SP212 USB Only Computer Speakers with Digital Sound

Oh, yes. Don't you love it when things work EXACTLY as expected without muss, fuss and endless headaches? In person, these speakers are smaller that I'd imagined, so my first thought was, "Oh, no. These things are gonna be squeaky and tinny, like listening to a child crying on my desktop." Luckily, they weren't. They sound very good. I tested them by listening to Steely Dan (what else, right?) It was either that or Peter Gabriel or David Benoit or anything that makes full use of sonic colors in audio production. From the bass to the treble, everything sounded clear. If anything, I'd say the highs were a tad too loud. Yeah, I love high hats as much as the next guy, but too much can be a little fatiguing. Still, it won't lose a star because of that minor quibble. I can always do what producer Teddy Riley does - place some tissue on the tweeter, or in this case, the entire speaker. Then again, I do like the spaciousness and life added highs give to music, plus some of the heavier stuff I listen to may be high shy anyway. These SP212 get 5 stars because of the price and convenience of the combined power/audio USB connection. Why there are no more companies putting out similar speaker configurations is a mystery to me. There's nothing like completely bypassing your laptop's analog audio section and just sending the 1's and 0's out for processing by an external amp. Makes for an absolutely clear sound, free from the inherent pops, clicks, hisses and squawks you'd get from disk drive activity, etc. Now, if they could make a bi-amplified unit with a 5" woofer and a total output of around 60 watts, that would be a dream. Addendum: I've had these USB speakers for about a month now. I use them every day. Yes, they're a bit bass-shy, but I've since been using a free audio player for the PC called AIMP3. The equalizer in it greatly enhances your aural experience. These are the settings I prefer - 63Hz - +3.75dB, 87Hz - +4.29dB, 125Hz - +4.29dB, 175Hz - +4.29dB, 250Hz - +2.14dB, 350Hz - +1.61dB. Everything else is flat. The music has more meat now, more bass. Makes it more palatable and satisfying to the ear.

I bought these because my audio ports were shot and I was thrilled to find something so inexpensive. I was considering the Logitech S150 speakers because they are (at the time of this review) slightly cheaper but I'm so glad I went with these instead. Pros: Super inexpensive! Look nice from the front, which is the part I look at most. They sound great--I was very pleasantly surprised by the sound quality from such an inexpensive set of speakers. They get loud! I can play music on my PC and hear it down the hallway pretty well. Very easy to install--just plug and play. Good design--difficult to knock over and small enough to fit on a crowded desk. Cons: The sides are cheap looking--some of the paint was chipped/scratched already and the matte black is shows smudges and dust. Volume control is mediocre--on a Windows PC, 0-37 is silent, 38-80 ish is pretty quiet, and 80ish+ is where you have the proper variability in volume. Overall a great purchase.

For the price, these are OK speakers. Ditto the comments about the volume. There is almost no volume until the speakers are in the mid to high 90's. My biggest complaint is the wires are too short. They're fine for a laptop, but I bought them for a desktop computer connected to a TV. The cables aren't long enough to put one speaker on each side of my TV. My TV is only about 3' wide, and the wire between the speakers is only about 2'. The cable going from the speaker to the computer is barely long enough to reach. The sound quality and the volume are OK (if the volume is turned up almost all the way). Overall these are an inexpensive pair of speakers that are adequate for my needs. If the cables were longer, I would have given them another star, and would have been much happier with the speakers.

Delivery was on time, product is as described. It is not hi fidelity sound, but it doesn't *pretend* to be, so I am not disappointed. These little desktop speakers sound great for what they are - little desktop speakers. OfficeTec SP212 USB Only Computer Speakers with Digital Sound Installation was super easy, you'll need an active internet connection to download and install the drivers; give it a few minutes to finish. Once the drivers are installed, you may need to go to your sound devices settings and set the USB Speakers as your default sound device if you previously had some other speakers or a headset installed. I am using these with a USB 3.0 docking station to share one keyboard/mouse/monitor/speakers with multiple laptops in the home office. They work *great* for that, each machine which connects has to first download and install the drivers, and thereafter each machine can use them when it is plugged in. The overall volume is touchy, though. Leave your system sound set to 100%, and adjust the actual volume in your player of choice. If you set your system volume to less than about 95% you will barely hear any sound. Overall, a really good value for the price, and very convenient.

The volunm does not go very high.