Talk about a product with universal appeal. Pick your target audience: MP3 player users, hotel room denizens, or any other group that listens to audio on the go but is prone to headphone burnout. There are so many hours a day you can endure having something press on your head. The TravelSound is made for such people. Weighing in at only 10 ounces, the TravelSound is a pair of micro titanium drivers mounted on a fold-out stand. Each driver receives a total power output of 2W, which is twice what you normally get with integrated laptop speakers. Moreover, the set covers a 150Hz to 20kHz frequency range, which is quite good for a product of this size.
The TravelSound i300 includes an AC adapter, although the device will also run for up to 35 hours on a set of four AAA batteries. The Line-In port lets users plug in anything from an iPod to a portable DVD player, and Creative throws in the necessary male-to-make 1/8” cable. The unit also sports a headphone jack, although, personally, I have yet to find a real world use for it.
No, the TravelSound can’t compete with a decent 2.0 speaker set and its bass response is lacking. Some of this can be compensated for through EQ tweaking in the player device, and the TravelSound does offer a Wide Stereo Effect mode, which is pretty decent at close range. But the point is that it’s far better than the speakers that most likely came in your buyer’s notebook, and, of course, portable player users will rejoice at being able to keep listening to their content yet still be free from headphones.

M-Audio
Sonica Theater
MSRP: $119.95
www.m-audio.com

As with desktop audio cards, some mobile buyers will simply want the best, and here that means the best mix of portable form factor and audio quality. Without question, that points to just one product: M-Audio’s Sonica Theater.
The Sonica Theater is essentially a Revolution card stuck into a small external format, although the codec chips are from Japanese vendor Asahi Kasei rather than VIA. The palm-sized (4-7/8” x 3-3/16” x 1-1/4” and only .25 lb.) device boasts an impressive 101 dB SNR, and in my tests with the Sonica Theater coupled with some Sony studio-quality headphones, I was unable to detect even a glimmer of hiss at high volumes. The bundled 6-foot USB cable is detachable, making this one of the easiest external sound adapters around for toting in a laptop carrying bag.
On the back edge of the Sonica Theater are seven ports: USB, digital coax SPDIF, center L/R, center/sub, rear L/R, front L/R and headphones, and analog Line-In. Now, while it’s unlikely that your customers will be toting around 7.1 speaker systems with them, they may be going into presentation environments where surround sets are waiting for them, and being able to supply 7.1 audio direct from the presenter’s PC rather than the site’s tower system can be a time-saving advantage. This combined with the prospect of sterling clear sound reproduction and a solid software bundle that matches the Revolution (including WinDVD 4 Dolby Digital EX version) makes for a very persuasive offering.
The Sonica Theater isn’t without a couple of caveats, though. First off, I’m not sure why M-Audio opted for a coax SPDIF adapter instead of the far more common optical connector. This isn’t a problem if your customer has compatible equipment, but it’s best to double-check. More important is the limitations imposed by the USB 1.1 interface. The Sonica Theater supports 24-bit/96kHz playback, but only up to two channels (stereo). There simply isn’t enough bandwidth with USB 1.1 to support 24/96 in surround, so the adapter drops down to 48kHz when surround is employed. Future USB 2.0 adapters, such as Creative’s Audigy 2 NX, should provide comprehensive 24/96 performance at 7.1.
And watch the fine print. M-Audio’s product page notes: “supports DTS output and Dolby Digital 5.1/EX (6.1 DVD) decoding.” However, this is pass-through support. True DTS or Dolby decoding requires the use of an external decoder, such as a home amplifier or Creative’s new DDTS-100 decoder, which is only marginally mobile. M-Audio makes some amends with inclusion of SRS surround matrixing and enhancement technologies. With some content, especially movies and games, SRS touch-ups can be pretty impressive, although I’ve been less taken with results on high-quality music, but that’s true of most matrixing schemes in general.
Ultimately, the Sonica Theater is a great choice for two-channel purists and those doing surround presentations on the road.