28 Jan
Blog

LG XBoom 360 review: Loud sound and lights for your home

LG XBOOM 360.

LG XBOOM 360

RRP $300.00

"The XBoom 360 keeps the party going with a sophisticated mix of loud sound, lights and DJ effects."

benefits

  • Beautiful, smart design

  • Gets noisy both indoors and outdoors

  • Includes USB and Aux-In ports

  • Excellent app support

  • LED lamp provides a nice ambience

disadvantage

  • No waterproofing

  • Battery life could be better

  • Doesn't always feel wearable

It's not a saying, but it makes sense that the bigger you build a Bluetooth speaker, the bigger the sound you should expect from it. But the bigger a speaker gets, the more of an eyesore it can become, as it needs to be heard but not necessarily seen.

LG's XBoom 360 makes us question that conventional wisdom. It's a big, powerful speaker that also blends into a home as a decorative piece, thanks to a sleek, lantern-like design, a built-in LED light, and a dedicated app that lets you do much more than just play music.

What's in the box

It's a big box, no doubt, but you won't find much inside. As well as the speaker itself, you get the power cord, a sheet of paper listing the various controls, a simple instruction manual, and that's about it. LG does not supply any other cables that could be connected to the XBoom 360.

draft

The LG Xboom 360 features a lantern-like design.Ted Kritsonis/Digital Trends

Burgundy is one of those colors that blends well in a variety of environments, much like the Charcoal Black and Peacock Green variants, and it's no wonder LG has tried to be bold without being loud in that way. It probably wanted the sound to do the loud part, which I'll come back to, but as a speaker it has a unique profile. Its tapered design gives it a decent height at 20 inches and weighs just under 13 pounds.

Despite its considerable height, it has a relatively small footprint, so you can place it in all sorts of places.

But despite its considerable height, it has a fairly small footprint, allowing you to place it in all sorts of places – much more so than conventionally shaped boom boxes. However, the height and slimmer base might make it easier to accidentally tip over if you bump into it.

LG wrapped the XBoom 360 in burgundy fabric, which gives it a nice, sophisticated look and a soft texture, but this isn't the kind of speaker you'd want to put within splashing distance of a pool. As much as LG might consider this thing "portable", it's not always a pleasure to move around. The top handle helps a lot, and the higher center of gravity makes it feel like you're carrying a heavier tote bag, but again, you have to consider where you're carrying it. forget the beach Sand will get all over it and with the fabric it will nest everywhere. Pools should be fine some distance from the water, but without a decent IP rating, this is a speaker you'll use at home, whether indoors or out in the safety of a backyard or patio.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Beach-friendly speakers aren't hard to find, while large speakers that don't stick out like sore thumbs in a home can be. The XBoom's 360-degree sound is ideal for outdoor use, and LG has an "Outdoor EQ" mode for just that purpose, while the default setting cranks things down just enough to serenade you indoors.

This sound is driven by a 5.25" fiberglass woofer and 1" tweeter in an inverted cone-shaped baffle designed to deliver sound more efficiently and decidedly omnidirectionally. Basically, you should feel like the speaker sounds exactly the same no matter where you sit (or stand).

The LG XBoom 360 speaker has a handy handle.Ted Kritsonis/Digital Trends

The LED lamp in the open concavity faces the exposed woofer, adding a visual element to the XBoom 360. It's more mood lighting than something to brighten up a room, but it has both chill and party modes for ambience. There's a dedicated button to cycle through the lamp's different light modes, with the app digging much deeper to offer more customization options.

You can't create and save your own presets, so you'll need to further tweak the only custom preset to change the sound.

LG has placed ports at the bottom, including individual USB-A and Aux-In ports. The USB port doubles as a playback port and 5-watt charger for other devices, so you can use it for your phone or tablet in a pinch as well. LG didn't do the same for the aux line-in jack. So if you have designs for connecting a microphone and presenter, it will not let you. The power cord tucks in under the bottom, and it takes some time to wiggle it out if you want to go fully wireless.

setup and configuration

Pairing with the XBoom 360 was easy. After doing it with both an iPhone and an Android device, I then downloaded the app, which recognized the speaker immediately. Beyond the basics, the app acts as a controller for the speaker. The main buttons are clearly visible on top of the speaker, some of which even include Braille for the visually impaired.

The app includes an EQ with seven presets and a custom option that you can tweak to your liking. You can't create and save your own presets, so you'll always have to go back and tweak the only custom preset to change the sound. Otherwise, you can choose one of the other seven presets. This is separate from the aforementioned outdoor EQ, which cranks things up to get louder outside.

LG says the XBoom 360 will play with better quality and less distortion if you turn off an equalizer you might be using in a music app. I'm not sure I've noticed a significant difference either way, but it might be worth experimenting with.

The DJ functions allow you to interact with music playback in a fun way using sound effects. You get drum, club, and other options to create transitions or effects to overlay the track being played. It lays out a lot for you to get started, so don't start from scratch. Sampler Creator lets you record five seconds of any sound you want to play or emulate, then transfer it to DJ mode. After that, you can always play it over a song. If you've always wanted to be a hype man or say something about a favorite song, you might have fun with this one.

If you really want to get loud, the XBoom 360 supports the addition of a second speaker. You don't get stereo pairing for different left and right channels, just a mirroring of the audio being played by the master unit, making it ideal for larger parties where one might not be enough.

sound quality

The LG Xboom 360 features a lantern-like design.Ted Kritsonis/Digital Trends

LG wants to get loud with the Xboom 360, but not at the expense of the full audio spectrum. I realized this as I played through a variety of different tracks in different genres. Bass is clear enough, with the woofer doing the heavy lifting, and you'll notice it at lower volumes if you dial in Bass Boost in the EQ section.

Whether I've been playing something old school from Creedence Clearwater Revival or something current from The Weeknd, the speaker can handle whatever you throw at it in a playlist. It also played well at higher volumes, with distortion only kicking in at volumes that were just ridiculous for indoor listening.

The key is the mids, where instruments come through with some distinction.

The key is the mids, where instruments come through with some distinction. Large speakers sometimes drown out the mids to boost the lows and highs so they can get louder. LG maneuvers somewhere in between, letting you hear enough detail in a complex track to enjoy it for what it delivers. We're not talking audiophile quality here, mind you, because fans of hi-res sound are unlikely to be impressed. Finally, the XBoom 360 only supports the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs, so your only other option is to play tracks via USB. I tried it, but didn't like the experience because of the general lack of consistency and control. Aux-in is easier as you control everything from the connected device.

I've also been hesitant to park it in a corner because of the spatial sound it's supposed to pump out. I tried it just to see if the sound coming from behind would bounce off the walls for a fuller or more concave effect, but I'm not sure if it was really there. As I placed it farther from the wall, it sounded less unidirectional and more omnidirectional than originally intended. It could easily cover an apartment or condo, and outside noise won't drown it out in the backyard. I wouldn't necessarily use it in a banquet hall for a wedding as stereo pairing might be better for such events.

What I found bizarre were the inconsistencies with the Bluetooth connectivity. For reasons I couldn't figure out (despite numerous troubleshooting steps), my Pixel 6 Pro never played well with the speaker and kept disconnecting, to the point where I had to repeatedly manually reconnect them. I haven't had any issues like this with a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra or iPhone 13 Pro. There were disconnects and hiccups with both of these phones, except that they were due to distance or obstacles, e.g. B. if they were a few rooms away. With the Pixel 6 Pro, the phone could be two feet away and still drop the connection.

The LG Xboom 360 features a lantern-like design.Ted Kritsonis/Digital Trends

light effects

The Mood Lighting section gives you presets based on the type of effect you want. You can also tap My Choices to choose the color you want to see. The dynamics of the lamp depends on which mode you choose. For example, Ambient just keeps the light static, Nature goes with a slow pulse, and Party Pops with a more frenetic show. You choose the mode manually because the XBoom 360 doesn't have the intelligence to automatically switch it based on the tunes it's playing.

It would be unfair to describe the XBoom 360 as a full-fledged LED lamp, also because the light can only emit sideways depending on the location. It doesn't face forward like other party boxes, nor does it face upwards to bounce off walls and a ceiling at the same time. That might put a damper on the "party" side of the equation if you're looking for something more mainstream, but I can see what LG was trying to do here.

The XBoom 360 looks great as a speaker playing music and coming out of the ambient light. There's subtlety that a guy like me appreciates, but I acknowledge not everyone would agree. Even the party lights work for what they are. While I wasn't able to achieve the kind of depth or effects that a Philips Hue or Nanoleaf system could offer, I can say that the insertion of the lamp makes the speaker feel more like a decorative piece to display than a tech device to accessorise looks.

battery life

The LG Xboom 360 features a lantern-like design.Ted Kritsonis/Digital Trends

LG says the XBoom 360 can last up to 10 hours per charge, which is mostly true if you never explore louder volumes. As you almost certainly would, the actual number can vary anywhere from six to eight hours depending on how noisy it gets. The LED light is another battery hog if it's always on and active. You can also save battery by playing audio through the Aux-In port and leaving Bluetooth off.

The app will tell you how much battery you have left, but don't look for context about how much you could save by turning off the lights or turning down the volume. You can always plug it into an outlet to keep it charged. That can be a good idea considering it takes up to five hours to fully charge the speaker with a dead battery. No fast charging for this big guy.

Our opinion

LG launched the XBoom 360 for $400, and now it's easier to find at $300. That's not a bad price for what you're getting, provided you have a place to put it and feel mobile enough to take it to other parts of your home or outdoors. It definitely helps if you're entertaining people at home or like to throw parties and want something with lights and DJ mode.

Is there a better alternative?

If you want the DJ-style experience, there definitely is. the JBL party box 110 costs about the same and makes almost everything louder, including the lights. JBL has a whole range of such speakers at various price points, giving you some food for thought as to how big you really want to go. the Klangbock (Gen. 3) is a DJ-ready speaker if that's what you're looking for, despite paying upwards of $1,000 for it. On the budget side Anker's Soundcore Trance is not as big as a JBL party box, but has a handle and features a light show and up to 18 hours of battery life.

If you're thinking of a boombox, Monster's Blaster 3.0 is about the same price, except there's not much you can do with the audio profile that's there. Sony has its own SRS-XG500 Boombox for $450 that is more durable thanks to IP66 water and dust resistance.

How long it will take?

Keep it away from water and sand, and you'll likely see this thing play for years. The only other real threat might be playing it too loud for too long, but that's hard to predict. LG built it with components for a wide range of volume levels, so you should be fine. It offers a standard one-year warranty to cover malfunctions but not physical damage.

should you buy it

Yes, as long as it fits what you have in mind. By that I mean a larger speaker that takes up some space and is mostly played indoors or in safer outdoor environments. The app plays a key role in making the XBoom 360 what it is, and learning that part of it could pay dividends when it comes time to entertain a crowd at yours or someone else's.

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23 Aug
Blog

Govee RGB Strip Lights Review: Great Features, Low Price

Govee Strip Lights in a home

Govee RGB Strip Light Test: Great features without the high cost

RRP $ 39.99

"Equipping your home with intelligent light strips does not cost a fortune with Govee's offer."

advantages

  • Affordable price point

  • Lots of functions

  • Impressive music effects

  • Bright and vivid lights

disadvantage

  • Bad setup experience

  • Disorganized app

Strip lights add an element to the decor that normal lights simply cannot compete with. Think how many home theater setups you've seen with ambient lighting on the back of the TV or a string of lights under a chair. Not many. The problem is that the best light strips like the Philips Hue Lightstrip or the LIFX Z LED are sometimes prohibitively expensive, reaching prices of up to $ 70 or more.

Govee's RGBIC Strip Lights offer largely the same functionality as higher-priced models, but at a fraction of the cost. A 16.4-foot section starts at $ 23 while a 32.8-foot section starts at $ 49.

Installation and setup

Installing the Govee light strips is a simple task. All you have to do is plug the power adapter into the wall and hook up the lights to it yourself. A physical controller allows you to cycle through various color options and turn the device on and off, while 3M tape on the back of the strip makes it easy to mount on the underside of a counter, along the wall, or any other location around the lights place.

Setting up the strip light, on the other hand, is a bit strange. The Govee app isn't the best-designed application I've ever used, and when it came time to connect the lights to the Wi-Fi, it didn't auto-detect the Wi-Fi network and neither did I. not be able to choose from one of the available connections. I had to manually enter the network's SSID and password. Govee also has many different light strips to choose from, so you'll need to know the model number of your lights to find them in the app. The organization of the app leaves a lot to be desired.

Govee strip lights in a loft

However, after I completed this section of the setup process, everything else went smoothly. Note that unlike some RGB strips, the lights cannot be cut. RGBIC lights are controlled by a single IC chip, so cutting the strip on either side of the cut can cause malfunction, especially if you don't cut it in the right place. Also, the cut section cannot be reconnected to another power supply.

Another thing to be aware of is the heat generated by these LEDs. Most LED strips hardly get warm, but the Govee strips can get uncomfortably warm when rolled up. Make sure to unroll the strip before using it, even if you don't need the full length. Leaving it rolled will make the lights dangerously hot.

Features and performance

In the list of functions, the Govee RGBIC Strip Lights stand out. The lights are able to display up to 16 million different colors with their bright 5050 LEDs. The luminosity of these LEDs is impressive – they are significantly brighter than other LEDs in the same price range.

The lights can be controlled by a physical controller that provides access to a wide range of spot colors as well as multiple color changing effects. However, the best features are in the app. It gives users access to all of the top options for using the Govee strip light, including the timer function and the ability to manipulate the brightness or switch between the four different modes.

The luminosity of these LEDs is impressive.

the Music mode causes the lights to flash and change to the beat of the music. It will listen to music through the phone's microphone, but you can adjust the sensitivity if it picks up too much background noise. You can choose between the options Party, Dynamic and Quiet, as well as whether the music mode changes color automatically or you can select it manually. Party mode is the most hectic option and is the fastest to change the color option, while sleep mode offers the slowest transition. You can also choose from a number of other options, some of which don't make much sense because of their names: Shiny, Sprouting, Day and Night, etc.

Color mode is self explanatory and lets you change the colors of the light. However, there is more to it than just basic colors. You can set different segments of the strip to different colors, adjust the brightness, and much more. You can also save custom colors. With the “Recommended Color Schemes” function, you can choose between different styles, scenes and color adjustment methods to customize the appearance of your light strip. Some quick math shows that there are millions of different color combinations and setups just for spot colors, let alone the flashing light options.

the Scene mode offers more than 64 preset scenes for almost every occasion. The scenes are divided into Life, Emotion, Festival and Natural. I recommend either the Lightning or Deep Sea scene – both make impressive use of the lights and do a great job of imitating their namesakes.

The last mode available in the app is Home improvement. This mode allows you to create your own streak of light effects with a variety of adjustments. However, there are little to no instructions on how this mode works, so you can learn through a lot of experimentation and trial and error. I still haven't fully understood how it works, but the ability to create my own scenes and flickers was really impressive.

The Effects Lab is another feature worth trying out. It's divided into a color gallery, an effects lab, a gaming lab, and the Harmony lab. The last one – the Harmony Lab – really stands out. Each of the selections plays sound through your phone and has a matching scene. Some of these effects, like Rain Drops or Stream, create almost meditative experiences. The effects are calming and well beyond what I would expect from a series of light strips. You can turn off the sound at any time and also keep the flicker effect.

At full brightness, the lights are almost too bright to be viewed directly and they work best as ambient lighting. However, you can adjust the brightness between 1 and 100, with the lower section providing more than enough light without dazzling you.

According to the specification, this light bar only works with Bluetooth. However, I found that even with the bluetooth turned off, I could only control it via Wi-Fi.

Integration of intelligent assistants

The Govee Strip Lights work with both Alexa and the Google Assistant. Alexa can easily create routines, change the color of the lights or even activate certain scenes if you know their names. However, the wizard cannot set the lights to one of the effects from the Effects Lab.

Within the Alexa app you can change the color, set up scenes and create certain routines. You can also turn the lights on and off at specific times. I placed the lights in my loft as part of a playroom setup and they go perfectly with the rest of the decor in the room. Unfortunately, they cannot function as ambient lighting. I haven't found a way to connect them to the scene on a TV to match the ambient color on the screen.

Govee Strip Light Controller at night

Our opinion

My first impression of the Govee RGBIC Strip Lights wasn't that great. The setup process left me frustrated and confused with the lack of features that apparently should be included by default, but after that I learned to enjoy those lights. The wide range of features and color options is really impressive, and I really appreciate the physical controller. Some lamps I've worked with in the past, like the LIFX Z LED, don't include physical controls. Sure, it takes up more space on the cord, but when the phone is out of range or the lights aren't connected to a smart assistant, having a real button to press is useful. All in all, the pros definitely outweigh the cons, especially at this price point.

Is there a better alternative?

There are alternatives, but few better options at this price point. Philips Hue and LIFX both have light strips that are packed with features and tremendous construction quality, but both are also way outside the price range of Govee RGBIC lights.

The Twinkly Line has a lot of features and presets, but costs $ 67. You can also use ultra-budget on lights with no smart features, but which are only $ 8 for a 16.4-foot strip. If you want lots of smart features and smart wizard integration, the Govee RGBIC Strip Light is your best bet at this price point.

How long it will take?

The plastic on the controller isn't of the highest quality, but it doesn't feel overly fragile either. With proper care, these lamps should last for many years. Note, however, that the glue is intended for single use only. After you've placed the lights and peeled them off, they'll need help staying attached elsewhere. Even if you accidentally place it incorrectly and pull the lights off to put them back on, you will find that the section sags and comes off.

Should you buy it?

Yes sir. At this price you will hardly find a lamp that comes close to this quality.

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