Within the wide catalog of Bluetooth speakers, the LG RP4 XBOOM 360 differs from the rest by its unique design that has the appearance of a lighthouse an ambient light with a multitude of colors and its 360º sound.
Partygoers need not worry about whether the LG XBOOM 360 is powerful enough to play music in the corners of the house, as it offers a high volume. In turn you will be able to give a special touch to the environment, thanks to its lighting effects and DJ effects.
The unique design of the LG RP4 XBOOM 360 certainly catches your eye when you see it, but let’s find out if it’s really worth it for other reasons besides this.
- Wide 360° sound, full-bodied and very dynamic.
- Reasonable tonal balance at low volume.
- 5-band equalization via the app
- Unique design and appearance
- Highly configurable lighting effects
- USB and aux port
- Metal carrying handle
- Buttons in Braille for blind people
- Sound too concentrated in the mids and lacking expansion in the lows.
- Distorted bass at high volume
- Battery takes a long time to charge
- No resistance to water
- Power output of 120 W RMS (connected).
- Omnidirectional sound
- 5.25″ fiber optic woofer
- Wireless Party Link (two speakers connected wirelessly).
- XBOOM app (iOS and Android).
- 9,700 mAh battery
- Up to 10 hours of battery life.
- Full charge time approx. 5 hours
- DJ effects (via app).
- Metal handle
- Bluetooth / USB 2.0 / Aux connectivity
- Dimensions of 250 x 514 x 250 mm (W x H x D).
- Available in bordeaux, green and beige colors.
Design
LG RP4 XBOOM 360 speaker with conical shape and lighting effects.
The LG XBOOM 360 RP4 is a large and powerful speakerphone, which can also serve as a decorative element in the home thanks to its stylish flashlight design and integrated LED lighting. It has an already considerable size so its use is mainly focused at home or in a room, where it is to be fixed in one place. Despite its height, it takes up relatively little space, allowing you to easily find room for it.
LG RP4 Speaker Grip Handle
While it is true that this speaker falls into the category of portable speakers, it is not primarily intended to be carried from place to place on a daily basis or to take on a trip. However, thanks to its metal handle you can grab it and take it anywhere in the house with relative ease or occasionally take it outside where you want to play background music or organize a party. However, please note that it does not offer any IP certification, so it cannot withstand water or dust.
XBOOM 360 RP4 Portable Speaker
The speaker design has a cone-shaped appearance and is covered with a fabric that gives it an elegant touch. The lantern is cone-shaped and is located just above the speaker’s woofer. The LG XBOOM 360 RP4 is sturdy and has a low center of gravity, making it difficult to tip over.
LG RP4 speaker customizable ambient light
When you turn on the speaker for the first time, you are going to hear a pleasant startup sound and the ambient light starts to turn on. Playback is controlled by the buttons on the top of the speaker.
The buttons are easy to recognize visually, but hard to feel, as they are all flush with the top. The volume control and power button are in Braille, while the battery and function buttons have LED indicators.
Braille control buttons for blind people on LG RP4 XBOOM 360
You can control the ambient lighting settings via the button on top of the speaker represented by a light bulb symbol. But for a more personalized control you’d better use LG’s official XBOOM app, available for Android and iOS.
LG XBOOM 360 RP4 speaker ambient lighting.
Connectivity and app features
On the side of the speaker, near the base, there is a flap that if you open it you are going to find all the speaker connections. Specifically, it has a USB-A port and an auxiliary input. Here you will also find a reset button and a double button for the Party Link-Twin wireless mode, which allows you to connect two LG XBOOM 360 speakers for simultaneous and amplified playback.
LG XBOOM 360 RP4 Speaker Connections
In Party Link Twin mode, you must designate one speaker as the “main speaker” and the second speaker as “other”. If you disable the main speaker, the other speaker is also disabled, but you can change the volume of both speakers independently.
The speaker supports Bluetooth SBC and AAC codecs and has good connection strength: even when I took my cell phone two rooms away and was separated from the speaker by several walls, I experienced no dropouts. The LG XBOOM 360 also features Bluetooth multipoint functionality, which means you can connect two smartphones to the speaker at the same time.
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If you want to listen to music from a USB stick or the auxiliary input, press the function button until the desired input source is selected. If you are listening to music via USB or Bluetooth, you can control playback with the play/pause button on the speaker; if you are using an auxiliary cable, you will need to make adjustments on the source device.
Like all good modern audio products, the LG XBOOM 360 comes with a companion app called LG XBOOM. Download the LG XBOOM app (iOS, Android) to control the power-saving mode and update the device’s software. The XBOOM app also informs you about battery status and offers equalization options. These include genre-specific presets and custom equalizers.
XBOOM application for LG RP4 speaker configuration
You can also use DJ mode, which lets you play with sound effects such as delay and drum sounds while playing music. There are drum, clave and other options for creating transitions or effects that overlay the playback track. The ‘Sampler Creator’ tab lets you record samples of up to 5 seconds and play them back in DJ mode.
DJ effects in the LG XBOOM app
The ambient lighting function of the LG XBOOM 360 is a lot of fun. To fully customize the colors of the lights, the app allows you to choose from 16.8 million colors in a chromatic spectrum and different flashing modes. For example, if you’re having a Christmas party, you can choose red, green and gold lights and have them flash in rapid succession or slowly fade into each other.
Custom ambient light settings XBOOM app
Autonomy
According to LG, this RP4 XBOOM 360 speaker achieves a battery life of up to 10 hours with ambient light off and at moderate volume. If you use it at maximum volume and listen to it with lighting effects on, as well as via Bluetooth, the battery life is reduced.
When fully depleted, it takes approximately 5 hours to charge the battery, so it is not a particularly fast charge.
Bluetooth, USB and Auxiliary source selection.
When the power cord is connected, a small light next to the battery icon illuminates red. To save battery power, the RP4 XBOOM 360 automatically turns off if no music is played or no buttons are pressed for 15 minutes. You can disable power saving if you wish from the smartphone app.
The USB port, also allows you to charge an external device such as your smartphone or tablet, in case you use it outdoors and don’t have a charger handy.
Sound
The LG XBOOM 360 is a speaker meant to provide high volume, which is to be expected given its size. Unlike many other Bluetooth speakers, this speaker sounds good at any volume. The speaker has a 1-inch titanium tweeter and a 5.25-inch fiberglass woofer. A multiple speaker system of this type can reproduce different frequency ranges with similar relative volume.
LG RP4 XBOOM 360 5.25-inch Woofer
This speaker is omnidirectional, which means it spreads the sound evenly over a 360-degree field. This is one of its great advantages and what this speaker is meant for. No matter where you place yourself to listen to it, you will be able to hear it almost the same as if you were facing it, with slight differences especially in the treble. When you listen to it from a distance you can still hear it very well and it is therefore a speaker that will offer its maximum performance in large spaces.
The different instruments are easily audible, as the woofer takes care of the bass and mid tones and the tweeter for its part takes care of the treble. However, the bass is a bit muffled, but it lets you distinguish the guitar notes and the bass line does not mask the vocals. Large speakers sometimes muffle the mids to boost the bass and treble, so they are louder. The LG is somewhere in between and lets you hear enough detail in a complex piece to appreciate it for what it offers.
Compared to other LG XBOOM speakers, this model gives a more neutral sound and focuses less on bass. This is to be expected, as 360º type speakers tend to deliver less punchy bass and the midrange has in our opinion too much emphasis on the overall balance of the sound.
RP4 speakerphone with 360 degree omni-directional sound
If you want the XBOOM 360 to have more bass, you can adjust it through the LG XBOOM app. It includes 7 presets for different music genres and of course there is a bass boost setting. With the custom mode, you can equalize the sound in 5 frequency bands, allowing you to adjust the sound to your liking.
We have configured it as follows to boost the bass and treble, as the mid tones have too much presence in our opinion and the bass does not have the prominence we wanted. Below is an image of our custom EQ, specially designed for electronic music and urban music genres.
5 band equalizer app XBOOM speaker RP4
LG claims that the XBOOM 360 RP4, reproduces better quality and less distortion when the equalizer is disabled in an external music app and recommends that you disable it and use only the one in the app.
The RP4’s 360-degree sound is ideal for outdoor use, and LG offers an “Outdoor EQ” mode for it. If that leaves you short, the XBOOM 360, supports the addition of a second speaker to double the power for use at large parties where a single speaker might not be enough.
Final review LG XBOOM 360 RP4
LG XBOOM 360 RP4 Party Speakerphone LG XBOOM 360 RP4
The LG XBOOM 360 RP4, is a Bluetooth speaker with a unique yet pleasing design that fits well in most environments, and offers great customization of your ambient light.
The speaker sounds good whether listening to music at high volume or classical piano at low volume, and is intuitive to use, both with the built-in controls and the accompanying app. The sound propagates in all directions and will allow it to be heard wherever you are. This is its main advantage since you will have the same perception whether you are sitting upright or in a corner.
The LG XBOOM RP4 works best in environments with low volume and neutral acoustics. It is perfect for a dinner party, a quiet gathering with friends or for listening to music in a relaxed environment.
While overall we find it to be a very versatile speaker, there are factors we missed, such as it offering at least IPX4 certification to better withstand outdoors.
Is the LG XBOOM 360 RP4 worth buying?
In our opinion, it is quite attractively priced for what it offers, especially if you want to use it mainly inside your home or on the terrace or garden. It is very interesting if you are looking to entertain people at home or have parties and at the same time looking for a device with lights and DJ mode.
PROS
- 360° wide, full-bodied and very dynamic sound.
- Proper tonal balance at low volume
- 5-band equalization through an app.
- Unique design and appearance
- Highly configurable lighting effects
- USB and auxiliary connection
- Metal carrying handle
- Braille buttons for the blind
CONS
- Sound too concentrated in the mids and lacking in bass expansion.
- Distorted bass at high volume
- Battery takes a long time to charge
- No water resistance
See price LG RP4 XBOOM 360
Alternatives to LG XBOOM 360 RP4
If you want to spend less and are looking for something more portable and weatherproof, you should take a look at the Soundcore Motin Boom Plus. This is a speaker that for its dimensions is not exactly to carry in your pocket, but it is more portable to be less large and weigh less.
At first glance this may lead you to believe that it will be a clearly less powerful speaker, but on the contrary, it is a speaker that delivers a high power and outdoor defends itself very well as we explained in our review.
It is a speaker with an excellent price ratio as we are surprised by all that it offers for such an adjusted price.
If you want something much more portable, the JBL Charge 5 is another outstanding speaker. It doesn’t have fun lights, but for such a small speaker, it offers very good sound quality and bass reproduction. It is IP67 certified, which means you can throw it in the pool without any degradation in performance or sound quality.
Another alternative for larger speakers is the UE Hyperboom an IPX4 certified Bluetooth monster. This speaker comes with many practical features, such as dual Bluetooth, auxiliary and optical inputs, adaptive equalizer and one-touch music control that allows you to play your favorite playlist without any hassle.
