X mini Happy Portable Speaker

This is the second X mini product we are reviewing. It's those cute little accordion-like things that try their best to emit some decent sound, and more or less do a nice job. This model is called the X mini Happy, and it’s a cute, tiny little speaker system for group listening.

Design and features
Still retaining the original design, this little black spherical speaker is basically made of two solid hemispherical parts that lock on - the upward facing one has the driver, a 40 mm concave piece protected behind 2 strips that extend out of the chassis itself. It’s neat and compact, with a smooth matte black surface. These two surfaces can click open to extend out, exposing a ribbed, accordion like spring body.

This new model has some major upgrades, mainly in the form of storage on a memory card. The slot for the same is neatly integrated into the sides just like every other i/o or control on the unit. These comprise one headphone out, a mini USB in for charging, volume dial and mute button. One of the nice provisions thrown in the X mini Happy, to make us really quite happy, is an attached 3.5 mm cable, a short one that is coiled into a recess carved out on the bottom side. This way one doesn’t have to worry about carrying extra cables - it becomes a fully portable MP3 player now, with storage option added.

The unit plays MP3s and WMAs and supports upto 8 GB storage. The total output power is 2 watts, with a rated SNR� of <70 dB. It charges via USB (cable supplied), and took us about 2 hours to charge the unit completely.

Performance and Conclusion
Now one cannot expect too much loudness or bass due to the physical form of the piece, rather I was looking at clarity and cleanliness, meaning no audible distortion. The output is surprisingly loud considering the tiny size and it has clear highs, an important factor for portable music. Mids are a little more pronounced than normal - it’s got that thick, crisp sound, and bass is negligible. Lastly, and most importantly, there was very negligible audible distortion, and this is a very good thing.

At a price of Rs. 3990, this one comes with a 2GB Kingston SD card. This product is very nice for trekkers, and other outdoors groups, who prefer listening to music in groups of two or three. Anyone seriously into audio might not like it, as it's more of a cute toy rather than a serious sound reproduction device, which in fact makes this a very nice gift item. It’s a little pricey, but the build and finish seems very nice, thus we give the benefit of doubt this time to the X mini Happy.

Product sourced from and available at Accessinfoworld.