Customer Reviews

Macally Portable Stereo Speakers for iPod (Black)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I got this little Macally speaker for my mp3 player collection. (I have a beloved little iriver T30, a very nice Sansa 250, and an aging but still useable Rio; no iPod, thank you very much, but I'm sure it would work the same.) It works great for what it is: a very tiny, ultra-portable personal speaker that draws very little juice from its single AA battery, and therefore puts out very little volume. I use it when I'm working in the kitchen, away from my cd player and there is nothing good on the radio.

Good points:
1) Allows you to listen to mp3s (or cds, for that matter) without earphones.
2) Super-portable, lightweight, fits in any pocket.
3) One battery seems to last a long, long time. (I use a rechargeable NiMH, so the battery is essentially free for me.)

Not-so-good points:
1) No volume control.
2) Not much volume at all, come to think of it. I have to crank up my iriver to 27 or higher to hear it at a low-to-moderate level (I usually play my iriver at 12 to 17 on my earbuds, so you basically have to double the volume on your player to get the same level of sound).
3) You have to remember to TURN IT OFF when you turn off the mp3 player. There's no little light or anything to remind you that the thing is on.
4) It has a somewhat tinny sound. This is NOT a product for audiophiles!! (I am the opposite of an audiophile, whatever that is; staticky fm is fine with me.)
5) It produces a very slight but constant and remotely annoying high-pitched whine, which fortunately is drowned out by even the softest music. Actually, this whistle is what reminds me to turn it off when I forget, so maybe I shouldn't complain!

Bottom line: You get what you pay for, and at $26 this is a pretty good buy. Altogether, a fun little product. Would make a great gift, too.

The reviews above are deceiving. I bought this to use with my 80g video ipod while sitting outside in my backyard. I don't need a lot of volume but the volume on this speaker is nil. Not worth it, the only good thing is the size, but it is unusable. It was a waste of money. I have a mini am/fm radio that sounds better than this. I've seen great reviews on this item and reviews that totally hate it, I decided to gamble and order it anyway, thinking, how bad can it be? It is worse than bad. If I could give it negative stars, I would

This item is obviously not to be bought for the great volume or quality the speakers can put out. It is a great way to take along speakers anywhere though. I keep mine in my pocket book all of the time now. The volume and quality is good for its size, but I have better quality speakers to use when at home. Overall, I am very pleased with this product. It is great to be able to keep them with me and when with a friend or co-worker and tellign them about a song, all I have to do is pull out this little thing and voila... :-)

It's indeed very portable and super light in weight even when including the 1 AA batrery. But I totally agree with one of the above reviewers regarding the volume. "The sound is small like mosquito" as what we would say in the Chinese language. And the quality of the sound is very poor, too. With same amount of the money, you can buy other potable speakers with much better quality. I am browsing now to get a better one.

I have a 5G iPod. I use the speakers when I clean the house on weekends going from room to room. Because of its size, it can't 'overpower' the vacuum; but while scrubbing, dusting, mopping, etc, it's great. It's nice to freely move around without cords/cables and the isolation I feel when wearing my Shure earbuds. I find that REALLY true when I shoved my iPod into my old 1G Marware iPod case and handlebar mount and use the whole setup while on a bike ride.


The highs and midrange are surprisingly articulate. Volume is actually quite good (I can walk the dog and hold it in the other hand in a local street or park setting and it's quite loud--wouldn't think the results would be as good in a busy urban setting. Same for the bike ride alluded to above: busy/noisy street? Not a great speaker system. Quieter streets? Perfect!)

No real bass to speak of, but you wouldn't have expected that is so small a 'cabinet'. There is distortion only if the source was a bit too 'hot', or a song is a bit heavy on the bass or timpani. But, again, the midrange--vocals in particular--make up for it with an overall surprisingly pleasant sound. Battery life has been better than the spec of approx. 8 hours on a single AA battery.

Two gripes (which is why a 4 and not a 5): First, it doesn't sit squarely on the 5G iPod due to the offcentered earphone jack (see the photo.) Seems they could have solved this with an adapter to go under the speaket and into the iPod. 2) It can spin around 360 degrees. Doesn't usually but depending on your situation--for me when I use it on my bicycle--it can be a bit of a nuisance (solved, of course, by a strip of duct tape on the back of the speaker and iPod. Overall, this is a great product. I'm very satisfied.

I bought this Ipod speaker to use with my 6 month old. I wanted a speaker that would not be too powerful and loud, since I was going to use it in the car or stroller to play soft lullabys or Baby Einstein music.
I really love this speaker for what I use it for, I even use it to play my music on walks. I think its a great speaker for the price. If you want a sophisticated speaker to play music in a room, I would recommend the bose speaker (which I have in my son's room), but you are able to take this small portable speaker with you anywhere...

This is a great little speaker, especially for the price. It is easy to use, has good battery life, and most importantly good sound quality. One hint that we found was that the speakers sound tinny unless you select small speaker from the Ipod menu. After that they sound just great.

I found this item while looking for small portable speakers to use while traveling. I saw this and figured that even if the sound wasn't great it would be worth it for how small it is (and I was changing locations every 2 days so the lighter/more accessable the better). The sound fills a hotel room great - while not being loud enough to disturb others. For $20 and the size, it is such a great addition to my ipod accessories. As others have noted this is not what you would use as your primary speaker. Travelers - this is highly recommended. If you're sitting on your backporch this is clearly not for you - invest in something that weighs at least a pound! Also, remembering to turn the speaker off as well as ipod is important.

Good idea for a product, but even at my loudest ipod 30Gb setting, the speakers are not loud enough. It is stereo, but tinny sounding. It's a fun gadget, but I hardly ever use it.

This speaker is cool looking so I got one. The sound doesn't go loud and at full blast, it sounds like [...]. If you use it, go to a quiet place.