Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Speaker is the latest portable Bluetooth speaker from the Chinese Xiaomi company. It has an output power of 30 watts, a design with two high-quality speakers, IP67 protection from moisture and dust, and the ability to pair with 100 speakers simultaneously.
The Sound Outdoor Speaker has the typical design of a portable Bluetooth speaker in the shape of a trumpet. Almost the entire exterior is covered with a cloth with a rubber band at the back, which also forms a loop. The black overview model has a contrasting orange loop, while the red and blue variants have matching red and blue loops.
Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Speaker is equipped with two active drivers on the front, including a 20-watt woofer and a 10-watt midrange speaker. They are assisted by two passive radiators at each end of the tube, which work in tandem with a woofer to amplify the low frequencies.
There are three buttons on the back of the device that control power, pairing, and syncing with other devices. The plug covers the USB-C connector used for charging. The Sound Outdoor Speaker does not have an audio jack for a wired audio input and can only work via Bluetooth.
Speaking of Bluetooth, the Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Speaker supports Bluetooth 5.4 with SBC. There is no NFC module, so pairing must be done manually. One of the key features of this speaker is that it can connect with 99 other speakers of the same model to create a chain of 100 simultaneous speakers.
Although I didn’t have 99 other speakers to test, I saw a Xiaomi demo where they connected four speakers across the room and they all played perfectly in sync. You can also simply connect two speakers to get stereo sound.
The woofer and passive radiators can move an amazing amount of air, resulting in a powerful, punchy sound that can be quite loud even with a single unit. The sound is also not distorted even at maximum volume.
Outdoors, you won’t hear the same muffled sound and bass, and as a result, the sound will be much smoother.
The sound of the Outdoor Speaker is mono, of course, which shouldn’t be a big surprise, but in the past there have been Bluetooth speakers in this form factor with stereo configuration. The result of mono configuration means that sometimes the music may sound quieter than it should, because the wide stereo picture in the recording is compressed into one channel. You may want to consider buying a second speaker of the same type if stereo sound is important to you.
Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Speaker shows good latency performance when tested with a single device. Audio is always synchronized with video content when testing with different sources. However, latency with multiple paired devices has not been tested, and video synchronization is most likely lost when multiple speakers are paired.
Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Speaker also includes a microphone for making calls. The microphone quality was terrible during testing, the sound was barely audible even if shouted into the speaker, and it was distorted in addition. In general, we strongly recommend against using this speaker for voice calls.
Xiaomi claims 12 hours of Sound Outdoor battery life when playing at 50% volume, which is the norm for devices of this size in this segment. The speaker charges in about 2.5 hours using a 15W charger. Charging is only one-way, and you cannot use the speaker as an external battery to charge other devices.
Overall, Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Speaker offers good performance at an affordable price. It costs half as much as competing products from brands like JBL and Sony, but it’s just as good. If you don’t care about NFC or AUX input, then Sound Outdoor is a great option.