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Music

While playing music of several genres with varied amounts of bass, high and mid frequencies, I was left with an excellent first impression of these speakers. The high notes were absolutely crystal clear and the bass was thumpingly awesome without overwhelming any other frequencies. However, the mid-range notes were a little muted in places; this was particularly evident with vocals from certain artists. However, this was easily corrected on both setups with a tweaking of the EQ.

For an extra test, I placed the speakers in the centre of the room and listened to the change in sound volume, quality and clarity. Compared to a standard speaker that would have been muted as soon as I walked behind it, the omnidirectional nature of the Mako speakers really shines through and I was able to circle them without much change to the music at all.

Films

With the films, like the music I was very impressed with the detail that the Mako 2.1 system brought to the musical scores and sound effects. I was hearing parts of the film I had never heard before, subtle nuances of the sound were available to my ears that hadn't been there with other 2.1 setups. What is also nice with a system of this clarity is that changes to EQ are really noticeable, allowing you to minutely tweak the frequency settings to give you the sound that most suits your needs, be it a slightly bassier soundtrack or improving the crispness of heavy dialogue even more.

While watching Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, I couldn't help but be impressed with the accuracy of the stereo field. Although the sound produced from the speaker is omnidirectional, there is still definite left and right sounds - and in between - so when action is dominant on a certain side of the screen, or particularly when a car travels from one side of the screen to the other, you can follow it with your ears as well as your eyes. Unfortunately though, even with virtual surround activated in the sound drivers - something that tends to work better with headphones - I did miss hearing action going on behind and to the sides of me. Hopefully Razer will release a 5.1 kit in the future.

Games

The results during gaming testing were much along the same lines as the film ones were. I felt very immersed in the action for a 2.1 setup but did wish I could hear a big daddy stomping around behind me as well as in front. Certain sounds however, were enhanced far more than I expected them to be, specifically in Bioshock where the spider splicers (genetically modified individuals with hooks in their hands) scraped their hooks across the floor.

Image from Bioshock Wiki

Dialogue in both Sam and Max and Lost: Via Domus was very clear, and the creepy noises associated with the black fog were more disconcerting that ever before. Again though, if I could hear it following me or creeping up from the wings, it would have been more effective.