Quality portable sound

Times have changed since a cassette player with detachable speakers and a box of tapes provided the only way to get portable music. It's hard to imagine how many boxes of music are now stored on my hard drive. You still have to get them out, and the Turtle Beach micro does a great job of transforming .mp3 files into entertainment.

For a long time, I hooked some speakers up to the laptop's headphone jack. The sound was pretty good. It was stereo, and it was better than the old boom box. After getting a sound card and 7.1 system for my desktop computer, however, the headphone jack didn't cut it any more. I wanted good sound, but I didn't want to be stuck in the basement with the desktop. Turtle beach provided the answer.

I first let the Turtle Beach do an automatic install with plug and play. I was very pleased with the sound. It was a big improvement over the headphone jack's limited performance. The separation was much better, the range of the speakers improved: better lows, better mid-range and better highs. The sound was good enough that I let several months pass without installing the hardware.

If you get one of these fobs for your computer, and you should, don't wait to install the software. The software turns the little fellow into a real sound card. Granted, it's not a 7.1 Sound Blaster, but you will be surprised what kind of performance you can get out of something the size of a flash drive. The software-generated controls give you settings designed for surround sound, for desktop speakers and for headphones. It offers several effects, from listening to music in a hallway to listening to music in a stadium.

As of now, my headphone jack is retired, even for headphones. The effects offered by the sound card are even more impressive on the headphones than on the speakers.

The most obvious advantage of the Turtle Beach micro is the portability. I have speakers in my office; next to my living room recliner (my "auxiliary office"); and in my bedroom. Just unplug it from one set of speakers and move on to the next. As mentioned, it is about the size of a flash drive, although a little fatter. I recommend using the included USB extension cable. It makes it easier to plug other USB devices into tightly-spaced USB ports on a laptop, and it gives you a little more space to separate your speakers.

The device also includes an infra-red adapter, but I haven't had the opportunity to try that option.

For an average price of less than thirty dollars, this product will enhance the entertainment value of your laptop. I recommend it.