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Performance
Before I comment on performance, it is important to cover a couple of unique
features this speaker system does sport...
THX is redefining desktop speaker performance
with its THX Ground Plane and Slot Speaker technologies. These two new THX
technologies, combined for the first time in the Razer Mako 2.1 THX
Certified Multimedia System, raise the bar for acoustic fidelity on desktop
audio.
With every desktop multimedia speaker system, you experience direct and
reflected sound. Sound reflecting from desktop surfaces can add to the
experience at low frequencies, but also cause interference with the direct
sound at higher frequencies.
For the first time, the THX Ground Plane and Slot Speaker technologies make
use of the desktop surface to improve the overall sound presentation across
all frequencies. These technologies place the tweeter very close to the
surface, facing downward, and use a very thin slot at the base of the
speaker to distribute sound. This downward firing design and Slot Speaker
technology uses the surface to its advantage to increase sound output and
deliver smooth and even response regardless of the frequency.
For PC gamers and music lovers, the THX Technology creates a spacious
soundstage with room filling sound. Add these features to their high build quality
and downward omnidirectional design and you have a unique set of great
sounding speakers.
The impressive Razer Mako's also sport a
proprietary technology known as ClassHD. Unlike your standard
amplifier, the ClassHD amp uses a tracking power supply where the power that
is available exactly matches the musical demands of each speaker unit,
providing clear, high-fidelity sound. Below is a diagram that better
demonstrates this new technology...
**click to enlarge**
How do they sound?
Now, I will strongly state that sound quality
of any speaker system really comes down to the quality of the source itself.
I can't stress this enough and on-board solutions, regardless of how much
better they have gotten, simply will not satisfy the most discerning
audiophiles and gamers alike. With that said, these quality speakers
were tested with not one, but two quality sound cards in order to
appropriately comment on performance. This consisted of what I
personally find are two of the best sound cards I've ever used...the
Creative XtremeMusic and the excellent
Auzentech X-Plosion. Both of these cards
happen to be primarily targeted at different PC users and one has many
features an tweaks to enhance your overall sound experience.
Other than some casual gaming, these speakers
were thoroughly tested with a variety of music ranging from the eclectic
sounds of Buddha Bar, Loreena McKennitt and Massive Attack, to the
sounds of a variety of Indie and Alternative rock tunes. As I normally
do with any speaker system I personally purchase, I like to spend some time
testing how well it can handle all frequencies and how it captures all
instruments well without any difficulties. This also
helps tweak all settings accordingly, both hardware an software based.
With games, explosions with the bass adjusted
slightly higher than normal, sounded quite good and the sub was able to
handle them quite well. Most avid gamers may consider 5.1 systems at
least, but those who prefer 2.1 systems, this one does deliver. The omnidirectional
sound greatly improves its sound and at times, felt like there were more
speakers hooked up, successfully mimicking surround sound that rivals lower end 5.1 systems. When you add some
of the many tweaks that the X-Fi sound cards offer, this truly made
a difference in overall gameplay sound performance.
Moving on to music, the speakers were tested
with the XtremeMusic sound card with some tweaked settings, including both
the X-Fi Crystalizer and CMSS-3D enabled at custom settings. With most
of the music tested, the subwoofer was set a bit higher than normal and when
it was, it sounded excellent and was able to capture low-end frequencies
very well. The satellites produced excellent clarity in the
mid to high frequencies, even when setting the system close to its maximum
volume setting. What was most impressive was the room-filling sound.
I could stand up and move around the room and the music still sounded pretty
damn close to sitting right on front of them. The ultimate torture
test for any speaker system though is the music of the Blue Man Group.
For those unfamiliar with this remarkable and one-of-a-kind band, their
songs are very "busy" with up to three full-kit drummers playing
simultaneously. Add to that the unique PVC pipe sounds and excellent
mastering of their tracks, and you have the perfect music for testing.
The results were just as impressive and sound was spectacular at very high
volumes with no distortion and the ability to reproduce all sounds
quite effectively.
Performance wouldn't be complete without some
DVD testing so I moved the speakers over to the living room and hooked them
up to my latest HTPC build which sports the Auzentech X-Plosion sound card.
This card is an excellent choice for such a build and the sound, when
tweaked, is highly impressive. Now, I personally find that most DVD's
have really crappy audio tracks and therefore, it was tested only with Blu-ray
movies. This consisted of high-action films such as "The Transporter",
"The Condemned" and "Lord of War". The results were also quite
impressive. While not on par with my 5.1 system on this much larger
room, at high volumes, its sound managed to fill the room and on high action
scenes with a number of explosions, you could "feel" them at times.
The sub needed to be bumped up a bit more to accommodate this larger room
though but once I found the right levels, its sound quality was very
impressive.
The Sexy Control Pod
**click to enlarge**
One final but important note in regards to
performance is in reference to the control pod itself. After some
research over the last year, I found a couple of articles on this product,
one of which had nothing put negative things to say about its control pod.
Like all touch-sensitive products, they not only take a bit more time to get
used to, but require the right amount of pressure to control them properly.
The Mako's impressively-designed control pod works extremely well and I
personally did not find any major issues with it at all. The only very
minor issue was with the middle controls. It occasionally took a
couple of taps to activate the bass, volume or mute controls only because the
surface area is much smaller, requiring a more precise touch. I'm
personally a fan of touch-sensitive controls and have used a number of them
from cell phones and speakers, to PMP players and TV's. The benefit of
such a feature will actually ensure long term use. Any speaker system
with moving parts is prone to malfunction after extensive use. I know
this first hand, especially when it comes to those that feature radio dials.
One particular set I have with radio dials is already exhibiting signs of
wear and the volume dial doesn't always maintain the right output level.
To best demonstrate its touch sensitivity, I
decided to take the liberty to provide you all with a video clip
demonstrating not only its multi-function features, but its sensitivity as
well. In order to view the video below, you will need
Adobe's flash
player plug-in installed.
video clip
**click to play**
As demonstrated in the video, the controls
work well, as long as you apply the right amount pressure. Also, this
video clip demonstrates what I mentioned above regarding the middle
controls. You'll see that the only time I had any difficulty was
having to tap on the bass control twice. Also note that this control
pod is quite large and I show control via just one hand. Using it when
laying on your desk, I simply do not see how you can possibly have an issue with it at
all. The middle Razer Logo actually doubles as a power on/off control
as shown in the vid. Press and hold down on the illuminated logo and
it will turn the system on or off. You'll also notice in this
demonstration that when you power-up the system, it "remembers" your main
volume and bass settings and reverts back to them before it is ready for
playback. Its build quality and design is excellent and
therefore, blends in well with the rest of the system. Also, both the
headphone and line-in jacks worked fine and were tested thoroughly as well.
Plugging an external PMP player to the line-in jack worked well and when you
connect an external device via this jack, it will automatically switch over
and disable PC sound, even if you are playing music from it. The
illumination is also sensitive to touch. Touch the control pod and its
intensity will get brighter. Leave it alone and it will automatically
dim to a subtle glow.
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