LG XBoom RNC9 review

It looks aggressive and ready to blow your socks off at a party. Something so big seems to be the perfect fit for a bungalow or a large farm house, but in the tiny houses in Mumbai, it can be a bit of an overkill as it takes a lot of space and looks rather intimidating. The woofers up front light up in various mixes depending on the setting you choose and teenagers are going to fall in love with it. For a more mature audience however, it may appear a bit edgy and jarring to say the least. 

The RN9C is heavy. It took quite some strength and effort to unbox it and it isn’t a one person job. I wish it came with some small wheels down below so lugging it around wouldn’t cause a hernia or a spinal injury. The top baffle where the controls are is all plastic and the lower portion is just okay quality MDF wood which is susceptible to nicks and chips if handled rough. The plastic bits are just okay too and nothing that impressive with the button feel either.

Here’s where the XBoom truly shines! You get a mic-in, guitar-in, 2xUSB and app functionality on your smartphone. There is a built-in karaoke feature that lets you adjust the music and mic volume separately, reduce track vocals with the Voice Canceller, and tune the music to your voice with the Key Changer. The XBoom also allows you to record your playlists and DJ mixes to USB, so you can listen back to them at any time. Copy them to another USB, or even send them to friends over Bluetooth! You can also apply DJ effects from the DJ app and get your smartphone flashlight to sync with the music that’s playing. That’s a lot of dedication to party music.

The XBoom has more than 20 in-built presets that influence the output in their own unique way and signature. I took to customizing the output to get the sound I thought was appropriate for my listening and style of music. The controls to do that are pretty straightforward thankfully and we got it going in no time. It’s very clear that the XBoom isn’t for purist audiophiles and I tried hard to not judge it through that lens but couldn’t help but notice the fluff. 

The XBoom gets loud for sure and one of the main features is the ‘Super Bass Boost’ which amplifies the lower frequencies to create a very deep sound. In my opinion, when this is enabled, the speaker loses all cohesion and the lower frequencies envelope the mid range and the higher ranges. Sure there’s enough bass to get a young party enthusiast excited but to trained ears it just sounds jarring and unpleasant. With that being said, there’s of course a market out there for people who like such an application to their music so it is subjective in my opinion. Play around the EQ yourself and put on some Bon Iver or John Mayer and it is an okay experience on medium volumes, turn it up a notch and things get harsh and jarring again. I also tried some electronica and played Yello at which the XBoom shines and lets you know where its priorities lie.

The XBoom is clearly focused on hard core party lovers and everything about it is loud and proud and it isn’t afraid to show it. As I pointed out before, it would be a great fit in a bungalow or a farmhouse in Lonavala that you barely visit and mostly give out on rent. But there’s one undeniable truth about it. If you're a party head, don’t give a damn about finer details and Mozart. The XBoom will be your favorite speaker with its abilities to go loud and enable you to go loud as well thanks to the karaoke function and mic. At this price and with all the functionality that comes with the app, you would be hard=pressed to find something equally impressive.