Customer Reviews

Alienware AW88HUB 2.1 Channel Portable Music Enhancement System

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The reason I purchased the AW88HUB was because of my Creative Zen. I love using it to play music in my car or using it to listen with headphones, but the problem was that I also wanted to listen to it in my home sans headphones (sometimes, playing music that way is better). Of course, the Creative Zen is nowhere near as popular as the iPod was, so I was largely forced to find a generic 'MP3 Speakers' in order to connect my Zen.

As anyone who may have tried this, doing this is very difficult. The market is filled to the brim with generic, portable speakers that simply aren't very good. Nonetheless, I was persistent and, soon enough, I stumbled upon the AW88HUB.

As someone who also loves PC gaming, Alienware is more familiar to me as a PC manufacturer. However, despite their notorious penchant for selling extremely overpriced PCs, I found some very reasonable prices for the AW88HUB, and the product did, in fact, sounded very well featured. It had large speakers with the capability for TruBass and SRS. So seeing that I had little options for MP3 speakers, I chose to purchase the product.

Once things came together, I tried the AW88HUB with the my Zen, and I had thought it sounded fantastic. The volume came go up fairly high and the SRS/TruBass really makes a difference in the sound of the music; changing those settings can actually increase the bass and make the music spread out more. Very, very nice features.

Additionally, I must also compliment the design of the product. The product looks very slick with some nice colors. It felt nice to the touch and it was obviously designed for simplicity; there were only a few buttons (volume control, input control, and the TruBass/SRS controls) making it very simple to figure out how to use it upon seeing it. I also like how portable it was. Alienware designed the product with a handle in the back to make for easy carrying and one can choose to either power it with a plug or batteries.

Overall, this is a very nice product, but admittedly, I do have one great complaint about it. The product was obviously designed for Alienware's own MP3 player (that's what fits into the dock at the top) and they chosen not to include a male-to-male 3.5mm jack (which is needed to connect other MP3 players). I thought this decision by Alienware was rather inconsiderate. A male-to-male 3.5mm jack is a product extremely limited in use and it's not very common. I ended up having to wait an extra week after receiving the AW88HUB in the mail because I had to order a male-to-male 3.5mm jack online in order to connect my Zen.

Other than this complaint, however, I did not have any problems with the AW88HUB. It is a very good product!

This is the only thing that could have made my mp3 player better. Love the portability and bass is great. The sound is fabulous and it looks so high $$$. Another great Alienware product!

I am a HUGE FAN of Alienware products! The real puzzling thing to me is why did they stop making these quality products? I purchased the 2.1 HUB to go with my CE-IV (512) that I purchased almost a year ago, and I have no problems with either product - BEST QUALITY SOUND of any MP3 products I have used. I was getting ready to order the CE-IV (1) and give my (512) to my girlfriend. To my disbelief they no longer make either of the MP3 players either! Those two product were phenomenal especially the expansion aspect with the SD card. It is very unfortunate Alienware stopped the production of all three of these items. The MP3 players and the HUB are some of the finest out there. I would defiantly place them on the same page as ANY of the (I-POD products equal or similar to) or any other companies MP3 players, equal or similar to! Very disappointed in Alienware, but it will not stop me from purchasing another computer from them. WAKE UP ALIENWARE & MAKE NEW MP3 PLAYERS!

I got this for my oldest son thinking he would dig something that was Alienware, and would be something to play music through. First, let me get the negative out of the way. Sansa MP3 players will not fit right, but we use them anyway because we are cheap like that. The best features are EVERYTHING ELSE. You can send anything into it via the 1/8 in input (can get an m2m on eBay for $1 lol). I was in shock when my son sent his PC speaker out into it and it sounded like a theater. A VERY EXPENSIVE HOME THEATER SOUND.

If you don't like the sound, you haven't taken two minutes to try a few of the knobs. It has everything Windows Media player has (maybe there was a lawsuit because it is pretty much the same stuff with the bass boost and stero enhancing and stuff).

If this were hundreds of dollars, I might criticize it a little more. But it would still be worth it because it sounds like hundreds of dollars. You wont get a better sound from an expensive multi channel PC speaker setup. Which is another nice thing...just plug it in and it sounds spacious without all the wires which usually just short out after a while with all the sound blaster/altec surround setups.

I'm serious, you wont care about true surround once you have this.

If you play guitar, it also makes for a great enhancer for a Line 6 or other modeler. We tried it with the Toneport GX and it sounded awesome, like we had Van Halen's modded amp or something. I'm ordering another one. I am jealous.

It *is* technically portable, in that you can move it, but it is so large that it is inconvenient to find a place for it wherever you might move it to. Would be a cool alternative to a boombox. In the late 80's.

The size would be perfectly OK if it sounded brilliant, but the highs are tinny and the bases cracks at even low volumes.

I could not find any of their modular audio connectors, so that is also a useless selling point unless you have their alienware mp3 player. If you have anything else, expect to use an audio cable (can't remember if that is even included).

I've recently sold this at a yard sale for 5$. If you can pick it up for that amount, go for it.