We promise: no more Twelve South love stories, this time we are going to just review the product. If you don’t know why we love Twelve South, then look here, or here, or here. There are plenty of portable speakers on the market – some will fit in your pocket, some require batteries, some are powered by the sun, some are waterproof. They come in all shapes and sizes, yet for the most part – they all produce awful sound. If you are like us and have a 17″ MacBook Pro, you have pretty good built-in speakers as far as notebooks go, but this creates a problem. The MacBook Pro speakers aren’t great, but quite frankly – none of the portable options are any better. Twelve South decided to change this, well sort of. Rather then reinvent the market segment that is portable speakers, they just invented the first (to our knowledge) portable USB-powered subwoofer.

Out of the Box

This is Twelve South, so the packaging is worth looking at – however the packaging isn’t going to make music (unless you beat it like a drum.) Once you finish staring at the box, you’ll find the BassJump unit, a case, and a USB to mini-USB cable. This is one of the first non-plug-in-play devices we have tested in a while. BassJump is not just hardware, it’s actually software as well. There are no CDs in the box, but all you need to do is to head over to Twelve South’s website and download the software here. It’s not a large package by any means and you can download it right after you purchase your BassJump to save time.

That’s a Cool (micro) Mac mini?
At first glance you could mistake the BassJump for a Mac mini. There are a couple of things that will give it away real quick, particularly the lack of a SuperDrive, but it’s very much like a smaller Mac mini. It’s a tad bit smaller square with each side measuring five inches, but it’s clearly from the company that makes Mac products only. The BassJump is a tad bit taller at 2.24 inches, but weighs only 1.4 pounds. The front features TwelveSouth’s logo and the back features a mini-USB connection in the back. The bottom is a hard rubber to protect whatever surface you place your BassJump on and  the top features a black grill which at various angles shows the 77mm cone.

My MacBook Pro is Now a 2.1 System?

The concept is pretty simple: your MacBook Pro’s speakers produce pretty good highs and some decent mids as far as computer speakers go. However, they don’t make a drop of sound on the low-end (or at least sound that is worth listening), so rather then wasting all of the good on the high-end – create a device to compensate for where the MacBook Pro doesn’t live up. That’s what the BassJump is: your MacBook Pro speakers and a 77mm subwoofer. More importantly, you have one of the only portable 2.1 systems and just to be clear: you own the only one that is worth listening to.

But It’s Not Just the Lows…

Don’t be fooled, your MacBook Pro needs some help with the mid-range too. The BassJump improves both the lows and the mids and the difference is night and day. We used to think that the MacBook Pro’s speakers were acceptable, that was a joke. It’s not just our favorite hip-hop classics that get transformed, the more shocking differences occur with rock songs. Suddenly guitars have a richer presence and drums are heard. Don’t get us wrong, Lil Wayne gets a massive upgrade thanks to the BassJump – but just because you don’t listen to bass heavy songs doesn’t mean your speakers don’t need fixing.

Turn On the Soundstage

When you plug in the BassJump, you literally turn on half the sound spectrum. Immediately after turn it on trumpets and guitars suddenly emerge from the shadows. Vocals no longer flood out bass lines and each vibration of the guitar strings gets a three-fold increase in depth. The instaneous effect of the BassJump not only gives you the other half of a sound spectrum, but literally gives every instrument a seat at the table. With the MacBook Pro speakers only, the congested sound that attempts to fill the room creates confusion. The BassJump gives a rich and full sound, a sharp contrast to the compact sound that pollutes the room absent TwelveSouth’s creation.

Your Room Transformed

When we sat down in Vegas and Andrew gave us a demo of the BassJump, we sat down in the middle of the room. What we didn’t learn was that it’s when you are in the middle of the room that the BassJump shines. When you turn off the BassJump in the middle of the room, the sound literally escapes the room. Sitting down with the BassJump in front of you is an experience in its own right, but the BassJump gives you the ability to fill more then your desk with sound, it places sound all over the room. More importantly, the BassJump might fill your room with sound, but it barely takes up any room.

The Software

It’s light, it’s simple and it does what it needs to. A preference pane allows for you to set the BassJump to one of the predetermined EQ settings or mess with the volume and crossover frequency manually. This means that you do have complete control over your subwoofer, more then a lot of standard 2.1 systems can say. Twelve South conveniently placed a button to turn the BassJump on and off, just in case you forgot how bad your MacBook Pro speakers sound without it. The greatest feature without a doubt are the dual old-school VU meters that are found within the preference pane and the one that adorns the Menubar to monitor the BassJump’s performance.

The “Put in Your Bag Factor”

When we were in Vegas, Andrew stressed that when you compare the BassJump to other products, you do it approppriately. ‘Appropriately’ to Andrew meant, “what can you put in your bag.” We agree with that categorization and when you try to find competitors, it’s just not worth it. There are a multitude of options when it comes to portable speakers, there are none that sound good. Even when the bar is set at the sound that our MacBook Pro produces, the competition isn’t impressive and oh yeah, the BassJump only reinvents the MacBook Pro’s sound.

In Closing

When we review audio products, we care about one thing – how does it sound. There are a lot of factors that go into it: sound spectrums, comfort and of course, sound. There are a lot of reasons why the BassJump might fit your needs, but in the end – it’s because you want better sound. Whatever room you place the BassJump in, the room gets transformed. Whether it’s a dorm room, a conference room or your office – the BassJump will make you wonder how you accepted the mediocrity of your notebook’s speakers for so long. We have found our favorite portable “speaker” and you can find it directly from TwelveSouth for $79.99.