I can't describe them as hi-fi because they’re not, but these powerful speakers are the best regarding power, size and sound quality. Xmi x-mini II is the predecessor of xmi x-mini 1; I will tell you about the new features later.
The second edition of x-mini, the one I am reviewing is just a little bigger that the first one. So instead of a 52 x 52 x 35mm unit weighing 52g with a 36mm speaker, you now get a 60 x 60 x 44mm unit weighing 83g unit with a 40mm speaker. Power output has gone up too, from 2.2W to 2.5W.
Those dimensions are for a close unit, if you twist the top half of the unit, then a 15mm concertina section will spring open. This will increase the base of the unit substantially. They call this "Base Expansion System" and they build it like this because in this way you will not gain more weight to the unit or a bigger unit, with this system they managed to increase the base substantially and believe me when I say that it's amazing. This is the one of the best feature of this little device.
The device has an internal battery which can't be removed and they say that it will last from 4 to 11 hours on a full charge, but the first I used it for about 14-15 hours before the battery dried out; the first 5-6 hours was at 50%volume and after that 100% and I think that this is amazing.
They have done a pretty god job with the battery as well but, and this is a big BUT, because a lot of people had problems when they tried to charge it for a second time and even for the first time. What happed is that the battery either wouldn't charge or it would stay on red light forever. On their website there is a section where they talked about this problem and advised people to try and charge it and listen for a few good minutes in the same time, or to charge it on a mains socket and not through the usb port.
For a lot of people worked and for those less fortunate, the xmi team agreed to replace or give refunds for the units. But beside the battery problem everything is good with the unit.
The unit has a 120mm jack cable that stows away at the bottom of the speaker, a circular volume control, an on/off button and it has a Buddy-Jack which allows several Mini II's to be linked together in series. If you link two or more units together it will not give you a stereo sound, just mono sound but you can buy a left/right mono splitter; but be careful when you search for this because I couldn’t find a cable like this on Amazon. The only one that I have found is Maplin L39BA - 3.5mm Stereo to 2 Mono Splitter and it's about £6.
XM-I supplies a USB-mini cable that splits off providing a USB interface and 3.5mm audio connection, so you can charge the unit via USB and play music simultaneously with just the one lead.
The unit is pretty impressive and I don't think that you will find anything more powerful and smaller than this one. First it was £20 but now has gone down to £12.99.
Beside the battery it's almost impossible to find any downsides. You can't compare these speakers with proper desktop speakers but they will beat any laptop speakers. If you travel a lot and you don't like to use headphones these are the best choice, I personally use them as desktop speakers because they are small and they give a rich and clear sound.
Here are the technical specifications:
Technical Specifications
Dimension (L×W×H): 60mm×60 mm×44mm (closed resonator)
Net Weight: 83g
Speaker: MAGNETISM PREVENTФ40 MM 2W/4Ω
Loudspeaker Output: 2.5W
Rating Power: 2.0W
Frequency Response: 100Hz-20Khz
Signal-to-Noise: ≥80db
Distortion: ≤1.0%
Playback Time: Up to 11 hours
Battery Voltage/Capacity: 400mAh
Battery Charging Voltage: 4.2V±0.05V
Battery Charge Time: 5V - 2.5 hours.
What's in the Box:
1 X-mini Speaker
1 Charging Cable
1 Pouch
1 User Manual
If you want I can do a video about them. Just let me know. (Timis)
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