Logitech Z-10 2.0 USB Speakers

Reviews: Multimedia

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Kurtis Kronk
Brian
Logitech
Dec. 21, 2006

Specifications

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Testing - Features

Before I get to sound quality I want to cover the special features of these speakers: touch-sensitive buttons and an LCD display. The touch sensitive buttons do their job well, though it did take me a minute to get used to them. The strange thing about these buttons is they can be actuated without even being touched if your finger is close enough - this isn't a problem, it's just something I noticed. During my testing, I got bored on occasion and decided to play the "how far can my finger be from the button and still actuate it" game. For the record, not even a millimeter.

As I mentioned earlier, there are four preset buttons on the face of the speakers. In supported applications, you can set these buttons to play a playlist or an internet radio station. To test this feature I opened up Digitally Imported radio and tuned to one of my favorite stations: Chillout. Once the tunes were playing in Winamp I simply held my finger on the first preset button, and a little radio icon popped up on the LCD and as I kept holding the button the number one appeared next to the icon to confirm the preset was registered. I repeated this procedure for the other three preset buttons using various stations. As expected, the preset functionality worked when I pressed one of these buttons with Winamp open. I wasn't so sure if the presets would still function if Winamp wasn't already, but my suspicions were laid to rest when I gave it a shot, and it worked flawlessly.

The LCD display on Logitech's Z10 speakers is controlled and can be configured to an extent by Logitech's LCD Manager Software. The various display modes include: Countdown Timer, POP3 Monitor, Clock, Performance Monitor, and Media Display. You can set the LCD to automatically switch between the various modes or you can manually switch between the modes. Within Logitech's LCD Manager, there are some various options for the switching algorithm, which I found to be relatively pointless with the exception of the "rotate between programs - in seconds" option, if you want to make use of the modes outside of media display. You can also adjust the display brightness (Low/Medium/High) within the software.

I personally found the countdown timer and POP3 monitor to be useless, so within the LCD Manager disabled these modes. The countdown timer is exactly what it sounds like (a virtual egg timer) and the POP3 monitor keeps tabs on a POP3 email account (which in my case stays empty except for the spambox, because of Outlook). The clock mode is pretty cool in my opinion, as it shows you the time in analog and digital format along with the date and even number of unread email messages. I also found the performance monitor useful for keeping tabs on my CPU and RAM usage. The media display mode shows the artist, scrolling track information, and a timeline of the track you're currently listening to.

One small thing I noticed was when I tried to check for updates within the LCD Manager (under the About tab), it would tell me I wasn't connected to the internet, even though I most certainly was. The software was up-to-date anyways, but I figured it was worth mentioning.

I should also mention the quality of the LCD itself, while good, could stand to be improved if I'm being very picky. At extreme vertical angles, the LCD will invert, and at extreme horizontal angles, the orange backlight becomes increasingly bright making the text harder to read. However, if they were to use a higher quality LCD it would just increase the price of these already relatively expensive speakers further. Furthermore, from my testing I have found that I'm never actually looking at the LCD from an extreme angle which would cause any difficulty in viewing. This was a real complaint in my Z-680 review a long time ago, but it's immaterial in this instance.

All in all, the LCD is a nifty feature of the Z-10 speakers. It's certainly not a necessity, but it does make these speakers stand out, and I can honestly say I'd miss the LCD if I didn't have these speakers anymore.

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Page 3 of 5

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Page 1: Introduction & First Looks
Page 2: Taking a Closer Look & Setup
Page 3: Testing - Features
Page 4: Testing - Sound Quality
Page 5: Conclusion

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2 User Comments

1 - Posted by suzier on June 14, 2008 - 10:12 pm

I love so much my Z-10 Logitech Interactive 2.0 Speaker System. They are so Hi Fi and Power Full, every tonality are there and for a small system like this one it is very, very impress. There is no powered enclosure with so much dynamic. I recommended those enclosures to every body that likes music and wanted a small sound system with Lap Top an excellent compromise and portable.

2 - Posted by MrAudio on January 19, 2009 - 12:45 pm

These speakers are absolutely fantastic. I can hear things in songs that I didn't know were there- you can hear the bass guitarist in every rock song, and can easily separate different layers. They truly are different class, yet again Logitech have produced a gem of an audio system.

The bass is crisp, clean, and ample- I'd call it a nice chunky bass but not too much- just enough. There is plenty of power, even in high volume these are the most crystal clear speakers I've ever heard for a computer/laptop.

The sounds are clean, the bass is deep and tight, whilst the highs are frankly incredible.

10/10, no better 2.0 system out there. Don't hesitate.

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