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| I said it once and I'll say it again, stereo speakers will never die. Nothing else can top the ease of setup or miniscule footprints they offer, let alone be approved for use at the office. While most 2.0 desktop systems are underpowered, look bland, and sound like a chipmunk that crawled into the clothes dryer chute, it doesn't have to be that way. Enter Logitech's 30-watt Z-10 system, comprised of two mirror black pillars on your desk with unadulterated USB sound, touch sensitive controls, and an informative amber LCD that shows you everything from track information to your latest e-mails and RSS feeds. Full review below. | ||
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Monolithic Design I was initially thrown back by the size of the Z-10 system. With a box weight of about 13 pounds, I could tell instantly that these were not your ordinary desktop speakers. Each speaker sits just under 10" high, just over half the height of my 17" CRT monitors.  Despite this, they take only slightly more space than your ordinary desktop speakers, with a footprint of 4.7" x 4.5". Cable management is also a non-issue here, as both channels only have 2 cables coming out the back - one to tether the two, a power cord, and the USB or analog audio cord. There's no unsightly wall wart either, as the power supply is built right into the left channel. A 3.5mm headphone jack also makes an appearance on the right speaker, great for listening to music without disturbing others.
Like many other modern devices on the market today, the Z-10 comes in black with a silver trim, and a glossy piano black front that really gives it character. As is typical with these glossy finishes, it's easily attracted to dust and smudged by fingerprints. This is easily taken care of however, as Logitech was kind enough to include a lint-free cloth for quick wipe-downs.
The Z-10 handles music admirably well, and it's obvious that a lot of thought was put into their design. First and foremost, they're USB (why else would I review them?), and as such, they bypass the imperfections and noise linked to your onboard soundcard that would typically introduce hissing and electronic noise, such as how I can hear light clicks and squeaks from my video card and optical drive when using analog. Second, it's pretty easy to see that the drivers are beefier than what you'd be accustomed to with typical single and dual-driver setups, pairing 1" tweeters with 3" mini woofers in a bi-amplified configuration. Yes, woofers. The blowholes are on the back, and they move quite a bit of air. Such a combination allows for clear highs and deep lows, deeper than I'd anticipated, although there's no "kick" to it much to the disappointment of my love for gaming since that's something only achievable with a dedicated subwoofer. No, the bass is much better suited for listening to the depths of an acoustic guitar (think Alice in Chains), the smooth bass of progressive trance, drums and bass guitar bits in rock music, or the piano and stringed instruments in classical music. For those actually trying to listen to the music and not feel it through their teeth, the Z-10 will do nicely. Listening to music on the Z-10 was somewhat strange compared to my other sets of speakers, not because anything was wrong with the audio, but rather because it was flat, and I say that in a good way. Whereas most consumer speakers employ the "disco smile" to emphasize highs and lows, the Z-10 stayed relatively flat like a monitor set, true to the original mastering and leaving it up to the user to use an equalizer to fiddle with the sound if desired. Not once did a bass hit or guitar riff overpower the rest of the spectrum, no matter what genre of music I was listening to. No equalizer adjustments were necessary within iTunes, nor was there a need for changing the bass or treble settings on the speakers themselves to get a perfect harmony of sound. Quite an impressive feat, considering the wide variety of rock, metal, trance, classical, 8-bit, and nerdcore rap music I've been testing these with. Another strange tidbit, because the Z-10 doesn't filter the USB audio before it hits the speakers, poorly encoded MP3s will sound terrible if there's any pre-amplification employed in the media player. That means the volume slider in iTunes should be at its default of around 85%, and Windows Media Player at 50% to avoid scratchy audio that's especially evident in guitar solos. You can consider it similar to how a cable box's internal volume adjustment has one tick mark labeled "best stereo".  Underneath the right woofer is a gorgeous 160x43 LCD display, the same one used in Logitech's G15 gaming keyboard only with an amber tint and lighted touch sensitive buttons. The software powering the Z-10 display is also the same, only with a new version of LCD Manager that activates a few more features. Out of the box, the display can present you with current track information, your latest POP3 emails, the time and date, your current CPU and RAM utilization, a countdown timer, and a stopwatch.
 Logitech has put together a real exquisite set of speakers with the Z-10. Sound quality is phenomenal, with zero distortion and no overemphasized frequencies. Though there's no kick to the bass, the 3" mini woofers do an excellent job providing depth to a wide range of musical genres, and the 1" tweeters sound exceptionally crisp. The LCD taken from the G15 keyboard is also a treat, providing lots of useful information without taking up your monitor's real estate. Throw in the dozens of free applications such as virtual pets, RSS and chat readers written by the community for the display, and Logitech has a winner on their hands. Although I would have liked to see Mac support and more responsive controls, the Z-10 is highly recommended for any Windows users looking for a 2.0 desktop stereo system that reaks of quality. By Scott Clark, Consumer Technology Editor |
 Logitech Z10 Interactive Speakers Best Prices |
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Logitech Z10 Interactive Speakers Best Prices |
