Choiix Boom Boom Review

Propane - 2010-07-31 08:58:41 in Speakers/Headphones
Category: Speakers/Headphones
Reviewed by: Propane   
Reviewed on: August 2, 2010
Price: TBD

Introduction:

Pretty much everyone that owns a laptop is willing to admit that either the sound quality out of it isn't the greatest, it's not very loud, or both. The Choiix Boom Boom looks to solve these problems by giving it's users a stand-alone unit with sound quality in mind as well as being portable. While the concept of mobile speakers has been around for a long time, they were usually quiet or poor quality due to only being powered by batteries or having no power at all. The Boom Boom, on the other hand, is powered by USB, so you know you won't have a draining power source to deal with. Will the Boom Boom be able to surpass the quality of most laptops? Let's find out.

 

Closer Look:

The packaging that the Boom Boom comes in is cardboard and shows an image of the speaker on the front and sides. On the back is a list of specifications and features and a few other pictures. The box is very easy to open, which is a nice change from blister packs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Boom Boom is in another cardboard box which also holds a mini USB to USB cable which is used to power the speaker. Thankfully, no drivers are needed as the device is Plug n' Play. The speaker itself has a covering of plastic to keep from smudges messing up the finish.

 

Closer Look:

The Boom Boom is rectangular and has a glossy black finish, but is also available in white. As can be seen, it is very thin, coming in at 12mm tall, but has somewhat of a large footprint, coming in at 160 x 90 mm. Near the front of the lid, Choiix has its name stamped. The back has no markings, but has a channel for the headphone cable to sit in. This channel wraps all the way around the outside of the Boom Boom, providing a fairly long cable. Using a headphone cable makes it possible to plug the device into almost any audio player, but since you need USB power, the number of devices is somewhat limited once you get away from a USB port. Also, in the upper right corner is the mini USB port which is used for power.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lid lifts up and on the underside is the product's badge, showing a barcode and all the certifications. This lid can bend almost all the way around to provide a stand for the speaker. The speaker itself is covered in a mesh grill and surrounded by a chrome ring. Underneath the mesh part are the 4 drivers which work together to provide the level of sound quality that the Boom Boom is able to provide. Both the cables are about the same length, and are long enough to allow for many situations.

 

Specifications:

Dimension: 160 L x 90 D x 12 T mm
Driver: 4 x high sensitive drivers
Power: 2W x 2 Channel (Total 4W output)
Product Weight: 115g / 0.25 lbs
Input Power: 5V DC (via mini USB)
Power Indicator: Blue LED
Audio Input: 3.5mm audio cable

 

Features:

 

All information courtesy of Choiix @ http://www.choiix.com/Product.aspx?pid=18

Testing:

Speakers aren't the easiest item to test as all of its qualities are subjective, and I can't just run a benchmark to let me know how well it preforms. Instead, I will use the Boom Boom in several different situations that you might find yourself in while using the Boom Boom. I will test the speakers by listening to music, watching a movie, and playing a video game with them. Then I will rate them from one to ten and compare this to several other speaker and headphone sets. This should give you a pretty good idea of how well these speakers perform.

Testing Setup:

 

Comparison Devices:

Music:

Music played on the Boom Boom, which were 320 kbps MP3s, sounds fairly nice and has much better bass response than my MacBook Pro. When the lid is closed, however, the sound quality suffers. Also, when the volume increased, some distortion was apparent, but not nearly as much as other speakers.

Movies:

Movies watched on the Boom Boom were also pretty full sounding. Most of the loud sounds were fine, but the very loudest did have a hint of distortion. Also, since the speakers in the Boom Boom are very close, there was almost no stereo I could tell, much less 5.1, but that is to be expected.

Gaming:

Gaming was certainly the Boom Boom's weak suit since having stereo is so important in games. While gaming was possible, it wasn't ideal. For a game like Civilization, though, the Boom Boom was fine.

Conclusion:

The Boom Boom from Choiix is a really solid mobile speaker that produces solid sound and is very portable. While it isn't perfect for everything, such as gaming, it still does a fairly good job with everything else. The USB power allows it to be battery-less, but it also forces it to be used with a computer, and most laptops already have speakers built in. It is also disappointing that audio data can only be sent over the TRS jack, and not USB. Nevertheless, if you are looking to up your laptop's volume, or get better sound quality, the Boom Boom is a great choice.

 

Pros:

 

Cons:


Â