Life is full of shocks: lifting up a rock under which a venomous snake has been nestling; realising that the car you're driving is actually on fire; or getting home from school to find the rest of your family has emigrated, to name three common examples.
Yet little prepares you for the blow of making the transition from playing a PSP game using quality headphones to suddenly relying on the handheld's in-built speakers by pulling out the jack plug. You'll immediately look around for the mugger who ran off with your bass while the level of treble will have any dog within a kilometre radius bleeding from its ears.
It's one of the reasons we only review games via headphones (or, occasionally, plugged into a computer speaker system), because you'll never get the full audio range – and therefore experience – otherwise. And sound, let's not forget, is at least just as important as graphics.
Fire International must share our concern, because it's recently sent in a sample of its Pro Audio System & Protector Case for us to play around with.
You may have seen from the above images that the folding top section houses two 28mm driver units. Less obvious perhaps is the battery compartment (four AAAs) and, on the other side, an on/off switch, a 5V adaptor input and what looks like two nostrils for the bass unit to breath through.
The bottom half hugs a PSP firmly in place once squeezed in, while maintaining access to all buttons and the power input (though not the UMD, USB and Memory Stick slots) and sitting surprisingly comfortably in the hands despite the unit's angular contour.
The speaker cable, which obviously runs from the top section, is neatly routed behind the PSP and re-emerges at the bottom to be plugged into the handheld's headphone jack.
When not in use, the top of the Pro Audio System clicks shut to form a protective case (this shouldn't come as a surprise to those who were paying attention some four paragraphs earlier) and it certainly feels sturdy enough to resist attack from a small explosive device.
It's a bulky beast, at two and a half times the thickness of a PSP, but it's not entirely unattractive, its tactile black hard rubber finish looking like something you might find attached to Batman's utility belt.
Mind you, its weight would probably force the Dark Knight to leave it in the Batcave. When fully open and with the batteries in, the top of the case over-balances the unit to the point where you're having to fight against the considerable pull of gravity. Thankfully the back of the bottom half includes a stand – ideal for when watching a UMD or the contents of your Memory Stick, as well as listening to music, of course.
It can be used for gaming as long as you've brought a table along with you. Otherwise, expect to end up developing really strong wrists.
But at least the effort wouldn't be wasted, because once switched on this is a marked improvement over the quality of PSP's own microscopic speakers. Immediately noticeable is a level of bass Sony's handheld never manages to even hint at – the explosions and shots of Metal Slug Anthology sounded immeasurably more convincing, for instance. And while it's not going to impress audiophiles, there's a reasonable amount of detail, too, with the subtlety and melodic drama of Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony's soundtrack clearly enhanced.
When we 'enhanced' it further by continuously pressing the increase volume button until the neighbours started complaining, distortion did set in, albeit not before passing a sound level that should prove more than adequate in most situations, even if your interest is to turn your PSP into a (small to medium) room-filling stereo.
For those musical souls, the pack comes complete with a disc containing Xploder Music Studio, which claims to be 'like iTunes for your PSP' – in other words, an audio suite that enables the import of songs, which is MP3/WAV/AAC (and iTunes) compatible and offers drag and drop functionality for ease of use.
It's an added extra, sure, but the focus of this assessment is the unit's worth as an external speaker system. On those terms it performs strongly, and on a level the PSP's built-in speakers cannot dream of matching, while offering attractive practicality for those wishing to use the handheld as a convenient music player (presumably the reason why Music Studio is included).
Against it, however, are its bulkiness and weight, meaning it's more likely to appeal to those going on holiday and looking for an all-in-one solution that combines both a case and speaker system (for films or music), rather than an everyday alternative to headphones.
Improve your PSP with PAS – the Pro Audio System from Blaze
Great audio performance and protective functionality, though somewhat countered by the unit's unwieldiness
Joao Diniz Sanches
With three boys under the age of 10, former Edge editor Joao has given up his dream of making it to F1 and instead spends his time being shot at with Nerf darts. When in work mode, he looks after editorial projects associated with the Pocket Gamer and Steel Media brands.