Chill Pill speakers: small size, big sound

SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
edited January 2010 in Science & Tech

Comments

  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited December 2008
    I should very much like to have these. The speakers on my MacBook are pathetic.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited December 2008
    Its on my Christmas list.
  • AnnesAnnes Tripped Up by Libidos and Hubris Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited December 2008
    Small, portable, non-shitty speakers you say? I'm in.
  • DrLiamDrLiam British Columbia
    edited December 2008
    My classmate showed these to me last year and I got to say I was impressed. Very handy to take to school so you can play sound from a networked computer for an entire study group.
  • edited December 2008
    Thanks for a great synopsis about a very interesting product.
    I would like to address on point mad in the article, however.

    The article states: ... "in testing we found that particularly high volumes did result in both distortion and greatly reduced battery life..."

    What's the point? Did the reviewer expect the system to reach a certain maximum volume and not distort and not get any louder? Or continue to get ever louder? There is almost no way around this behavior in an amp/speaker system. The real question is how loud did the system play before the onset of distortion. Was it sufficient? From your description, it sounds like it was sufficient.

    Increasing the output volume of any amp/speaker system will eventually lead to distortion. It is inevitable (assuming the gain is linear), because the system can't continue to play louder. Some systems limit the max gain to hide their max output level limit, but this means a low average level audio source will not achieve high enough levels. Some audio source levels will be too low, no matter what the standards are supposed to be. Not playing loud enough with a low audio source can't be fixed, while backing off the gain will eliminate the distortion as described.
    The speaker designers could have put a compressor circuit in (essentially, non-linear gain). This gets you better max output behavior. Its a good solution for speakers like this, but seldom employed. And for most people, using your ear to recognize the max output limit is sufficient.

    As for battery life...sound volume increases aren't linear. You need ten times the power to get double the apparent output volume. Therefore, play it loud and you'll drain the battery really quick. There is no speaker system design that drains the battery only twice as much for twice the increase in volume (sigh).
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2008
    I think the point that the author was trying to make is that users can't expect quality reproduction at exceptionally high volumes. Though this is a fairly "duh" thing for small speakers and headphones, it's still worth pointing out to users who love to crank the volume with the assumption that a quality product means distortion-free reproduction.
  • MochanMochan Philippines
    edited March 2009
    I have the X-MIni speakers
    http://www.gadgenista.com/2008/01/31/gadgenista-review-x-mini-capsule-speaker/

    And they have the X-Mini Max speakers which are exactly like these ones. I wonder which company did them first, anyway? I've seen like 4 different brands of this design. The X-Mini sounds better than the other models I've seen, but I haven't heard this particular brand.

    They sound decent for the size but frankly they are just a last-resort emergency speakers when you just need to have sound around you and have no better options.

    In other words, they sound like crap. But that's fine nobody was expecting monster sound from them.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    I just took mine on a road trip with me and they did pretty well for just in the car because it had no aux audio input and I used them when I was hiking back out of the Grand Canyon....worked well enough. I charged them in December and used them for about 6 hours over a week and they haven't died yet after sitting charged for almost 4 months.
  • MochanMochan Philippines
    edited March 2009
    For a hike I would recommend headphones over these anyday, more portable and easier to use on the go with far better sound quality.

    I should also warn people not to have false expectations of the bass; while it's true that the expanding bass chamber design does improve the bass reproduction *marginally* the tiny capsule doesn't even come close to reproducing the kind of lowend you'd hear from a typical set of bookshelf speakers, much less that of an actual sub. In other words, don't expect miracles and the marketing hoopla about the bass chamber is just that... Hoopla.
  • edited January 2010
    i checked on ebay and i got mine for 30 . way better that that deal, but great and legit video, mine works awesome
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