For years, we’ve read in audio magazines about the quest for the finest this, the biggest that, and the most expensive such-and-such. If it were 2005, I’d probably be addressing that subject right now. But in 2009, it seems rather ludicrous to be writing about extravagant audio baubles while one sits at an Ikea table in a $10 Old Navy polo shirt drinking coffee from Smart and Final. Fortunately, the audio world also offers plenty of gear better suited to today’s tight budgets.
In fact, we’ve recently seen the launch of what may be the cheapest audio system ever: the Super Mini Cube. The Super Mini Cube measures 26mm on each side, making it in essence a 1-inch cube. Into this tiny space, it packs a ¾-inch driver, an amplifier, and a rechargeable lithium battery. It doesn’t even need a cord to connect to a portable music player, because a 3.5mm stereo plug folds out from a slot in the side. Expose the plug, stick it in your iPod or anything else with a 3.5mm stereo jack, and you’ve got a sound system.
In search of a minuscule powered speaker system to use with my subminiature Samsung YP-U3 MP3 player on bike trips, I stumbled upon the Super Mini Cube on Amazon. I then found it even cheaper on USBfever.com. For $9.99, it was simply irresistible.
The Super Mini Cube comes with a tiny elasticized strap you can use to hang it from things. You can also attach it to a keyring. It comes with a short USB cable for charging. Although the box shows it in four colors, I’ve only been able to find it in black. There’s no volume control, just a power on/off switch, so you’ll have to use the volume control on your MP3 player.
Those who can’t shake the 2005 mindset can take comfort in knowing that each Super Mini Cube chassis is formed on sophisticated molding equipment from only the finest polymers. The chassis is then mated with a circuit board employing advanced surface-mount technology. Final assembly is performed in China, a country that dates its tradition of fine craftsmanship back to the days before the Roman Empire. (And you thought you had to spend thousands of dollars to get an audio product with a good backstory.)
Strangely, although the box says the Super Mini Cube is made in China, no manufacturer is listed.
PERFORMANCE
Obviously, I didn’t expect a $9.99 iPod speaker to be a Foxl killer, but I was extremely curious about how well something so small and so cheap would perform. So I strapped the Super Mini Cube to the handlebars of my bike, dropped my Samsung MP3 player in my handlebar bag, and connected the two with a headphone extension cable. I then took off on a before-dawn ride to Los Angeles’s Petersen Automotive Museum for an appearance on Sound & Vision Radio.
In this uncritical listening environment, with few cars on the road to disturb my music, the Super Mini Cube worked. It didn’t sound beautiful by any measure, but I was able to make out radio host Scott Simon’s voice clearly when I set the Samsung’s FM tuner to NPR’s Weekend Edition. Jazz music also proved fairly entertaining through the Super Mini Cube; I could easily identify the sounds of Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, even if their subtleties were masked. Blues harpist/singer James Cotton sounded surprisingly clear through the nickel-sized driver.
However, the Super Music Cube roughed up some of the rock music I played. In particular, it gave vocalists a bright, harsh sound. Any mix with a broad stereo soundstage and lots of out-of-phase information ended up badly mangled by the fold down to mono. On Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On,” the acoustic guitar almost vanished, and the barely audible percussion at the beginning became the dominant element in the tune.
To my surprise, the subterranean vocals of Barry White did not disappear entirely when I played “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe”—but still, the Super Mini Cube doesn’t produce any bass. However, this only proved annoying when Cotton’s bassist took a solo, which through the Super Mini Cube was practically inaudible.
The Super Mini Cube wasn’t loud, but it was loud enough for me to hear it when I wasn’t near traffic. As I approached L.A.’s notorious 405 freeway, though, the automotive noise overwhelmed the Super Music Cube. Turning up the volume elevated the distortion to levels even Ted Nugent wouldn’t tolerate.
Surprisingly, I got almost four hours of use out of the tiny battery before it needed a recharge.
WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?
Basically, this is a background music device—you’re not going to use it for anything even approaching serious listening. But as I write this, playing jazz guitarist Pat Martino’s Live at Yoshi’s album at about 60 dB, it’s OK.
I’ve used the Super Mini Cube several times since my bike trip, mainly in situations where I just wanted some music and was out of range of my multiroom audio system. It also worked reasonably well as a background music source while I sat and flipped through a magazine at a nearby park.
The application at which the Super Mini Cube excels, though, is as a tool for audio enthusiasts and technicians. When you’re working with audio gear, it’s nice to have something that tells you right away if an audio signal is present. The Super Mini Cube handles this chore well, as long as the material isn’t just bass. To make the Cube work as a portable monitor, I soldered a 3.5mm jack onto a cheap RCA-tipped cable, and plugged the Mini Cube into the jack. Now, for the price of an Old Navy polo shirt, I have a pocket-sized speaker/amp system that I can plug into any line output to see if I have signal.
I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call the Super Mini Cube an icon of excellence for these tough times, but it’s definitely a fun way to blow 10 bucks.
IN THE LAB
Frequency response (at 1 foot)
1.3 to 20 kHz ±14 dB
Bass limits (lowest frequency and maximum SPL with limit of 10% distortion at 2 meters in a large room)
(surely you jest)
Maximum full-band output
approx. 78 dB at 0.5 meters
The frequency-response graph is weighted to reflect how sound arrives at a listener's ears with normal speaker placement (whatever that is for a product like this). Measurements were made at 1 foot, which with a system this small is adequate to include full effects of cabinet diffraction, and was also necessary to achieve adequate output for measurement. Measurements were made on a 6-foot stand, which delivered quasi-anechoic results to far below the Super Mini Cube’s useful range. Normally, I scale speaker measurements so that the level at 1 kHz is 0 dB. However, that was impossible with the Super Mini Cube, because it doesn’t play that low. I ended up using 2.5 kHz as the 0 dB point, just so I could fit the frequency response curve into Sound & Vision’s standard chart.
The Super Mini Cube is, in essence, a cheap tweeter. Its response starts to plunge below 3 kHz. The only range in which the response is fairly smooth is between 4 and 12 kHz. The manufacturer rates low-frequency extension at 600 Hz, but while there is some output at that frequency, it’s heavily attenuated and extremely distorted.
At 1 kHz—the standard reference frequency for audio measurements—the lowest total harmonic distortion I was able to achieve was 19.8%. Turning up the volume on the source increased THD further, often well above 50%. At higher frequencies and low levels, it was better; minimum THD was 1.8% at 2 kHz and 0.5% at 4 kHz. Those numbers might seem high, but they’re not unusual in the speaker world.
By the way, the output is rated at 0.8 watts, but the manufacturer seems to have come up with that number by multiplying the battery’s voltage by its maximum current. Using the RMS calculation commonly employed for rating audio amplifiers, the output is more like 0.2 watts.
To measure maximum acoustical output, I played a variety of music through the Super Mini Cube, turned the level down to the point where distortion was low enough to tolerate, then measured the SPL at 1.5 meters, which I consider a typical listening distance for a device like this. Jazz and lighter music, such as Wes Montgomery and Joni Mitchell, distorted badly at levels above about 65 dB. Heavily compressed rock, such as Rammstein and Mötley Crüe, came through a little clearer, peaking out at about 78 dB. (And probably the ample distortion in those recordings made the Super Mini Cube’s added distortion subjectively less annoying.) These levels may not seem loud, but for light background music they’re quite adequate.
After extensive laboratory evaluation, I can confidently state that the Super Mini Cube is the finest 1-inch-cube audio system I’ve ever measured.