The Logitech Z305 in Theory

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of reviewing the Z305 proper, it's important to get a couple of things out of the way. First, this is a subjective review. It's simply too difficult to justify getting together the necessary equipment (not to mention space) to do proper objective measurements of sound hardware, especially when you're sharing a tiny apartment with someone. That, and this is a $59 speaker, so anyone looking for hard-hitting coverage of a consumer-grade kit designed solely to replace crappy laptop speakers may take their sound a little bit too seriously.

Second, this is our last audio review for a while. You spoke: we listened. Subjective reviews are all we're really equipped to handle and that seems to infuriate exactly half of our readership. Since we actually like you and really want you to come back and continue reading, audio reviews are falling by the wayside for the foreseeable future. If and when we take another shot at audio, we'll be adding the necessary equipment and expertise to do it right.

Now, all that out of the way, down to business. The Logitech Laptop Speaker Z305 is essentially a pair of speakers in a single barrel that clamps to the top of a laptop screen similar to a webcam, and from there they connect via a short USB cable that handily folds into the body of the speakers. Setup is quick and easy and no drivers need to install. There's an additional minijack in the body of the barrel for connecting outside audio sources, but the Z305 is still going to require power from the USB port.

On the whole, the Z305 is a fairly elegant solution. The volume buttons built into the bar are basically just shortcuts for the software-controlled volume level in Windows. It's all plug-and-play, very seamless, and in many ways the clamp-on solution actually seems more logical than the wireless Z515 speakers we reviewed. Truthfully when we were offered the Z515 and Z305 to review, this was the product I really wanted to check out. At $60 MSRP it's much less glamorous, but it also struck me as being the more practical of the two. So how does it sound?

The Logitech Z305 in Practice

Subjective listening tests were done with the usual suspects to get a feel for the speaker's highs, mids, and lows as well as the kind of spatial experience the Logitech Z305 was able to produce: a bit of The Prodigy (electronic), The Birthday Massacre (goth/industrial), and a few other bands for music, and Left 4 Dead 2 for gaming. We'll do this in reverse order just to get the weak point of the Z305 out of the way.

Logitech's website advertises "room-filling, 360-degree sound" and in some respects that's true: the Z305 can certainly fill a room. The problem that I ran into with Left 4 Dead 2 was that it was very difficult to discern which direction the zombies were coming from (barring the usual "OH MY GOD THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"); basic stereo separation in the actual listening experience seems to be a real issue with the Z305. That's not entirely unexpected; these speakers fire outward, are in some ways obscured by the notebook lid, and ultimately aren't pointed at the primary user. Of all the sound equipment I've tested up until this point, I found the Z305 to be among the worst at producing any kind of directional audio. It'll fill a room, but it won't help you figure out where your buddy is when the Smoker is choking the life out of her--a real drag when she's one of your best snipers.

Music fares a bit better. The bar the Z305 has to clear is pretty low here: sound better than laptop speakers. Even the comparatively excellent audio the Dell Studio 17 and HP Envy 17 (review forthcoming!) produce can't hold a candle to even the cheapest straight up dedicated speakers. What the Z305 is really competing against are headphones, and in that case it becomes less about audio quality and more about practicality. If you need speakers everyone can hear or are tired of wearing headphones, most built-in laptop speakers aren't going to cut it, and that's the kind of situation the Z305 was made for.

So do they sound appreciably better than even the Studio 17's speakers? Yes. When testing something like the Animatrix Edit of Junkie XL's Beauty Never Fades, the Z305 does a fairly admirable job of producing that soundscape. At about the three minute mark, the song starts to produce well delineated highs, mids, and lows, and while the Z305 has a hard time holding a candle to better dedicated sets, it's certainly in the neighborhood of what you'd get paying the MSRP for other speakers.

That said, it has problems. The overall color of the sound is still somewhat muddy and tinny, and while the bass is at least somewhat commendable for speakers this small, the punch at the beginning of The Prodigy's Spitfire is sorely missed. Overall, the song feels a bit thin and doesn't quite have the kind of body that bigger speakers are going to give you. Something more complex and layered like The Birthday Massacre's Sleepwalking suffers the same issues: highs, mids, and lows don't separate as much as you'd like and overall any music you listen to is going to feel at least a little flat.

Of course, the Z305 also costs $60 and it's not designed to blow your doors off. After sitting down and listening to it for a while I gradually adjusted to the sound quality. While making the jump back to the Antec Soundscience Rockus 3D (say what you will, Antec produced speakers that sound remarkably good to the untrained ear) threw the Z305's deficiencies into harsh relief, I can say with certainty that this set achieves what it sets out to: provide a notable jump in sound quality over laptop speakers.

Conclusion

Credit must at least be given to Logitech for ingenuity: a clamp-on, USB speaker bar for laptops is a great idea. While sharing a laptop for viewing movies runs into all kinds of problems (like those dire notebook screens Jarred, Vivek and I are only too fond of griping about), at least with the Z305 sound isn't going to be an issue.

Actually, the funniest thing about the Z305 is the way it outclasses the pricier Z515. All the Z515 has going for it is wireless connectivity, and for a notebook replacement speaker (among other things), where the heck do you put it? To the right of your laptop? To the left? What kind of stereo listening experience is that? The Z305 winds up solving the practical issues the Z515 possessed: no need to worry about the battery or speaker placement. The Z515 winds up ultimately being the more flexible of the bunch, but jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none doesn't really cut it here.

If you need decent external, travel-size speakers for your notebook, the Logitech Laptop Speaker Z305 is basically the only game in town. Mercifully, that's not necessarily a bad thing: while sound quality left something to be desired, it's still reasonable for the size of the speaker bar and the price. I listen to a lot of music and don't like being tethered to headphones, so I'm reasonably certain when I go to meet most of the cast and crew of AnandTech at CES in a month I'll be packing the Z305 to fill my hotel room.

That said, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the price tag. While the sound quality is generally commensurate with a $60 pair of computer speakers, and you do get the bonuses of portability and a generally smart design, it's still not the kind of deal Ron Popeil or Willy Mays would be screaming at you about. At about ten bucks less the Z305 would be a lot easier to recommend, but Logitech seems to be putting a bit of a premium on their portable speakers these days.

At the end of the day, if you have a use for the Z305, you're not going to feel ripped off by parting with sixty bucks to get it. I'm just hoping that with the holiday season hanging around a sale will bring it from the realm of "reasonable exchange of funds for goods" to "excellent deal." [Ed: A quick search indicates that TigerDirect now has a $15 instant rebate, bringing the total to around $50 shipped.]