Review: LG X-Boom Freestyler

The LG X-Boom Freestyler – or FH6 High Power All-In-One Speaker for you squares out there – has an bit of an identity crisis.

Touted by LG as “the modern day boombox,” it stands over 2.5 feet tall and weighs over 17kg. Even without a requirement to be plugged into mains, you’d never be able to throw the speaker up on your shoulder.

Also advertised as a wireless TV and gaming speaker, no one over the age of 21 would use it in this fashion. You see, the X-Boom Freestyler – introduced on LG’s site by “B.Wylder”, a (wannabe?) DJ who invites you to “enter Wylderworld, a land of mega bass, flashing groove-scapes, sweet DJ FX and wild, good time action” — is… well, just that. Two huge, light-up speakers are separated by a bright, flashy LED strip. Try playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with a disco shining at your face.

Granted, the flashing lights do have an off switch, but the X-Boom Freestyler is large and in your face – and is meant to be that way. For $599 AUD RRP, it doesn’t suit any household as a primary soundbar. LG suggests two speakers could be purchased and paired as an ultimate home entertainment experience, but the sheer size of one unit – let alone two (at a whopping $1,200 AUD) — would overpower any TV stand. Theoretically, you could lay the speaker horizontally and it could almost function AS as TV stand. Regardless, there are (admittedly, less-powerful) soundbars out there that will actually fit the aesthetic of a grown-up’s entertainment area — though if you’re considering it, the unit accepts an RCA connection or will connect to LG TVs pretty effortlessly.

Deary me, I do hope LG paid B.Wylder a bunch of money for his performance.

Anyway, the X-Boom Freestyler is indeed a party speaker, plain and simple. It supports karaoke, comes with a DJ-style scratch dial and allows you to overlay “in da club” tweets and horns while you play your music. Songs are easy to start up on the unit with an effortless Bluetooth connection and even the ability to record select mixes back to a USB stick. Best yet, three phones can be connected at once time using the Music Flow Bluetooth app (on Android or iOS), letting their users create a co-op tracklist as rave on through the night.

Karaoke functions support two proper mics and also let you use an app to lay down some choice samples too. A voice canceller button kills a track’s proper vocals so you can shine through, and a key changer also helps to change the pitch of your voice if you’re coming in a little low. Flanging, phasing, wah wahs and delays can be applied to your songs to give it that extra (slightly tacky) oomph.

Being in-your-face means being loud, and the X-Boom Freestyler can do this in spades. With controls to change bass and treble settings, nothing ever sounded distorted or gross. I had to resist the urge to grunt, Tim the Toolman Taylor-style, as I kept the volume counter climbing and climbing. It’s then – and only then – that I really wanted to take advantage of the unit’s sixty-four different lighting combinations. The only thing I would have liked to have seen from the lights at that moment is the ability for them to be triggered based on the song that’s actually playing – in time with the base or treble elements, as an example.

At the moment, the X-Boom Freestyler is being offered with a $100 AUD e-voucher for The Iconic, which really cements who LG is trying to sell to – partiers in their late teens or early twenties. As a gaming support or merely a Bluetooth speaker, the X-Boom is a little too big and too showy. As that AND a whizz-bang, karaoke-charged light show enabler? It delivers. Just be mindful that it’s not quite as portable as LG would lead you to believe.

For most, we’d say this is a pass… but you know precisely who you are. If you want to let your inner B.Wylder out, don’t let us stop you.