Soundbug speaker system review

2 April 2004 17:24 GMT / By Stuart Miles

You're out and about with your portable MP3 or CD player, but rather than keep the music to yourself you want to share the love. “Invest in a pair of speakers!” I hear you cry. That's all well and dandy, but speakers are bulky, can be a pain to lug around and overall don't normally fit with the slim line approach of the player. However there is another option. The Soundbug.

The device, roughly the same size as a mouse, plugs into anything with a headphone socket and then placing it on a smooth glossy surface will turn said surface into a speaker for you. The system works by reverberating the sound from the unit and using the desk, window, car bonnet, computer screen, or whatever you have chosen as a resonator to produce sound. There are two settings- a low and high volume. These really only offer loud and not so loud.

The Soundbug sticks to a surface using a big sucker (rather like those that stick Garfield and other stuffed animal car merchandise to your car windows) and this allows you to lock it onto vertical surfaces without the need to keep holding it.

Verdict

The premise sounds absurd, but in practice it does actually work. However, don't expect speaker-quality sound though, after all you are only increasing the volume of a resonation rather than using a loudspeaker and the sound is probably akin to what Beethoven heard when he was stone deaf lying on his floor playing piano and listening through the floorboards. However the Soundbug will get you out of a bind if speakers aren't an option. A fad gadget? In the long run probably yes, although it certainly got the look of interest when we were testing it out.

This product was kindly loaned to us by lastminute.com

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Olympia
Price as reviewed: £30
The good: Striking design
The bad: Loud or inaudible, no in-between volume setting
Quick verdict: If you just don’t want to carry around speakers this is an interesting idea, set to improve with time
Score