I’ve been using the Sofabaton X2 universal remote for two weeks, and it’s the closest yet to replacing the Logitech Harmony

Ever since the demise of Logitech’s Harmony remotes, I’ve been looking for a suitable replacement to control my entertainment system. I’ve used Sofabaton’s previous remotes, as well as a few others, but the company’s latest Sofabaton X2 really comes the closest to replicating the gold standard.

It’s the best universal remote I’ve tested in recent years, with a solid aluminum design, backlit keys, and a small color touchscreen that makes it easier than ever to control your devices. More importantly, configuring the X2 to control all your devices is easier than ever. While there is still room for improvement — and this remote doesn’t come cheap — it’s the best you’re going to find short of a custom device.

Sofabaton X2 review: Price

The Sofabaton X2 went on sale on November 28, 2025. Its list price is $379, but at the time of its launch, it was on sale for $329 at Amazon and at Sofabaton's site. Regardless, that’s significantly more expensive than the X1S, which sells for $199.

The X2 infrared repeater costs $49, but was also on sale for $39. Sofabaton was also offering both as a bundle for $359.

Sofabaton X2 review: Design

As soon as I picked up the Sofabaton X2, I loved its updated design. Instead of the plastic build of the Sofabaton X1S, the X2 has a metal body, which makes it feel much more substantial. The aluminum body, coupled with the black buttons, make it look like an upscaled version of the Apple TV remote.

Its rounded edges make the remote very comfortable to hold, but it’s almost too slick. When I moved it around in my hand, the remote felt like it would slide out easily — in fact, it did, on a few occasions. It’s also fairly heavy too

The display at the top has seen an upgrade, too. It’s now a 2.4-inch touchscreen. Below that is a circular D-pad, and below that are the same buttons as on the X1S: Back, Home, Menu, volume and channel controls, and four color buttons (red, blue, green, and yellow). It’s just the right amount of physical control.

All of the buttons on the X2 are backlit, which I like, but the two touch-sensitive buttons just below the touchscreen (Back and a button to activate the keypad) are not, which makes them very hard to see.

Like its previous mode, the X2 remote can send signals via IR, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi directly to your entertainment center, or through the included hub, which has two ports through which you can attach IR repeater cables. Sofabaton is also releasing a separate repeater, which looks like a small orb, so that you can have it control devices in more distant rooms of your house, such as smart lights.

The remote can be charged via the cradle, but it also has a USB-C port on the bottom, so that you can simply plug in a wire. It’s a good belt-and-suspenders approach.

Sofabaton X2 review: Setup

As with any universal remote, setup is still a tedious affair. It took me a good 45 minutes or so to connect my Sony TV, Google TV Streamer, DishTV, Sonos Era 100, and Panasonic amp to the Sofabaton app and get all of the activities created.

Fortunately, the app provides multiple ways to get your devices set up. You can search for them by name in the Sofabaton app, have it learn your remote, or you can simply try to manually program it yourself.

Some of the steps felt redundant, and I was a little surprised that the information wasn’t in the database. For example, with devices that have multiple inputs, like my TV and amp, I had to specify which buttons I had to press to switch inputs, and whether or not the remotes had a single power button.

All that being said, I felt the process was a lot more explanatory than before, so while it will take you time, you won’t need an advanced degree to figure things out.

Sofabaton X2 review: Performance

After everything was set up and working, the X2 worked like a charm. It quickly switched inputs on my TV, changed the volume on my AV receiver, and switched channels on my Dish TV,

However, the X2 is not without its quirks. For instance, the touchscreen is populated with six icons: Devices, Activities, Sleep Timer, Settings, Sync, and Version. I feel like the latter three could all be rolled up into one, so that you could customize it to show your most-often-used activities.

Also, the font used for the Activities screen is too large, so unless you change the activity name to one word or something short, like “Watch TV,” the name scrolls back and forth endlessly.

One thing that’s missing from the X2 is a microphone, so it can’t fully replace remotes from Apple, Amazon, Google, and Roku, all of which let you issue commands using your voice. You can link the X2 to Alexa and Google, so that you can speak to a smart speaker and have it relay the commands to the remote, but it’s a more circuitous route.

Sofabaton X2 review: Smart home support

The X2 expands upon Sofabaton’s smart home capabilities, but it’s not quite there. You can now directly control Sonos, Roku, and Philips Hue devices from the remote, but, as I found with Philips Hue, it’s not as polished as Logitech’s Harmony remotes.

When I connected it to my Philips Hue hub, I had far too many lights and scenes for the X2 hub, so I had to pick whether I wanted individual lights, scenes, or groups. I chose lights and groups. From the X2’s touchscreen, I could then turn lights on and off, but it wasn’t very elegant. Instead of icons for each light, there were individual text buttons labeled things like “Basement light 2_On” and “Basement light 2_Off.” If you want to add controls to dim lights, it’s even more awkward, with labels such as “Bathroom light 50%Bri.”

You can also link the X2 to Alexa and Google Home, so you can say “Alexa, watch Chromecast,” and Amazon’s assistant will start the selected activity from your remote.

For those who are really into smart home control, you can also link the X2 to Home Assistant via MQTT, which is far deeper than I care to dive.

Sofabaton X2 review: Verdict

With each successive generation, Sofabaton’s remotes get closer and closer to perfection. With the X2, it’s now even easier to connect your home entertainment system together, and the remote itself has a more polished and refined design — possibly exceeding that of Logitech’s old plastic remotes.

However, the next real hurdle for Sofabaton will be with smart home and AI integration, which is still very limited. On my Harmony Elite remote, I could control almost any light in my house, and it even had dedicated buttons for that purpose.

And, as more of the best streaming devices are incorporating AI and voice commands to a greater degree, the next Sofabaton remote will have to include a microphone, though it might take some work to allow it to play nice with Alexa+ and Gemini.

Those look like the two main challenges for Sofabaton X2 to truly become the ultimate universal remote, but as it stands, it's already pretty great.