Yamaha NX-U10 Review

By Ian Bell
August 14, 2007

Can a portable speaker that is powered off of a USB port, sound any good? You might be suprised. Read out review of the Yamaha NX-U10 USB speaker system.

Snip:

"One of the truly sensible reasons why USB-powered speakers have gotten a bad rap is the low power output of the USB bus itself. Speakers require electricity to generate sound, and while more electricity doesn't always equate to better sound, it gives a rough logic to louder, more powerful sound. (Think of the massive electrical arrays that power the monstrous speaker systems at concerts, and you'll understand what power can do for sound.) USB generates only 5V/0.5A of power - just enough to charge the average cell phone and carry data signals over modest distances. This 5V power leaves the average USB speaker with 0.5W of power per channel. If you don't know what 0.5W of power sounds like, trust us — it's really pathetic.

Yamaha overcame this USB power limitation with their trademarked PowerStorage™ Circuit to provide 10W per channel, or 20W total. This is 20 times the output capability of other USB speakers. The PowerStorage Circuit acts as an internal power reserve that takes in 5V of USB power and uses enough to play active music on its speakers. The music files being played essentially consume electricity in the same way Variable Bit Rate files use disk space. When there's more music to play, the speakers use more electricity. When there's less signal pumping through the Yamaha NX-U10, the PowerStorage Circuit saves up those little electrons and holds them in reserve until they're needed in greater quantity. Pretty brilliant. "

Read the full Yamaha NX-U10 review