LG GX Soundbar Soundbar Review

The LG GX Soundbar is a very stylish and sleek-looking soundbar made with dark-colored plastic and a tight fabric wrap. Its unique thin teardrop shape is meant to complement TVs from LG's OLED series, like the LG GX OLED, and when mounted below these TVs, its slim, long profile makes it look more like wall art than a bulky soundbar. You can also stand it at an angle in front of your TV if you prefer.

The LG GX's subwoofer is made from melamine and plastic. Its front face has a thin fabric wrap that can easily rip or collect dust.

This soundbar doesn't come with satellites in the box, but you can add on the SPK8-S rear speaker kit separately if you're looking for a more dimensional sound.

The LG GX Soundbar is very tall and wide. It's meant to be wall-mounted, but if you want to place it on your console table, it won't fit between the legs of a 55" TV. It's a pretty tall bar, even though it's at an angle when standing, and it can easily obscure the bottom of your TV screen.

The LG GX's subwoofer is about the size of an average desktop PC. It's not very large and can fit beside your TV or couch with little problem.

The back of this soundbar has two openings: one for its power cable and another for its inputs. There are also divots for its two stand brackets as well as a groove so that you can wall-mount it. The supplies for wall-mounting it come in the box too, which is nice.

The back of the subwoofer has its port as well as its power cable. There's also a pairing button so you can wirelessly connect the subwoofer to the soundbar.

The LG GX Soundbar has a decent build quality. Its sides and back are made of plastic while its front is covered by a tight fabric from end to end. However, the fabric feels a little thin and can be prone to ripping or collecting dirt. There are two metal bracket holders on the back so that you can wall or table-mount it. The subwoofer's front side is also covered in a thin fabric and is also prone to ripping or getting dirty. Unlike the bar, its sides are made from melamine while there's plastic on its top, back, and bottom sides.

• HDMI cable
• 2x Power cables
• Remote
• 2x AAA batteries for the remote
• 2x Wall brackets with wall template
• 2x Stand brackets
• Manuals

The LG GX Soundbar has a decent stereo frequency response. Although it struggles to produce low bass, the rest of its range is pretty punchy and boomy, which is suitable for action-packed movies or EDM music. It also has a slightly bright treble. If you prefer a different sound, this soundbar has several EQs available.

The LG GX Soundbar has a good stereo soundstage. Although the soundstage feels about the size of the bar and the bar doesn't do anything to make it sound any wider, its focus is good. Objects sound like they're coming from pinpoint locations instead of more general areas.

The LG GX Soundbar has great stereo dynamics. It can get really loud, which is well-suited for large or crowded rooms. However, there are some thumping and compression artifacts present at max volume.

The LG GX Soundbar has a decent THD performance. At a normal listening volume, the amount of THD falls within acceptable limits, resulting in pure and clean audio reproduction. That being said, the THD jumps a bit at max volume, but this can be difficult to hear with real-life content.

The LG GX Soundbar is a 3.1 setup with an okay center channel performance. Although it has a dedicated center speaker, its frequency response is a little uneven, particularly in the low-mid, which may affect deeper voices. However, bass doesn't normally play on a center channel, so it won't sound boomy. The rest of the response is fairly even, resulting in clearer and more accurate dialogue in movies.

The LG GX Soundbar has a disappointing surrounds performance. As it's a 3.1 setup, it uses its left and right speakers to downmix surround content into stereo. This results in a less than accurate and clear representation of surround objects, which affects immersion into your audio. These objects are also perceived as coming from in front of you rather than from the sides or behind you.

The LG GX Soundbar has poor height performance. It downmixes surround sound into stereo in order to play it. This results in a less immersive sound experience than that produced by soundbars with upward-firing speakers like the LG SN11RG.

The LG GX Soundbar has fair sound enhancement features. It has several EQ presets: 'AI Sound Pro', 'Standard', 'Bass Blast', 'Music', and 'Movie'. The 'AI Sound Pro' feature, in particular, is advertised to optimize audio settings depending on the content you're playing, but we don't currently test this feature. There's also a dialogue enhancement feature as well as a virtual surround feature. However, unlike the LG SP8YA, it lacks a room correction feature that could help cater its audio performance to your specific room. If you prefer a soundbar with a graphic EQ, consider the Samsung HW-A650 instead.

The LG GX Soundbar has a wide array of inputs. Thanks to its HDMI ports, you can use it as a hub for different devices like your TV and gaming console. There's also a USB port if you want to play audio from a flash drive. However, unlike the Bang & Olufsen Beosound Stage, this soundbar doesn't have an ethernet port, and it can't support a VLAN connection with compatible LG C9 Series TVs.

The LG GX Soundbar supports all common formats over its HDMI ARC connection. It also supports eARC and can play object-based surround signals as well as lossless formats.

This soundbar has a Full HDMI In port, so you can use it as a hub between an external device like a Blu-ray player and your TV. It supports all common audio formats, including Dolby Atmos and DTS. However, it has to downmix these audio formats into stereo, which won't produce the most immersive experience.

The LG GX Soundbar has outstanding audio format support via its Optical port. It supports Dolby Digital and DTS content, which are usually found on Blu-ray discs as well as streaming platforms.

The LG GX Soundbar has mediocre wireless playback options. It can play audio wirelessly via Bluetooth and that's it.

When used as a hub between your TV and another source like a gaming console, the LG GX Soundbar can pass 4k content at 60Hz. Text sent using this signal looks crisp.

This sub wirelessly connects to the bar and it only needs its power cable.

The LG GX Soundbar has a small text screen in the middle of the bar behind its fabric covering. It displays the current input, volume levels, and any other level changes you make, like sub level adjustments.

This bar has a few physical buttons located on the right side of the bar. You can turn the bar on and off, switch inputs, and adjust for volume.

The LG GX Soundbar has a basic remote that lets you easily change most settings. However, the dialogue enhancement feature is only available via the companion app. You also won't be able to use this device as a universal remote to control your TV.

Update 08/04/2021: We added more information to mention that you can only cast files when a USB thumb drive is plugged into the soundbar. A window appears on the app that lets you see the list of songs on the thumb drive.

The LG Sound Bar app acts as a remote and lets you control all of the soundbar's functions. It's available to download on iOS devices, but you can't connect to the bar or the app. That said, it works with Android devices.

The LG GX Soundbar goes into standby after being idle for 15 minutes when it isn't connected to an external device. As it also supports HDMI CEC, you can use your TV's remote to control some of your soundbar's features, like volume and input control.