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The Antec SoundScience Rockus 3D 2.1 speakers are a firm indication that Antec have a long, fruitful future in the audio sector and as a first entry into this new market, they rarely failed to impress. When compared with our award winning Arctic Cooling S361 budget speakers, they are clearly a more cohesive, potent design with higher output levels, and more precise soundstaging. They are also less fatiguing over longer periods of time.
When moving up the price scale they also compare very favourably with the more expensive Razer Mako's, able to deliver a higher level of detail with music. The Razer Mako's however have a more powerful subwoofer which needs less fine adjustment across a wide range of material. I am certainly not indicating that the Rockus 3D 2.1 speakers fail in the bass department, but sometimes I wanted a little more impact. What they do have in their favour however is an extremely focused, refined bass delivery which can make some of their competitors pale when pushed hard.
While they are clearly much better than the Arctic Cooling S361's, they do cost twice as much, therefore our final analysis also needs to be much firmer. Negatively, I disliked the 3D functionality and found that it only detracted from the audio quality, except when watching high octane movies with a plethora of car chases and ‘in your face' explosions. It does massively increase the feeling of a wider soundstage, but it actually comes at the expense of ultimate sound quality, so I would avoid it.
The pod design is great, but I would like a few changes. Firstly, Antec should never have placed a three way bass control switch on the back of the subwoofer. A much finer bass control should have been included on the pod itself, for easy access. I found myself frequently playing with the bass settings and swearing inwardly at being forced to poke around the back of the subwoofer. For some reason Antec haven't thought to include a headphone input on the Pod either, which seems like an oversight to us.
In closing, these are great speakers which will assuredly raise the output quality of many enthusiast computer systems. We don't like the 3D mode and a few redesigns for the next revision could very well place these speakers into the must have category with very little competition. For now, they come highly recommended, but with a few niggling issues.
KitGuru says: If you have £170 to spare and want to upgrade your PC sound, then these look and sound great.
