Review on Sony Directional Candle Like Illumination Bluetooth by Jeff Driscoll

After so many years of people begging Sony to get "weird" again, the company appears to have invested in its LSPX Slash Faux Candles speaker line. Wonderful! Further product innovations are always welcome. But is the speaker really more interested in being a design object worth buying? And first of all, I would like to preface my review with the following disclaimer: Yes, it looks like a bong. It's the same *size* and shape as a bong. Each product in the LSPX line is intended to resemble a kerosene lamp, but the LSPX-S2 has been tweaked between generations and the result is the S3. Well, you can see what Sony did in the photos. What's good: Sony has managed to cram a lot of speakers into a very small package (or at least it would have been small if it weren't for 'organic glass' ie plastic, tubing). They really capture the Japanese minimalist aesthetic, and when you pick up the S3 it's really heavy, showing just how much is crammed into the solid aluminum body. You could leave this on your bedside table in the hallway and most people would think it was a piece of decorative design. In terms of sound, I'm comparing it to my latest Marshall Stockton wireless speaker and the quality is about the same as far as I can tell (although this speaker was released in 2018 for $250 and bought for only $100) . For jazz and classical music, the sound quality is excellent and the S3 really delivers 360-degree sound; You really get the same listening experience from every angle. The Bluetooth 5.0 connection is fairly fast, and when watching Youtube videos, the sync has minimal latency, an issue I've noticed with older Bluetooth 4.0 speakers. There's plenty of bass, and if it's on your desk, you'll feel it. The Bad: There is no physical way to balance the device! For what Sony sells for *$350* (although that's a significant improvement over the S2's starting price), you'll need to pair the device with a bass adjustment app, and since I've been using it on my desk with my PC, I have I probably won. don't even do it. Due to the way the device works (the sound is projected onto a tube that radiates it), the volume seems to work exponentially rather than linearly. a volume setting of 30% does not make it quieter, music and dialogue cannot be heard. A bit fiddly perhaps, as you can just crank the volume up, but if you want it to play softly you'll have to fiddle around. Finally, the biggest problem with S3: who is it for? The "glass" tube used to transmit sound is obviously fragile, so it's not a speaker to be "thrown in a bag". Battery life is only 8 hours, so not for all-day excursions anyway, but the speaker can ONLY connect to sources via Bluetooth, making it useless for audiophiles. Sony has built a 360-degree mic into the base and suggests using the S3 for conference calling, but that's a confusing choice considering 99% of offices will likely go for the cheaper dedicated option. For $350 you can get a much better sounding speaker from Bose or Marshall (hell maybe even Sony) and while I haven't tested the ability to pair 2 for surround sound or use "party mode" to use that you can pair with 100 S3 together there are better options. TLDR; a good speaker and an elegant design object, but has the classic versatility problem. Would I take it for $200? Absolutely, but probably not for $350 unless I had extra money (I got a free trial unit). Still, this is an impressive show from Sony and I'm sure more design-centric buyers won't consider buying it.