personal speakers

In my quest for the perfect portable speaker I came across this little beauty at Target. At about the size of a ballpark frank but less filling, the Sony SRS-T33 provides more than enough sound for an afternoon at the pool. Admittingly, I was fairly skeptical about getting decent sound out of any portable speaker; this was reaffirmed after plugging in my iPod. The sound was absolutely weak. I considered returning them but I wanted to hear what the power amplifier sounded like. So as soon as the NiMH AAA batteries I purchased were charged, I threw them into the speakers and the difference was like ketchup and mustard. The sound was full, deep and suprisingly powerful. I've "test driven" a few other speakers in this price range, mostly separates that are 3 times the size and weight (do you know how big a pain it is to carry those to the pool?) and the Sony definitely sounds significantly better, while the others usually sound like tin cans.

The only drawback is the audio cable is only 10 inches long, meaning you'll probably "reposition" (or knock over) your speakers as you're changing songs on your iPod. On the plus side, the cable integrates into the design and seamlessly hides when not in use (no wrapping the audio jack around the speaker 10 times). For $40 it's definitely the best choice for size, sound and design.