Nyko\'s Speakercom
Posted December 31, 1969 by Adam Gainer
Nyko, a third party
hardware company, has recently made two new products for Xbox Live.
These two new products are the Speakercom and a new wireless headset
for Xbox Live communication.
When I first bought the Xbox Live trial kit I was finally delighted to
have a communicator so I could talk to team mates and friends online.
The communicator that came with the set had a universal head clip and a
small ear piece attached to a microphone. I soon found that after long
gaming sessions I found the live communicator pretty uncomfortable as
it pinched up against the side of my head. Another part of the
communicator I did not like is that the adjustable microphone was in
front of your mouth and everything that you said was heard. This
annoyed and frustrated me as I had to hear phone conversations that
other people were having while playing a game. I sought out a new
alternative to the old communicator headset.
I had seen an ad for the Nyko Speakercom in a magazine and thought it
to be a good concept for a live communicator. I saw it in a store and
purchased it for only $14.99 which was a phenomenal deal. The
communicator is actually a speaker box and directional microphone built
into one unit. The unit plugs into an existing Live microphone adapter
and recreates the headphone experience through the speaker on the
communicator. A little dial on the side allows you to control the
speaker output allowing you to mute those who are overly chatty on
Live. The speaker concept is cool except on the loudest setting it
rattles the speaker and sounds like it's going to pop. The speaker
quality isn't top grade but it's decent.
The microphone on the speaker box is the best feature. It is auto
musting and you have to click triggers on the side for it to be active.
This is convenient so others won't hear you unless you let them which
gives you a tactical advantage in certain games. The directional
microphone discreetly hidden on the front picks up perfectly clear with
no popping or ambient back ground noise.
There are really only two downfalls to the Speakercom is that it off
balances s-type controllers. It's weight makes the whole controller a
little bit heavier to play. Another unfortunate aspect is that it takes
two controller slots where as the Xbox Live communicator only takes 1
leaving one free for memory cards. All in all this is a great pick up
for cheap and allows the gamer more control in his communication
options.
