You can change how loud the bass is on the Sony XB23 BT speaker, by turning on and off its extra bass mode. When switched on, this mode makes the passive bass radiators vibrate much more, and adds a low rumble trait to the playing program, that you can hear 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 23 in a few ways as follows.
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- Use the BATT button on the speaker itself.
- Work the bass switch in the Sony Music Center App.
- Make fine bass adjustments in the EQ section of the Music Center app.
We’ll cover all of these options below.
Sony XB23 Extra Bass Mode: Via 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 the STAMINA light is dark, as we see in the next pictures
When the 23 is running, and this light is OFF, then that means that extra bass mode is in effect.
Now when active, Extra Bass also adds a bit of treble in addition to lots more bass to the audio output as compared to when this mode is OFF.
How to Turn Off Extra Bass Mode on the Sony XB23
You can turn extra bass mode OFF by pressing and holding in the BATT button that we point out with the green arrow in the last picture. Release it when the STAMINA lamp lights up orange as we see next.
This deactivates extra bass mode and switches the speaker into STAMINA mode.
How to Turn ON Extra Bass Mode with Speaker Buttons
Note that if the STAMINA lamp is lit, then bass mode is not active. So to enable this mode in that case, then again, press and release the BATT button. Extra bass mode resumes once again as soon as the STAMINA lamp goes dark.
Sony XB23 Extra Bass Mode, Via the Music Center App
In addition to by way of the BATT button on the speaker itself, you can also control the bass mode 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.
2. Pair your Sony XB23 with This Same Device
We did this as we show next.
3. Run the Music Center App
Upon startup, Music Center looks for any compatible Sony products. And since the XB23 indeed works with this app, the app does indeed find it. Then it displays the Home page for it as we see next.
4. Bring Up the Settings Page
Then, scroll the screen down to the Settings item at the bottom of the options list.
Next, tap Settings, and you’ll get the Settings screen, as we see next.
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.
6. Bring Up the Sound Options Screen
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 here. Thus the screen we show next is specific to the XB23.
Now on this screen, note that the EXTRA BASS mode is active by default. You can turn it OFF here by tapping the OFF (STAMINA) option. And then you can enable it again if you wish, by tapping the EXTRA BASS mode option again. These actions take immediate effect on the speaker, as you’ll be able to see the STAMINA lamp on the speaker switching ON and OFF as you make these selections in the app.
7. Tap the EXTRA BASS Option to Activate Extra Bass Mode on the Sony XB23
Now if you want to do more with Extra Bass than simply turn it ON and OFF, then tap the EXTRA BASS item. Note that although you could also adjust the speaker EQ in STAMINA mode, you will get more bass when running it in EXTRA BASS 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.
Tapping EXTRA BASS takes you back to the Sound page that looks the same as it was before, since we actually did not go to STAMINA mode, as we show next.
Note though that if we had changed to STAMINA, that that selection would have appeared for the sound effect value in the last screenshot. But we wanted to show you these screens so you’d know how to check that the options for your speaker are indeed set for maximum bass boost. Thus you’re good to go if your speaker is already in EXTRA BASS mode as ours is.
But you can still get a bit more bass by going forward to the next step below.
8. Bring Up the EQ (Equalizer) Page
Tap the BASS / MID / TRE option on the Sound page. We highlight it next.
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.
But you can get maximum extra bass 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.
When set this way, you get the highest amount of bass that the XB23 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 23 with the extra bass mode active, to avoid damage to the speaker drivers. If the bass is crackling, tapping, or otherwise distorting, turn it down or readjust the EQ !
Conclusion
So we have now shown how to get the most bass using Extra Bass mode on the Sony XB23. Thus, we hope you enjoy your speaker even more now !
Other Sony XB23 Posts
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References
Revision History
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- 2023-03-19: First published.