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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great sound, but not quite perfect, December 5, 2006
This review is from: Altec Lansing 2-PC USB & AC POWERED PORTABLE ( XT2 ) (Electronics)
These are the best sounding portable USB speakers I've heard. I also love the flat style of the speakers and case. It makes it easy to pack into a laptop case or a suitcase for portability.
They're made of a sturdy plastic with aluminum grills and flip-under stands, which makes them very durable - important if you travel. I've never used the auxiliary input, so I can't comment as to how well it works with a portable audio device.
The biggest con for me is the lack of a headphone jack. When these speakers are connected to your laptop, it disables the built-in speakers and sound card (naturally). To switch to headphones, you have to disconnect the USB connection, then close and relaunch whatever application you're using with audio. It's a minor nuisance, but enough for me to take away a star. Another minor nuisance is the fact that it disables the use of any hard volume control buttons you have on your laptop, and volume is controlled either via the speaker itself, or through your control panel. Again, the workaround is to not use the USB cable and connect from your computer's headphone out into the auxiliary input, but that requires an extra cable in addition to the USB or AC cable, which defeats half the purpose of USB speakers.
A good buy to me. Well worth the money, but before buying you should be aware of the two issues stated above. If using headphones and hard volume controls are not that important to you, this is the ultimate buy.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great Features, but Horrible Sound, June 15, 2009
This review is from: Altec Lansing 2-PC USB & AC POWERED PORTABLE ( XT2 ) (Electronics)
In terms of portability, these speakers are excellent. They plug into a USB port (PC or Mac), from which they are supplied with both power and the audio signal. This means that no power cord or audio cable is needed. The right speaker has the USB cable and the left speaker plugs into the right speaker with a retractable 3 foot cord. So overall they are very portable and quick to set up.
In terms of sound quality, they are good in most ways, but extremely poor in one key area. They have crisp treble, proper mid, and bass down to about 80Hz. Also, they are plenty loud for a portable speaker system. Their sound quality problem is that the bass is extremely over-boosted in upper bass frequencies, which are bass frequencies that NO-ONE likes to hear boosted. Also, the bass easily distorts in bassy songs. These bass problems make for very poor overall sound quality that is annoying to listen to.
This speaker system has some really useful features that many other portable speaker systems don't. They can be plugged in with a supplied power adapter so that your computer doesn't have to supply the power (useful for laptops), they have an aux input so that any audio device can be connected to them (and the speakers come with the correct cable for connecting devices to the aux input), and they have a subwoofer output for a subwoofer sold by Altec Lansing. They also have bass and treble adjustments, but the adjustments are barely perceivable. Also, the speaker system comes with a carry case in which all the components fit.
This speaker system has some great features that many other portable speakers don't have, and with the exception of the bass problems, the sound quality is great. But, due to the over-boosted and distorting bass, I would not recommend this system.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic portable speakers, March 16, 2007
This review is from: Altec Lansing 2-PC USB & AC POWERED PORTABLE ( XT2 ) (Electronics)
I owned the previous version, which eventually gave out. But these are so much better! Unbelievable sound. Includes power adapter (a new feature) which means I can use with my portable MP3 or DVD player without powering up the laptop. Great travel case. As for the USB connection, mine works great and I can still use my laptop's volume control buttons. As for the headphones issue, that's a Window's issue, not these speakers. Anytime you have multiple sound systems installed, only the one using the system's sound board will allow us of the headphone jack. So, just open the Windows controls (Control Panel -> Sounds -> Audio tab) and switch to the onboard and you can use headphones. No need to disconnect.
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