It’s time to put the “electro” in Electrogent with these nifty X-Mini Capsule Speakers from XMI. These little guys are the winners of 4 product design awards, including the 2012 RedDot Design Award. Their uniqueness comes largely in their ability to collapse in on themselves and become a portable speaker with little risk of damage.
There are three versions of the same idea from X-Mini: the UNO, the MAX, and the KAI. The UNO speaker is a single mono speaker, the MAX set is two speakers which make up a stereo setup, and my favorite, the KAI which is a mono bluetooth speaker (and is pictured above).
The KAI is by far the best, because the bluetooth capability allows you to truly take these bad boys along with you, without worrying about cables. The UNO and MAX speakers have a very small cable, which limits how far you away you can place the speakers from the audio source. However, the small cables allow you to link the capsule speakers together to create a circle or line of speakers.
These speakers charge through a USB cable (included), so you won’t have to worry about power once you’ve charged them up. This allows for more freedom, despite the short audio cable, so you at least have help in that area.
The X-Mini website has a ton of accessories and other types of speakers. Some can pick up radio stations, some can play music loaded on an SD card, and some even have Hello Kitty on them. It’s almost overwhelming how many types and price ranges these speakers entail, and the best way to learn about them is to browse their website and see what capabilities you’re interested in. Chances are: you’ll find what you’re looking for.
The main downside with these is that the price point is a bit high–some ranging around $100. Amazon has some cheaper versions, but the official website has more options for you. Overall I think the X-Mini speakers are a whole lot of fun, and it certainly gets me listening to more music just as an excuse to use the speakers.
Below is a sound test and video review of the X-Mini KAI (bluetooth version). If you liked that video, consider subscribing to us on YouTube so you don’t miss out on future review of cool stuff.
