My Brand New X-Mini Speakers

Let me see, I’ve had my current home PC set up for, um, since 2003? That’s a long time. So are the Sonic Gear speakers I got together with the PC.

I guess they’re okay as a first generation speakers, it looks good and works well. But the thing with speakers over time is that the sound gets less sharp, you get more feedback (and that annoying soft, hissing sound in the background especially when you turn the volume up). The other problem with my speakers is that the volume control is stiff. So stiff i can’t adjust it anymore, so i just leave it at max and control the volume using my desktop.

So i was pretty pleased to get my brand new X-Mini Capsule speakers in the mail last week (actually I received TWO different sets, but more on the other one later). The first one is the black X-Mini II (USD$29.90), definitely lives up to its ‘sound beyond size’ tagline. Its smaller than a tennis ball, fits in your palm but packs a powerful punch.

You can hook up multiple speakers like a daisy chain (using a retractable 3.5mm audio cable), but generally if you’re using a notebook, one will do. It comes with a volume control and USB port. It comes with a built in rechargeable battery that can last up to 11 hours.

The black is pretty cool.

The other speakers I got was the white X-mini Max II (USD49.90) double speakers, which is pretty much 2 for the price of one. It clicks magnetically like an egg, for easy storage. Good idea when you can share a spare speaker with a friend while surfing Wifi at the coffee place.

Twist the speakers and they pop up like a spring.

All in all excellent speakers – very portable, good acoustics, perfect for notebooks. But using it for my desktop also saves me plenty of precious table space. I even tried it with my old walkman and Discman, works fine. It also worked perfectly with my 15 year old Nintendo Gameboy, the music never sounded better.