X88 Volume adjustment, sound and EQ issues

[johnbydesign]

Hi, I seems to have some issues with my new X88 speaker in that;

1. The volume buttons on the top only adjust the input source and not the actual volume.

2. The EQ settings in the SongPal app make no recognisable difference to the sound (they do on my X77).

3. Overall the sound doesn't seem right, it's shallow with very little bass (very noticeable compared to my X77 and X55).

4. I cannot initialise the speaker using the Vol - key and Stands.

I had thought the sound might warm up as the speaker bedded in but there's no change as yet. It has a couple of software updates in the 2 weeks I've had it, no change to these issue though.

Any help/steer would be great. If anyone has an X88 it would good to know if these has depth and bass/took time to bed in.

Thanks

[johnbydesign]

Hi, it was recognised as X99. I thought that this was the problem also.

Unfortunately I think it's all to do with the software update, which I
couldn't resolve. There is mention of a more recent update, so perhaps you
may yet get another which fixes the problem.

[Hanssluiman]

The latest good version for the X88 at the moment is 1.60.2935.

Owners of units with the faulty firmware are best advised to send it to a Sony Service centre to have the faulty version replaced by 1.60.2935.

X88 units with the faulty firmware have an identity crisis: they think they are an X99 speaker and that's why they present themselves as an X99 to SongPal.

It seems that once the faulty firmware is installed, there is no way for the user to rectify this. Only Sony can do that.

[raktimskywalker]

Recently I've bought a new Sony SRS X88 from USA and brought it with me. I've been very tentative setting things up 'cause I really don't know how the update will proceed.

The safest strategy seems logical to me is using the USB update process. I've downloaded the latest firmware SRSX88V1602935.zip from Sony esupport for X88 and prepared the USB drive. Now can anyone confirm me that the idea will work?

Just to add I've downloaded both the X88 and X99 zip and made a byte-for-byte comparison, what I find is that they're different in content, although overall filesize is same. So hopefully what is happening in the problematic cases is the speaker is downloading the wrong firmware, which can only be possible if the update server is hosted with the wrong content that is X99 file in place of X88. If that is the case it must be quite simple for Sony to fix it, just correct the uploaded firmware contents on update servers. I've no clue what is going on here.

BTW I'm too far away from any service center and I don't want to mess anything with the update 

[raktimskywalker]

---

@Hanssluiman wrote:

Firmware 1.60.2935 for the SRS-X88 was released by Sony on 02.03.2017. Anyone who attempted to upgrade before that date will of course have installed the faulty firmware. After the 2nd of March I would have thought, like chandalf, that any attempt to update via the internet would have skipped the faulty version and gone straight to the latest good version which is 1.60.2935. Apparently this is not how things work..........

---

I think it is because of the fact that Sony builds new updates on the sources of previous updates and hence the issue is not fixed rather carried forward. The following text is from Sony esupport site on what the new firmware do.

What Does This Do?

IMPORTANT: This firmware update must be performed in order to keep using the Chromecast built-in music distribution service. If you do not manually install the update, the update will be automatically installed at a point when there is an active network connection and the device is not in use.

This utility updates the SRS-X88 Personal Audio System firmware to version 1.60.2935 and provides the following benefits:

Improvements over version 1.60.2892:

• Improves the operational stability when using a music distribution service via the Internet

Benefits provided by previous updates and included in version 1.60.2935:

• Adds the Multi Room function for the Google Castâ„¢ for Audio application
• Improves overall operation and stability
• When using the Google Cast for Audio for the first time, the time until the sound is output has been reduced
• Provides other functional improvements
• Corrects an issue where the message Update audio system is displayed on the SongPal screen.

There must be two versions of 2935 one available at Sony service center other at different update server. This can be further verified as the problem is bound by geographical locations, I didn't see any issue regarding this in US distributions. Obviously the update servers there have a different copy.

[Jason82]

I have purchased x88 yesterday not opened, I decided to buy as I have the x99 and thought the x88 would be good to have in my kitchen especially as I really love my x99. After reading comments, which I wished I had seen before I brought the x88, I wonder if I should return or can I use it without the update or should I risk updating but via USB?

[Jason82]

I set up my x88 and completed the update over the network and all is fine

[Hanssluiman]

My X88 (firmware 1.60.2935) tells me that a firmware update is available. This turns out to be version 1.60.2994, released on 31-08-2017. It reportedly improves operational stability when playing back music files on a local network (see https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/portable-speakers-srs-series/srs-x88/downloads/00014808).

Obviously, with the mayhem in mind that a previous firmware has caused, I am reluctant to install the latest version unless there is somebody out there who has already installed 1.60.2994 without any issues. Has anyone installed 1.60.2994?

[Jason82]

Mine was automatically updated and no issues 

[Hanssluiman]

Just a follow-up: I've just installed 1.60.2994 over the internet without any problems.

[raktimskywalker]

The firmware issue with SRS X88 was so intriguing that, albeit a bit risky, I bought one myself to find out what was going wrong (nevermind the discount!). Being a software developer myself what I think is wrong is the update distribution, not the firmware itself.

The firmware is downloaded by the device, somehow it was fetching the wrong firmware for X88, probably because the server that distributed the firmware sent wrong version, presumably the one for X99. This happened, most likely because, Sony dispersed wrong firmware in some region which explains why the problem occurred in some regions where others had no issues. And I think the problem was so trivial that Sony found it uncomfortable to publish.

However once installed the X88 device grows "identity crisis" as some other user commented and hence no way to correct it without setting up the firmware from scratch, in a service center setup. Most likely with so many reported issues Sony has lifted off the wrong X88 firmware from servers, so no issues now. But who knows, many servers may still have wrong copies. Therefore safest way is to use the USB update always. There's extensive information for installing from Sony esupport site to update using USB.

Hence I've disabled the auto update and installed the firmware from USB twice after purchase, once to 1.60.2935 and then to 1.60.2994, both with absolutely no issues.