I spent almost 2 hours walking around Sim Lim Square today, looking for a portal battery-powered speaker. My requirement is that it has to be powered by AA-sized batteries because I have a lot of them that longer provides sufficient power to recycle my camera flash yet enough juices left to power other electronic devices. Instead of letting it go to waste, I thought I need to get myself a portable speaker so that I can play music from my iRiver during photo shoots. My experience tells me that providing background music is a very good way for the model to be comfortable and to play along with the mood that the music brings.

 I actually found a dated Creative speaker model, TravelSound 200, which is powered by AA batteries. It was for sale at the CreativeX online shop but I though I might try my luck at Sim Lim Square for a better deal or an alternative brand.

To my disappointment, there wasn't a decent set of speakers that I could lay my money on. Either it is made of inferior quality or it is powered by AAA batteries. From the 6th floor, I dragged my feet around each level until I reached the ground floor. By then, over an hour as passed.

I figured that if I were to find a portable speaker, where else is more suitable than a shop that sells portable MP3 players. So I dropped by to my latest favourite shop, MERDEKA AUDIO. My last purchase at this shop was my wife's iRiver H10. I went back to Rick the sales staff who served me previously. The thing good about Merdeka is that they have a display of all the portable speakers on the shelves. Among other 'inferior' brands that I saw from the other shops, I noticed this cool cube-shaped speaker. On first look, I know this is one quality product. The plastic surface is glossed and the top is brushed aluminum; the power button symbol is carved in the middle with the LED indicator lighted up when power on. Unlike other speakers, this single-unit cube speaker does not come with a volume control, and it depends on the source to amplify the sounds. Four rubber cushions below the speaker ensures the cube sits firmly and slip-free. Overall, the feel is a solid product comparable to to likes of Belkin designed for iPods.

Next,  I requested to test the speakers, and I was really impressed. The sound is clear and distortion-free. In fact, the specs on the instruction manual states a frequency response range of 20Hz - 20kHz, which is comparable to a high-end earpiece. The whole package comes with USB cable which is an alternative source to power the speakers, as well as the 3.5" to 3.5" stero audio cable.

If you are looking for a portable speaker that is easy to carry around, produces good quality sound, looks really good, and very affordable, your search ends here. There may be other brands out there like Philips or Creative who offers quality portable speakers no doubt, but I award this LeMon speaker 5 out of 5 for its value for money. For the record, the model number for this product is EX-601. Each speaker maximum power output is 1W. Signal-to-noise ratio (irrelevant for such a small speaker) is 95dB. Weight: 135g (excluding batteries). Dimensions: 7x7x7cm.

Update 12 Jul: LeMon finally has its own website! http://www.le-mon.com/