Recently, I’ve noticed that I’ve been listening to a lot of music while sitting at my laptop, ever since I had to send my MP3 player to be repaired. Because of this, I’ve been kinda stuck with sub-par speakers on the laptop, especially because my good headphones were on loan to my sister to use for her watching of animations. So I recently have been sick and tired of trying to listen to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy or Megadeth and having them sound like they are a third rate band. I went looking around for decent speakers for my computer, with my audiophile friend, vdyll [not his real name] showing me several in the price ranges from $300 to $600 Canadian. While these would have been top end and names most of us know, I decided to drop about $60 Canadian on a pair of X-Mini MAX IIs from Amazon.com. This Friday past, they arrived and we had a chance to test them out over the weekend. To sum up what we thought of them in one word, that would would be ‘AMAZING’.
When I got them, the first thing I did after opening the box was charge them and take a photo of them. Below, you can see my poor photo of these speakers, believe me when I say there are better photos on their official site.
Left one is closed and off, right one is open and on.
Testing these speakers over at vdyll’s house proved to be no problem as his computer is literally wired from top to bottom as an audiophile’s paradise… and a neat freak’s nightmare. Once we found the right computer’s sound card to plug them in, the tests began. The first test was to see how loud we could make the volume before hearing any distortion in them. We had to turn up the volume of Windows to the max, the speakers to the max, and the bass to the max before we actually heard any distortion… and even then, it was minimal! The bass response was amazing, actually sounding better then most sound systems I’ve heard. However, to get this amazing response, you have to (obviously) have to have the speakers open and on. Otherwise, it will sound just as flat as normal speakers. The thing we also noticed about the bass was the fact that it didn’t try to modify it when it tried to enhance it. All the music we tried playing with it, from Swing to Rock to Metal to Pop, all of it sounded amazingly crisp and clear.
Then we came to the build of the speaker, which can be mighty important for laptop speakers. Both vdyll and myself agreed that it seemed that the X-Mini MAX II was designed extremely well: it feels like a hard rubber or something else equally as durable and feels quite well made. It also has a built in battery that charges via USB and plays via the 3.5mm plug, so it can work with any normal headphone jack. The only major complaint that we had was the fact that the cable was so short, but seeing as it was designed for MP3 players or laptops, it was to be expected. At the same time, another thing we noticed was the bass in them was so powerful, it was able to shake everything around it… though to me, that wasn’t much of a downside at all. To give these speakers a rating out of ten, it would definitely earn a NINE, for the size, the sound quality, the price… it’s definitely a steal! You can buy these speakers on their official site or other online retailers, but they really are amazing quality. They’re certainly out of this world, and I’ll be having a look at the X-mini II for my sister’s birthday in September!
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I own the first Xmini, then i got Xmini max pair (stereo version of Xmini), then i got Xmini II (bigger 2nd generation Xmini), and now I just got this Xmini max II pair (stereo version of Xmini II). All of which are original and not the imitations. I don’t own the latest “Xmini happy”.
With all of the capsules expanded, I’ve compared the sound quality. As expected, the Xmini max pair sounds like 2 Xminis, but with true stereo. Xmini II has a little more bass, but is not louder than a Xmini max pair.
Xmini max II pair DOES NOT sound like 2 Xmini II. The pair has a boost in the higher frequencies of about 2-7kHz in which a baby’s cry occurs at, giving a screechy “telephony” sound which is piercing to the ears. Because the human ears are most sensitive to high-mids (so that we can hear babies cry), this pair of speakers is noticeably louder, but I’d say it’s “irritatingly louder”.
If you ignore this boost in the highs, the Xmini max II pair would be just as loud as the Xmini II, despite the difference in size.
To make things worse, Xmini Max II pair does not have the retractable cables and volume control wheel, which can be found in the other models.
My favorite is the 1st gen Xmini II. It’s louder than a 2nd gen Xmini max and just as loud as the xmini max II without the irritating sharp sound. It has a warmer sound and it has retractable cables with volume control.
@KodrutZ, midrange sounded fine to me, but if you play them closed, the bottom/low end drops off. Otherwise, fine by our testing.
Hmm… I am only wondering about their capability to reproduce low frequencies, not to mention mid-range (my X-230 made me curse for a few hours when I got them, until I got the EQ settings right to get some mid-range in place, since they have indecently strong low-range capabilities for their size and price).
@Stephan, I tried that and it wouldn’t work.Sorry.
@KodrutZ, actually, gives them full respect and then some from what I noticed. The reason I gave them such a good review is because they worked extremely well. I know I’m not complaining about ANY quality at all, nor is vdyll, who actually tests and installs speakers for a living at present.
Saw Megadeth live about two weeks ago, in the same day with Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica!!! Now, I can die peacefully… or keep enjoying quality music with my good old Logitech X-230 speakers(about $65-70 new, I guess).
@Paul: I don’t think these cool speakers you got really allow you to enjoy Sweating Bullets or Symphony of Destruction as they should be enjoyed, really…
@Paul\HellNoire: Could you try if its possible to connect the Buddy-Jack socket directly to a laptop? I wonder if it can be used as audio in, too. I would like to use them with a longer cable, without any adapters.
@Elliott with the style I have, I’m afraid not. I think it’s if you only wanted to use one speaker.
Hi Paul, and thanks for the review. I now have a set of these sitting on my desk, which sound great when used with my netbook.
I do have a question, however.
With your set, did you get a really short cable with a 3.5 jack on the end, and on the other end the attachment that fits into the speaker?
The difference between this cable and the other one is that this one only fits into one speaker, where as the other, longer cable fits into both.
Do you know what this shorter cable actually does?
Cheers,
Elliott.
@X, I’m getting no kickback and I’d rather not start. I refused to be swayed by bribes. As for a contest, I’d have to get in contact with them, but it depends on them.
Well, probably thanks to you Amazon & other suppliers ran out of stock….
I hope you’re getting some kickback. If not, ask for it (and run a free giveaway contest).
@digish, this speakers r available on ebay.in for Rs.2.7k even i was thinking of buying one but wanted to see them in action before i buy.
MEGADETH!!! Dave Mustaine rocks!! lol
Nice review Paul.
Yea these speakers are great. I bought a pair of X-mini MAX, the first generation and it is absolutely amazing. When I first saw these speakers, they were being tested by playing the beginning of Transformer the movie, where the helicopter fly by and the sound quality was so life like it blew me away.
It is kind of sad to see that other company is trying to do a mockary of this product. If you go to the Apple store, you’ll be able to find something similar looking to this product but call the iHome. I believe they have a later copyright year than X-mini, so they came out after x-mini was first developed.
@Ahmad, like I said… my picture wasn’t very good.
@NIKKISLAYER7, the X-mini MAX II I bought were sold as a pair, but they do sell single speakers though. The only thing is though, these are laptop speakers… not meant to replace your desktop speakers.
@varunraj, high end, high price, well out of my price range. I was looking at some for about $450, really great quality.. but the price is too steep for me. As well, I couldn’t find any of theirs that were laptop speakers.
@digish, ask them via their official site, I’d assume so, seeing as they’re from Singapore.
Would they ship to India?
What about Altec Lansing?
Nice post Paul\HellNoire. I was looking at upgrading my current desktop speakers to something better. I’m glad i got a chance to see this post before I bought something. Ill give these speakers a shot. I have one question though, When you bought the speakers, did the company sell each speaker separate or together? (dumb question, but i wanted to make sure)
Keep up the great posts!
-NIKKISLAYER7
Nice review, but picture on official site is better, I think so they worth every penny you spend… Nice, I am not an audiophile, but I like these speakers… Regards…