I’m a relatively new to the world of soundbars. We’ve had one in the living room for a couple of years, complete with sub-woofer and enough decibels to keep us all happy whatever we are watching.
Thanks to OXS, I now have a rather pleasing set up in my office/man cave. The Thunder Pro not only has a pretty impressive sounding name, it also delivers a pretty dramatic and efficient performance.
This premium sound bar is designed for gaming and delivers everything a serious gamer wants from a sound system. I say it’s a premium gadget because that is very evident as soon as you unbox, the build is pretty impressive and extremely sturdy with a hard plastic cover and metal mesh grill.
I was thankful for the fact that it looked very much a product for a gamer with subtle flashing lights all over the place – this meant my wife was very sure it wasn’t going in the living room and it was indeed being sent up to my office in disgrace.
It’s designed for a gamer’s desktop and it looks great when it gets going with bold lighting, but still managing to keep a bit of an ambient feel to it.
The connectivity options on the soundbar are vast, it has everything from HDMI, USB-A, USB-C, Optical. ARC, to Bluetooth and 3.5mm jacks. However you want to connect, you can.
It comes with a funky little rubberised controller but also has a brilliant little desktop controller dial that lets you toggle the bar on and off, change the equaliser and input, and also dial the sound up and down. So, we know it looks brilliant, we know it is fully flexible in terms of the connectivity, and we know my wife didn’t want it in her presence.
The main question of course is what does it sound like and does it warrant the rather hefty price tag that it comes with.
I was dubious about the bass levels and didn’t know what to expect, our current soundbar comes with a big square accompanying sub-woofer that has a right kick to it – there wasn’t one here.
Surprisingly this doesn’t seem to matter as the bar has two built-in sub-woofers which do indeed pack a punch of their own. The compliment an array of well placed speakers underneath, front facing and back and sides of the soundbar.
They handle music and gaming effortlessly with no distortion and crystal clear sound levels around treble and bass.
To say it does what it says on the tin is an understatement, this is a seriously powerful and functional piece of equipment that elevates your multimedia experience to pretty impressive levels.
It comes with what is described as a world first wireless neck speaker that acts as a satellite audio accompaniment to the sound bar, giving you a surround sound effect.
The neck speaker fits any gaming chair, and feels extremely comfortable with comfy material that has a silky, silicone style finish.
I loved this idea and I want to see it again, but I do think this is the area that lets the whole package down. The soundbar is pretty flawless, and I could never run out of superlatives to describe how great the sound and design is.
Unfortunately, I found the neck speaker to be a bit muffled and ineffective when gaming, although as time goes on I am getting used to the subtlety of the sound. It adds something, certainly, but I think I just expected something that complemented the power of the main speaker a bit more.
It definitely has more impact with music than it does with gaming, for example with a bit of Guns N’Roses on, the soundbar did it’s stuff with blistering sound, but behind me I could just hear a nice snare drum ticking away in the background. So. I did enjoy that.
The latency level between the neck speaker and the sound bar is really good, as is the latency between console/PC and the soundbar.
There’s an accompanying app for customising the lighting and tweaking the equaliser settings. As I said earlier, I am new to the soundbar world but I do know this is a top of the range gaming accessory and it boasts 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos built-in sound for a really high-level end result.
I love how it looks, how it sounds, and the functionality. The little dial controller is actually a brilliant little addition for the desktop.
I have no idea who affords one of these, I think perhaps very serious gamers and audiophiles, but it is very impressive. It is actually heaving with serious tech and if you know what you are looking for, the specifications list will tell you more than I ever could.
All I know is that for gaming it is perfect and it picks up every little click and background noise to a game and gives a very rich and vibrant sound experience.
The OXS Thunder Pro sound system is available via Amazon at £699.99.
Reviews
PC Gamer: Though it has tons of ways to shift the volume up and down, there’s a noticeable point where it goes from a slightly underwhelming speaker to a monstrous one. For this reason, it can almost be hard to recommend it as purely an under-monitor speaker. Its volume, size, and the remote controller actually make it a much better TV audio source. If you want to crank the OXS Thunder Pro, don’t sit in front of it as it gets so loud you get lost in the wall of sound. The smattering of drivers allows for 3D audio, meaning you can make out directional sound from where you’re sat. When it works just right, this is honestly a magical experience, even if it does start to lose its charm after a little while.
Insider Gaming: As a neck cushion, it’s close to flawless. It has a unique silicone covering that feels wonderful to the touch and has a nice cooling effect, and it’s ergonomic and comfortable in all gaming conditions, but the onboard speakers just aren’t it. It’s supposed to promote ‘3D surround sound’, but you can barely hear the speakers and they’re very tinny and underpowered.