LG and Will.i.am partner on new Xboom speakers and earbuds
My only issue is they didn't call one of the speakers the "Xboom-Boom-Pow"
🔊 LG has refreshed its line of Xboom speakers and earbuds
🎧 The company partnered with Will.i.am to improve Xboom’s approach to sound quality
👀 There are four brand new speakers and a set of super-tiny earbuds
📅 All of these devices will launch in 2025
LG is revamping its line of Xboom speakers at CES 2025, and it brought in someone special to help out. The company partnered with Will.i.am, who’s been no stranger to the tech scene over the years, to serve as its “Experiential Architect” to help lead the way when it comes to sound profile, design, and brand marketing. The result is four speakers and a pair of earbuds that, for lack of better words, seem to bring the Xboom-Boom-Pow.
LG Xboom speakers hands-on at CES 2025
My favorite speaker out of the new lineup is the Grab, a mid-size portable speaker with a cylindrical design that can easily fit anywhere from cup holders to your backpack. It comes with straps so it’e easy to connect to your bag or carry around, and it’s IP67 certified with military-grade drop protection.
The speaker comes with 20+10W speakers that produce solid sound quality with a wide sound stage. I heard a demo at LG’s pre-briefing for press at CES and it seemed pretty impressive. LG includes a few AI features for optimizing sound quality automatically, as well as syncing up the RGB light strip on the bottom with your music. You can play music for up to 20 hours with the Grab, and it recharges over USB-C.
The smallest speaker out of the lineup is the Rock, which is similar to the size of the JBL Clip or Marshall Willen. It comes with a similarly durable design and a 5W speaker that kicks out some impressive sound quality for its size. It comes with up to 10 hours of battery life, IP67 certification, and drop protection.
The Bounce is a more premium option that takes on a higher-end design, but is still plenty durable with IP67 and drop protection. It comes with more powerful 30+10W high-frequency speakers for improved stereo separation and louder volume. The result is a speaker that, in my demo, could easily fill a room with punchy, lively audio. It, too, comes with AI features for optimizing audio quality.
In addition, the Bounce can last up to 30 hours on a full charge and ships with similar RGB lights.
Then there’s the Stage 301, LG’s newest Xboom party speaker. Its durable design is ideal for lugging around with you, while it’s also capable of attaching to tripods to give your music a little height. It has all the party speaker essentials like karaoke support and RGB lighting, as well as audio quality that sounds exactly like what you’d expect from a speaker of this caliber.
LG uses 120W drivers that deliver sharp audio quality with punchy bass and a ton of volume. In my demo, LG played the speaker at around 50 percent volume and it was already really loud, so I can imagine having one or two in a room would create the perfect party atmosphere. It comes with the same AI tricks to optimize audio quality, 11 hours of playback time, and an IP54 certification.
All four of these speakers support Party Link by Auracast, and they’ve each been optimized by Will.i.am for a more consistent sound profile, even at higher volumes. We’ll have to test these speakers for ourselves to know how big a difference these optimizations make.
LG has also announced the XBoom Buds, a new set of mid-range earbuds that are super tiny and designed to fit comfortably in your ears. The buds come with graphene drivers for improved audio quality compared to other earbuds, as well as Active Noise Cancellation. There’s multi-device support for connecting to two devices at once, up to 10 hours of battery life with ANC turned on and 20 without, and an IPX4 certification for sweat resistance.
We’re still waiting for LG to announce pricing and release dates for this new lineup, but that should come sooner than later. Stay tuned.
Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop.