Sony's keen to rumble in the jungle

Sony SRS-X9 is a premium high-resolution Bluetooth speaker system that features impressive sound quality in a compact build.

The X9 is very loud, with a total of 154 watts of output power driving seven speakers engineered to deliver hi-res audio.

You can stream the music from your mobile phone or tablet computer using a Bluetooth connection or you can connect to your home DLNA using Wi-Fi.

The X9 supports 192kHz/24bit High-Res audio technology to deliver truly deep bass and high harmonics.

Just 430x133x125mm and 4.6 kilograms, this is a startlingly loud device with thundering bass. In my test it filled my large living room with great sound thanks to an S-Master HX digital amplifier and seven speakers reproducing signals ranging from 45Hz to 40kHz.

Four Super Tweeters set the hi-res sound stage, two Magnetic Fluid mid-range drivers deliver full melodies and a Subwoofer with dual passive radiators ensures a precise and powerful low end.

The two top super-tweeters have two watts of power each, while the two front super-tweeters have 25, and the mid-range drivers have another 25 watts each. The subwoofer has 25 watts for each passive radiator.

Apart from Wi-Fi streaming, the X9 can play music from two USB ports – audio-in and Bluetooth streaming. Use the USB-A type port to play from a flash drive. If the flash drive is compatible you can even play hi-res 192kHz/24bit songs in FLAC format. I tested some on a Sony 8GB flash drive and everything sounded great.

The USB-B type port functions as a USB DAC (digital-to-analogue) converter. You need a cable to link to the source of digital music, like a desktop computer. And to link up to the PC you need to download and install the X9’s driver software and you hi-res-audio-player software.

I had no problem making these connections, but the audio player took time to load each FLAC file. I had no such problem using foobar 2000 software to play hi-res songs.

Although the X9 has no display panel, it’s easy to use with a smartphone or the iPhone app SongPal. NFC (near field communications) technology makes it a snap to connect to the X9.

Download and install SongPal to your NFC-enabled smartphone, then simply tap the back of the phone against the NFC mark on top of the X9. Boom, you’re linked. At the same time, SongPal hooks up the X9 to your home Wi-Fi router and will prompt you to enter the router password. Now SongPal affords control of all the X9 functions with your phone displaying the speaker system.

Use SongPal to browse the folders on a flash drive connected to the X9 and select an album to play. Use it to stream Internet music using the TuneIn or Deezer services. I did this effortlessly with great results.

Another fun SongPal function is streaming music to the X9 via Wi-Fi from your home DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) server. You might need to configure your PC to be a DLNA server.

If you have a Wi-Fi router like Linksys WRT1900AC, you can connect your hard drive with music folders to the router and it becomes a DLNA server for the X9. I managed this easily too.

I tested the X9 with Sony’s Hi-Res Walkman NWZ-ZX1, connected using an NFC-assisted link and SonPal without problem. Music streamed via a Bluetooth connection was impressive in quality.

Bluetooth does not, however, pick up hi-res 3.5mm audio-in. For that you need to go through the USB A or USB B port.

Sony gave me a few hi-res tunes for my test, but if you have none, you can still enjoy top quality on the X9 thanks to its DSEE HX and ClearAudio+ technologies. DSEE-HX revitalises high-frequency audio response and up-scales existing audio signals (MP3, ACC, ATRAC, and WMA) to high-resolution levels. And ClearAudio, which is activated via SongPal, renders a vibrant sound field with immersive bass, full midranges and pronounced highs.

I checked this out and was quite impressed. The music was reproduced with clarity, considerable detail and powerful bass. The clarity shone through during a sampling of Pink Floyd’s album “The Wall” encoded in the 192kHz/24-bit FLAC format. Pumped in from a Sony USB drive connected to the X9’s USB A port, the songs were crisp and of tremendous range. The same held true for the hard rock of AC/DC’s album “Black Ice”, when the bass got right into my bones.

The Sony Ultra Premium Hi-Res Bluetooth Speaker SRS-X9 retails for Bt22,990.

 

 

KEY SPECS

 

Antenna system: Retracting WiFi Antenna

Audio modes: ClearAudio+ DSEE HX

Audio formats supported: Bluetooth: SBC, AAC, and AptX; USB A port: MP3 (MPEG 1 Audio Layer-3) 16-320kbps AAC 16-320kbps, CBR/VBR WMA9 Standard: 16-320 kbps, CBR/VBR WAV 32-192kHz, 16/24-but PCM FLAC 8-192kHz, 16-bit; 44.1-192 kHz, 24-bit; USB B port: PCM 44.1k/48k/88.2k/96k/176.4k/192kHz, 16/24/32-bit

Digital audio inputs: USB-A/USB-B 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX (auto polarity)

Analogue audio in: 3.5mm stereo mini-jack

Output power: Super-tweeter top 2W ? 2 (at less than 10 per cent harmonic distortion, 20kHz), Super-tweeter front 25W ? 2 (less than 10 per cent harmonic distortion, 10kHz), Midrange 25 W ? 2 (less than 10 per cent harmonic distortion, 1kHz), Subwoofer 25 W ? 2 (less than 10 per cent harmonic distortion, 100kHz)

Speaker driver sizes: Super-tweeter top and front ?-inch diameter, Midrange 2-inch, Subwoofer 3 ?-inch

Wireless/networking: Ethernet; Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, NFC, DLNA, AirPlay

Dimensions: 430x133x125mm

Weight: 4.6kg