Logitech Z-320 2.0 speakers review

Logitech’s Z-320 2.0 speakers, like many of the company’s other Z-series speakers, have two speakers in each satellite – one facing forward and one back – to project sound round the room. You’d be forgiven for dismissing this as a gimmick, but it is surprisingly effective at making music audible no matter where you are in a room, which can be useful for parties or presentations.

For more private listening when you’re at your PC, there’s an easy-to-reach headphone socket on the side of the right satellite, as well as a volume dial that doubles as the power switch when turned all the way down.

As expected for a 2.0 set of speakers, the bass sounded weak due to the lack of a subwoofer. Bass-heavy music, such as rock, sounded limp and unsatisfying. Nonetheless, we’re used to generally good sound quality from other Logitech speakers so we were surprised by the poor sound of the Z-320. Vocals in pop songs and operatic arias sounded very muddy and indistinct. Subtle details, such as backing vocals and instruments, were lost, especially in electronic music. Jazz and blues sounded reasonably clear, if a little too airy, but distorted very heavily and far too easily at high volumes.

The captive cables connecting the satellites to your computer, as well as the cable between the satellites, are both around 1.7m in length, which should be enough to position them around your computer to your liking. As expected for a pair of speakers this cheap, there’s only one 3.5mm input, but that should be enough for most. For more private listening, there’s a socket for connecting a pair of headphones for more private listening.

Logitech’s Z-320 speakers are an improvement over most built-in laptop and monitor speakers and very cheap at just £30. However, unless you really don’t have room for a subwoofer, the poor sound quality isn’t worth bearing with. Logitech’s similarly priced X-230 2.1 set of speakers are much better value due to their consistently high quality sound.