Give them bass and they’ll be happy. Most audio companies will know this to be true of the Indian customer. Nobody can miss the bone-shaking cars that go by with what sounds like World War III on the inside.

But the Sony SRS-XB40 is no World War. It’s a relatively small bar speaker that isn’t as light or flimsy as it looks at first glance. Portable, certainly, but not something you can slip into a handbag or anything. The weight should reassure you that the speaker can pack a punch — and it does. It comes from the Extra Bass series of products Sony launched earlier this year.

You asked for it If you want bass, you get it. From the buttons on the top of the bar, you press the dedicated Extra Bass button to get it to kick in and there you have it. Loud, punchy, unmistakable. Guitars sound deeper, bigger drums sound resonant and when a music track uses bass well, it shows up. But it’s strongly recommended that one does turn on the Extra Bass because without that the sound is not special or refined; though it’s reasonable. The speaker fires from the front only and somehow sounds more unidirectional than expected. The sound is loud enough to fill a small room, for sure, but if you want to have a big party with this product, you’ll need to get more than one and add them in a daisy chain to spread the noise and have your neighbours notice you. You can use the Sony app, which you will be prompted to download to control the bass some more and to tinker with several more settings.

The usual controls are on top of the speaker with the Extra Bass and Add (another speaker) being the unusual ones. You also have a phone call button, but I’m not sure you’d really want your caller to issue forth booming from this box.

It’s party time The other prominent feature on this speaker is that it has a rim of light all around its border and near the two ‘eyes’ of the speaker. The lights change colour and flash and can be controlled via the app, which has many pre-sets for colours and on-off sequences such as strobe or rave or just slow steady colour changes. Personally, I found it distracting and annoying and even unaesthetic, but youngsters should be much happier with it. In fact, school going kids will probably love the party bling and loud booming bass and somewhat syncing with the music. Luckily, you can turn the whole light assembly off from the app.

The SRS-XB40 pairs easily via Bluetooth and is ready to go in moments. It’s a tough looking gadget, which is splash proof and has shown no protest at the bit of sprinkling I gave it. There are several funky colours, though my review unit was a regular black. It charges when you open a little door on the back of the device revealing USB inlet, a proprietary charging inlet and an audio-in. The speaker costs ₹16,990, which may be a little expensive for the quality of sound it offers.

Price: ₹16,990

Pros: Loud and punchy with the bass, water resistant

Cons: Sound un-finessed, proprietary charging cable, pricey

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