Nokia Mini Speaker MD-9 Review

Introduction:

Music is one of the things what may have quite a revitalizing effect on parties. Of course, if you´ve failed to invite a cheerful crowd or forgot to get proper drinks, music itself won´t help, as a matter of fact nothing would. Still, imagine this is not the case and you´re cooking with gas, but you just happen to be outside or in a place, where there music is… unavailable. That would be just too bad, wouldn’t it? Well, your only option is called portable loudspeakers with autonomous power supply. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology, you can throw a proper party virtually anywhere. On our part, we are pretty pleased with the X-mini II by XMI, but in this review we are going to take a closer look at Nokia´s latest portable speaker setup, the MD-9 and compare it to the X-Mini II that, come to entertainment on the run, we consider one of the best solutions.

Design:

The Nokia Mini Speaker MD-9 is compact indeed (42mm long and 62mm wide) and weighs just 90 grams, batteries included. It´s not exactly comfy to carry around in your pocket, but put it into a small bag and you´re in the game. It comes in black and red that go perfectly with all handsets in Nokia´s XpressMusic lineup.





The only thing that deviates from the round shapes of all other design elements of the Nokia MD-9 is the 35cm long cable with a 3.5mm jack on its end. What you also get right out of the box is adapter to 2.5mm that makes the Nokia MD-9 compatible with even more devices. Keep in mind that the set will also allow you to listen to radio on your handset. Its cable can be used as aerial and you can roll it up around the base of the loudspeaker, meaning it´s really comfy to bring along. The power on/off key at the bottom is the only button on the MD-9.

One of the controversial elements of the Nokia Mino Speaker MD-9 is the power supply. In this case this stands for two AAA batteries that according to the manufacturer should provide up to 50hrs of continuous playback (depending on the volume and the particular type of the batteries). Some people consider this the better option, because you can buy another pair virtually anywhere. We, on the other hand, feel pretty comfortable with the 12 hour long playback the X-mini II delivers on a single charge and tend to think charging via USB is comfier than trying to forget to buy batteries or charge them. Still, this is just us.

Audio playback quality:

Now, it´s about time we told you about the results of the exhaustive tests we subjected the Nokia Mini Speaker MD-9 to, starring the set of course, an iPod nano 2G (being the music source), the X-mini II (as benchmark milestone) and our home-grown, much pampered audiophile as the person to pass final judgment. We listened to punk, rock, rap, drum and bass and jazz tracks and this is what we found out.

The Nokia Mini Speaker MD-9 delivers really good audio playback quality, for a portable speaker that is. The sound it produces has clear, distinctive trebles, pleasing basses and all told, is better than what the XMI X-mini II delivers. Our only gripe relates to the sound distortion and crackling noises that become audible when the audio player or cell phone goes at full blast. Just to be sure, we connected the speaker to several other handsets, but to no avail. Still, if you stick to 80-85% of the maximum loudness, you should be fine, plus that´s about enough to get a proper, nice sound even in larger rooms. Well, don´t expect to feel the bass thump in your guts though - what the speaker does is to provide a pleasing audio background to help you socialize easier. The X-mini II performs much better with this respect, because it remains usable even if you pump up the volume quite a lot and on the overall, delivers louder sound.

Conclusion:

We just have to admit the Nokia Mini Speaker MD-9 swept us off our feet with the sound quality it delivers, perhaps the best we´ve heard coming out of a portable speaker setup. The adapter to 2.5mm jack makes for a nice extra feature and the fact that the set is powered by AAA batteries sweetens the pot, especially if you´re considering going to a place where there is no electricity. The only disadvantage we can think of is that you won´t get more than what you´ve paid for, i.e. there is no way you it can be connected to another MD-9 if you feel like getting sound that packs more punch. Still, you can always connect it to the X-mini II – you should definitely give it a try if the opportunity presents itself, you will be impressed, we promise.

The Nokia Mini Speaker MD-9 is a great portable speaker. However, it has its own advantages and shortcomings when compared to X-mini II and this turns the price into a major criterion. We don't know what the price would be yet, but if it turns out to be a lot higher than $35, we would rather go for the XMI product.