Review: Sony LF-S50G Speaker (with Google Assistant)

Growing up, my black and faux woodgrain GE Digital Alarm Clock Radio was essential. I trusted it to tell me the time and make sure I wake up each and every morning—regardless of how many times I pressed its 9 minute snooze.

Time has not been kind to that, now-vintage alarm clock. Somehow, it still does what it was designed to do, but in the last decade, my phone has taken all of its responsibilities. It now sits under my nightstand, wrapped in its own power cord like a straitjacket. So, when I unboxed Sony’s new Google Assistant-powered smart speaker, one with a simple digital clock on its side, I felt a pang of nostalgia. I knew just the place for it.

Like other Google Assistant devices, setup of this Sony speaker is simple. The voice prompts tell you to download the Google Home app, you say a few “Hey Google”s, and you’re off to the races. Say a voice command and Google will reply. Like every Google speaker, four dots appear on the front when it hears you. If you venture into the Google Home app, you can set it up so an audible tone plays, too. I prefer the audible alert, so I don't have to look at my speaker when I'm talking to it.

Google Assistant works well with music apps like Spotify and has become my favorite voice assistant in the last few months thanks to its ability to answer odd questions more reliably than Amazon’s Alexa. On the other hand, if you have an extensive smart home setup already, with lots of smart lights, switches, and appliances, you’ll want to check to make sure they're compatible. Alexa still has a leg up on compatibility, despite the brewing battle between the tech giants.

The LF-S50G doesn’t put out the best audio on the market, but it’s good enough that you can listen without wishing you had sprung for something better. Unlike many speakers its size, Sony uses only one upward facing speaker driver, which is reflected outward in all 360 degrees. A subwoofer sits above it, also pushing its bassy beats downward in all directions. This is nice. No matter which direction the speaker faces, it always sounds about the same. But since you always want to face the clock anyway, it’s a little unnecessary, and does make the overall sound a little airy and the slightest bit fuzzy compared to similarly-priced speakers like the Sonos One or JBL’s Link 20 speaker with Google.

Sony

Then again, its airiness does make some music feel more ‘live’ in an odd way, if that’s your thing. A few times, I used it for playing white noise at night. It sent me to sleep with rain sounds and fan noises quite well.

The LF-S50G worked so well as my talking bedroom clock companion that I didn’t really read its instruction manual for the first few weeks. There are no visible volume or play/pause controls on it, which is odd, but I figured it was in the name of style and used the speaker purely using Google Assistant, which lets you set volume and play or pause your music easily enough with voice commands.

Every now and then I noticed it doing odd things. Portions of a ring would light up around the top when I touched it or put my hand over it, but I could never figure out how to do it consistently. After dredging the instructions out of the box, I realized Sony included gesture controls for play/pause, next/previous track, and volume to the LF-S50G. As soon as I tried to actually use them, I wished I hadn’t.

Here’s how it’s supposed to work: if you swipe your hand an inch or two above the speaker, from back to front, it’s supposed to trigger Google Assistant. Swipe from front to back and it should play or pause. Swipe from left to right to trigger the next track or the opposite way to go back a track. Finally, to change the volume, take your index finger and spin it around in a small downward circle clockwise or counterclockwise.

In practice, none of it works…at all. Let me be more precise: none of the gestures work consistently enough that they ever should have shipped in a product. Sure, sometimes when I twist my finger the volume will go up or down. More often, I'll spin my finger round and round several times before the volume finally goes down—either way too much or not nearly enough. The other gestures are more maddening. You have to move your hand at the perfect speed, distance, and direction to trigger the correct command. I love the idea of gestures, but I look back at the time I didn’t know they existed with envy—you'll be better off pretending this speaker has no controls at all.

This is as good a time as any to note that this is a plug-in speaker that’s splashproof, so it can work in the kitchen, as well. It has no battery, though it does have a Bluetooth button on the back for those days when you want to pair it to your phone old school.

Sony’s LF-S50G is a fine little speaker. It's just too bad that the digital clock display that gave me flashbacks to my old alarm clock comes with a side of poorly-executed gesture controls. For $200, this is a decent pick that's mostly worth its price, but it's up against better competition that you should probably scope out before settling.