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CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 09/19/2006
- Updated on: 03/11/2009
When folded closed, the PSP Sound System is roughly three inches wider, four inches longer, and about a half-inch deeper than the PlayStation Portable, which puts the sound system completely out of pocketable territory. When opened, the PSP Sound System fits perfectly around the PSP. Unfortunately, in order for it to fit well, you have to contort the Sound System a bit so that the PSP's power and audio jacks line up with their counterparts on the speaker dock. (The Sound System is a PSP-only product--the lack of auxiliary inputs means it can't be used as a speaker for an iPod or any other device.) Once your PSP is locked in, its power switch is inaccessible, as is the disc door in the back, which means you have to again twist the stand to take out the PSP to change discs or turn off the system. (The power switch on the Sound System's front face controls only the speakers, not the PSP itself.) The independent power switch is also the bane of the battery compartment--the Sound System takes three AAs--as it continues to drain juice if left on when there's no PSP in the cradle. Fortunately, attaching the PSP's AC adapter to the speaker system can power both it and the docked PSP simultaneously.
We tested the PSP Sound System with a few movies and had mixed results. The Spider-Man 2 UMD played pretty well, with the movie's orchestral score sufficiently audible through the speakers. But the system had a harder time delivering the softly spoken Mandarin Chinese dialogue in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's quieter scenes with sufficient muscle. We tried a few MP3s, but they didn't play at a level conducive to large group listening. Just for kicks, we tossed a game in, and the PSP Sound System powered out the crazy soundtrack to Loco Roco pretty well. While the Sound System doesn't obscure any buttons needed for gameplay per se, the combined system is awkward and unwieldy enough that you won't want to do it. Getting the Sound System in the perfect position to play any type of audio took a bit of work, though. We had to set the PSP on the stand at exactly the correct angle if we wanted to avoid awful static. As a result, we can't really recommend using the Sound System unless it's being kept perfectly still--the backseat of a car is not the ideal setting for this player.
While the Intec PSP Sound System accomplishes its primary mission--amplifying audio on the PSP--its poor design and ergonomics made it more trouble than it's worth. While it's a bit bigger and slightly more expensive, the $40 Logitech PlayGear Amp is a much more reliable and versatile option for PSP media playback.
