By Mike Lee, a freelance writer

IF YOU have seen the likes of capsule speakers such as the X-Mini and its copycats, you will not mistake the DiVoom iTour PoP for a UFO.

With its bottom panel extended out and bright blue power LED indicator, this speaker - rotund in comparison to others its ilk - could pass off as something that flew out the pages of a sci-fi novel.

Operating this device of 8cm in diameter is disarmingly simple though. There is only a power switch, an audio cable of about 10cm length and a plug which you insert into audio sources such as MP3 players or notebook computers.

There are also four mobile phone audio adaptors so that you can blast music from compatible phones of brands like Sony Ericsson and Nokia. The speaker also comes with a USB cable, used to recharge its battery.

To pack away the gadget, just push the bottom panel into the capsule. Push the panel again and the base pops out.

Chances are, you would want to leave the panel popped out as it enhances the bass sounds. Less apparent to me was the product's Monophonic Surround Stereo System feature: I do not think I was getting anything close to cinematic surround sounds from this thing.

What I liked better was the speaker's amplification. Even with my puny iPod Shuffle, the iTour PoP played loud enough to fill the bedroom with music.

While I was not blown away by the sound quality of this speaker, the trebles - especially in Lisa Ono bossanova tunes - were better than expected.

If you prefer something smaller, the iTour PoP's sibling iTour-10 ($29.90), roughly the size of a ping-pong ball, is a good pack-and-carry speaker choice.

Final say

While sound quality will not blow audiophiles away, this device does the job of piping tunes on the go.

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