Speaker Review: Philips SPA5210/97

Raising the bar


Speaker Review: Philips SPA5210/97

by Hedirman Supian
05:55 AM Nov 26, 2010

ALTHOUGH computer makers have improved laptop speakers enough, the audio is usually marred by poor quality or low volume.

The Philips SPA5210/97 sound bar ($76.90) hopes to be a portable remedy for this.

The sound bar fits easily on the top of your laptop screen. It's USB-powered and the cable has been thoughtfully designed to wrap around the perimeter of its body. The speaker even comes with a carrying pouch.

You can make it fit quite snug by adjusting its plastic clips and tightening a rear clip to secure it in place. The clips are rubberised so there's less of a chance it might cause a scratch on your machine.

We tested its fit on laptops that measured 11.6, 13.3 and 15.4 inches. While it's reasonably lightweight, it can drag down the screen lids of machines smaller than 13 inches.

Setup is a cinch. The plug-and-play device is automatically recognised on both Mac and Windows-based computers. There are no drivers or software downloads involved.

We tested its audio reproduction capabilities with a range of music, as well as a few movies. The sound quality for the low and mid range of the audio is decent and certainly a tad louder than the built-in speakers on our test laptops. But the low end of the range, although audible, was missing a certain oomph. Audio does tend to get slightly distorted when you crank it up at high levels.

Stick to headphones if you're an audio snob. But if you would like to share your music or listen to audio at a decent volume, this well-designed and simple-to-set-up sound bar from Philips is hard to beat. Hedirman Supian

Source: www.todayonline.com