LG XBOOM 360 DXO2T Review
With the DXO2T, LG presents the latest version of the XBoom 360 Bluetooth speaker. 7Review tests the speaker with 360-degree sound and light show.
Bluetooth speakers are numerous, so to stand out, you have to come up with something special – as LG has done with the newest XBoom 360 speaker, a 360-degree radiator for both sound and light, now up for testing.
Under the name DXO2T, the brand introduced the new Bluetooth box, along with other models in the series. The cone-shaped device is naturally meant to impress primarily with its sound – whether it succeeds is shown in the test – and it also comes with a few extras. The biggest extra is the switchable and dimmable lighting that, in various modes, offers a nice, sometimes relaxed, sometimes exciting light show from the upper part of the LG speaker.
LG takes the 360 in its name seriously when it comes to sound as well: The speaker is designed as an omnidirectional radiator, meaning it sounds virtually identical from every direction. The light show emanating from the top also shines everywhere, although from the “back” there’s slightly less to see, since the stem connecting both housing parts has to go somewhere.
Particularly elegant and rather unusual for Bluetooth speakers is the control panel directly on the speaker: Instead of buttons, the top of the LG is a touch-sensitive surface where the controls light up upon touch. It’s elegant and works well, the only slight annoyance is the high-pitched beep that sounds when a control is pressed.
Light Show, Presets, and Sleep Timer
The light button on top of the LG XBoom activates the lighting, but also has a dual function since it can trigger a preset. This preset is set in the app and consists of a lighting mode, equalizer settings, and of course music. Without a streaming option, the music must be available locally on a connected phone, but it’s still a cool feature, for example as a wake-up playlist in the morning. As a counterpart, the app also offers a sleep timer that can dim the light if desired.
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While, compared to many other Bluetooth speakers, the unit offers fewer special features – for example, no microphone, no power bank function, and no analog input – the accompanying app is impressive. The biggest critique is the German translation which, at the time of testing, wasn’t bad but felt a bit off in some places.
Aside from battery status and volume, the well-structured app also provides an equalizer and the ability to adjust the LEDs. Divided into three modes, LG presents some presets, but you can also freely choose the desired color. During testing, switching colors occasionally stalled, but overall it worked well.
As an unfinished and experimental “laboratory function,” the app currently offers a “healing therapy” feature, where a combination of light shows and sounds from the speaker aims to promote relaxation or inspire meditation. A nice but non-essential bonus.
If desired, you can also pair two XBoom speakers into a stereo pair. Like many other TV manufacturers, such as Samsung or Sony, LG uses special features for connecting their TVs with other devices – the XBoom pair can therefore also be connected to an LG TV to improve its sound.
Alternatively, the Bluetooth box also allows pairing with multiple other speakers from the manufacturer and playing music in sync with them.
Good Practical Features
If the speaker is connected to only one phone, the Bluetooth range is impressively large: even at a distance of 50 meters, the XBoom 360 can still play music without issue, as long as there are no walls or people in between. Many current Bluetooth speakers in our tests manage this, but it’s always nice to see.
Speaking of music playback: With a battery life of up to 15 hours (if the light is off and the volume is not too high), the LG XBoom DXO2T provides more than half a day of continuous music playback. That’s relatively good, although the charging time of four hours isn’t extremely short, it’s still acceptable.
Also not perfect, but still practically useful, is the DXO2T’s IP rating. While quite a few other Bluetooth speakers boast IP67 certification – realistically, the maximum for speakers is IP69 – offering great protection against dust and water, the LG has “only” an IP55 rating.
Still, it ensures good protection against dust as well as protection against water jets, as long as the pressure isn’t too high. In practice, this means the speaker shouldn’t go in the pool, but it can handle rain, splashes, and similar exposure without any problems.
All in all, the current member of the LG XBoom 360 lineup already leaves a good practical impression – and the music playback of this Bluetooth box isn’t bad either. The speaker is more than just its lighting “gimmick.”
The first noticeable aspect is the pleasantly spacious sound reproduction for a Bluetooth speaker in this price range, perhaps also aided by its omnidirectional principle. This gives the music a certain detached and airy character, which is both pleasant and relatively balanced.
In contrast, the bass isn’t particularly strong – for that LG might recommend the larger XBoom Go – but it’s still relatively neutral and thus natural. Voices sound clean but occasionally a bit muffled, and they could be more three-dimensional, though pure voice intelligibility is not affected.
LG XBOOM 360 DXO2T Tech Specs
Price: $199
Info: www.lg.com
Protection Class: IP55
Battery Life: 15 hours
Charging Time: 4 hours
Heard with: Porcupine Tree “Feel So Low,” Blixa Bargeld/Teho Teardo “A Quiet Life”
CONCLUSION
The airy and thus spacious sound of the LG DXO2T rounds off the positive overall impression of this Bluetooth speaker and its nice light show. A bit more battery life, a higher IP rating, or additional extras would be nice, but it already has enough to represent a strong offering for its price, both sonically and in terms of control on the device and via the app, which not even more expensive boxes necessarily handle better.
Stylish lighting, good app and controls, airy sound.
Somewhat weak bass, no microphone, no cable connections.
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