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Stats:
| Author | +Zem |
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| Views | 2255 |
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| Date | 05/05/2004 |
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| Time | 12:55:39AM |
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Pelican GBA SP Go Loud Go Silent sound pack
- Long name huh
 IT HAS CLAWS |
This pack contains the headphone adaptor for the GBA SP, a set of "earbud"-style headphones, and a set of self-powered speakers that latches onto the SP. I actually bought this for the adaptor, since the whole thing was about the same price as the official adaptor by itself, but the speaker setup turned out to be the main attraction. The packaging purported that the speakers are available in several colors to match any SP, but all the ones at the store were purple. Whatever. I didn't feel like waiting around or ordering a black one or whatever you do when you want matching accessories, so I just bought the purple one.
 Closed up |
The whole thing is set up with little hooks to latch on behind the SP's screen, sort of like the headcrabs from Half-Life. The speakers themselves stick out on each side, and can be pivoted to be flat against the side of the SP when it's closed or out so they face toward you when you're playing. They can also be rotated further back until they're pointing almost completely away from you. I can't imagine a realistic situation in which this would be useful, but I guess it's nice to have. They're powered by two AAA batteries, and like most external speakers have their own power switch. The cord plugs directly into the ext.2 port.
 All set up |
So, once you've attached the speakers, plugged them in, turned them on, and turned the SP on, you may notice the problem, depending on how the volume is set. Maybe my speakers are defective, but there seems to be a rather large problem with scale. See, when the volume slider on the SP is all the way down, they're silent, which is fine. If you begin sliding it up, after a millimeter or so the speakers will come to life, broadcasting sound already well into the "audible" range. It's a good volume, but it's the minimum. As you continue sliding the volume up, the sound quickly goes into levels well over what I'd usually need. Now, this by itself isn't so bad; maybe you want to play it at a concert or a space shuttle launch or something. The problem is that these aren't quite top-of-the-line speakers, and at around the level usually referred to as "loud," which happens when the volume slider is about a quarter of the way up, they begin clipping. At any volume above that you can no longer hear the sound. It seems much more practical to have them start quiet, be "normal" around halfway up the slider (remember, this is currently at the lowest audible level), and proceed to the borderline-clipping "loud" at the top. I have no idea why they decided to set it as it is now. This severely cripples the versatility of the speakers, which is a pity because at lower levels they'd still be better than the single built-in SP speaker. For the "normal" level they work, and I use them, but it's very strange that they would be set up to only be useful at one setting.
 Sometimes the cord gets in the way of the R button |
Anyway, at that one level they work fine, and they're very handy. Scale problem aside, they're good speakers. I'm pretty sure they're stereo speakers, but it's hard to tell with any of the games I have. With speakers that far apart, though, I wasn't expecting a lot in that department. As for battery life, I'm not sure; I haven't gone through the batteries that they came with. This means they last at least eight or so hours, and there isn't any indication of their losing power yet, so that's good. They seem to be made out of rather cheap plastic, but I don't routinely throw around my GBA, and they're light enough to not take much of a hit if they fall, so that doesn't seem to be a problem. So in summary, the speakers are almost really good, but could be much better with one tiny adjustment. Oh yeah, and while they're kind of funky-looking by themselves, they really don't look too bad when they're attached.
As for the rest of the pack... the adaptor works just fine (I think it's actually the same as the official one), and the included earphones are really really shitty. But it works fine with better headphones.
 And the rest |
posted by +Hyena
on 11/10/2004 at 02:10:25AM
"As you continue sliding the volume up, the sound quickly goes into levels well over what I'd usually need. Now, this by itself isn't so bad; maybe you want to play it at a concert or a space shuttle launch or something."
Hah!
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