Logitech’s illuminated speakers feature smart colour-changing technology – and earth-shattering bass

Pros

• Reactive RGB lighting
• Good connectivity options
• Lots of bass

Cons

• Expensive
• Excessive for quiet environments
• Dipped mids

First Creative, then Razer and now Logitech: the three biggest names in PC peripherals are all pushing PC speakers with built-in RGB lighting. Logitech’s G560 speakers are intended to light up your desk and illuminate the back of your monitor – but do they outshine their rivals?

Logitech G560 review: What you need to know

The Logitech G560 is a 2.1 PC speaker set with RGB lighting. It features the company’s new Lightsync technology, which changes the colour of the light to reflect what’s going on in your game, or to match what’s on your monitor.

If that doesn’t excite you, its audio credentials might: the G560’s dedicated subwoofer gives it a real low-end kick. The whole thing goes ridiculously loud too, so aside from gaming, it could happily provide the tunes for a house party.

Logitech G560 review: Price and competition

The G560 costs £209. Its closest rival is the Creative Sound BlasterX Kratos S5, which can be had online for £123. The Razer Nommo Chroma is also worth considering at £150, although it doesn’t feature a separate subwoofer.

If you aren’t bothered about RGB lighting, the £130 Logitech Z625 might suit you – as might the £200 Audioengine A2+ or the £240 Creative Katana soundbar, which sits neatly beneath your desktop monitor.

Logitech G560 review: Design and features

The G560 is an eye-catching, cleverly designed set of speakers. The circular stereo units each have two sets of RGB lights – one facing backwards and one set into a forward-facing loop – creating a total of four independent lighting zones.

You can customise the colour of each zone to your heart’s content through Logitech’s Gaming Software (LGS), or you can let Logitech’s Lightsync technology control the lights for you. This works with a selection of games (including Battlefield 1, Fortnite and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) to reflect what’s going on on screen, such as by matching the colour of your health bar or changing hue to warn you of approaching enemies.

You can also set up custom lighting-sync effects using the Screen Sampler tool, which lets you define specific areas of your monitor for the lights to follow. For example, you could manually draw a box around your in-game map, and have the speakers track its colour in your chosen zones.

If all this sounds gimmicky, it’s worth mentioning that the G560 can have a real, practical benefit too: unlike the Razer Nommo Chroma, it’s bright enough to significantly light up the wall behind your monitor, which helps reduce eye strain.

As for build quality, the speakers and the subwoofer have plastic shells, but they look classy and feel solid. The downward-firing subwoofer stands on four feet, so it’s not pumping straight into the floor. .

There’s a decent set of controls and connections too. Atop the right-hand speaker, you’ll find a volume rocker and a textured Logitech G key; this can be programmed to anything you like through LGS, from a simple mute control to a complicated macro. It’s a small thing, but a definite plus point. Around the back of this speaker there’s also power and Bluetooth buttons, plus a 3.5mm headphone output jack.

The G560 connects to your PC via a USB cable that plugs directly into the subwoofer (it will also work with Bluetooth, or a 3.5mm jack cable, though there’s no coaxial or optical inputs). A dedicated 2.2m cable connects the speakers to the subwoofer, which is long enough to let you position the satellites anywhere on your desk. A 2.5m USB cable is provided too, so you have a good degree of flexibility in situating the subwoofer.

Logitech G560 review: Sound quality

The G560 has a quoted 240W peak and 120W RMS output; that’s not as much as the 400/200W claimed by the Logitech Z625, but it’s still a hell of a lot of power. It’s certainly loud enough to fill a large living room, or even entertain an entire flat.

Indeed, if you’re just looking for a PC speaker system it could well be overkill. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good powerful sound, but even with the volume dialled down to 2% I found it too loud to use during late night gaming sessions. Of course, you can reduce the application volume within Windows, but it’s annoying to have to mess around with multiple controls.

Aside from loudness, the other thing that’s really noticeable about the G560 sound is how very bassy it is. Again, I love a good bit of bass, but at default settings I found it overpowering. I suspect that Logitech knows it, too: within LGS there’s a pre-made “Lower The Bass” profile, as well as a custom equaliser. I found I had to pull the bass down by a huge -10db to enjoy it.

Even with this done, the low frequencies remain at the forefront of the G560’s sound signature. In Chris Brown’s “Tempo” the mid-bass feels strong, precise and controlled, while a deep rumble fills out the bottom – something you won’t get from the subwoofer-less Razer Nommo Chroma.

The highs aren’t bad either. The treble perhaps feels ever so slightly rolled off, but there’s plenty of energy at the top end; cymbals sizzle without sibilance, and snare drums have a sharp impact.

Sadly, mid-range performance is much less confident. Both Drake’s “God’s Plan” and Busta Rhymes’ “Girlfriend” had a distinctive “scooped” sound signature, with the bass overpowering the vocals. This isn’t only a problem for music: when you’re gaming, character vocals get pushed back in the mix, diminishing the overall experience.

Still, the G560 impressed me with its open soundstage and great separation. In songs such as Calvin Harris’ “Nuh Ready Nuh Ready”, I could clearly hear and enjoy different layers of instrumentation – something that can’t be said for the Razer Nommo Chroma.

Logitech G560 review: Verdict

At £209, the G560 is more expensive than the Creative Sound BlasterX Kratos S5 and Razer Nommo Chroma, but then no other PC speaker system can do such clever things with its RGB lights. The bass can be overpowering, while the mid-range is more subdued than I’d like, but the overall sound presentation is good for an all-in-one system, and the subwoofer really fills the room with those deep sub-bass tones.

In short, if you’ve got the budget and need a set of RGB speakers in your life, the G560 is the best around. The Creative Sound BlasterX Kratos S5 is a cheaper alternative, but for fancy RGB effects, the Logitech system is the winner.

Source: expertreviews.co.uk