What speakers would you travel with?

I have a pair of Visonik Davids for trips. They are a ported design, very small ( the main driver is 100mm in diameter ) and very durable, being made of metal with a metal grille. I drive them with a Rawson chip amp, a box about the size of two standard bricks. I've put Herbie's Grungebuster pads on the speaker bases.

The Rawson has a 120V IEC entry so I can't use it on overseas trips. I am aiming to get a Winsome Mouse ( which has a switching PS and can take any AC voltage ) and then I'll be able to take tunes to Europe. I have considered powered speakers like the Audioengines but these don't appear to be compatible with multiple AC voltages.

Most of the time the Rawson and the Davids stay on the desk in my home office, driven by a M-Audio USB DAC. Perhaps one day I'll be able to afford a FireWire card for my Apogee Mini-DAC. In either case, the whole setup takes up very little space.

My impression of the Audioengine A2 vs the Visonik David FWIW: apples and oranges, but the David is a more refined and satisfying speaker overall.

The two are about the same size. Combined weight is about the same (the right A2 has the amp in it so it's heavier, the left A2 is lighter).

On build quality the David wins. The A2 woofer is held in by pressure from the rear. This pressure is applied by a metal bracket screwed to a wood block glued and pinned to the inside of the cabinet. My left A2's wood block came unglued in transit and left the woofer loose

On sound the David wins for smooth response. The A2 has good drivers but the tiny box with its crossover is designed to force LF out of an enclosure and driver that are really too small to do even upper bass easily. If you turn the system up at all there is a perceptible bass hump and a noticeable transition between the two drivers' frequency ranges. On top of that, if the bass content of the music is high you get enough breeze from the front port to provide useful cooling on a hot day.

The David won't do much bass either but it doesn't have the unevenness of the other speaker. It is rear-ported and LF output increases when you put it near a wall or in a corner. Attachment points for matching wall brackets are built-in (although for travel this is of course pointless).

Both units have good smooth HF.

My evaluation is that the perceived difference in sound quality fits fine with the price difference. The Davids cost twice the price of the A2s and then you have to have an amp to drive them. If you can accept the A2s' limitation--don't give them a lot of volume--they're way better then the average desktop powered speakers. Their HF especially won't drive you out of the room. However you'll need to take along a heavy stepdown transformer if you want to use them in any country with European AC voltage.