Antec Soundscience Rockus 3D 2.1 Speakers
by Dustin Sklavos on November 18, 2010 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Audio
- Antec
- Soundscience
- Rockus 3D
Wrapping it up
Unfortunately we're getting down to crunch time with Antec's Soundscience Rockus 3D 2.1 speaker system, and there's a lot to consider here.
First, sound quality can feel a little thin at the highs and mids, but this is made up for by the system's ability to render a fairly comprehensive sound. The Rockus 3D is capable of revealing nuances in music better than a cheaper system is going to, and if you can get past the slightly tinny character of the speaker set you'll find it may actually produce details in the songs you enjoyed that you haven't even heard before on lesser quality kit. Likewise, the subwoofer sounds good without producing excessive bass at even the highest settings, and there's no distortion or vibration that occurs even at high volumes. Antec's engineers set out to produce a clean, reference-quality system that works great out of the box without any tweaking and in that respect they've been largely successful.
Second, the included optical connectivity cannot be understated. We've had people post in the comments that this should be much more common and I have to agree: using an optical connection makes the speakers hassle-free and takes any interference that might have snuck in (like, for example, on the demonstration using the Toshiba laptop) out of the equation entirely.
The much-ballyhooed 3D mode actually does serve a purpose beyond being a checkmark and gimmick to flaunt all over the product packaging. If it were so amazing that it made everything better, they wouldn't have bothered to put a toggle on the remote to let you switch it on and off, but in games—where pitch-perfect sound reproduction isn't the foremost concern—it can appreciably improve the overall experience. Movies with more dynamic soundstages are also likely to benefit, and hey, if it still bothers you, you can always turn it off. For music listening, though, we really didn't feel it added anything worth having.
What we have here is an excellent 2.1 speaker system that has one crippling flaw: an onerous pricetag. Antec feels the $249 MSRP is reasonable; they're pitting the speaker system against Bose's Companion 3 and cite that in their own studies, most people preferred the sound quality of the Rockus 3D. I have no doubt that's true, but the Companion 3 is a terrible deal, and it's the wrong product to target. The 2.1 systems the Rockus 3D really has to compete with are going to be in the neighborhood of $100 cheaper. At this point, the most popular 2.1 set on NewEgg is the Logitech Z-2300. We can argue that the THX certification doesn't mean a whole lot, and the Z-2300 doesn't offer an optical connection, but you're still left asking if the Rockus 3D is $120 better. Without having Z-2300's on hand I can't say for sure, but I can say that as a consumer looking at speaker sets I'd probably err on the side of the cheaper set.
And that's really the question: is the Soundscience Rockus 3D worth $249? If sound quality does matter to you, and you're on something of a budget, and the optical connection is important to you, AND you don't have room for a 5.1 system.... At that juncture I would say yes, the Rockus 3D makes sense. There's no question it's an excellent speaker set, but the pricetag is awfully steep for a consumer 2.1 system.
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DanD85 - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
I'm not sure if Antec sound better than Edifier. I know it's quite unfamiliar brand name around here but I've heard it and it really really good. The price is quite reasonable too.http://www.edifier.ca/english/speakers/s330d/s330d...
warisz00r - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
As an owner of the S330D I can definitely vouch this poster's opinion. The Edifier compares pretty well with the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 and is also way better than any similarly priced 2.1 systems from Logitech and AL.Patrese - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
Agreed as well. I have a set of Edifier E3100 for 5 years now and they're easily the best sounding 2.1 computer sets I've ever heard.The0ne - Monday, November 29, 2010 - link
I have two sets of Klipsch Promedia 2.1 and don't have any complaints. They're un-used mostly now because of my Z5500s but they are still very good when I do use the other PCs. I have another comparable 2.1 but can't remember the brand name, urgh. It also has very good sound qualities and still going strong.dramaqueen - Wednesday, July 8, 2015 - link
Edifiers are decent but what about the Harman Kardon SoundSticks?http://www.pricenfees.com/best-2-1-speakers.html
Can't really compete when it comes to overall sound quality IMO.
wtfbbqlol - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
Things like:- Frequency response
- THD+N
- Speaker sensitivity
Unfortunately to make all these things happen, and have them be valid, you'll have to go all out and have an anechoic chamber with proper measurement equipment (measurement mics, and hardware testers like some Audio Precision stuff) for your measurements. If you don't have an anechoic chamber, use maximum-length sequence type measurements to circumvent room reflections.
Anyway, my point is, if you can't at least provide some valid baseline measurements a purely subjective review is more or less useless. Better spend Anandtech time on other more useful stuff.
ninjaquick - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
S/N, FR are almost always marketing gimmicks. While it is true that many high quality speakers advertise these values, their relevance is questionable at best.Ultimately it is the subjective hearing tests that matter most. The shape of the enclosure, the aspiration of the drivers/woofers., the material of the cones and even the wires used inside the system + the amplification/DACs all affect how the system will sound past the S|N/FR statements. What I am getting at is until you hear how it sounds you will never know how it sounds. I could, right now, grab top shelf drivers and wires, get it to be 15hz-25khz / 112 dB S/N but they would sound awful. Hell, even with null THD they would sound bad.
I don't even care anymore to get to where I was going.
wtfbbqlol - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
Without some form of valid lab measurements you have no reference to judge the audio performance. The measurements aren't an absolute metric of what sounds good or bad, but its value is in showing whether the product has any gross deviations/defects in its audio performance. For example, if I see weird 10dB peaks or dips over a wide band in the frequency response, I am almost certainly sure that the audio product is not worth my time at all.What the reviewer thinks "sounds good" to him/her may not be good for you. His/her ears are not yours. Meanwhile, measurements which are done properly, even if they don't give the full picture, allows you some way to gauge the audio performance and compare one like product to another.
Also, notice I suggested that Anandtech perform their own lab measurements, and not use the advertised "specs" of these products. It's a huge undertaking, make no mistake about it, and one I think Anandtech is currently ill-equipped to deal with currently and is of questionable value even if they do. It's going to take a lot of money, time, and effort just to improve one small portion of their output. Either do it right, or don't.
I'm going to be blunt; this kind of review doesn't belong on Anandtech. I expect rich analysis like some of the better hardware articles here (SSD, motherboard reviews etc).
wtfbbqlol - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
For example, here is a page from a speaker review of another site with reasonable effort put into some of the measurements.http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/booksh...
anactoraaron - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
I would agree with this. I am only going to compare and refer anyone reading this post to Anand's SSD trilogy. The depth of how nand works wasn't necessary nor was the controller's inpact on performance and why, but it is that depth that makes Anandtech.com what it is. This article just doesn't match up with the SSD articles. I know this is more of an issue of "the manufacturer sent us this to review it and this is the only way we are able to do so as of now" but maybe this should be filed under the News section and brief specs listed there, rather than doing this and calling this a full fledged review.my 2c