X-Mini II portable speaker review

[steve_1979]

X-Mini II portable speaker review

 

[steve_1979]

Q. What is the best speaker system?

A. The one that you use and enjoy the most.

Going by that logic this little £12 speaker is the best hifi that I've ever heard. It consists of a little 40mm speaker with built in battery powered 2.5 watt amplifier. OK, it's mono only and it's never going to do deep bass or extract every last ounce of detail from your music but it does go surprisingly loud and deep for it's size and you can actually hear enough of the low frequencies to tell what the bass is doing. The quality's good for the price too and is a step up from the freebe speakers that come with computers. Everybody who's heard it has commented on how good it sounds and how loud it goes.

What makes it so great is how much use it gets. I use it every day at work, it's been camping with me, it's been used as a make shift car stereo, it gets used in the garden, the kitchen and even the bathroom. When it's not in use it folds up concertina style so that it only takes up two thirds of the space and comes in a little carry bag.

It has a built in battery that takes about two hours to charge by USB socket and it just seems to last forever. I usually get about fifty hours use out of it between charges. There's also a 3.5mm socket so that you can daisy chain them if you want more volume (though I doubt you'll need it).

So, there it is. If your looking for a portable speaker to use with your MP3 player or phone the X-Mini II is exellent. When I bought mine I wondered if I would ever use it. It now goes everywhere with me and gets about 30 hours use per week and I've bought a second one so that I can have one at work and one at home.

 

[Overdose]

Quite a nice product. I use the X-Mini Max IIs and in the context of small portable speakers, are quite good.

Their self contained battery gives them a good useage time and alleviates the battery of the mp3 device.

 

[steve_1979]

Those X-Mini Max II's look like they're designed to focus the sound in one direction unlike the X-Mini II's which are omnidirectional.

Are they stereo or just mono like the X-Mini II's?

 

[Overdose]

Stereo.

 

[bigboss]

Those X-Mini Max II's look like they're designed to focus the sound in one direction unlike the X-Mini II's which are omnidirectional.

Are they stereo or just mono like the X-Mini II's?

They are stereo & produce extra bass as compared to the X-minis. I use them while watching movies on my iPad & they're brilliant.

 

[steve_1979]

They are stereo & produce extra bass as compared to the X-minis. I use them while watching movies on my iPad & they're brilliant.

And only £30... Very tempting.

Who'd have thought that you can sufffer from upgradis even whith cheap portable speakers. :doh:

 

[bigboss]

I bought these for £17.99.

 

[bigboss]

Who'd have thought that you can sufffer from upgradis even whith cheap portable speakers. :doh:

You're more likely to suffer from upgraditis with cheap products.....as the price won't be a barrier in your decision.

 

[steve_1979]

The X-Max II's are tempting but not really worth it for me due to the circumstances of how I tend to use them (either at work with the whole office listening or with people sitting around the speaker in all directions). In these circumstances there's no point having a pair of stereo speakers because everyone is usually in the wrong place to get any sort of stereo image so a single omnidirectional mono speaker is more compact and convenient.

The extra bass of the X-Max II's would be a welcome bonus though. I wish that they made a slightly larger version of the mono X-mini II's with a bit more bass.

 

[Overdose]

I'll be in a position to compare the two, back to back tomorrow evening. If I get the chance, I'll report back on the differences.

 

[steve_1979]

I'll be in a position to compare the two, back to back tomorrow evening. If I get the chance, I'll report back on the differences.

Much appreciated. Thanks.