The Logitech Speaker Z623’s tapered satellite design looks smart and feels very rigid, which bodes well for audio performance. All of the cables sprout from the subwoofer, where they’ll be out of sight. Meanwhile, an umbilical cable joins the sub and right satellite, placing the controls, plus a headphone out and auxiliary input, on the right satellite for easy access.
A THX logo sits proudly at the top of each speaker, but this doesn’t mean much. THX isn’t a format, just a quality assurance scheme, and judging by the questionable quality of some THX-certified kit we’ve seen, the criteria for certification are suspect.
Our only major grumble with the Z623’s design is that the headphone output is on the weak side. We had to turn the main volume knob up to its maximum level to get decent sound from our headphones, and that risked blasting our ears to kingdom come when unplugging them again to send the signal back to the speakers.
Still, blasts of loud volume are qualities that the Z623 is pretty good at delivering. The subwoofer didn’t quite manage trouser-flapping levels of bass, but explosions sounded good. The satellites also delivered cracks of gunfire with plenty of gusto. Surround sound is better than stereo for an enveloping gaming and movie experience, but for those who can’t be bothered with the clutter, this set delivers when it comes to sheer girth.
The satellites positively sparkled with high frequencies in our music test, but the bright top-end revealed a slightly gritty, distorted response. It didn’t inflict much harm to rock music, but dance tracks and gentler forms of music sounded a little coarse. We also found that the subwoofer sounded slightly congested. There was plenty of punch in the low frequencies, but it wasn’t as focused as we’d expected. On the upside, the frequencies between these two extremes were smooth and balanced, and overall, the sound quality was far from disappointing.
Conclusion
Logitech’s speaker system immediately impresses for sheer volume, as well as high- and low-frequency response, but we can’t help feeling that it doesn’t fully deliver on its promises. It’s good – but not as good as it thinks it is, and those upgrading from a high-quality 2.1 set such as Logitech’s own X-230 or Z-4 might not hear much improvement. Still, if you prefer big and boisterous, rather than refined and silky, the Z623 hits the spot, and it’s one of the better 2.1 PC speaker sets we’ve heard.
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