Apparently Bluetooth is named after
some Finnish king who Nokia really liked, for some reason or other. We don’t
know whether or not he actually had blue teeth, but what we do know
is that Bluetooth speakers are brilliant – especially the Sound
Blaster Axx SBX20.A great shiny obelisk of black wrapped tech, the Sound Blaster is an extremely attractive looking Bluetooth speaker, shaped like an alien hexagon of the kind that apes sat around in the opening scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Complete with smooth black panel with touch-sensitive controls on top, the Sound Blaster looks incredible in the corner of your room, on your desk, or even as a feature in your bathroom (if you’re a bit weird).
Connecting to your phone (thankfully
compatible with both iOS and Android) the speaker allows you to play
high quality sounding music from a distance of up to thirty feet. As
Bluetooth speakers go, we really like this one, and not just because of
the striking styling. Not just for music, it can also connect to your
phone calls and possess a pretty sensitive microphone, allowing you
to wander around the house enjoying a hands-free chat with your mum
in Australia. Ask her why she left. Anyway…
It’s that voice-call quality that we
also found handy during Skype chats. Sitting close by your laptop or
desktop, the Sound Blaster acted as a great speaker and mic during
international chats with our foreign friends, far outperforming
anything the built-in computer speakers and mic could deliver. It also
works well while using voice command apps, such as Siri on iPhone and
Utter! on Android. Being asked “How can I help?” by a dislocated,
robotic voice as the application esquires what it can do for its
human masters, was both pleasing and a little disconcerting. Still,
it was basically like talking to the computer in Star Trek. At one
point we asked it to initiate the self-destruct protocol, but it said it didn't understand.
As we said, the quality of sound
produced through the Bluetooth connection was impressive - just not
that amazing. At higher volume levels the music sounded too bass-y,
and even by touching the ‘SBX’ button on the top of the unit –
something that is supposed to enhance the sound – it still sounded
a bit forced and, well, cheap. We discovered the speaker was far
better at quieter sounds, particularly that of voices via calls and
Skype.
But aside from that wee niggle, we
really love the Sound Blaster Axx SBX20 from Creative. Great looks
and… passable sound led us to enjoy its presence at The Test Pit
very much.
£169 Depending on where you buy.