OXS Thunder Duo X speakers review – Powerful, subwoofer-free surround sound

Are you looking for a bass-heavy, surround-sound system, without the bulk of a subwoofer? That’s where the Dolby Atmos-enabled OXS Thunder Duo X comes in. And, audio power aside, it boasts enough RGB lighting to turn your TV stand into a mini-rave.

OXS has been a little sneaky; with three drivers in each speaker, two forward facing, one upward facing, it seems they’ve split the subwoofer’s oomph between the two units. Setup is relatively easy; unlike some speakers, the OXS Thunder Duo X setup comes with a power brick but it’s not much of a space hog. The main speakers are connected by a modified USB-C end, which led to me trying to plug it into the Duo X’s other USB socket, but thankfully there wasn’t any kind of explosion.

And while their outer housing is plastic (as confirmed by a quick tap) there’s nothing cheap or nasty about the OXS Thunder Duo X; they’re super-sleek and gorgeous to look at. And if the RGB lighting does offend your eyeballs you can, on top of tweaking its music-reactive patterns, disable it entirely.

The speakers are, by necessity, taller than some, measuring 7″ x 8.5″ x 10.9″, so, as I discovered, you’ll want around 9 inches of space either side of your TV. Connectivity is via HDMI, Bluetooth, optical and USB-C, though there’s no AUX in.

Spec-wise, the two main speakers belt out 110W RMS with a 220W peak. I regret testing them out with Subnautica – Ghost and Reaper Leviathans have never been so terrifying. Dolby Atmos/surround sound support (depending on which game you’re playing or movie you’re watching) comes from a third, rechargeable neck speaker. You actually can buy the setup without this speaker, the Thunder Duo, but it’s worth having.

At 20 watts, it doesn’t have the kick of the main speakers but, perched behind you, you’ll be in no doubt when something is sneaking up behind you. Movie-wise, it gave Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith’s opening scene a major boost, making me feel I was in the middle of the battle, Jedi and Vulture Droids soaring around me.

However, there’s room for improvement in the way it’s designed. The neck speaker is clearly designed to be strapped to a gaming chair. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t manage to wear it, and so placed it behind me on the sofa. If your sofa isn’t up against the wall, I can see that being an issue. You’ll get around eight hours of battery life out of the neck speaker, which is fine if you disable it when you’re not in need of surround (music, non-surround media etc).

When it comes to sound quality, it’s hard to fault the OXS Thunder Duo X. No matter how bass-y your game or movie’s soundtrack gets, there’s zero muddiness or distortion. Higher up the range, audio is excellent and vocals are crisp and clear.

Directional sound is top notch and even without the neck speaker enabled, you’ve got a 3.1.2 Dolby Atmos setup, with excellent audio separation. And, despite the plastic casing, rattle was a non-issue.

That said, you will want to switch equalizer modes and, preferably, fine tune its settings if you’re playing music. There’s no mobile app but you do get a PC-based program that requires you to plug a USB-C cable into the speakers.

Speaking of plugging things in, I’d love for the OXS Thunder Duo X to have had a headphone output, for those times when the rest of the neighbourhood is sleeping. But, Sound Blaster Katana V2X aside, I appreciate that’s a rarity.

With a price of £549/$549, the OXS Thunder Duo X isn’t cheap, even if you drop the neck speaker. But, blending top-notch room-filling audio with stylish looks and seriously striking RGB effects, it’s a worthy investment if you’re looking to boost the sound and appearance of your gaming setup.

With thanks to OXS for providing us with a review unit to facilitate this article.