XBOOM Ceramic Mini Portable Capsule Speaker with Rechargeable Battery, Enhanced Bass+ (Black)

Even though I wanted a small portable speaker for my Walkman, I was uncertain about buying this unit since I have had no experience with this specific product nor the supplier. I received the XBOOM Ceramic Mini Portable Capsule Speaker today, connected it to my Walkman, and was totally impressed with its performance and sound quality. Amazing fidelity from such a small speaker. I am so taken by the performance and simplicity of this Unit that I plan on buying a second one to see just how well they sound connected together in the "Buddy Plug" mode.On occasion a product review states that connection and operation are ultra simple, then require some frustrating decoding to interconnect, charge, operate the device. This is NOT the situation with this Unit. If you can switch on a kitchen light. you can immediately use this unit with no further instruction.My one area of concern is the durability of the On-Off switch. The switch is the one component that is subject to repeated mechanical stress of each on-off operation. Whereas the mini design of the speaker unit by default necessitates the use of "mini" components, the switch itself seems to be a bit too microminiaturized to be able withstand the repeated back-and-forth "movement" and might be the principal --perhaps only-- failure mode. I would suggest that the developer of this truly great unit consider using a more robust switch mechanism.As previously noted, I plan to purchase a second unit. I will provide comments as appropriate following my connecting the units in the "Buddy Mode".

XBoom speakers arrived charged up and ready to use. I ordered two units to pair together for enhanced sound.The pluses - compact size, came with all cables required to connect, charge, and pair up two units. Well packed, easy to use. Good treble, pretty clear sound. My one minus: minimal bass.I purchased these speakers to play music through my tablet, and the sound through my tablet was not very satisfying. Not enough volume in my garage. I plugged them into my laptop, and the music was much brighter, louder, and was sufficient to give me tunes while I work in the garage. So, as previous reviewers stated, these are not "room-fillers" or party level sound, but I didn't expect that. For $40.00 I have a pair of speakers that work o.k. for what I am using them for - garage tunes from the internet while I work. I think these might excel as desk-side accompaniment, or as compact travel accessories. I have 65 year old ears, with decades of floor speaker, big boom listening, so I have to allow for some diminished capacity in fairness. I believe the youngsters today are more attuned to smaller, portable music devices than us old timers who grew up with the high watt, 12" bellows of the mighty cabinet speaker! In closing, I am satisfied with the XBoom speakers, and continue to be surprised at how electronic devices and accessories have improved over the old AM car radios of my youth.LOL.

Two separate units, both defective! Quality Control is non-existent. First, the power wouldn't shut off. The second one...began to emit an electrical fire smell as soon as it was plugged in. Not risking a house fire over a speaker.Update....Originally gave a 2 star rating because of the above reasons. After the seller read the review, they contacted me direct and offered to send another unit, at their expense (100% free to me), to try to make things right. I was skeptical but being free, I agreed. The unit sent was white in color rather than black as I had ordered BUT....it works. And it works as described. It's not a high end speaker but for using at the office or just using for a quick music fix in a pinch, it works great and fills all my needs.

3 inches high and connectable to any MP3 player using a 3.5-mm line (http://www.amazon.com/CablesOnline-3-5mm-Stereo-Gold-Plated-AV-101G/dp/B008XM1VXW), the sound is good enough to pleasantly fill a room and enjoy. Even if you have a stereo or a boombox nearby, this handy little speaker is so convenient you might find yourself using it instead. I think it suffers slightly, though, from some poor engineering design choices: First, it doesn't shut itself off when not in use, but necessitates one to locate the hard-to-find on/off switch, which must be slid left or right (if it's not possible to make it automatically shut off when not in use, at least the switch could be more easily, through visual and tactile cues, to find, and could be a pushbutton instead of a slide switch). Second, the handy little LED dot light that indicates it's on is great, but, at least on mine, it flickered and went out permanently after less than a month of use. Without the LED light on, you have to look around for the on-off switch (which again, is mildly inconvenient to find because it's on the bottom of a cylinder and there's no tactile or visual hint of where on the cylinder it is). Those are my only cavils, this is a spunky little speaker and it's fun to take along wherever you go, indoors or out, with a surprisingly clear and robust sound.

Would have been nice if the item description says it has problems charging and being used at the same time. Annoying and I'm buying a different one. Since you have to plug into USB why do I also have to plug into the 3.5 jack? Don't know but I bet I can find one that has no such requirement! Since you have to plug into USB why DOES IT CHARGE EVERY DAY?! WOW! So dumb. It should never even have to charge because its always plugged in.Hate it but customer service did send me two replacement units for reasons I don't remember. The first one just plain didn't work if I remember right. Second one never re-charged even though I never cared to use the battery but it wouldn't work any ways despite I always had it plugged in. Hell I would have never noticed, but I did because bad engineering.