AcoustiProducts AcoustiCase 340

The case arrived packaged in what appears to be the box used by a Chinese case OEM – the dead giveaway is the broken English writing. Apparently this is “Model 6A”. It’s clear that what we’re really dealing with here is a plain OEM case, simply accessorized with AcoustiProducts items and put back in the original box. Even so, care was apparently taken to repackage the case at least as well as it originally had been.

Removing the side panel of the case revealed a large bubble-wrapped bundle of boxes, including the hardware pack for the case itself and another larger box containing additional AcoustiProducts accessories. Contained in the larger box were a single AcoustiFan 120mm case fan, a set of four elastomer studs for decoupled mounting of the case fan, an empty package of AcoustiFeet (already attached to the case itself), and a power cord – which is strange since the case doesn’t include a power supply, and QuietPC didn’t supply us with one. Oh well, you can never have too many euro cables (and yet strangely it’s the one thing I routinely forget to bring to LAN parties).

The case itself… well, let’s just say the AcoustiCase 340 isn’t much to look at. It’s almost depressingly plain, with a black orange-peel paint job and a faux brushed black-anodized aluminum appearance on the front panel. The case is available in both a black-and-silver version and an all-black version, which is the one that QuietPC sent us. We suppose the all-black version is at least visually stealthy – it might be right at home in a recording studio, tucked discreetly away beneath a mixing console. Still, we don’t find its design particularly appealing, and it isn’t the sort of case we’d display on our desks.

And now, the second caveat (aesthetics being the first): While our AcoustiCase 340 came with the acoustic damping materials pre-installed by QuietPC, typical customers won’t receive this treatment. We would have preferred to be sent the same package that QuietPC sends to all their customers, but that’s not how it worked out. You’ll have to install all these materials yourself as per an installation guide supplied by AcoustiProducts. The case itself will be shipped to you in the form of a ‘kit’.

So we’ve established that you aren’t likely to buy this case for its looks. Let’s have a peek inside and see what the AcoustiCase 340 really has to offer.