Plugging small speakers into PocketPC

[briaric]

Any of you folks know of small speakers that I could plug into the jack of a PocketPC. Sound quality only needs to be ok. Knowing that the output circuit probably can't handle too much load, maybe battery powered speakers would work. Taking a trip, bringing the E125 and would like to play somethings for a small group of people.

Ideas? :)

Thanks

[Matt Cassidy]

When are you leaving? I have an extra pair.

[Sven Johannsen]

Any off the small powered PC speakers will work. You can find them that take a couple of C batteries to divorce yourself of mains power. The sound quality will be dependent n the speakers of course, but even the $15 to $20 ones are OK.

The PPC output generally doesn't have the umpf to drive non-powere speakers very well.

[Janak Parekh]

The PPC output generally doesn't have the umpf to drive non-powere speakers very well.
... maybe the original iPaqs do, though, especially without the volume patch. Only the very lowest notch was tolerable for headphones. 8O

--bdj

[jizmo]

This kind of speakers are just toys, even when connected to real amplifier. Get yourself spekers with either external powering or batteries.

I bought a pair of Sony's desktop speakers for this use. They take in AC or work with batteries. You can take both of the speakers if you want louder volume and stereo sound, but you can just take one if you want to save space. One speaker provides more than enough sound (I used it while having a beer picnic with friends, and it's more than enough to upset the other people sitting outside. :twisted: )

And what's best (and came as a total surprise to me), these speakers can also be used as passive (ie. no power) speakers. The sound is quieter, but you don't need any batteries, and it's loud enough if you are getting tanned quietly in the sun, for example. :wink:

Oh, and they cost ~30€.

/jizmo

[Pony99CA]

While they might not technically be "speakers", has anyone used the Sound Bug? They plug into headphone jacks and turn flat surfaces into speakers. I wonder if the sound quality is at least as good as the speaker on my iPAQ 3870.

Steve

[Kati Compton]

While they might not technically be "speakers", has anyone used the Sound Bug? They plug into headphone jacks and turn flat surfaces into speakers. I wonder if the sound quality is at least as good as the speaker on my iPAQ 3870.


A friend just loaned me one. I'll report on whether or not it's better than the Axim speaker, but I don't have any other PPC to compare to.

[Janak Parekh]

While they might not technically be "speakers", has anyone used the Sound Bug? They plug into headphone jacks and turn flat surfaces into speakers. I wonder if the sound quality is at least as good as the speaker on my iPAQ 3870.
One of my friends got one. It's underwhelming, IMHO. Neat toy, but it is utterly surface-dependent and on many (most?) surfaces it won't duplicate the performance of a real speaker (including the iPaq internal speaker).

--bdj

[Pony99CA]

While they might not technically be "speakers", has anyone used the Sound Bug? They plug into headphone jacks and turn flat surfaces into speakers. I wonder if the sound quality is at least as good as the speaker on my iPAQ 3870.
One of my friends got one. It's underwhelming, IMHO. Neat toy, but it is utterly surface-dependent and on many (most?) surfaces it won't duplicate the performance of a real speaker (including the iPaq internal speaker).

I wondered how good they could sound making a surface that wasn't designed as a speaker into one. Speaker design is both a science and art, and even little PDA speakers are at least designed for sound reproduction.

However, iif there are some surfaces which these work well with, that would be worth knowing. I think it would be fun to attach these to a window or a table to show off my Pocket PC. :-)

Steve

[Janak Parekh]

I wondered how good they could sound making a surface that wasn't designed as a speaker into one. Speaker design is both a science and art, and even little PDA speakers are at least designed for sound reproduction.
Yes, especially bass reproduction.

However, iif there are some surfaces which these work well with, that would be worth knowing. I think it would be fun to attach these to a window or a table to show off my Pocket PC. :-)
FWIW, here's a detailed review: http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/olympia-soundbug-review.html

--bdj

[Pony99CA]

However, iif there are some surfaces which these work well with, that would be worth knowing. I think it would be fun to attach these to a window or a table to show off my Pocket PC. :-)
FWIW, here's a detailed review: http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/olympia-soundbug-review.html

Thanks for that link. I haven't checked The Gadgeteer Web site in a while, so I missed that.

To summarize, the review was reasonably positive, but not great. That's better than I expected it would be, so it might be worth checking out.

Steve

[Janak Parekh]

To summarize, the review was reasonably positive, but not great. That's better than I expected it would be, so it might be worth checking out.
True, but apart from the sheer gadget nature of it, I'd rather get fold-up speakers. :)

In any case, I use headphones, myself, with my PPC 99% of the time. The 1% when I want to play music out, there's speakers in my vicinity. Problem solved. ;)

--bdj

[briaric]

I see the topic took off into other areas and I appreciate the information. With the trip I am going on with my wife, we needed to brings an older (small walkman style, gag) cassette/radio player. We bought a cheap pair of tiny speakers from RadioShaft (woops, Shack). It works better than I thought on the E125 but they are not powered and obviously powered ones would have worked better. Size/cost was important and they may get damaged during transport.

Thanks,

Brian

[Jason Dunn]

I tried the Soundbug once, and to be honest, I wouldn't pay $5 for the thing (it was schwag). Neat concept, but the execution was kind of ho-hum. Not something I'll take with me on trips...