Choiix Boomboom Slim Travel Speaker Review

If there's one thing that chaps our hide, it's lousy drivers. But coming in at a close second are the craptastic speakers that manage to infiltrate almost every notebook on the planet, including the so-called desktop replacements. Would it kill OEMs to shove a decent pair of cans into their laptops?

Apparently that's not a chance many are willing to take, so it's up to third-party peripheral makers to fill the void. Enter Choiix, a company you probably never heard of, but hold your horses before you go gallopping off. Choiix isn't some generic brand you'll find in the clearance section of Walmart, it's actually a subsidiary of Cooler Master, which we're willing to bet you have heard of (and if not, then welcome to the world of computers, junior!). Cooler Master's Choiix division focuses on lifestyle products, including the BoomBoom Slim Travel Speaker we're looking at today.

As Choiix describes it, the BoomBoom is a "cleverly designed" external speaker accessory offering "rich sound" in a slim package. Given our experience with laptop speakers, that sounds good to us. But can they deliver? Let's just see, or hear, as the case may be.

SPECIFICATIONS:

The pen is there for size reference. I know you're disappointed, but you can't have it. However, if you pick up this BoomBoom Slim Travel Speaker you get to keep everything else. Okay, so all that's left is the little speaker set and the USB cable, but hopefully that's all you need. Choiix apparently thinks that's all we need. With a $25 MSRP, what kind of bundle would you expect to get anyway?

There's that darn pen again. It's there to show you that when Choiix says "Slim," they mean it. Keep in mind, this is a slightly angled image, so the slim speaker box here is closer to the pen thickness than it appears. And it all comes in a nice little glossy, curvy plastic case.

And how does the sound get to the speakers? From the USB cable?  NOPE. Fortunately not, otherwise using this bad boy on mp3 players and other small audio devices would be impossible.  Choiix tucked the audio wire and connector away underneath. So, why don't we unravel this thing and give it a go?