This charming RGB speaker started as an April Fool's joke and is now the real deal.

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This charming RGB speaker started as an April Fool's joke and is now the real deal.

April 1 is the most difficult time of the year to cover hardware news. It may sound easy to tell the real thing from the not-so-real thing, but that's not always the case. Sometimes April Fool's pranks turn into actual products. Such is the case with Phanteks' unveiling of the Evolv Sound Mini speaker at CES today.

The little speaker began with Phanteks humorously touting its "+30% digital RGB performance." But the design struck a chord with fans, and several of them begged Phanteks to turn the speaker into an actual product. And it did.

The 2.0 speaker setup consists of a pair of small satellite speakers in the clear mold of an Evolv X-like case. According to the product page, these are made of ABS plastic with a fabric finish and cost only $29.99 (£26.90) according to Phanteks; Phanteks claims that the drivers "pack a punch" and provide "impressive stereo sound," but at this price, the doughy bass or audiophile-quality sound reproduction. At the very least, it's sure to be affordable.

As for RGB lighting, both speakers light up along the sides, as does the Evolv X. The main satellites have RGB lighting on both speakers. There are buttons on the main satellite to control the RGB lighting on both speakers, and Phanteks plans to release a taller, slender version of this speaker as well.

Another Phanteks joke last year was the Revolt PSU with a removable CNC-cut aluminum cheese grater. This may appear as an actual product at CES 2021; it would be a nice complement to Razer's LED toaster.

Phanteks showed several cases, including the low-cost oriented Eclipse P300A.

The Eclipse P300A is a relatively compact 7.8 x 17.7 x 15.7" (200 x 450 x 400mm) mid-tower case. It features "ultra-fine performance mesh" to improve airflow while preventing dust from entering, and the top fan cutout has a magnetic cover.

The P300A has room for two 2.5" SSDs in the rear and two 3.5" HDDs in the bottom chamber in front of the PSU bay. Most impressive is its MSRP of $59.99.

Speaking of the cheese grater mentioned earlier, Phanteks also displayed their Neo Matrix and Neo Pro, Mac Pro-like cases. These were designed in collaboration with Metallic Gear, and while we don't have much information to share about these cases, we do have some photos of the fancy RGB lighting effects. See:

There are many user-selectable lighting effects as well as color changes.

Both the Evolv Mini speakers and the P300A case will be available this month.

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