Audio Quality

Ludwing van Beethoven - Für Elise – This is a very light recording. The more I listen to it for reviews the more I grow fond of it overall. The range is excellent. With mids and highs throughout and the lows towards the middle and end it really tests any form of audio equipment well. The first thing I noticed when listening to this track on the AlienVibes W401 Speakers is that something was missing. The light static noise that I have come accustomed to throughout previous reviews has vanished. This isn’t a bad thing at all; it does take away from the age of the song some, with the static being audible it makes you appreciate the age more. However, age isn’t a requirement when enjoying music, and as far as the song goes, the speakers actually did an excellent job of both clearing up the track and producing all of the sounds clearly.

Nat King Cole & Natalie – Unforgetable – This is another light song, but with more emphasis on the vocal side of things as well as different instruments. We get a great range of lows to highs and the great part about this song is that with two different singers, Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie, we get lows and highs at the same time. Sometimes audio devices aren’t able to clearly produce that range of sound at the same time. The W401’s had no problem with this tune. Not only was the clarity of the voices excellent, but each instrument also came through loud and clear without being muddled by the rest of the audio.

Eric Clapton - Rush (Soundtrack) - 10 - Tears In Heaven - This song has a pretty consistent flow of both mids and highs. The vocals and different instruments came through clearly and nothing felt like it was lost in transition. This track is a great example of what guitar sounds like on the speakers and I am pretty impressed.

Bone Thugs N' Harmony - Tha Crossroads – “I just wanna say, Welcome, to the part of the show, where the bass drum hits hard and slow, your face becomes aware that I’m startin’ to flow, and it sounds like a song that you already know…” Maybe I just have a bass fetish, but this was again my favorite song on the speakers. I think that it is because it really gives the subwoofer a chance to shine. Turning the bass up nice and high we can really feel the bassline. The great thing is that the vocals don’t get buried in the bass, even when I turned the bass up as high as I could get it.

Flight – Movie – Flight is a drama starring Denzel Washington. From a movie standpoint it was okay, it was a good story, but in the end it was a basic drama, nothing that really excited me. The W401’s did a great job especially the plane crash scene. The subwoofer did a good job of bringing through the heavy bass that is a commercial airliner coming to a crash landing. The only thing I will say is that the movie would have been better in 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, but I think that goes without saying.

In Game – Dead Space 2 – I wanted to test the speakers out in game, and initially I was testing it with League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth. The sounds in these games were great and I have no complaints, but I feel like the speakers weren’t getting a chance to show their true colors. So I booted up Dead Space 2. The speakers were perfect for this game. They did a great job of capturing all of the enemy sounds and ambient noise. It did an even better job with the action sequences and the booms and bangs. There is an added level of scariness when you can FEEL when an enemy jumps out to rip your head off. The added bonus of not having my headset on made it a little more frightening to play. I bet the speakers would be more than perfect for Amnesia, something that is almost entirely about the ambient noise and the visuals of the game.

There are a couple of things I want to touch on that affect the performance. These are the volume, treble, and bass controls. There is a separate dial for each and you can adjust the levels however you please. The reason I felt the need to mention this is for two simple reasons. The first is that we are given three different controls. Most similar speaker sets only have one control in the volume knob. The other reason I like them is that they are all three located on the subwoofer. It is a pet peeve of mine that speaker sets with a subwoofer often have the volume knob on one of the speakers. I like to put my speakers up out of sight out of mind, but my subwoofer always sits just below my desk. With the centralized control scheme it is easier for me to reach and change the volume, bass or treble without much of a headache. In other models I have to often reach up or around things to get to wherever my speaker is hiding.

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The other thing I want to comment on that is purely preference is the look of the speakers. I feel like more and more companies are designing their speakers to look futuristic. They all seem to have different curvy and wavy designs that I am simply not a fan of. I don’t mind that my speakers and big, black and professional looking, because...they are speakers. I’m not trying to show them off or impress anyone with them, so I don’t see why I need a special design. Like I said, it’s purely personal preference, but that’s just how I feel about it.

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One thing that we haven’t mentioned earlier is that the speakers are 110w speakers. This means that they are powered through a dedicated power chord rather than through USB, which is common with many desktop speakers. The subwoofer has a power switch that can be flipped off to conserve power when the speaker set is not in use. The subwoofer also has a hole in the side of it. Upon a bit of research (and by research I mean I Googled it) I discovered that this hole is called a bass reflex port. Its purpose is to allow air to escape in a structured manner so that the sound doesn’t get distorted. One final minor but nice touch is that the speakers and the subwoofer both have feel. The speakers are a simple padded foot that gives it a little bit of a grip and keeps surfaces from getting scratched up, and the subwoofer has a bit larger set of feet, but they are also a material that keeps it from moving around or scratching up surfaces.

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