Vagabond Synth Nerd’s Journal Vol. 76 - Purchased from Sound House! This time we are talking about speakers!

■ Glass Sound Speakers are Unexpectedly Good! Highly Recommend!

Previously, I talked about the Profit analog synthesizer, TAKE5, which I purchased from Sound House.
This time I would like to talk about the Sony Glass Sound speakers I purchased in late January.
My motivation for speakers is not that high. I don't willingly write reviews like this one. I have no backing from Sony (haha). I have purchased Bluetooth speakers and other products made by Anchor on the Internet (they weren't bad), but I have not come across a product that I thought was anything to run home about.
What made me decide to review a Bluetooth speaker that is all over the place…?
But first, here are some pictures to give you an idea of what the Sony Glass Sound speakers are like.

SONY / LSPX-S3

Sony Glass Sound Speakers LSPX-S3
*Source: Sony Glass Sound Speakers website

■ Is this the speaker?

Everyone may ask, “Is this even a speaker?” You may think so. It has an interesting shape that looks like a lamp or a lantern. Of course, it also functions as a lamp.
The flickering light “candle light mode” can be dimmed to three levels: high, medium, and low. The light flickers in time with the sound like a candle flame. There is also a music-linked function that changes the flame with forte or piano music. This is excellent! When placed in a dark room, it has a certain dramatic effect.
The color temperature of the light is set low at about 2500 Kelvin (color temperature unit), which is the same as that of a naked light bulb. Humans feel at ease in light with a low color temperature. It is the same as the feeling of calmness we get from watching a sunset. On the other hand, fluorescent light has a color temperature of about 4000 Kelvin that is a bluish-white light. Fluorescent lights are used in offices and buildings and the like, and although it has high intensity, it is not a comforting light.
In this sense, the light function of this speaker is well attuned. It also works well as lighting.
The dimmer can be set to music, but the normal lighting mode that does not blink can also be set to light or dark. It is also considered to be a lighting fixture. If you set it to the brightest setting, it will be quite bright, which is very convenient. The design is sophisticated, so it looks good in a living room. It is also reasonably heavy and has a luxurious feel. The drawback is that it is a little difficult to hold.

I first heard of the Glass Sound speaker three years ago. Intoxicate is a free magazine published by Tower Records, and it has a wide variety of content such as CD reviews, articles on specific artists, audio introductions, and more. From there, I read an article on Glass Speakers.
The glass speaker model featured in the article was one generation earlier than the one I purchased and was the shape shown on the left side of the photo. It was a little more expensive than the LSPX-S3. There was a demo shown in Shibuya Parco, and I was about to listen to the sound. Since background music was also playing inside the store, I couldn’t form an opinion on the sound at the time.
There was no big difference in design, but the S2 had a nipped-in design under the glass tube.

Glass Sound Speaker LSPX-S2 / Glass Sound Speaker LSPX-S3
*Source: Sony Glass Sound Speakers website

■ The Most Crucial Part is the Sound…

Now, the sound is key here. Sony's Glass Sound speakers are based on Sony's original technology.
This lamp-like speaker has a glass tube with a tweeter that produces high frequencies. The lower part of the glass tube glows with a lamp. The lower part of the glass tube is a speaker that produces mid-bass sound. The bottom part, which changes color, is a passive radiator that enhances the bass.

Sony has been developing Glass Sound speakers for quite some time, and they released a high-end speaker called Sountina in 2008 at 1,050,000 yen per unit. So, this Sountina is the first GlassSound speaker; the LSPX-S1 was released in 2016 for about 95,000 yen. They then released the LSPX-S2, and the LSPX-S3, which I purchased and it appears to be one complete product.
It is absolute bliss for users to be able to purchase a speaker technology that has been refined and improved to over a million yen, and it now can be purchased at the price of 30,000 yen.

*Source: Sony Glass Sound Speakers HP

In fact, the sound quality from the entire speaker was better than I had expected. When I connected the speakers via Bluetooth and played the sound, it was a well-balanced and voluminous sound.
My living room is about 24.3m2 in size and I have a cajon in front of the CD case on the wall and placed the Glass Sound speakers on top of it to produce sound.
So far, I have been listening to sound through Yamaha NS1000M speakers. Of course, the Glass Sound speakers are much smaller than the 1000M, so the sound volume is completely different.
However, the sound quality was richer than one would expect from its size for a living room sound.
I had previously purchased a similarly shaped Chinese lantern speaker, but the level of sound was completely different from that of the similarly shaped Chinese lantern speaker.
However, although the Sony Glass Sound speakers come from a small speaker, the sound spreads throughout the room and has a sense of volume that makes it hard to believe that the sound is coming from such a small speaker. While listening to the sound, there is no narrow sense of volume coming from a small tube.
This is what Sony calls the “Circle Sound Stage".
Generally speaking, two speakers are placed in front of each other and sound best when listening close to the front center.
On the other hand, Glass Sound speakers have an acoustic structure that spreads sound evenly and horizontally from where they are placed, which I believe allows sound to circulate throughout the room.

The sound image has a three-dimensional effect and the bass is so rich that the top panel vibrates when placed on a table. A 24.3m2 size living room is no problem.

When charging, the AC adapter used to charge my iPhone did not provide enough power to fully charge the device. I used a commercially available 15W type adapter that solved the issue. The manual does not provide details on this issue, so I think Sony needs to improve the manual in this area.

Glass Sound Speaker LSPX-S3 on a cajon

■ The Glass Sound speakers are unexpectedly great!

I feel that it’s not that expensive considering that I purchased a useful speaker along with a light fixture. As I mentioned above, I listen to music with this speaker on top of my cajon. I feel that the sound of the speaker is transmitted to the cajon and the sound becomes richer. It is the same effect as when you play a piano and the whole piano box rings.
I highly recommend this product as a unique product, especially for music listeners, as the light intensity can be set to match the sound.
It also has a hands-free call function, which is a powerful tool for remote work.

■ The LSPX-S3 Glass Sound Speaker has also won a prestigious award!

The LSPX-S3 Glass Sound Speaker was selected as the winner of the 2022 VGP Award in the ¥35,000-¥60,000 Bluetooth speaker category by critics and others, which is a very prestigious award given annually to “must-buy” products in the AV field.

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