Gear Picks - Tiny Speaker

Here's another new (maybe even recurring) feature I'm calling "Gear Picks". As you might guess from the title, this will be a post about some item of travel-related gear that I've already purchased, or am considering, or just think is really cool (because I'm really all about the cool gear, especially if it's also TINY, which makes today's offering extra-great).

Behold the X-Mini Capsule Speaker:


Look how tiny it is! It's a little more than 2" across, and about 2-1/2" inches high, and weighs in at a mere 52 grams (1.8 oz.). The trick is that it actually extends upwards expanding an accordion style vacuum chamber that acts like a loudspeaker, giving it much more volume than you'd expect from such a tiny thing. The manufacturer, XM-I, call this the "Bass Expansion System", and say it mimics the resonance of a sub-woofer (a sub-woofer the size of a dust-bunny, but a sub-woofer nonetheless).


The device has USB-rechargeable batteries and separate little retractable cable that plugs into any standard mini headphone jack. Reviews claim it's got surprisingly decent sound quality, though of course it's only in mono. If you can't live without stereo, check out the X-mini's big brother, the X-Minimax.

And here's a little Youtube video about the device that also features some nice Irish accents:

The list price on the website is $29.90 USD for the Mini, and $55.00 for the Minimax, available in black, red and white. I really like having the ability to play music or podcasts from a speaker instead of just from headphones, and I figure an iPod Nano and an X-mini speaker are a bit cheaper and less theft-magnet-y than an iPod Touch. So, X-mini speaker, you're on my list.