Mako's touch-sensitive control attachment is the other piece of plastic you'll play with. Luminous LEDs bring a blue tone to the handy disc, and it homes hookups for MP3 players and headphones for easy access, too. A radial design is implemented on the face; dragging your finger clockwise illuminates more lines when you're upping volume or bass. A simple preset control might've been a nice addition, but the easy mute button is welcome. Unfortunately, the touch controls aren't touchy enough. Their responsiveness doesn't cater to pressure as much as it does the surface area that you're applying, and we'd wish it were more sensitive - spinning down the volume to hear someone calling you to dinner isn't so simple.

As for other features, Razer advertises the Mako's digital signal processing used by its amplifier to regulate the appropriate amount of power needed by the speakers and sub at any given moment. We also enjoy its simple, quality cabling: flat ethernet-like cords string between the satellites and sub, and a simple, sans-adapter AC power cord is all you'll need to plug in to juice the Mako.

At $400, Razer's Mako Advanced Desktop Audio System is likely a little overpriced for a three-piece, 2.1 setup, but this doesn't hold it back from being one of the best of its kind out there: a high-performance, elegant piece of hardware that's as functional as it is versatile. Compatibility with standard audio devices in addition to your PC means you can get a lot of use out of the Mako, with directional sound being the only relative lull in the platform's package of appealing audio abilities.