Key Takeaways
- The LG XBoom 360 XO2T’s lighting is fun but lacks functionality for reading.
- Sound quality is decent but muddier mid-range compared to competitors.
- Touch controls are finicky, limiting the overall user experience.
It’s not enough for Bluetooth speakers to just sound good, most need a gimmick too. Mood lighting is the thing the LG XBoom 360 XO2T brings to the table. The speaker sounds fine, and the lighting is cool enough, but unfortunately, the total package just isn’t worth its full retail price.
LG XBoom 360 XO2T
The speaker’s 360-degree panorama sound helps you enjoy rich bass and voice clarity regardless of the audio source. Set your scene with just the right vibe with 3 modes and 9 presets of mood lighting.
- Lighting is fun
- Decent sound and volume for its size
- Portable enough to move around the house
- Touch controls are finicky
- Muddier mid-range than competitors
- Lighting isn’t super functional
Price and Availability
The LG XBoom 360 XO2T speaker is available to buy now and retails for $199.99.
The Lighting Is the Main Attraction
The 360 XO2T is far from LG’s first light-up speaker. The company still sells the older XO3C for the time being—discounted to the same price as this new one. While the previous models were much larger, nearly two inches wider and four inches taller, their purpose was the same: to provide mood lighting along with the music.
The difference between past speaker versions and this new 360 XO2T is that its form factor finally matches that purpose. The larger versions sounded better, but finding a natural spot for them was hard. They were too big for an end table and too small to be a permanent fixture on the floor.
I was a bit disappointed to see the downshift in size initially, but the speaker’s frame and weight make it much more suitable to use on a nightstand or move back and forth from the bedroom to the bathroom. Moving the 360 XO2T around the house is trivial.
Because of the reduction in weight and the ability to bring the speaker to different rooms, its lighting is its highlight. The speaker features three modes and nine mood lighting presets, so there’s plenty that it can do. There is a flickering candle effect, too, if you like that.
I’m a sucker for neat tricks like lighting on a speaker, but in this case, I found it a little lackluster. The light wasn’t really bright enough to use as a sole reading light. It also wasn’t suitable for use only as a light. If you turn on the speaker to use the light, it will automatically connect to your phone or whatever device you’ve been using it with. You don’t have to listen to music, of course, but it will remain connected via Bluetooth if it’s on for the light.
It mostly serves as an accent piece since it’s not bright enough to be noticeable in a moderately well-lit room. Even in a dim room, it probably can’t be your sole lighting solution. It can add some color next to the bathtub, extra light bedside, or provide a dancing pulse along with some music. The light is the highlight, but that feature is not worth buying the speaker for.
360 Degrees of Sound, But Clearly a Front and Back Orientation
It’s strange to admit, but I found the sound of the 360 XO2T to be secondary to its light and other features. This is mostly due to the speaker’s mediocre and generic sound profile. It doesn’t sound bad, but its mid-range is a bit muddier than I would have liked. It still features decent low-end depth for its size, but other speakers outclass it.
Using the default EQ, it doesn’t have the same richness as other similar-sized Bluetooth speakers. For example, the Bose SoundLink Max booms with bravado, and the new Beats Pill drips with resonance. The Pill is even smaller and cheaper but bests it in audio quality. Even the Sonos Roam 2 has more claritythan the 360 XO2T.
Having a speaker blast sound in any direction is nice, so you don’t have to place it precisely. The problem here is that the 360 XO2T is oriented to be used in a single direction. The power button and USB-C charger are clearly meant to be on the back side, like the pole holding the lighting element is meant to face away from the listener. Similarly, the media controls on top are facing in a certain way.
The Other Features Are (Mostly) Nice
If you want to use the speaker outside, you can do that because of its IP55 water and dust rating. The speaker’s 1.9-pound weight isn’t heavy enough to stop it from tagging along. I moved it to the backyard, and that worked fine, but I wouldn’t pack this speaker for a trip. It’s a homebody.
The speaker’s 15 hours of rated battery life is decent and in line with competing Bluetooth speakers. I found the actual battery life to be just a touch shorter in practice.
There is Multipoint Bluetooth support, so you can connect this speaker to multiple devices at once. Obviously, it can only play music from one device at a time, but the feature means that it’s easier to move between using the speaker with a phone and tablet because they can both remain connected.
It’s not all roses, however. Out of everything about the speaker, I was most displeased with the touch controls on top. The touch-sensitive controls were hard to use accurately. The controls consist of volume, pause and play, lighting, and Bluetooth. Each is illuminated by a light, and after a few seconds, they disappear—much too quickly in my opinion. To get them back, you need to touch the same area and then touch the indicated button again. It can be a little confusing, but I also just found that they didn’t respond to my touch 100% of the time.
The app was similarly frustrating. It worked sometimes, but often wouldn’t recognize that the speaker was connected to my phone, despite resetting it several times. Inside the app, you can choose lighting controls and tweak the colors, so it is important to have access to the app at least occasionally. Once the lighting colors are set, you can use the button on top of the speaker to cycle through the modes, like natural lighting, color lighting, and party lighting.
Should You Buy the LG XBoom 360 XO2T?
The glowing and rhythmic lights on the LG XBoom 360 XO2T are cool. They add a pinch of convenience and make the speaker multifaceted. Unfortunately, the lighting is not enough to save this speaker from mediocre sound and a (comparatively) high price.
If you have a specific need in your home for a small speaker with a built-in light and can find it on sale for a lot cheaper than its retail price, then I wouldn’t try to dissuade you from making the purchase. Otherwise, I might suggest going with a different product.
LG XBoom 360 XO2T
The speaker’s 360-degree panorama sound helps you enjoy rich bass and voice clarity regardless of the audio source. Set your scene with just the right vibe with 3 modes and 9 presets of mood lighting.
