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• The Good: Compact, with a great carrying case; funky, eyecatching design; clean sound; all cables included, along with a universal power supply.
• The Bad: Volume won't exactly leave your ears ringing; no off-switch; no audio controls; speaker stands have no adjustment; AC power only.
• The Verdict: A portable speaker system for music players and laptops that won't overwhelm the ears, but which sounds as good as it looks.
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• Available for: Pretty much anything with an audio-out port, from music players to notebook computers.
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REVIEW:

Ever since Apple became the dominant player in digital audio players, it has been difficult to find portable audio accessories in anything but white. I was pleased when I discovered Edifier's MP300 series portable speakers came in brushed aluminum, and my smile got wider once I had them hooked up.

The $79.99 (U.S. suggested retail) speakers are produced by Edifier Enterprises Canada Inc. - a relative newcomer to the audio market. The company was established in China in 1996 and started shipping speakers to the international market in 1998. While it doesn't have an well known brand name like the major players in the audio industry, the company seems to know its business. Both products I've reviewed from Edifier in teh past year or so are top notch in all areas - aesthetics, materials, manufacturing quality and sound performance.

Until now, the company has specialized in small speakers for computers and home sound systems. The MP300 is a foray into the portable audio market.

These speakers fit an odd niche, though. They don't offer the volume most people will want from desktop speakers, and they aren't aimed at the ultra-portable crowd, either. First of all, there's no battery option - you have to plug them into a wall socket, so they're not made for campers or a picnic.

Second, they're right at the upper edge of what you'd consider "portable," from a size and weight perspective. The package is a relatively hefty 1.4 kilograms, and comes in a padded fabric case that's nearly the size of a notebook computer. The foamed interior has custom cutouts for the speakers and subwoofer, so they fit perfectly and will travel safely (strangely, there's lots of extra room in the case, but Edifier didn't take advantage of it to make a cutout slot for a digital music player, which would have been handy...).

Based on the size of the case, the MP300 is really aimed at people who want decent sound in a professional-looking package that they can take with them. In other words, those who are serious about their recreational audio from portable CD, tape or digital music players, road warriors doing presentations from a notebook, and so on. The road-warrior orientation of the package is reinforced by the fact the MP300s have an international power transformer, so you can plug them in just about anywhere in the world.

That said, the components of the sound system themselves aren't overly large, despite the size of the carrying case. The main unit is a brushed aluminum tube about the size of two cans of pop laid end to end, sitting on a black rectangular base. It houses the amplifier for the system as well as a two-inch subwoofer driver, and the satellites and power cable plug into the back of it. On the front is a bright blue power LED.

Each end of the tube is covered by an inverted, silver cone - the driver is aimed directly out one end, and the other is a vented port. It's a similar design to the Bazooka Tubes used in car audio. The aluminum casing also acts as a heat sink for the amp - the left-hand end of the tube tended to run quite warm, which hints at some wasted energy in the amp circuitry.

The satellites are small globes, slightly larger than golf balls, done in silver and grey plastic. They sit on a flexible rubber ring that supports them and prevents them from sliding around on a table, although it won't let you adjust the speaker angle, an important consideration that I'll go into in more detail in a moment. The 1.5-inch drivers are protected by a clear Y-shaped plastic dome with cutouts to let the sound through.

The whole package looks extremely sharp, and it oozes that air of a product that received a lot of attention to detail when it came to both design and manufacturing. The only part of the package that didn't measure up was the volume controls, which were basic silvered plastic buttons. They didn't fit the high-quality look and feel of the rest of the package, which is disappointing since the controls are the only part of the speakers that the owner is going to come into physical contact with on a regular basis.

Despite the heat generated by the amp in the subwoofer housing, the sound clarity is excellent. The only thing I can pick on is that the volume isn't ear-shattering, which isn't surprising considering the size of the sub and drivers. Cranked to full, the volume is sufficient for comfortable background listening by a group in a small room, or decent playback if you're sitting a few feet from the speakers - say, in front of a notebook computer. It's not going to drown out a conversation or overpower loud background noise, though.

The amp is well matched to the speakers, and has Electronic Intelligent Distortion Control (an overload circuit) that automatically adjusts and protects speakers from input overload. It works, too - if you crank your speakers to full volume and play a few songs, you'll find the speakers usually turn themselves down slightly over time as songs come on too loud for the amp to handle safely. You won't notice it during playback, though, as it's a very slight and gradual decrease. As a result, even at maximum volume, there was no discernible distortion - just clean sound right to the top of the dial. This system is about finesse rather than brute audio force.

The 4 ohm satellites have magnetically shielded neodymium-boron drivers so they can be used safely near a CRT monitor or hard drives, and a heat-treated paper voice coil. They deliver 2.5 watts (RMS) each, and are rated at 10 per cent total harmonic distortion, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 85 dBA.

The satellites deliver good response for the high frequencies, but they have a very narrow sweet spot. You really have to take time to aim these speakers properly for the best sound - move away to the one side even by a couple of feet, and the sound drops off noticeably. This can be difficult, though, because as I mentioned, the base for the satellites doesn't let you set a custom angle for the speakers. You may end up having to tilt them with something under their rubber-ring base to get the listening angle right.

The 4 ohm, 9 watt (RMS) sub has a magnetically shielded neodymium-iron boron magnet assembly that delivers good bass, particularly considering the tiny amount of air mass charging the driver. Despite the fact that its frequency response starts at 75 Hz rather than the 20 Hz of most subwoofers, the bass is definitely noticeable, and it bridges the output from the satellites nicely to produce an even midrange - impressive for such small speakers. But if you're in search of bass response that you'll feel in your spleen, look elsewhere.

The volume controls are built into the right-hand satellite speaker. They're a simple pair of up/down digital buttons, and some work is needed here. The volume tended to jump up and down in large increments, making it more difficult than it should have been to set the volume to a desired level.

Holding down the volume buttons for a couple of seconds puts the speakers into mute mode. The LED on the front of the sub flashes to indicate this, and another press brings the volume up gradually. The speakers also power-up gradually when you first turn them on, so you won't get a shock if they were cranked the last time you listened to them.

When it comes to audio controls beyond simple volume, Spartan is the word. For some reason, there's no power switch on the speakers, and for system that was obviously designed around producing high quality sound, it's also odd that there are no built-in bass or treble controls. There's not even a way to adjust the subwoofer output independently of the speakers … you'll have to do all your audio tweaks through the player connected to the MP300s.

All the necessary cables are in the package, including a mini-jack patch cable to fit a notebook or music player's headphone jack. I like not having to go shopping for cables when buying speakers, so this was a nice touch. I also appreciated the design of the power adapter - it's a small rectangular unit with the cord exiting to the side, so it won't block adjacent plug-ins on a power bar or wall socket. The adapter also automatically adjusts for 100-to-240-volt power, as I mentioned.

The Edifier MP300s aren't a replacement for a high-powered set of dedicated desktop PC speakers if you like your sound loud. But they deliver great sound quality for a tiny set of speakers and won't break the bank. They also look great and they're decent for playing games and listening to songs through your notebook on the go, or for moderate background music.