Hi I’m Gidon from thetechnologyman.com. The LG XBOOM Go PL2 is the smallest and least
expensive offering in LG’s latest trio of speakers. I’ll be looking at its larger
PL5 and PL7 siblings seperately. All three speakers share the same design and
they all have their audio tuned by Meridian like their predecessors, the PK series I looked
at last year. This is one of the smallest speakers I’ve
tested, but still has 10 hours of battery life, a Sound Boost mode, USB-C charging,
stereo pairing with another PL2 speaker and an IPX5 water resistance rating.
I’ll be running through its features before comparing how it sounds to a few of its rivals:
the hugely popular Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 which is only a little more expensive, the
budget Tronsmart T6 Mini, last year’s LG XBOOM Go PK3 and the Anker Soundcore 2. The
Ultimate Ears and Tronsmart have a similar design but are slightly bigger; the PK3 is
significantly bigger but is often reduced to the same price, and the Soundcore 2 is
a very popular compact speaker slightly cheaper than the PL2’s retail price of around £50
or $50. So let’s take a closer look. Overview
Inside the box you get the speaker itself, a white USB-A to USB-C charging cable and
an instruction manual. There’s no 3.5mm auxiliary cable or travel pouch.
This is a very compact speaker and would be perfect for travel. It measures 126mm by 82mm
x 80mm and weighs just 350g, smaller and lighter than all the other speakers I comparing it
against. This is a particularly well made speaker,
with a matte grey finish that doesn’t attract fingerprints. There’s no creaking however
hard you twist or squeeze it. The rounded design is quite appealing and is carried through
the entire range of speakers in the range. It looks a little more contemporary than the
PK series before it. Unlike the significantly more expensive PL5
and PL7, what look like passive radiators at the side don’t move or have any LED lighting.
In fact the right side cleverly pulls open to reveal the USB-C charging port with accompanying
LED, a 3.5mm audio-in port, a reset button and the Dual Mode button for pairing two speakers.
You’ll need to ensure this flap is fully closed to maintain the IPX5 water resistance
rating. The top of the PL2 houses the controls. There’s
the power button with LED, the Bluetooth pairing button with its LED, volume controls and the
pause | play button. A double press skips forward a track and a triple press skips back.
The button also answers and ends phone calls. Finally there’s the Sound Boost button with
its accompanying LED, which is on by default. A nice touch is a raised dimple over the volume
up button which is useful for feeling the main controls without having to look at the
speaker. The back of the speaker has the embossed LG
XBOOM branding and holes to attach a lanyard that isn’t included.
The bottom of the speaker has a small flat base with four tiny rubber feet to dampen
any vibrations. But if you don’t place it down carefully it tends to roll backwards.
To charge the speaker you need to use a USB-A to USB-C cable like the one supplied. Surprisingly
it doesn’t charge with a dual ended USB-C cable.
The battery LED lights red whilst charging and turns off when fully charged. There’s
no battery status indicator on the speaker itself. You can check the remaining battery
using your phone, but the power LED will flash when the battery is low. The integrated 1500mAh
or 5.6Wh battery takes up to 4 hours to charge from completely flat, charging rather slowly
at just over 0.5A. When you turn the speaker on with a single
press of the power button for the first time the Bluetooth LED will flash. Connect to LG-PL2(XX)
in your Bluetooth device settings. The Bluetooth LED goes steady.
You can pair to a maximum of two devices simultaneously. To pair to a second device press and hold
the Bluetooth pairing button for 2 seconds until the LED starts flashing and connect
your second device. If you have a second PL2 speaker you can press
the Dual button on both speakers to set them up as a stereo pair.
Sound accompanies turning the speaker on and off, Bluetooth pairing and reaching maximum
volume, with a brief interruption in playback. You can turn the audio prompts off in the
app which is only available on Android devices. This LG XBOOM Go app also lets you update
the speaker’s firmware and check the battery level. And you can set up Dual Mode pairing
and switch Sound Boost on and off, which you can also do via the speaker itself.
It’s also possible to configure Multi-play mode which by default is set to Private. It’s
dependent on device and application, but even in this default mode, you should be able to
pause music on one device and start playing on the second paired device. If you turn on
turn on Party mode under Settings | Multi-play mode, you don’t need to pause playback to
play music on another device, allowing two people to control the speaker at the same
time, a feature I wish more speakers had. Unfortunately the app doesn’t let you configure
EQ. The speaker will turn off after 15 minutes
with no playback. You can disable this feature in the app in Settings | Auto power management;
or on the speaker itself. With the speaker on, press and hold the power button and the
volume- button together for 2 seconds to turn it off, and the power button and the volume+
button to turn it on again. The power LED flashes and you’ll hear an accompanying
beep, if you have beeps turned on. Sound quality and performance
The PL2 has a single 45mm mid-range driver and a passive radiator and sounds well balanced
and louder than I was expecting for such a small speaker with its rather modest 5W of
output. Clarity in the mids is particularly impressive
and it handles bass quite well too. It’s not as full bodied or as loud as the Ultimate
Ears Wonderboom 2, but it sounds crisp especially with tracks with rich vocals. It’s a great
speaker for playing podcasts. With busier tracks, like you’d expect from
a speaker this size, it can sound a little harsh, but lowering the volume a few steps
helps. By default the Sound Boost mode is on and
for most of the music I listened to I preferred this setting which does provide a bigger,
louder sound with a wider range. But you will need to experiment depending on your tastes.
Again with busier tracks which start to sound a little harsh they can sound better with
this off. Although usually I leave the setting on and just lower the volume slightly.
You can listen to a comparison between the LG PL2 with Sound Boost on and off, the Ultimate
Ears Wonderboom 2 with Outdoor mode off, the LG PK3 with Enhanced Bass on, the budget Tronsmart
T6 Mini and finally the Anker Soundcore 2. So you can decide for yourself which one you
prefer the sound of - let me know down below in the comments which is your favourite! I
also have full reviews of many of these speakers playing various tracks, so take a look at
the links below or the on-screen cards if you’re interested.
I’ve recorded the sound test with binaural microphones that capture stereo sound, to
try and provide the closest representation of what I’m hearing. Please listen with
headphones for the best experience. Use the timestamps below to skip ahead if you like.
Audio sync was ok although there was still a small amount of delay playing back YouTube
videos, particularly on iOS, as is often the case.
Battery life at 50% playback volume with Sound Boost off is quoted as 10 hours. This is lower
than the other speakers I compared it to. I tested this at 75% playback volume with
Sound Boost on and got a full day of usage which considering its size is still more than
respectable. The speaker uses the latest Bluetooth 5.0
and range was better than any speaker I’ve tested so far - up to around 15 metres away
- well beyond the next room of my brick built house.
Receiving phone calls sounded clear and the speaker’s built in microphone did a good
job too. If you press and hold the Play | Pause button you can activate your phone’s voice
assistant using the speaker’s built in mic. Since the PK series LG appear to have dropped
support for the higher quality aptX codec, but do support the still higher quality AAC
codec. And for the best quality you could always use a 3.5mm cable via the audio-in
port. The speaker’s IPX5 splash proof rating held
up fine although it’s a little disappointing it doesn’t have the IPX7 waterproof rating
of the PK3. Conclusions
The LG XBOOM Go PL2 could make the perfect travel speaker. It’s extremely well built,
lightweight, very compact, and it sounds good for its size.
In a perfect world I’d like it to be a little louder, and battery life is less than some
of its rivals. And the accompanying app is only available on Android and is fairly limited
with no control over EQ. Its retail price seems fair, but historically
LG speakers have seen tempting promotions fairly regularly, which would make it even
more appealing. At the PL2’s full retail price, the discounted UE Wonderboom 2 is only
a little more expensive but is louder with a fuller 360° sound and more bass, but does
has older micro-USB charging, and is slightly heavier and bigger so not quite as portable.
If you don’t need something quite as small and lightweight, the LG PK3 is currently the
same price as the PL2 and has stereo sound, an IPX7 waterproof rating and is louder.
I’ll be taking a look at the other new speakers in LG’s range shortly - specifically the
PL5 and PL7. Or see the description below or the on-screen cards if they’re already
out. So be sure to check those out too. I’d love to know which speaker you prefer
out of the ones I’ve tested in this video - let me know down below in the comments - or
if there’s another speaker you’d like me to take a look at.
And as always, if you have any questions, please ask - I read every comment and will
do my best to respond. I do hope you found this video useful. Please
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