Last week, we featured the unboxing galleries of the two XMI X-mini portable speakers which we received from Singapore. After having tried and tested its features and even used it while on the road, we were overall well impressed with the X-mini II Capsule Speaker and the X-mini MAX II portable speaker. If you haven’t yet heard about them before, we strongly advise you first read about their details and see the photos here and here…

Design

The look and presentation of both the X-mini II and MAX II were above our expectation when they turned up at our doorstep. We rarely use the word cool for describing gadgets in our review, but the two speakers are certainly worthy of this description. The reason for that is because of the excellent build quality, the matte rubber material used on its overlying external surface, and did we mention how sturdy and durable it feels? For a company that is relatively new, we believe XMI has done a brilliant job in launching such quality products from the very start. If you were to not know of its brand and just base on looking at its build quality, we would not be able to differentiate it from the likes of Logitech, Creative and Microsoft products. Except one thing though, these companies just mentioned rarely launch products with designs as fun and as innovative as this.

As you may be aware from the pictures, the X-mini MAX II consists of two speakers out of the box. The clever design in this is that they stick together due to the magnets in place at its bottom end, this obviously prevents you from losing the other one but also makes it less messy, afterall these speakers are meant to be portable and carried around.

As for the X-mini II Capsule Speaker, you only get one speaker from each purchase but as you read on, you’ll learn that you can opportunistically link an unlimited amount of X-mini speakers together should you desire. The X-mini II Capsule Speaker has an even smaller design compared to the MAX II, weighing in at approximately 83 grams and 44 mm in height compared to 89 grams and 534 mm in the latter.

Both the X-mini II Capsule Speaker and the MAX II come with their own audio cables. The MAX II has a long cable and boasts a left and a right mini USB input which acts to charge and convey audio input while the other end goes into the 3.5 mm audio jack of your music source, this cable is also unique in that it has another end for USB port acting as a power source. This means you’d only need one cable at the end of the day to achieve all possible purposes.

The same goes to the X-mini II Capsule Speaker but it has been given an extra shorter 3.5 mm audio cable which hides just underneath it, this acts to receive audio input and is not detachable, if you need to charge the speaker you would still need to have the alternative cable with you. Nevertheless this was a fantastic idea.

We reckon it is the built-in audio cable that makes the Capsule Speaker so portable, more convenient to carry and in our view is what we would prefer. There is one shortcoming to this unfortunately, we would have preferred Xmi to have had in place a retractable function to this built-in cable so that a longer cable could be used while maintaining a clean, non-cable messy design.

Features

Technology and Sound Quality

We had no doubts that Xmi had put in a considerable effort to their speakers which enabled them to pick up two prestigious awards. But the performance of both the X-mini II Capsule Speaker and the MAX II exceeded our preconceptions. Both speakers are currently in their second generation, which means they have both had a new larger 40 mm driver update, we felt this was most welcomed. The volume capacity was absolutely inconsistent with what you would expect from something this small. And for those wondering, no they did not “crack” under pressure when we turned it up to maximum.

While both speakers do not have any subwoofer of any kind, Xmi’s new “twist and turn” Bass Xpansion System (BXS) has cleverly replaced the need for any additional components and yet still satisfied our need for the perfect balance. According to Xmi, its BXS is capable of producing explosive volume and bass over ten times its physical size – we had no doubts it could do that.

Applications for Use

We tested the speakers indoors and outdoors during the past week and have had no complaints in its ability to perform. We even took it along with us on a trip on the motorways, though we did find the need to turn up its volume, we didn’t need to turn it to the max. This just shows you how dangerously loud both the speakers can be. For those who are wondering how might you benefit from these speakers, the possibilities are literally endless. Due to the ease of compatibility of 3.5 mm audio jacks, you could use it with your iPhone (like we did) or any supporting phone, computer, laptop, camcorder, portable music player, portable dvd player, etc!

Battery Performance

With good sound quality, most portable speakers will come with a heavy price to pay – the battery life. As both the X-mini speakers come with internal rechargeable batteries, it’s not possible for you to buy your own when its battery runs out. The advantage of having such a design is that it saves you weight while of course the disadvantage is you won’t be able to have an emergency supply of battery when they run out. On paper, the X-mini II Capsule Speaker and the MAX II can provide a playback time of up to 11 hours and 12 hours respectively. Charging via USB, you’ll be looking at approximately two and a half hours for a full charge (light changes red when you’re charging). While we were not bored enough to time how long exactly it could play til it ran out, we only needed to charge twice during the time we’ve been testing it on and off. We’re confident that its not like the type of gadget you buy on eBay where the claimed battery life is just unrealistic. We’ve learnt that its estimated built-in battery will last up 1,000 charge cycles, which is very reasonable. One limitation though, is if you wanted to use these speakers for your desktop PC for example, you’d be compromising its battery should you connect it permanently via USB, as this is not what its been designed to do.

Link them together! “Buddy-Jack”

One last final feature we’d like to cover is regarding the new “Buddy-Jack” function, this is new to all second generation of X-minis. As you can see below, all the new speakers now have an extra 3.5 mm audio jack around the back which allows you to cross connect them making a chain of speakers, this gives you an overall greater music experience. So if you had mates with X-minis, you could easily create a nice “daisy chain”. In the example, below particular felt this combination gave the bass an extra boost!

Conclusion

Overall, we were extremely impressed with both the X-mini II Capsule Speaker and the MAX II portable speaker. As you can see, the design and features Xmi have incoporated into their products all support and help enable its users to bring the most out of their audio experience. There were only very few limitations which we could think of and many stunning features which we found useful. While the lack of proper subwoofers will always be a common problem encountered by portable speakers, we feel Xmi’s BXS has truly been an eye-opener and would recommend any to check them out. If we had to choose one over the other, we would go for the Capsule Speaker, purely because of its smaller size, better portability, less fuss over cables and certainly its stylish design.

So here’s a quick sum up of what we liked and didn’t like:

Pros:

• Extremely stylish, compact and portable design
• Well made, sturdy build
• Superior sound quality including volume and bass
• Innovative twist and turn, hidden BXS
• New Buddy-Jack function
• Overall well thought out designs and functions all orientated towards delivering the best audio experience while on the go

Cons:

• Relatively short cable on the X-mini Capsule Speaker