The monolithic Creative Sound Blaster Axx SBX 20 certainly has a unique look - as well as Bluetooth for phones.

It's versatile and attractive, but does its substance match its style?

There seems to be a modern obsession for enjoying media as far from the source as possible. Slingboxes enable us to watch television from a Web café in Phuket and Orb gives us access to our MP3 files from darkest Siberia

We're big fans of the Gigaworks T20 speaker set, and very familiar with it, so it was amusing when the T40 arrived having sprouted an extra midrange cone on each speaker, like some kind of sonic mutant.

Small and compact, these Creative Gigaworks HD50 speakers have a minimalist look. When it comes to sound quality we found them perfectly acceptable but, with no dedicated subwoofer, you'll notice the lack of bass, especially at high volume.