Audiophiles are quick to name the umpteen flavors of Dolby, but at the risk of oversimplifying things a tad, there are just three types of surround sound today -- each easily identified by their plug. Virtual surround uses just simple stereo jacks, emulating multiple channels from two, while digital surround travels across optical or coaxial S/PDIF cables (or HDMI) and has to be decoded. Finally, there's analog surround sound -- the cheapest solution of all -- where you basically just plug a pair of dumb speakers into each of front, rear and center 3.5mm sockets on your existing PC sound card. Unsurprisingly, the $100 Logitech Z506 speakers use this last technique to deliver their true 5.1 sound, but that's no reason to count them out. The question is, do they deliver enough bang, boom and tweet for the buck? Read on to find out.
Truth be told, the Z506 is far from the company's first analog surround sound package -- it replaces the very similar X-540 setup from 2006, which was itself a upgrade of the $80 Logitech X-530 from 2004 -- but it's clear the company paid a bit more attention to aesthetics this time round. Where both previous packages were fairly symmetrical, boxy (in the case of the X-540) and had stands that jutted out, each of the Z506's satellites have a space-age elliptical design with gentle oblong curves. Here, the two-inch drivers aren't covered by metal grates, but rather gently protected by thin, springy mesh nets, and instead of two per satellite, each has one driver and a small tweeter -- except for the center, which has a pair of eyeballs that joyously remind us of Wall-E. We're also a big fan of the volume dial, if you can believe that, as it's smooth as can be -- just light enough to turn with a single finger, but still enough resistance that we could adjust the volume in fine increments. Yes, it's a pretty handsome looking package, all in all... but before you get too excited, know that it's a far less flexible one.
Read More @ engadget.com
Truth be told, the Z506 is far from the company's first analog surround sound package -- it replaces the very similar X-540 setup from 2006, which was itself a upgrade of the $80 Logitech X-530 from 2004 -- but it's clear the company paid a bit more attention to aesthetics this time round. Where both previous packages were fairly symmetrical, boxy (in the case of the X-540) and had stands that jutted out, each of the Z506's satellites have a space-age elliptical design with gentle oblong curves. Here, the two-inch drivers aren't covered by metal grates, but rather gently protected by thin, springy mesh nets, and instead of two per satellite, each has one driver and a small tweeter -- except for the center, which has a pair of eyeballs that joyously remind us of Wall-E. We're also a big fan of the volume dial, if you can believe that, as it's smooth as can be -- just light enough to turn with a single finger, but still enough resistance that we could adjust the volume in fine increments. Yes, it's a pretty handsome looking package, all in all... but before you get too excited, know that it's a far less flexible one.
Read More @ engadget.com
