On My Desk 19" x 24" Bluetooth Speaker Desk Pad with 4 Built-in Speakers - Exclusive Techie"Sound Bounce" Desk Pad, Black (OMD15726)

Very glad I paid less than $10 or I'd be steaming.

My first thought on the On My Desk 19" x 24" Bluetooth Speaker Desk Pad was that its size is giant. It seemed to be almost too large to fit on my computer desk--but it did fit. My second thought was that, yes, the On My Desk desk pad is big, but there are larger desk pads. Besides the larger size might help with the stereo imaging of the speakers. Laptops, notebooks and most so-called "stereo" Bluetooth speakers don't do well in stereo imaging because the speakers are located too closely together. In addition, the audio quality should be especially good with the four built-In speakers and the "Exclusive Techie 'Sound Bounce'" technology.Wrong!Audio quality is a big deal especially since this is called a "Speaker Desk Pad." Therefore, I gave it a close listen. My first listening attempt was using a Asus Aspire Laptop via a Bluetooth connection to the On My Desk Desk Pad. The laptop had no problems pairing with the On My Desk Desk Pad. There was far more stereo imaging than I get with the laptop's built-in speaker. No surprise there. The audio, however, was surprising--surprisingly bad.I sampled several uncompressed high def jazz tracks including "The Wizard of Oz (inst): Over The Rainbow" from "Jazz At The Pawnshop 2." "Summer Night" from "Stan Getz - Moments In Time" and "Take Five" from "Time Out." The uncompressed rock high def audio tracks fared no better. Everything sounded much like a poor quality FM radio with a tiny speaker. The audio sounded compressed, restrained with virtually no bass and very little apparent in the highs. Midrange was muffled as well.Thinking that there might be some Bluetooth audio issue with the Asus Aspire notebook, I connected it via direct cable to the aux input of the On My Desk Desk Pad. There was no improvement in the audio quality even without Bluetooth in the picture. Next I tried using it with a Mac Mini via Bluetooth. I turned off Bluetooth in the Asus Aspire laptop just to be safe, but the Mac Mini still had problems connecting with the On My Desk Desk Pad. It made connection intially but kept dropping the Bluetooth connection to the Speaker Desk Pad. Even when it was connected, the Mac was unable to see the On My Desk Desk Pad as an audio output device. Whether this is an issue with the On My Desk Desk Pad or the Mac. I can't really say.Finally I compared the audio quality of the On My Desk Desk Pad with a  JBL Duet Speaker System for Portable Music and PC - Aluminum (Pair)  that I had purchased from Amazon over three years ago. The audio was night and day with the JBLs sounding clean and open. There also weren't much in the bass department with the JBLs either, but overall they ran circles around the On My Desk Desk Pad when it came to audio quality.Looking at the specs I noticed high distortion on the On My Desk Desk Pad (10% THD at 3 watts) and subpar frequency response (160 Hz - 18 KHz.) While I applaud the manufacturer for publishing these specs in the first place (most don't even bother for obvious reasons,) they are a long way from "high fidelity."Audio aside, when I looked closely at the On My Desk Desk Pad fresh out of its shipping carton, I noticed several dents in the material. These appear to be a result of manufacturing of the On My Desk Desk Pad. While I could live with that, given it's poor audio quality, I'm not sure what value the On My Desk Desk Pad has to offer me.

The "On My Desk 19" x 24" Bluetooth Speaker Desk Pad with 4 Built-In Speakers - Exclusive Techie "Sound Bounce" Desk Pad, Black (OMD15726)" is the result of a good idea hampered by poor execution. Certainly the concept of combining a sturdy desk mat with a set of 4 Bluetooth speakers seemed like something most consumers could use; unfortunately, it may take a couple of upgrades to get the concept functionally "right".The desk pad is listed as 19" by 24" but the speaker housing occupies 5 of those inches leaving only 14 ' of usable space. Notably, the speaker housing is also 2.5" high giving the user hope that it houses good speakers (it doesn't) and the high size may interfere with those users who want to use the desk pad with a desktop computer by sliding the speaker assembly under the desktop. The slot for attaching tablets, iPads, etc. is adequate but only if most protective cases are removed.The unit is very sturdy measuring almost 3/8th inch thick and the leatherette surface is smooth and usable as a mouse pad. It was easy and quick to pair with Bluetooth on my computer. The sound quality of the speakers was disappointing considering the price point and the marketing--sound has little, if any bass, and may sound "tinny" to some; however, the quality is better than that of the speakers on my desktop PC.The pad has no side rails for those users who are used to slotting small calendars or highlighted material there. The " On My Desk 19" x 24" Bluetooth Speaker Desk Pad with 4 Built-In Speakers - Exclusive Techie "Sound Bounce" Desk Pad" does come with a 3.5 audio cable for direct hookup. It also comes with an adequate microphone for making and receiving phone calls. For those in private work spaces or who work at home, this unit will allow for listening to music, streaming video, and making/receiving phone calls.In summation, this product is functional but limited by the quality of its speakers and by the size of the speaker housing itself--at least for me. I suspect the unit will undergo several upgrades and soon offer greater versatility with more efficacious results.