FIFINE A22 Gaming Speaker Review

I get to test and review a lot of cool items here at John’s Tech Blog.  I was especially grateful to have the opportunity to review the FIFINE A22 Gaming Speakers. ($72.99).

They can also be purchased at Amazon for the same amount.

This is the descriptive blurb from the FIFINE website:

“FIFINE AMPLIGAME A22 2.1 CHANNEL BLUETOOTH SPEAKERS, WITH 4.5″ WOOFER, EQ/VOLUME/MUTE/RGB CONTROL, AUX/OPTICAL INPUT FOR GAMING ON PC/CONSOLE OR ENTERTAINMENT”

I am not much of a gamer, however, these will improve your audio experience considerably on a laptop, mini-PC, or game console.  I have a mini-PC (with Ubuntu Linux) on my guest room TV.  The more accurate description of the bedroom though is “whoever starts snoring first, the other person goes to that room”. So it gets quite a bit of use.

Box Contents

The A22 arrived very well packaged.  The contents were essentially the sub unit, satellite speakers, cables, and a pretty good paper manual.

Connectivity

The FIFINE A22 can be connected in the following ways:

• Bluetooth
• Aux Input (3.5mm jack)
• Optical
• USB On-The-Go (OTG)

My mini-PC only has HDMI or USB for an audio output, however, my TV has both optical and a 3.5mm output.  The USB connector saves the day in this situation. Having all these connection methods makes it a breeze to use on almost anything.

This is a minor gotcha, and a recommendation.  It is probably more of an “Old TV” issue rather than a speaker issue.   When I plug the speakers into my optical out on the TV I cannot control the TV volume.  In this circumstance it would make it optimum if the A22 speakers had a remote control.

I think a TV with a couple of HDMI (ARC) connectors would solve this.

I should also add that this system is mostly geared for PC gamers and it for sure shines while performing that mission.  I’m self admittedly pushing the limits of this system because that’s what I do here at John’s Tech Blog.

FIFINE A22 Connections (click pic to enlarge)

Wow!  There is a lot to love here.  So many connection methods.  And everything is on the back of the device allowing for a clean installation.

Sound

I have always fancied myself as a vacuum tube stereo audiophile so I’m pretty hard to please.  There are no equalizer functions that relate to bass and treble but there are several selectable modes.

• Gaming
• Movies
• Music

All things considered I think I like the gaming mode for all scenarios.   Sound is pretty good.  Certainly a LOT better than laptop speakers or PC speakers.  But not as good as a high dollar sound bar.  For the price though, you will up your sound game quite a bit.   The RGB lights on the satellite speakers are pretty cool and there are multiple patterns to choose from.

Overview

This is a quick rundown on the A22 speaker system and controls.

Recommendation

When I turned the A22 speaker off the blue light remained on and blinking.  When I turned off the lights to go to sleep the flashing blue LED lit up the corner of the room pretty good.  My recommendation, of course here is that there be a way to turn off that flashing blue light.

Lastly, a remote control would be handy on future models.

Wrap Up

If you are an immersive gamer looking for a better sound experience than your laptop speakers this is for sure a solid, economical choice for obtaining good quality audio.  The system is small and unobtrusive and quite attractive.  The sheer volume of connectivity options means you can use it on about anything.  I’m going to continue to leave this hooked to my mini-Linux PC as it provides me the best experience hooking up via USB.  I can also control the volume via my keyboard controls.   As I mentioned earlier, using the optical out from the TV doesn’t allow my TV remote to control the volume.

I don’t really game at all but every once in a while I fire up DOOM.  DOOM (actually crispy-doom compiled for Ubuntu) sounds good!  Far, far better than the TV speakers.

Get it if you want to up your sound game on your laptop or TV without spending sound bar money.

John’s Tech Blog recommends the FIFINE A22 Speaker System.