Shootouts

Aural Showdown - 2.1 Multimedia Speakers Shootout

By Kenny Yeo - 14 Mar 2009

Game Testing

Game Testing

Game Testing Results
Speaker Model / Game Test Altec Lansing MX 5021 Creative T3 Bose Companion 5 Edifier S730 Klipsch ProMedia GMX A-2.1 Logitech Z-Cinema Razer Mako
Far Cry 2 3 5 4.5 4 5 5 5

The Altec Lansing MX5021 did itself no favors with its weak-sounding reproduction. Its poor bass furthermore made it sound even more lackluster, as the explosions sound muted and lacked kick, as were gun shots. Nevertheless, it must be said that it did a pretty good job of the various jungle sounds. The chirping of birds sounded quite good.

The Bose Companion 5, with its refined sounds, sounded a tad out of place when matched with the furious gun fights of Far Cry 2. It sounded slightly lightweight, but not to the extent of the Altec Lansing MX5021. Fortunately, turning up the bass level on the subwoofer unit did help things, adding more oomph to gun shots. Its strong point, however, is its wide soundstage, which really made us feel as if we were in a jungle.

The bright and wild bass of the Creative Gigaworks T3 works excellently in games. The jungle environment effects were bright and sounded lively, while gun fights were really fun. The bloated, and out of control bass lends a chaotic voice to gun fights and ups the fun factor considerably.

The Edifier S730 did well in this segment too, especially with the volume and bass levels turned up. But overall, didn't sound as fun or involving as the Gigaworks T3.

The Klipsch ProMedia GMX A-2.1 is proving itself to be a competent all-rounder as it provided an immersive gaming experience with Far Cry 2. Its great all-round sound meant that the jungle effects were spot on, whereas its booming bass ensured involving gun fights.

The Logitech Z-Cinema performed commendably with Far Cry 2 as well. It has great presence, especially in the gun fights, but was lacking that little bit of sparkle when we were just walking around the jungles, as the environment sound effects were not as impressive sounding as say, the Creative and Klipsch systems. It's difficult for any one speaker to impress on all grounds but as you can, each speaker system has their own bias and specialty.

Won't it be amusing if Razer, a brand so synonymous with all things gaming, produced speakers that sounded terrible playing games? Fortunately, this wasn't the case as the powerful subwoofer unit from the Razer Mako made Far Cry 2 an involving and immersive experience. Gunning down enemies has never been this fun, with each gun shot producing a deep satisfying 'rat-a-tat' from the speakers.

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