Sony SRSX99 Hi-Res Audio Multiroom Speaker with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth - Black

I came to this Sony speaker after about a months research. Was contemplating the Sonos system but wasn't convinced by the build or the sound. Almost settled on the Denon Heos but it doesn't have built in Chromecast which was one of the deciding factors in buying the Sony X99 which does.I'm not an audiophile but I know what sounds good to my ears.Firstly; connectivity.This speaker has lots of options, from plugging in a usb storage device, playing hi res files from a computer, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3.5 Jack, and best for me, built in Chromecast. So any music app that supports Chromecast can play on this.The app I find easy to use and what's great about it is you can add any app you want into it, which I have done with BBC Radio iPlayer and Tunein Radio. Deezer and Google play music was already on it so I have all my cloud streaming needs met.You just touch the cast symbol on the app your in and away you go.Had speaker two weeks and not had one signal dropout as others have mentioned.Secondly; build and sound.The unit is beautifully made, has a glass top and brushed metal sides and oozes quality.The most important thing, sound, is also top quality. To my ears music sounds clear, spacious, distortion free at volume and just quality. You can adjust the sound with an in app equalizer with which I took out some bass as it was rattling the glasses in the cabinet it's on, also I live in a block of flats and didn't want to disturb neighbours.Some may say it's expensive but for the all round quality you get, to me it's well worth it.Can't wait each day for when I can sit and listen to and discover new music to listen to on this beautiful speaker.

I’ve had Bowers & Wilkins before. Had 3 speakers. They all stopped working and were difficult to set up.They want £99 every time they went wrong. I wish I had spent that money on this speaker. Good sound and picks up WiFi well, unlike my previous speakers. I will purchase more of these speakers when I can afford them.

This is my first experience of a speaker like this. I am no audiophile - so never felt the need to invest in something like it. However having had the opportunity to play with one, I can see the appeal.Firstly, it is a substantial piece of equipment. It is heavy and has the build quality you would expect from a high end Sony product.Secondly, it is easy to set up. The app really does help and I found it easy to connect other devices both directly and via the ether.Thirdly, the sound quality is good. As I said, I don't have massive experience in this area - but I could detect a difference compared to the usual speakers that I have to use.It is a considered purchase and it is the sort of thing that you might want to test out in a showroom before committing to actually part with cash. But I think it is well worth putting it on your list of possibles.

Received speaker a couple of weeks ago. Love it. Sound from this rather small unit is amazing in clarity and power specially the bass. Initial setup is ok but not too intuitive. Once connected to my wifi I could play music from my iPad and iPhone. Then tried to connect it to my media pc via blue tooth which enabled me to use it when playing video on my tv. Tv sound improved dramatically . Has many other types of connection possibilities which I have not tried yet. Sony has done a great job with this speaker.

Using tidal for hi res audio on my phone it sounds great I don't have a problem with it very good buy

The SRSX99 is an amplified loudspeaker (or rather set of 7 speakers in one box). It can play music from a variety of sources including (but not limited to): USB, audio line in, NAS (via DLNA), Airplay, Chromecast, Bluetooth, Songpal. (I'll add to this as I get to know it better). Songpal is a Sony app available for free on Android & Apple stores. I've attached a photo to this review that compares the size to a Sonos 1.Unboxing=======On Opening the box you are presented with a slim WELCOME box. In this are some chunky multi language manuals, plus the slim remote with batteries. Remove this and you are presented with the unit itself, a UK plug, a continental plug and some more manuals. I removed it, and plugged it in.Set-Up=====I did this with Songpal, and it is so straightforward that I suggest this is the best way! The download of Songpal on my iphone took a minute or two. It then asked me to turn on my Sony Device so it could 'discover' it. As it was already on I went to the next step. It asked me to discover the device with bluetooth. So I turned bluetooth on on my phone, and then went to turn on bluetooth on the device - but couldn't find the button. Looks like it can detect your hand though as it suddenly appeared (lit up) as I was trying to find it. Once paired with my phone Songpal displayed it then asked me to download an update to it. I did. this took 10 minutes to complete. Once complete Songpal displayed the many ways I could "source" my music to it.Playback Tests===========1. My Music.This was the music on my iPhone. It was what I went to test straight away. I have a lot of music on my phone (>80GB, about 10,000 songs). Oddly I could not play it all. I went to the first album on my (and many people's!) list - Abba Gold. Only 3 songs were showing. Some albums had nothing, some only 2 or 3. I wondered if the system was doing any indexing of my music..but why would it? I tried a song - Songpal worryingly notified me that playback would only work as long as the Songpal app was displayed. I tested that by putting it in the background whilst I read some emails. Still worked fine. One thing I didn't like about Songpal - the volume slider is too small. From 0% to 100% is 1 centimetre on my iPhone 6plus.So why wasn't all my music displayed from my phone? I think it may be something to do with the recent Apple Music fiasco. I have spent hours putting my music in the cloud and then downloading it. The music that I force uploaded (i.e. that Apple could not match) plays fine. The music that Apple has matched and I've downloaded to my phone does not show up. Any album that I have downloaded from Apple Music without purchasing also does not show up. So that's bad. Only about 20% of the music on my phone can be played at the moment using this (which I assume is Airplay). Oh yes, none of the control buttons work whilst in this mode. You cannot stop or skip using the onscreen buttons! The song just keeps on playing. Mute works...if you get a phone call or something...but it seems weird that the Stop button is greyed out.2. USBI have a USB drive with some albums on it, so I plugged this into the Sony. Songpal displayed the contents accurately (these were FLAC files - lossless music files with metadata, plus some mp3s). Interestingly one of the albums I tried was Dark Side of The Moon - gapless playback is not supported in USB mode. One problem. I had the DSOTM album in a folder. It didn't matter which track I selected to play - it always went into the folder and played track 1 (Speak To Me). With the mp3's I played The Freewheeling' Bob Dylan - and the same issue. Doesn't matter which track I chose - it always played Blowin' In The Wind first.3. USB DACDon't have one of these, so couldn't test it.4. Audio InThis involves attaching a device (I tried my laptop but it could be any music source - an amplifier, a phone, mp3 player, desktop etc ) via a standard audio lead. Works fine, I played a few songs through iTunes. Probably my laptop's fault but I thought the volume could be louder.5. Home NetworkI have a few Sonos devices around the house. I have my music files on a NAS server which means that any network device in my house can see the files. I could play them via iTunes or Windows Media player. Or on my PS3 where the protocol used is DLNA - which is a little slow and clunky but works. Sonos has a different view - it indexes the files locally and then accesses them as required. It is a lot faster and nicer to use. Songpal also uses DLNA. It works, all my music is there, but the interface is rubbish. And artwork isn't displayed on the "Now Playing" screen. This is so far behind Sonos it's untrue.6. MusicThis is different to "My Music" which recognises that my phone is an iPhone and can use Airplay. This option is using an enhanced Bluetooth to play. So what's happening: my phone is playing the music as normal through the music app, but instead of the sound coming from the internal speaker or headphones, it is being directed at the Sony. For it to work you need to make sure your device is within bluetooth range and paired. Volume is better than with line-in. And I can use the Apple Music volume slider which is much better. So far this is the best way to play music I have found. But £600 for a bluetooth speaker? Seriously?7. RDIOAs with Music (6) this just allows me to play my RDIO songs via bluetooth to the Sony. Songpal just hands off control to the RDIO app on my iPhone. In case you're wondering, RDIO is a similar app to Spotify. I assume Spotify would work in exactly the same way.8. TUNE INThis is a radio app I have on my phone. Again, this is a bluetooth connection. I tested a few minutes of Five Live. Worked fine.Sound Quality===========As mentioned before the sound volume seems to depend greatly on the source. The easiest way to use this is via bluetooth. From my phone the sound is loud enough and clear. Better than I would assume bluetooth is capable of. I tried a few preset Equalisation options and they all sounded the same. Really. I couldn't tell any difference. Custom EQ can be used and here the differences are evident.I would not describe the device as bass heavy. Compared to my Sonos speakers this is more sibilant. All top-end and middle. The bass is pretty much non-existent. The sound is so trebly it is harsh. I will give it a few days to burn in, but am not impressed.Appearance==========Its a fairly heavy black box and a top of shiny glass, not in the slightest bit scratch resistant as I've found out. I rested my laptop on it to test line in and managed to scratch it just doing that. It has a premium build feel, but I think the glass top is a real mistake. I've used this for a couple of hours and it already looks damaged.Multi Room=========This device does do multi-room (i.e playing the same songs in more than one device) - but I only have this one and it cannot be tested. NB I do have this facility with Sonos and have used it just once (!) - for a party.Hi Res=====One of the selling points - hi res. I am not yet sure that this is going to be such a big deal with the majority of the population. The fact is most people are happy with 256 or 320 mp3s. And these are lossy. I tend to play most of my music as CD rips to flac files, which are supposedly lossless. High Res is a standard that offers more information than a CD rip. i.e. closer to the real-life analog sounds being made in a studio. Very few, if any, people I know are demanding "better than CD quality" sound. I'm not. I'm happy with my CDs, my flac files etc. Sure, one day a high res system may convince me otherwise, but I don't think it will be a little black box, or a mobile device. You'd want top notch speakers, a fantastic amp, and a reliable hi-res source. That said...I can't test this as i have no hi-res files.Conclusion=========The good things about this device:It is a doddle to set upIt has more ways of playing music than you can shake a stick atIt sounds loud and clear over bluetooth....a revelation that bluetooth can sound that good.The bad things:Seems buggy - song selection is USB mode doesn't really work, song control in Airplay doesn't really work, Airplay doesn't recognise all my music.Sound is not balanced enough. The whole thing sounds too geared towards the top end.DLNA is used to play songs on the network. This may be a standard protocol, but its a bit rubbish - laggy and album art is not recognised.The glass top. Smudges and scratches way too easily.

Outstanding sleek design, unbelievable audio quality

The unit was faulty and we have had extreme difficulty getting it repaired/replaced with no-one wanting to take responsibility. Four months later and we are still battling with Sony and the 'so-called' repair specialists!!