[dippa]

There’s a pair of speakers in my parent’s computer room which was basically the “cave” that my brother and I lived out of for what still qualifies as more than half of our lifetimes. They’re a fairly old set of things with a tall, rectangular shape, complete with two holes that were just made for my infant-sized fingers, irrespective of what my parents thought.

The design is pretty familiar. There’s a couple just like it behind my office desk, and most people probably owned a pair at some stage in their lives. Speakers were much more common ten or twenty years ago; headphones were far too expensive for the recreational user, although computers weren’t exactly that cheap either.

As the 90s faded out and the 00s began to proceed, headphones became more and more common. They’re relatively cheap, the audio quality has substantially improved and they’re pretty much a requirement if you go to LANs or want to stay on speaking terms with your family, friends or housemates. (Or if you don’t want to illicit strange looks from your neighbours on the next floor.)

But they’re not all that convenient.

That’s the major lesson I’m taking away from the past fortnight, where Razer were kind enough to supply me with a pair of their Ferox portable speakers for review. The banner image doesn’t lie: the Ferox speakers are a diminutive 70mm x 70mm x 53mm. If you don’t have a tape measure, get a can of soft drink - that’s almost twice the size in every dimension.

It’s a tremendous asset for carrying around, highlighted by the little carry bag that the Ferox comes in. If you’ve got a jacket with fairly large pockets, you could easily drop it in one of those. Even trackpants could carry the pouch, which has enough room for both speakers and the dual-cord connecting them. In other words, you really can take the Ferox anywhere.

Like a lot of Razer’s products, the Ferox’s aesthetic is quite pleasing to the eye, with a sleek black finish and the soft blue glow - although the inability to turn off the lights might bother some. Turning the speakers on is even more impressive; you simply push down the top of the speakers, like a retractable ball point pen, allowing the omni-directional speakers to rise up.

The visual is quite pleasant, although the first impression of the audio is less spectacular courtesy of some white noise. Whether you’ll hear the noise depends on what you’re listening to: it’s most noticeable in anything with a high level of bass (electronica, for example) because the Ferox’s bass response is incredibly low. Movies and TV shows are far better, with their increased usage of mid-tones and trebles perfectly masking the noise.

The speakers are connected via mini-USB through a single cable that splits out into a USB connector and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. The USB is optional - the Ferox speakers can run on a rechargeable internal battery, which Razer says lasts for 12 hours on full charge - but you don’t gain any extra slack in the cable leaving it unconnected.

My one major problem is that the cord itself is extremely short at 80cm. While that’s not a major issue for laptop users - and the omni-directional design means it’s not entirely necessary to have the speakers separated like you would in a traditional setup - it severely limits your aesthetic options. The Ferox is sexy enough as it is and it’d only look even better if you could stick the speakers in, say, an unobtrusive corner or even the corners of your desk. I can’t do either: the cord isn’t long enough to reach from my PC on the floor to anywhere besides directly underneath my monitor, so I’m forced to navigate the cable gridlock that is the front of my desktop.

Even with that gripe, it’s worth keeping in mind that the Ferox is pretty inexpensive. A quick search on the StaticICE comparison website found the speakers selling for as low as $60, with the average hovering between $65-70. There are certainly cheaper speakers on the market, but they’re an awful lot nastier too, and they won’t be anywhere near as portable as Razer’s beautiful pair of cans.

You could quite easily take the Ferox from your laptop to the kitchen, the BBQ or even out to the beach - their small form factor makes them exceptionally versatile. Plus there’s the added bonus - they’re speakers. Not having to wear headphones over the past fortnight has truly been a blessing; it’s like rediscovering an old friend, but one you can fit in the pocket of your trackpants.