Swans M-200
These fancy-pants speakers are great for music,
but bad for gamesSwans has recently earned a name for itself, thanks to the numerous
hardware web sites that have been touting the company’s speakers as
the best. If you’ve never heard of the company, get this: Its high-end 2.2
speakers cost $68,000—that should give you an idea of the company’s
profile. Enticed, we contacted Swans via e-mail, and bada-bing, bada-
boom, received a set of the company’s low-end 2.0 multimedia speakers
a few days later.
Initial testing immediately revealed one thing: You know how drug
dogs can sniff out cocaine from 10 yards away? That’s how these
speakers are with bad recordings. MP3s encoded at a 128kbps bitrate
sounded like crap—and these were the same recordings that sounded
perfectly acceptable when played through traditional “gaming” speak-
ers from Logitech and Klipsch. We could even detect whether WAV files
ripped from CD were originally recorded on analog equipment or purely
digital—these speakers are that crystal clear in the treble and midrange.
Listening to flamenco guitars with these speakers, we could literally feel
the twang of the strings and hear every nuance of the recording. It made
us feel like we were standing right next to the guitar player himself.
High- and midrange response is phenomenal, but bass response is
lacking. This isn’t unusual for a 2.0 system, as there’s no subwoofer to
speak of. Instead, each of the M-200’s speakers uses a five-inch midrange
driver that reportedly dives down to 50Hz, but in our testing experience the
speakers were unable to deliver the rich, deep bass tones we’ve come to
expect from today’s gaming speakers. For example, in Doom 3 the machine
gun delivered punchy, rapid-fire tones we could feel, but when an enemy
teleported into a room—an effect accompanied by a deep bass tone—theovertaxed speaks emitted just static. The weak bass response was also
apparent in our 20Hz-to-22kHz frequency sweep, with the speakers
remaining largely silent in the beginning and end of the test file—a clear
sign they’re unable to produce extremely deep frequencies.
In the end, the M-200 set is a mixed bag. While it takes up a lot of
desktop real estate, it’s by far
the best sounding speaker
system we’ve ever heard in
terms of treble and midrange.
But if you’re a gamer or lover
of bass-heavy music, we
recommend a system with
a subwoofer for maximum
thumpage.
—JOSH NOREMIncredible fidelity and exquisite exterior.BEAUTIFUL SWANUGLY DUCKLING
Very pricey and the bass response is lacking.$400, http://www.swanspeaker.comMA XIMUMPC VERDICT 7
The M-200’s walnut finish will certainly add a touch of
elegance to your desktop, if you have the room for them.
Each speaker measures 15 inches in height.Reviews
MA XIMUMPC NOVEMBER 2004
D-Link Wireless Internet Camera
A webcam with pan, tilt, and zoom? Indubitably!
Basic webcam technology has been around since the dawn of the Internet.
But, from their humble beginnings in the video-conferencing world to their
rapid adoption by the porn industry, we haven’t seen too many leaps forward
in functionality. So a remote-controlled webcam that can pan, tilt, and zoom
really puts the jiggle in our Jell-O.
The D-Link DCS-5300W connects over your network—either Ethernet or
802.11b—and can FTP images to a web site, copy them to a network share,
or even stream audio and video live over the Internet to any other computer
in the world. Because the camera is mounted on a motorized base, you can
turn it to point at anything you like. The only problem is that in order to see
the video, you have to use Internet Explorer —users of Firefox , Opera , Safari ,
and all other web browsers are outta luck, which is bunk.
Configuring the DCS-5300W is a snap. Simply plug the camera into your
wired LAN, install the provided software on a Windows machine on the
same network, and use the configuration wizard to set up the camera for
your Wi-Fi network. It’s important to note that the 5300W is an 802.11b
camera. If you connect it to an 802.11g network, it will drag performance
on your entire LAN down. However, you can buy the 802.11g version for
only about $30 more.
We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the still images and
videos the 5300W creates. While it’s inferior to even the weakest
camcorder or still digital camera, it’s far superior to most webcams we’ve
reviewed before. And being able to aim the camera while you watch
remotely is undeniably cool and a huge advantage over the competition.Unfortunately all this coolness comes at a hefty price. We can’t imagine
shelling out more than four hundred bucks just to see what our cat does while
we’re away at work. But if you’ve
been considering buying a home-
security camera or setting up a
front door cam, the DCS-5300W
is a much cheaper alternative
than having a hard-wired camera
professionally installed.
In the end, several small
annoyances conspire to rob this
cam of Kick Ass status.
—WILL SMITHPlace it anywhere you have Wi-Fi, then aim it
remotely. Image quality is great for a webcam.SILLY PUTTYPLUMBING PUTTY
A tad expensive, and video viewing is Internet
Explorer-only. We’ll wait for the 802.11g model.
$450, http://www.dlink.comMA XIMUMPC VERDICT 8
The D-Link DCS-
5300W is a completely
wireless webcam—and
you can even remotely
aim the camera via
your web browser!