PSP World

Logitech PlayGear Amp

Logitech impressed us quite a bit with their first PSP accessory, the PlayGear Pocket case. Now they are back with another accessory, the PlayGear Amp. The PlayGear Amp is a portable set of speakers for the PSP designed for easy travel and as a stand for the PSP while connected. Since the only pictures we had seen of the Amp up until this point were mere renderings, we were very excited to find out what the system could do. We were most definitely not dissappointed.

The PlayGear Amp comes in a cardboard package, and is actually in its included travel case when you pull it out of the box. The travel case itself is 12”x5.5”x2” and is split in half on the inside — half contains the folded speakers, the other half the PSP cradle, audio cable and AC adapter, and has enough room left over to hold a few (hopefully encased) UMDs. Setting up the speakers is easy — just pull them out, extend the chrome support, and twist the speakers up until the drivers sit atop each other vertically. Once set up, you attach the PSP cradle to the bottom of the speakers and run the included audio cable from the back around to the PSP’s headphone port in the front. If you aren’t running on battery power, you’ll also need to connect the AC adapter to a power source.

Once connected, you have two ways of controlling the volume: You can use the PSP’s volume controls, and you can also adjust the volume of the Amp via two buttons found at the top, behind the PSP (the power switch is also located along the top, across from the volume buttons. Slide the power switch, and a blue LED next to the power button lets you know the speakers are on.

As for the sound, it’s actually much better than we expected for speakers of this size. You certainly won’t be hearing much bass “thump” out of them, but with the PSP’s audio turned all the way up, they got louder than we really cared to turn them up. To put it another way, they should be plenty loud enough for most rooms, and for beach or poolside listening. The Amp itself is comprised of four separate “micro drivers,” two on each side of the system. All of the pictures on the outside of the box and in the manual show the system’s speakers being positioned upright, but we found we could actually get some decent stereo separation — which was obviously better the closer you got to the unit — by rotating the speakers out past vertical, to an almost horizontal position. Speaking of sound, we were also pleasantly surprised to find that the speakers took a normal headphone plug as audio in, as opposed to making a proprietary audio port that would only work with the PSP. They may not match, but we may very well find ourselves using the Amp as a portable speaker system for “other” audio devices *cough* iPod *cough*.

The speakers are very aesthetically pleasing, matching the PSP perfectly. Even the snap-on cradle blends nicely into the bottom of the PSP, and it allows full access to all of the Home-Start buttons, while keeping the PSP secure. The cradle was also designed to allow charging of the PSP while in the cradle. The only way this could have been improved upon would have been to have the speakers use the PSP’s AC adapter and then have a cord running from the back to the front, much like the audio cable, to carry power up to the PSP.

Running both the Amp and the PSP off of AC power will obviously allow you to listen to your music and watch UMDs to your heart’s content — but what if you are running off of batteries? We expected that Logitech must have addressed this issue, making sure that the Amp would run at least as long as the PSP on audio-only mode, and we were right. As of right now, the Amp has been running at medium (room-filling, but not loud) volume for more than 24 hours (Yes, the PSP ran out of battery power first, then a 4G iPod, and it’s now running off an iPod shuffle). This is impressive, to say the least — so you certainly won’t have to worry about the Amp’s battery life, just the PSP’s.

Overall, this is a great little set of speakers. The ability to fold them up and take them wherever you want without worrying about battery power is fantastic, and the sound they produce is excellent compared to the average set of portable speakers this size. And don’t forget the pure pleasure that comes with using the stand to watch a UMD movie instead of holding your PSP for two hours straight. In addition, the aesthetics of the PlayGear Amp are perfectly paired to the PSP, and the ability to use other audio sources with them is just icing on the cake. If you own a PSP, you should own a PlayGear Amp.