It is a Microsoft Digital Sound System 80 that I have since 1998. It was one of Microsoft best hardware product ever. It was built with Philips' USB PC speaker gut in which Philips also sold a USB speaker briefly but with very different industrial design and san the subwoofer. The two were amongst the earliest implementation of USB speaker systems. The most significant of all is both implements class-D switch mode amplifier technology. While I dislike the rather gaudy look of the L and R speakers' industrial design it is one of very few truly good PC speaker without inflated price tag. Despite more than 4 generations (98, ME, NT, 2000, Vista, Win 7) of OS by Microsoft the speaker is still supported by Windows 7.
Initially the sound was stuttering. That led me to believe the Win 7 OS in he PC is just threshing from too much tasks competing for the system resources. This is a perfectly valid assumption with this being a USB (a Version 1.1 at that) speaker. It is much more prone to system overload than analog counterparts.
In the last months or so the stuttering has progressively gotten worst and I begun to suspect the problem lies with the speaker's electronics, and not the PC. Testing it with my Lenovo T400S proves it.
I really don't want to throw it away. I will have to find time to try to fix it. From the symptom I suspect a electrolytic capacity in the switch mode power supply has gone bad inside the subwoofer ensure (it is where all the electronics and the amplifiers reside).
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