Y
ou might know the Jabra brand name from the company’s comprehen-
sive lineup of telephone headsets, but designing a tabletop speaker
system is vastly different than building the tiny drivers in a headset. Jabra
realized this and forged a partnership with Klipsch, one of the best speaker
designers around.
The result of this collaboration is the cobranded Jabra S5010, a
powered speaker dock that works with just about any music device, from
an iPod to a mobile phone to a PC. The speakers are the most important
factor in this equation, and Klipsch’s deliver plenty of bass and far better
highs than Cambridge SoundWorks’s portable PlayDock Zen ($200). But for
the money, we think Creative’s surprisingly good GigaWorks T20 speakers
($100) are a better sonic value.
The dock is equipped with a mini USB port that’s supposed to charge
any device plugged into it, but it didn’t work with our Creative Zen Vision: M,
and we couldn’t find mini USB cables that were compatible with our video
iPod or BlackJack smartphone. We couldn’t play music from the BlackJack
either because the phone has a nonstandard headphone jack and we didn’t
have an adapter.
Removable neoprene panels in the cradle and on the back of the dock
hide a bay containing a 2.5mm audio jack and the aforementioned mini USB
port. The panel has notches on three sides and a hole in the middle to allow
cables to emerge, and the bay is large enough that you can coil unusedcable inside it. Jabra provides one cable with a 2.5mm stereo plug on one
end and a 3.5mm stereo plug on the other, one cable with stereo 3.5mm plugs
on both ends, and a cable with mini USB plugs on both ends. But when you
plug in the USB cable, its L-shaped head blocks the 2.5mm stereo jack. Doh!
Fortunately, there’s a 3.5mm stereo jack on the back of the cabinet.
The S5010 doesn’t sound bad enough for us to slam it, but it doesn’t
sound good enough to warrant a recommendation, especially with the connec-
tor annoyances.
—MICHAEL BROWNJabra S5010 Speaker Dock
It’s two, two, two brands in one!
0 MAXIMUMPC july 2007
reviews TESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED
7
S5010 SPEAKER DOCK
$150, http://www.jabra.comJabra’s S5010 speaker dock takes an agnostic approach to
audio-player support.M
P3-player manufacturers bundle such crappy earbuds with their products
that we sometimes wish they’d put nothing in the box and credit the sav-
ings to the price of the player. But then we come back to Earth and realize that
those buds are so utterly cheap that omitting them would likely save us only a
buck or two.
If you’re still suffering with factory earbuds because you can’t swing
the lofty price tag of M-Audio’s IE-20 XB reference earphones, Shure’s E4gs,
or another high-end product, give Razer’s ProTone m100s a listen. They don’t
approach the sonic heights of our favorites, but they’ll set you back only 40
bucks—and the package includes an attractive nylon carry pouch and an air-
line adapter.
The m100s have plenty of bottom end, but it’s not the tight, punchy bass
that makes you boogie to the beat. While auditioning these buds to the sound
of Tower of Power’s power-funk classic “What Is Hip?” we noticed how the
unrelenting series of sixteenth notes from Rocco Prestia’s electric bass blurred
together because the earphones just couldn’t keep up. But we’d rather have a
bit of boom and bloom to our bass than no low-frequency response at all, as is
too common with cheap earphones.
The m100s proved more adept at delivering high frequencies, especially
with instruments in the upper registers (we’re thinking of the trumpets and alto
sax in Tower of Power’s almighty horn section). You will want to monitor your
volume levels, however, because certain frequencies cut through the mix like
a knife. While we were listening to “Down to the Nightclub,” Dave Garibaldi’sthree high-hat accents came through with enough energy to shred our ear-
drums. This will be less of a problem if you’re listening to compressed MP3s as
opposed to losslessly encoded tracks because those high frequencies will roll
off much sooner.
Since the m100s fi t in your ear canal (you can choose from three plug
sizes), they do a good job of isolating outside noise. All things consid-
ered, these earphones deliver
plenty of bang for the buck.
—MICHAEL BROWNRazer ProTone m100
Earphones
Better than your average buds
At the risk of damning
Razer’s ProTone m100
earbuds with faint
praise, these $40
earphones are many
times better than
whatever came with
your MP3 player.8
RAZER PROTONE M100
$40, http://www.razerzone.com