buttons pointed at by the green arrows in the next picture.

Picture of the Pairing and Volume Down buttons.
The Pairing and Volume Down buttons.

You may wish to reset the speaker to correct any weird behaviors you notice from it such as failing to pair, sound distortion, cutting out, failing to power off when you press the  Power  button, and so on.

Note that resetting invalidates any saved connection info about this speaker on your source Bluetooth devices. So you’ll have to forget those connections on these devices, and re pair the speaker after a reset in order to play your audio content through it once again.

Final Remarks About the Sony SRS XE200 Buttons

Note that you can control many of these XE200 functions from your phone or tablet, instead of using the buttons on the speaker directly.  For that, you need the Sony Music Center app.  In that app, you can adjust speaker volume, turn it off, update its firmware, switch to Battery Care mode, and other actions.  But how to use that app is beyond the scope of this post, though if enough of you want that information, we may develop a post that describes that later.

Other Posts About the Sony SRS XE200

    1. How to Make Sony SRS XE200 Speaker Discoverable
    2. Solving the Sony SRS XE200 Not Charging Problem
    3. How to Bass Boost Sony SRS XE200 BT Speaker
    4. Putting the Sony SRS XE200 BT Speaker in Pairing Mode
    5. How to Charge Sony SRS XE200 Portable BT Speaker

Related Posts to Sony SRS XE200 Buttons 

    1. Sony SRS XE300 Buttons Manual
    2. Sony SRS XB21 Buttons Manual
    3. Sony SRS XG300 Buttons Info
    4. Buttons Manual for the Sony SRS XB40 Speaker
    5. Sony SRS XB30 Buttons List

References for Sony SRS XE200 Buttons

    1. Sony SRS XE200 Product Page at Sony.com

Revision History

    • 2022-10-05: First posted.