X-Mini MAX II XAM7-R Portable Capsule Speakers, Red

June 2011 update: Uh-oh! they have stopped working! I need to double check them, but last night they stopped working on my kid's laptop. When I have time I will try to figure out why (I made sure the usb portion of the cables was hooked up right, the power switches were on, and the minijack cable was plugged snugly into the "speaker output" not the "microphone input" jack. Nothing but a hum; sound from built in laptop speakers is fine, once I pulled out the minijack cable to allow the built-in speakers to take priority. I substituted in the mono iHome speaker I also have and it is working fine now, so it isn't a laptop issue. Hmmm....___________________These are simply NOT "awesome" speakers.But they ARE simply awesome SMALL, PORTABLE speakers.Look, for sub-$40 you aren't going to get media-pc speaker quality (I am thinking low-end 2.l systems from Creative, for example).But who can haul around a 2.1 system?I can't even haul around the typical computer monitor satellite speakers that come with desktop computers.But guess what? These truly dinky battery powered speakers have 80% of the sound quality of good quality satellite speakers. They cost less. And they don't require a wall-wart or other power supply which would make carrying more difficult - they can power off your netbook's USB port if you are using them with a portable computer, or they are completely battery powered (once you charge them), for use with an iPod or MP3 player.They claim the signal to noise ratio is 80db. That is probably right, because they hiss when there is no audio being fed to them. But with audio coming through, the hiss is inaudible.They are so small, including the cable (combo USB charger and speaker cables), that you could stuff one in a jacket pocket. They come with a small pouch with a locking toggle. It is easy to accidentally move the sliding power switch on either unit, so stick a piece of tape over those switches if you don't want to accidentally discharge the battery.Audio is fed into the speakers by the typical iPod sized audio jack, not by the USB cable (don't let use of the USB cable for charging, or the use of mini USB cable ends for feeding the audio to each satellite, fool you). Therefore these can be used with any device (netbook, iPod, MP3 player) with a headphone jack. The cabling is light and thin.BEST USE is for non-critical background listening to music when you don't want to use earphones; or sharing a movie. These sound MUCH better than the speakers in any of our portable DVD players, and of course most music players don't have built-in speakers (and the Touch speaker is small and tinny).Mid-range tones, voices are great. Bass and treble are acceptable in this size speaker.If you use these to replace larger speakers on your desktop, you won't be thrilled. If you take them along for travel - and they are actually small and light enough to do this - you will be a happy camper.

The first pair I got of these, one of the speakers had strong constant feedback and the light was purple (blue and red at the same time; it should be either blue or red. It never charged, or worked well. So I ordered a second pair and listened to the one working speaker waiting for the second pair. When the new pair arrived I packed up the old one and popped open the new only to find that it had a defective cable, so I unpacked the first set, swiped the cable and sent back the bad speakers and the bad cable. Now that these two sets make one good set, well, I'm pretty happy.I wanted to test the base so I dug through my music to find some hip hop (more difficult than you might imagine) and checked it out. Pretty good. It's not exactly true sounding bass, but it is good and for tiny speakers, they give a good thump. Next on to Ella. Her voice rings through clear and the instruments are equally as clear and pretty crisp. Then I popped on Johnny Cash, Tennessee Flat Top Box. This song is split over the stereo channels: guitar on the right channel and rhythm on the left. I loved it! It sounded great! You can really pick up on the directionality designed into these. Pause. (Okay, I need to put this in perspective: I've been listening through my macbook pro speakers for two months.) Last I tried some classic rock and although not spectacular sounding, they hold up pretty good.In general, i feel the sound is a little twangy with lots of treble, but what do you expect with itsy bitsy speakers. You can certainly pick up the rhythm section in songs well.I purchased these for my computer, not to carry around. Honestly they don't seem super durable. I would expect them to break within the year. Hopefully sitting on my desk most of the time, they will last a bit longer.Sound Four stars, Quality two stars