Logitech X-230 Review

Overall Rating

Nicely finished, good price.

Overblown bass.

The Logitech X-230 speakers are very nicely made and fit well alongside the Logitech keyboard and mouse supplied with many new PCs. The two satellites are small enough to stand in the space behind the sides of my TFT monitor, so effectively take up no additional desk space, while the small subwoofer fits easily under the desk.

Sound quality is very good from the satellites and overall the three speakers cover the full spectrum very well. However, there is one major drawback with the subwoofer's design: although it has its own level control, even on the minimum setting it produces far too much bass. If you like constant, tiring, boomy bass then this might not be a problem for you, but for normal 'average' music listening it quickly becomes very annoying. Even taking the subwoofer out from under the desk (to reduce resonances caused by its enclosed position) does not fully cure the problem.

When playing all types of music in Windows Media Player, I have had to use the software's graphic equalizer to tail-off the bass quite significantly. While this is an acceptable compromise when using Media Player, if you are playing games or attempting to create music direct from your soundcard, the overblown bass could be uncontrollable. It seems rather silly that Logitech have provided a bass level control, but haven't allowed it to turn the bass right down! Instead, it ranges from plenty of bass to way-over-the-top booming.

In summary, Logitech have created a nice looking, good quality, and good value speaker system. But by attempting to give it room-filling bass potential, they have forgotten the normal use for a little 2.1 speaker setup - on the desktop.