UltraLink UFi UCube USB Speakers Pack Class-D Amplifier
There are numerous companies attempting at making truly portable USB speakers for your laptop. For the most part, the design boils down to a "audio bar" arrangement that hangs off your laptop. These designs, while portable, do have some draw backs compared to more typical speaker looking speakers. What if you could get truly portable speaker cubes that are not only USB powered but also provide good sound? This is the question UltraLink's eningeers must have asked and then answered. We say this as today comes word of the all new UltraLink UFi UCube USB Speakers. Unlike most typical cube USB speakers, UltraLink claims they have the equivalent power rating of the typical 15 watt speakers. This is a lot to ask from such itsy-bitsy speakers whose cube-shape measures just only 3.25" square. How Ultralink got this power boost without frying your 500mA USB 2.0 port is by including a class-D amplifier. The amplifier basically stores power during quiet periods and then releases it when the music needs that extra "oomph". Whether or not this is PR fantasy is something that we cannot talk about at this time. However, we are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, as they do include some other good features. These features we are alluding to include a full-range, flat-diaphragm driver (which UltraLink calls a Balanced Mode Radiator) for wider "room filling sound" and DSP equalized audio processing. Hopefully, this is enough to justify their price tag of $149.99. Sure, it is not quite as easy as sticking a sound bar into your laptop case, but these are definitely a close second in ease of transportation. Since they should provide higher sound fidelity, we can see a lot of people not minding a slightly increase "bulge" in their laptop bag.
