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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sinPiEqualsZero - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
Hi Dustin/Anandtech,I truly believe that you’ve given your best recommendation based on the available data, and I appreciate the time spent doing the review. I pay particular attention to speaker reviews since I wear hearing aids and need amazing speakers to understand speech, and thanks to you I have some more data with which to make a decision. I'm even in the market for them since my old ones just died last week.
In general, as you are well aware, audio review is an under-appreciated and subjective process. In this case, I have reservations about the one used for the review. But first, a small bit of relevant background based on some of Anandtech recent accomplishments.
When SSDs were coming out, you picked apart their parts, algorithms, and used the awesome collective knowledge of Anandtech to make big waves in the industry. We are still benefiting from those articles today and I guarantee that the major manufacturers and engineers are reading all related articles they can. You even referred to working directly with some manufacturers!
Then the iPhone4 reception issues came along, and you did what no one else did; you measured the effect of the wild claims that were flying around and erased all doubt. We may never know the true extent that your article influenced the notoriously secretive Apple, but I bet the impact wasn't small.
Let's get back to speakers. There are so many things that can be measured with speakers: distortion, maximum/minimum settings that can be compared to manufacturer's claims, and more. The quantifiable data is there, you just need to find ways to measure it. Heck, you could even disassemble the speakers and look at their components, and comment on how their use/placement/etc. affect the sound and cost.
I'd love to see a true "Anandtech"-level audio review where that creativity was on full display. Given the shady claims and misinformation that pervade the speaker market, connecting repeatable readings, analysis, and some physics know-how with the overall listening experience would be amazing and unique. That is exactly the reservation I mentioned above - there is no reason that a speaker review should only be subjective, and I've love to see some of our finest minds in the industry tackle the problem of defining "good" speakers.
Again, thank you for the time and effort you’ve put in. No matter how many negative comments you get, there are many who appreciate what you do. In this case, though, I believe you have chance to once again take up the mantle of industry leader and go where almost no one else does. Best wishes to you and to all of the people at Anandtech!
VietPham - Friday, November 19, 2010 - link
I can't believe that this review was on AnandTech. I've read the criticism of the review methodology (all warranted) but there are more fundamental issues. The reviewer just doesn't seem to understand the basics.For instance, he uses the term "double blind" when it's clear that he doesn't understand what it means. It's okay if he's not already familiar with the term, but he could have taken just a few minutes to google the phrase if he was unsure if he should use it. To skip this basic self-education is a disservice to readers, who expect better from AnandTech.
I'm also troubled by his claim that he uses a set of Bose as his standard speaker system. Bose? I believe this is the same reviewer who compared the HS1 to a set of Bose headphones a few weeks ago. Lots of people do think Bose products are of sufficient quality, but I'm worried when an audio reviewer uses them as a benchmark.
Between his admission of his liking for Bose, his testing audio with YouTube clips, and his misuse of very basic terms, I'm afraid that this review has told me nothing about the actual quality of this product. It's more like a diary of his experience with a free set of speakers he got, written from the point of view of a non-audio expert.
Not AnandTech quality.
rscoot - Friday, November 19, 2010 - link
I'm not an audiophile but I concur with using Bose speakers as a baseline. They're overpriced snake oil junk.Shinobi_III - Friday, November 19, 2010 - link
For that kind of money you could easily get a pair of Behringer 2x20watt digital studio monitors.Obviously there's no subwoofer, but accuracy and pressure is high. probably more bass anyway. And since they already contain DAC's, you won't even need a good sound card..
Matrices - Saturday, November 20, 2010 - link
I don't really see the need for an army of numbers in this sort of review, since they will simply march past the consciousness of readers who don't measure their listening experiences quantitatively - but I do think that you really need to have at least two comparable systems for comparison. And I also think that those systems should almost never be Bose products, for obvious reasons.At any rate, $250 for a 2.1 PC setup is, quite frankly, ridiculous. The reason Klipsch and Logitech all but stopped producing PC speakers around that price range is because most PC users who have that sort of money to spend on PC sound realized that they could do far better with real speakers hooked up to a cheap receiver. Even back then, Logitech's mid-tier 5.1 system went for around $250. A 2.1 system from a new contestant that's the same price? It's going to tank terribly.
plague911 - Sunday, November 21, 2010 - link
but seriously why does it seem like none of the major manufactures put any effort into that for these smaller sound systems. I mean half of them are outright ugly.musicgadgetz - Friday, June 4, 2021 - link
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