OXS Thunder Lite Soundbar Review - Nice And Easy, With Caveats

Summary

• Compact and stylish gaming soundbar with multiple connectivity options for easy setup.
• Great for loud volume and clear audio reproduction, but leans towards treble over bass.
• Comes at a budget-friendly price of $150, ideal for those seeking a quality soundbar without breaking the bank.

I’ve always been a headphone guy. The gentle caress of a nice, firm pair of headphones, the freedom to listen to whatever I like without judgment, and the knowledge I’m not disturbing anyone else in the process all mean my ears are usually covered up.

But the OXS Thunder Lite soundbar might have moved me to the dark side. Maybe the world needs to know exactly how much I’m into Chappell Roan at the moment. Maybe they should hear every gunshot and boomer vomit in Left 4 Dead 2. Maybe I’m now a soundbar boy.

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Setup

Convenience is the name of the game with the Thunder Lite. As the name suggests, this is a smaller model than OXS’ other offerings, designed for compact gaming setups. Aesthetically it lacks the RGB and spaceship design of its more expensive siblings, but I like that. There’s an unassuming sleekness to it, with a full-body grill covering and the only lights being the buttons on top.

It's also ridiculously easy to set up. It can connect through 3.5mm jack, ARC, AUX, Optical, USB-C, or even Bluetooth, meaning no matter how convoluted or rat’s-nesty your gaming setup is, you’ll find a way to get it working. I’ve settled on a USB-C connection, although I may upgrade to an optical cable in the future, and it was as easy as plugging in the power cable, plugging in the USB-C, and enabling it on my PC’s sound options menu.

The included optical cable is really short and flimsy, it feels like it’d snap in half if I looked at it funny, so you may want to use your own instead.

Though I’d just laid it on my desk, it can be mounted as well, with standard soundbar mounting, so you could hook it up to your wall-mounted TV, or just fix it to a wall for a go-to, unobtrusive Bluetooth speaker if you fancied. The included remote lets you flick between sources too which, while not something I’d use as a one-device kind of guy, gives it flexibility alongside its ease of use.

Sound Reproduction

My go-to game for testing audio equipment is Left 4 Dead 2, as it has easily identifiable audio cues and a huge spread of tones, from the bass of a gunshot to the treble of a Spitter. With a peak output of 80 watts this thing can go much louder than I’d ever use it for, but the biggest sticking point is the sound quality itself.

With only two speakers, it can’t handle the surround sound. For music and film this isn’t a big problem unless you’re already accustomed to surround-sound setups.

For gaming, it’s more difficult, as the lack of even a virtual approximation of surround sound makes tracking targets through positional audio nigh-on impossible. For a game like Left 4 Dead, that’s the difference between successfully shooting a Hunter mid-jump and being ripped to shreds.

Audio reproduction is good, but not perfect. For this test, I use Go by The Chemical Brothers, Lone Digger by Caravan Palace, and Simply Beloved from Kingdom Hearts for a good sweep of genres and instruments, and across the board the OXS Thunder Lite seems to favour treble more than anything else.

It’s not a total washout; you can still hear the bass, and there’s good clarity between the tones, but there’s a definite favouritism towards the higher end of the scale.

The OXS Thunder Lite is the ‘budget’ entry in OXS’ offerings, coming in at just $150. If you care that much about the minutiae of sound quality to notice a slightly buried bass or the lack of a surround sound setup, you’re likely looking for something the Thunder Lite isn’t, and are willing to pay a heck of a lot more for it.

But if you’re in the market for a budget soundbar that pumps sound into your ears, sounds good enough while doing it, and gives your ever-deepening headphone skull dent a reprieve, then this is perfect for the job.

OXS Thunder Lite Gaming Soundbar

The OXS Thunder Lite is a compact soundbar designed with gaming in mind, whether on PC, through a TV, or even your phone. It features a range of connectivity options, including Bluetooth, ARC, USB-C, Optical, and 3.5mm.

• Small and stylish
• Easy to set up
• Loud volume

• Slight preference for treble
• Included optical cable is flimsy