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I am now really sure where the ‘10’ comes from in the name, a few months ago Michael Fereday got to review the ‘8’ in the same series.

It is 30x9x8cm at the back of the unit, the front of this six sided unit is 27cm. All bar the back are covered in a fine mesh material.

There are seven touch controls on top of the unit. The rear has three inputs Auxiliary In, Headphones Out and USB connection. Above these is a push button to enable pairing of a Bluetooth device with the speaker unit.

This is far more than a USB speaker, USB is used to power the unit and enable sound quality that would not normally be available through the sound chip of a normal PC.

You can connect it by simply plugging in the USB lead from the unit to your PC it will work without any additional software being installed. The quality is good in this mode but it is worth finding the software on the Creative site to suit your PC and the added adjustments and features this produces will amaze you still with only the USB lead connecting the unit and PC. You can set different settings dependant on what task you are doing.

See also: Speakers

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It is possible to link to other 3.5mm connections or indeed a Bluetooth one while still attached to a PC. The PC is only providing the power.

However should you wish to connect ‘not using a PC’ the power can come from a wall outlet. Now the inbuilt power of the unit is available to amplify and improve the sound output from any 3.5mm or Bluetooth connection. 

While the SBX 10 is the only one of the three units in the range I have seen the Reviewers Guide that comes with the unit clearly shows it to be the middle offering with the SBX 8 the smallest and the SBS 20 the biggest one.

So unlike most speaker sets that are essentially ‘dumb’ this unit has an integrated sound and voice processor. The latter means that using normal settings any conversation you have using say Skype will have a greater clarity than normal. You can of course morph your voice to get very strange sounding effects if that rocks your boat.

You do not need a separate microphone as there is a dual array built into the unit. Just speak normally and you will be heard clearly. As with the software in the headphones recently reviewed you set the sound level you like listening and should the level fall below or increase vastly the software intervenes and you ears here what you expect, not more, not less.

Even with standard Windows sounds you will be surprised at what you have not heard before using standard speakers. The amount of bass available from a non-sub-woofer unit is amazing but even better it is not intrusive unless you want outrageous bass levels.

When using either IOS or Android via Bluetooth there is an App available called Creative Central try it you will be hooked, the SoundBlaster CrystalVoice technology makes you think you have a new Smartphone.

One thing you get when you download the software to your PC is SBX Pro Studio and this gives you SBX Crystalizer to enhance audio for movies. SBX Surround, this is impressive for a single speaker array. SBX Smart Volume that I first enjoyed with the recently reviewed headphones. SBX Dialog Plus is said to enhance human voices so you can hear them clearly in games. SBX Bass fills in missing low frequencies to give a better entertainment experience.

If you want to see what you could get before buying then follow the link below to see various videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5MWWHzFWB4.

The Sound Blaster Axx SBX 10 is available from the link below for £118.40 with free delivery.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008ANFMI4?ie=UTF8&tag=gadge0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634