Verdict

Pros

• Great for gaming
• Engaging Lightsync effects
• Works with any device
• Compact and attractive design

Cons

• Way too much bass
• High price tag
• RGB can be distracting
• Jarring volume controls

What are the Logitech G560 Speakers?

The Logitech G560 are designed to be the dream set of gaming speakers, offering a compact design, powerful sound, and RGB lighting that reacts to in-game events.

In practice, they’re a bit of a mixed bag. Audio quality is far too bass-heavy out of the box, and while it can be improved dramatically with the software equalizer, I was never able to achieve a balanced sound. This won’t be much of an issue for gaming, but may prove less than ideal for music and general use.

There are plenty of good reasons to buy the G560 – but, unfortunately, there are also as many reasons not to, which is a shame.

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Logitech G560 Speakers – Design, build and features

The G560 package consists of three speakers, with two stereo units that sit on your desk and a large subwoofer that resides on the floor. Each desk speaker sports a circular design that’s held up with an integrated stand. I’m a huge fan of the design here, since not only are these speakers attractive, they’re compact too.

Things get more interesting on the back of the tweeters, however: this is where you’ll discover Logitech’s RGB lighting integration, with a large dome that brightly paints your wall with colour. You’ll also find controls for volume, power, Bluetooth and RGB lighting.

The subwoofer plugs directly into a wall outlet, housing all the connections to bring the system to life. You’ll find VGA sockets for the left and right speakers, and USB and 3.5mm inputs for connecting up to a PC. Logitech has also thoughtfully included Bluetooth connectivity, and this will work at the same time as the other connections. This is ideal for quickly blasting some tunes from your mobile phone while waiting for a game to load, or asking an Amazon Echo Dot for currency conversion while filing your tax return.

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Logitech G560 Speakers – Audio quality

These speakers may have plenty of fancy gaming tricks up their sleeve, but of most importance will always be the raw audio quality. And that, perhaps, leads us to my biggest issue with the G560: out of the box these speakers are unacceptably bassy.

Now everybody has different preferences, of course, and there are plenty of users that will want to crank up the bass. However, in their default state, the low-end rumble of these units washes out everything to a rather comical degree.

Thankfully, you can tackle this in the software. Nevertheless, the G560s really shouldn’t ship like this, and a manual control dial on the subwoofer would make the process of changing those levels much easier. I’m amazed that this passed Logitech’s quality control.

Once you’ve altered the bass to a more normal level, you’ll still get an over-the-top kick to music, movies and games, but I’d wager that the average gamer would be quite content with the sound signature.

It isn’t one for purists, and if you primarily listen to music then there are better alternatives out there. However, it’s great for games as gunfire and explosions sound all the more moving thanks to the rumbling lows. If you live in a thin-walled home, though, I’ll add that these speakers will almost certainly cause issues with the neighbours.

A rather odd issue that I’ve also encountered in USB mode is that the volume controls don’t work as smoothly as they should. On occasion, the volume steps up in tiny increments, but at other times it raises in significant jumps. For instance, setting 12 is a little quiet for my tastes, yet 14 is way too loud. Setting 13, meanwhile, is identical to 14. This makes it very difficult to achieve the perfect volume – and is very frustrating when trying to make quick adjustments to the audio.

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There’s also an infrequent issue with static interference caused by the Bluetooth, where turning on the speakers will introduce an audible buzz. It’s easily rectified by turning the speakers off and on again, but it’s no less frustrating.

Logitech G560 Speakers – Software and RGB lighting

The G560s are controlled via the Logitech Gaming Software, which, while simple enough to navigate, perhaps isn’t as feature-rich as Corsair’s CUE. There are plenty of controls to the sound signature (including the much-needed ‘Drop The Bass’ preset), and you can adjust the RGB lighting to match the colour scheme of your preference.

The lighting itself is super-bright and colourful, and while there are numerous standalone effects from which to choose, things get interesting upon enabling in-game integrations.

These allow the speakers to be controlled from the game you’re playing, opening up a whole new range of possibilities. Some are bright, obnoxious and impractical, but there are some real gems; my personal favourite is Smite’s cooldown timer effects, which visually display when an ability is ready to be used.

My biggest complaint is that all of this can be quite distracting, and while photographs and YouTube videos will make it look incredible, in practical terms, it isn’t quite where I’d like it be to be.

For instance, I love having soft white bias lighting behind my monitor, but I’d also want to relay useful feedback from in-game events. The number of supported games is growing, but currently there’s no drill-down level of control to lift this from gimmicky to invaluable.

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Why buy the Logitech G560 Speakers?

The Logitech G560s are clearly a very targeted product. Having flashing RGB lights that far surpass any keyboard or mouse is certainly going to garner much attention. It’s a shame, then, that Logitech appears to have made some fundamental mistakes that could have been avoided with a little more user testing. A software update can likely fix many of the problems.
Then there’s the high price tag. Although this could be considered somewhat reasonable for this rather unique package, there’s certainly better audio quality available at this same price.

Having said all that, the G560 does get plenty right. If you’re in the market for some powerful and compact speakers that will add flare to your gaming setup, then the Logitech G560 Lightsync Speakers are an excellent option.

Verdict

Bright, bold and bassy – the G560s sure do pack a punch.

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