You have to hand it to Sony—the company really has no clue how to concisely name a product, even after all these years. Thus, kind reader, we will refer to the Sony Bluetooth Wireless Speaker SRS-BTX300 henceforth as simply the BTX300 for the sake of our mutual sanity. At $199.99 (list), the Sony BTX300 is priced to compete with similarly sleek Bluetooth speakers like the Bose SoundLink Mini($169.99 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window). Its slim, oblong design features a kickstand that locks flush against the frame of the speaker for easy storage and toting. The system delivers powerful audio from a volume level standpoint, but while it remains distortion-free, it largely does so because it doesn’t deliver much bass response. Thoughtful extras like a built-in speakerphone make the BTX300 a solid Bluetooth option in this price range, though, even if it has some tough competition.

Design
The BTX300($131.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) strikes a nice balance between providing you a solid array of features and not overloading the surface with a bunch of buttons you’ll never really use. The oblong contour of the speaker is mostly matte, black plastic with some metallic accents. A thin LED that runs horizontally along the center of the bottom panels illuminates the lower part of the speaker system according to whatever mode it’s in.

The front panel consists of a dark gray, metallic speaker grille, with the Sony logo in the upper left corner. Along the top panel is a battery status LED, a speakerphone button, volume control, and a lock/release switch for the built-in kick stand. When unlocked, the kickstand slides away from the body, powering up the system and allowing the BTX300 to stand upright, revealing a small panel of controls—a Sound button (more on that in a bit), Audio In (this is your audio source selector), a Bluetooth button, and a separate pairing button. The rear panel houses the power adapter connection point, a 3.5mm Aux input, a Bluetooth standby mode switch, a Reset pinhole control, and a useful DC Output (USB) for charging various devices with your speaker.

Pairing was such a simple and automatic process, we never needed to press the pairing button—we just selected the speaker from our iPhone 4S pulldown menu. But it’s helpful to have one in case initiating a handshake between your device and the speaker doesn’t happen on its own.

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Answering calls on the speaker system is as easy as tapping the button on the top panel—a nice feature that many Bluetooth speaker systems choose to avoid.

The BTX300 ships with a power adapter and a soft foam protective carrying pouch. There is no included Aux input cable.

Performance
A button that’s hidden by the kickstand labeled “Sound” offers you three options: Mega Bass (Amber), Mega Bass plus Surround Sound (Green), or No Effect (no light). I strongly suggest you stick with amber or no light at all—the idea that this speaker system can in any way approximate surround sound is dubious at best. It’s certainly possible that this effect will add unnecessary, muddy-sounding reverb to the mix, however. The amber Mega Bass mode doesn’t actually provide much in the way of big bass—this is a system focused primarily on the low-mids and high-mids. There’s nice clarity in the highs, and bass guitars will be reproduced with decent richness, but if you’re hoping to hear sub-bass content, forget about it.

The Knife’s “Silent Shout” has gobs of sub-bass—enough to distort speakers that can’t handle low-end. The BTX300’s answer to a song like this is to more or less avoid the sub-bass realm altogether, so while you get no distortion, even at top volumes, you’re left with a thin attack and very little deep-bass sustain on this song’s formidable kick drum loop. It’s better than distortion, of course, and the BTX300 does deliver a nice amount of richness in the low-mids that makes sure things don’t sound weak or brittle.

On Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” this low-mid presence is put to wonderful use, adding a nice bit of richness to his unique baritone vocals while maintaining their treble edge and keeping them front-and-center in the mix. The drumming on this track often sounds too thunderous and heavy on seriously bass-boosted speaker systems. Through the BTX300, the drums seem to receive very little bass boosting at all. They would sound a bit more exciting if they did, as they don’t quite command your attention like the guitars and vocals do without a little low-end help, but overall, this track sounds crisp and full.

Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild” showcases the best and worst of the BTX300’s sound signature. Sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the kick drum loop on this track lack the deep-bass oomph that gives this mix an ominous low-frequency anchor, but the crisp high-mids deliver the kick drum’s attack with a precise bite that implies just as much power as booming bass would. The vocals receive just the right amount of crisp, high-mid edge to stand out in the front of the mix, though they could probably still use a bit more brightness.

The same high-mid presence that lends the previous songs their crispness is in danger of making things sound a bit too harsh and bright at times on classical tracks. Things never delve into harsh territory, but the lower range strings and percussion on John Adams’ “The Chairman Dances” seem relatively lost in comparison to the higher register strings and percussion. The track sounds very centrally focused—it’s all low-mids, high-mids, and not much bass or shimmering highs. This isn’t a bad sound, but it tends to deliver some instruments with less importance than others.

If a Bluetooth speaker with big sound and gobs of bass is what you seek, you might need to give up on the portable aspect of the design. But if portability is a must, Bose’s SoundLink Mini is our latest favorite Bluetooth portable speaker—and it delivers lows with significantly more gusto, while the UE Boom is another solid option in this price range. And if you’re just looking for a full sound, but can’t afford to spend this much, the SuperTooth Disco 2($9.99 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) is a decent affordable Bluetooth speaker option. At $200, the Sony Bluetooth Wireless Speaker SRS-BTX300 is a well-designed system with plenty of power and thoughtful features and design—if you’re not a Bose loyalist, it’s worth serious consideration in this price range.