Just for a bit of fun, we couldn’t help but have a play around with some of the effects buttons and, whilst they were definitely a bit of fun, they are most certainly just a bit of novelty.
We were largely streaming lossless FLAC from TIDAL, which sounded generally great, but even with the lower bitrate of Spotify there was little to complain about, although the lack of lower end detail in the more compressed material was quite easily revealed. That’s not to say it’s only suitable for the likes of dance - or other bass heavy – music but the 1XBT does lack a bit of nuance in the mid-range to make it suitable as a true audiophile device. Push it somewhat harder and the GTK-1XBT begins to make much more sense and it’s more than capable of filling a room with floor shaking bass that, price point considered, is pretty tight and fast. Obviously that’s not what it’s designed to do and the presence of a cooling fan, within the unit, does somewhat detract from that pursuit but at least it’s not all bling and bluster. To the right hand side are an additional set of controls, with pride of place given to a very large volume dial, but there are some EQ presets and effect buttons present too.ĭespite its looks, the 1XBT is capable of quite a refined performance and operates well at lower listening levels.
Below the playback controls is an NFC (Near Field Communication) tag for instant Bluetooth pairing with compatible phones and tablets. Assuming the horizontal position, there are a simple set of control buttons, at the front, top-right, and a funky triangular display panel just above that. The tale of the tape reveals a W x H x D of 756 x 306 x 371cm and you can obviously transpose width and height measurements when it’s vertically orientated. Despite the relatively enormous proportions, it is actually quite lightweight, coming in at round 14Kg, so it’s easy enough to cart around. Well, we say the top surface but since the 1XBT can be positioned vertically, too, it’s also the side. In fact, you could almost make it a piece of furniture, in its own right, and sit on the thing if it weren’t for the fact the top surface slopes. It didn’t look this big on my 17-inch monitor that’s for sure, so be cautioned that this is not a wireless speaker you’re going to want/be able to sit on a kitchen work surface, bedside unit or window sill. As said above, this is a very sizeable item and, I’ll be frank, it took me aghast upon delivery.
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