SpeakerCom from NYKO – Our Review

I have what I assume a typical life for a married father of two young boys. My dad is 8 hours of work, dinner, playing with the boys before bed, bed time rituals, spending time with my wife, followed by an hour or so of some late night video games. It’s a very set routine, one that I rarely move away from day after day. As a result of that schedule, my gaming happens late at night, and with that, comes some audio challenges.

All of my bedrooms are on the second floor directly above my gaming room, so at night using my surround sound system is not an option. Using a headset is also not an option as I need to be able to hear and respond to issues with my kids. Over the years, I’ve experimented with out to fix this problem, which as included only putting in one ear bud or using one side of a headset, or not having audio at all. Playing games without sound isn’t an ideal solution. Enter the SpeakerCom from Nyko.

Nyko’s speaker come is exactly what it sounds like – a speaker pairs with a microphone that gives you a great speaker-communication tool without the need for a headset. It is a fairly simple device – which requires the new style Xbox One controller to use as it needs the aux port – with only a few buttons for audio up and down, powering it on and off, and muting the communication feature. It’s incredibly light weight as well and won’t drastically interfere with your gaming experience.

From Nyko,

Communicate with ease on the Xbox One™ without the need of cumbersome and uncomfortable headgear. SpeakerCom is a patented headset alternative attachment for your Xbox One™ controller that features a high quality speaker and microphone. The easy to access push-to-talk button allows you to effectively communicate while keeping your hands on the controller. Adjustable volume on the speaker allows for friends in the room to listen to online communication.

The SpeakerCom is not the ultimate audio device, however. It’s relatively low cost – 24.99 USD – means you are not going to get a headset equivalent. The sound quality is passable – not superior, but not inferior either – and the communication features get the job done. It doesn’t have the ability of noise canceling like most headsets do, so using this in a loud room is probably not ideal.

All of that aside, however, and the Nyko SpeakerCom is the perfect product for my current needs. If you have been looking for a headset alternative for those unique situations you find yourself in, the SpeakerCom is a no brainer of a purchase!