Acoustics

Fan Noise and Thermals (Subjective)

Since the XPG XENIA 14 only has one fan installed, fan noise is minimal. Under the default configuration, the fan doesn't spin up until the system nearly throttles temperatures, which has it blast fresh air into the XENIA 14 until temperatures drop low enough. The only exception being the odd time you put the system under enough load to almost overheat it, this means you won't ever hear the fan in most use cases.

Speaking of heat, the XPG XENIA 14 returned fairly standard heat loads. The magnesium casing helps disperse the heat well, with the system only hot in the upper-right portion of the keyboard. Should you install a secondary SSD that runs warm, you'll feel it under your right palm, but with the configuration we received, we saw temperatures for the keys under our fingertips roughly peak at 43 °C in 22 °C ambient. The gaps between the keys were hotter, nearing 50 °C.

Subjective Audio Quality

Audio is one area where I'd like to see some improvement. Audio delivered by the XPG XENIA 14 sounded as you'd expect affordable laptop speakers to sound—tinny and hollow. Midrange and bass response were hugely lacking. Volume, however, was good, and I commonly found myself listening to the Xenia 14 with its volume at 16%–20% thanks to the complete absence of fan noise. Under gaming loads, I had to increase that a little bit, but was still rarely setting the volume control over 30%, and I was never adjusting it to overcome fan noise.

Combining the Two

With the fan only running under extreme loads, what we get from the XPG XENIA 14 acoustically seems over-designed, and not in a good way. I did find fairly large speaker assemblies within the unit, but was left asking myself what the point of those is with the audio so poor. The recently tested MSI Leopard showed great audio qualities, and my own 2019-model HP laptop even exceeds that MSI unit, which has this one really stand out as an under-performer, and my needing only 30% volume says something… that 70% of what the speaker is capable just won't ever get used by me personally, and no point in that range increases the audio quality to my ears. I'd rather be forced to 100% volume and get better sound.