The kind folks at Eos Wireless sent me one of their wireless multiroom audio systems to test out a couple weeks ago, and after setting it up tonight, all I can say is that it made me long for the power and solidity of the Sonos system that I got to try out last December.
Insufficient cord length fail.
CNET's Jeff Bakalar already hit all the high and low points in last month's review, and my experience was much the same. I started by plugging my iPhone into the base station. Some of the promotional material for the system says the Eos system loves the outdoors, and I suppose the sound that came out of the base station might have been fine if I were drinking beer at a barbecue--flabby bass, tinny treble, and what sounded like occasional lapses in one or the other stereo channel. I think they added some reverb to make it sound "bigger"--perhaps this is part of the "SRS WOW!" technology mentioned in the FAQ--but the overall sound was so weird and different from the sound that usually comes out of the iPhone that I couldn't really tell. It didn't make me want to sit and listen.
It was easy to plug the other three speakers into outlets around the house and outside, and the base station started beaming music to them almost immediately. The standalone speakers actually sounded better than the base station--still thin, but not as odd--but when I turned them up past about two-thirds, they got severely distorted. There was lag between the base station and the speakers, which created disorienting delays when I was walking between rooms. Like Jeff the CNET reviewer, I got a lot of drop outs at first, but unlike his case, they disappeared when I switched the "Range Ex" button on the back of the base station. (Which begs the question: why not just have whatever that switch does enabled by default?)
The power supplies on the extra speakers are big and clunky, and the cable's only 32 inches long. This created logistical problems--when I set a speaker up outdoors, I had trouble getting it around the plug guard, and then the cable wasn't long enough to set the speaker atop the three-foot fence running around my deck. Who wants to listen to speakers on the floor?
To make sure the audio problem wasn't in the source, I swapped my iPhone out for my fourth-gen iPod, and then connected my Zune via the auxiliary input using the included one-eighth-inch stereo cable. None of the sources sounded any better. To give you an idea of my reference points, I usually plug my Zune into the auxiliary input on a Bose Wave, my iPod into an iHome iH55SR (which may be best $99 audio gadget I've ever bought), and my iPhone into an auxiliary input that goes into the FM radio (not CD player) in the totally stock sound system in my 2006 Subaru. Those set-ups all sound better than the Eos Wireless. So did the Sonos system.
To its credit, Eos was exceptionally easy to use--there's no computer required (and no way to tap into a music library on a home computer), and I didn't need to read the instruction manual. In fact, it's so simple, you don't even need to turn the base station on. Which is why there's no on/off switch (which is weird). It's also a lot cheaper than competing multiroom audio systems, starting at $250 for the base station and one speaker--that's about one-fourth the starting price of the Sonos system. It might be acceptable for casual background music or a raging party. But if you're serious about music, I'd save up for something better.
FM transmitters that connect an MP3 player to a car stereo are notoriously unreliable, subject to lots of interference in urban areas and sub-FM-quality sound. My own experience with these devices was so bad, I paid about $200 to get an FM modulator hooked into the internal FM receiver in my car stereo. That means I can hook any MP3 player's headphone output directly into an FM frequency on my car stereo. (I couldn't just buy a new car stereo with a direct input because I drive a 2006 Subaru Outback...more on this issue here.)
So when I received a review unit of MediaGate's i-Kit on Monday, I was skeptical. The poorly translated instruction sheet didn't help matters, but it's straightforward enough that I didn't need it--you plug the i-Kit into the cigarette lighter, plug your iPhone or iPod into the charging connection on the i-Kit, adjust the rubberized grip to make sure your device is secure, and set the i-Kit's FM tuner to an unused frequency. In my case, I used my new iPhone 3G and tuned it to 89.1, the same frequency I use for the FM modulator. (I had to turn the modulator off to avoid interference.)
Amazingly, it was listenable! It sounded a little bit thinner than plugging the iPhone directly into the FM modulator, particularly on the low-end, but I got no bursts of static, no fade outs, no wavering musical signal, no need to turn the volume all the way up...none of the headaches I experienced with other FM tuners. With the iPhone, it can even serve like a hands-free phone, delivering the speaker's voice through the car stereo system. It works with other MP3 players as well, but doesn't charge them up, and you have to use the included audio connector to hook the MP3 player's headphone-out to the i-Kit's input. One weirdness: every few minutes, I heard a single high beep through the speakers. I don't know why, and the included instruction sheet was no help explaining whether I might have set something up wrong.
I'm still glad I have the higher-quality FM modulator--and a direct aux-in to the car stereo would be even better--but for $50, this is a surprisingly good solution.
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There are plenty of options for connecting an iPod to a car stereo--increasingly, car makers themselves are offering full iPod control as an aftermarket add-on. But if you're like me and own multiple MP3 players, most of which won't work with the specialized iPod connectors, the solution's different: get an aftermarket stereo with a built-in auxiliary input or (better yet) a USB connection.
(Credit:
Apple)
Subaru must have thought its customers didn't care about audio. The 2005 and 2006 Outbacks and Forresters came with decent-sounding stock stereo systems, complete with 6 CD changer. But for some unfathomable reason (probably cost-cutting and lock-in, as this poster suggests), the company connected these factory systems to the climate control panel, meaning it's insanely difficult to swap them out for a new stereo. So difficult that your typical McStereo installation place probably won't do it for you.
After making this unwelcome discovery, I've spent the last year or so messing around with various FM transmitters. You connect these devices to your MP3 player, and they broadcast the signal over an "unused" FM wavelength so you can pick it up on your radio. Only one problem: I've never seen one work very well. If you live in an urban area with lots of radio stations and telephone lines, you'll get interference, fade-outs, and random bursts of static. Unless you're willing and able to hack your transmitter, you're pretty much stuck with a frustrating listening experience.
This weekend, I'm going back to the drawing board and trying what this blogger suggested: an FM modulator. Similar to an FM transmitter, these devices let you connect an auxiliary output from an MP3 player (or any other device) directly to the stereo's internal FM receiver. Because there's no over-the-air transmission, you can apparently avoid the interference problems. It's only FM-quality--but most my digital files are compressed anyway. It'll probably run me around $200 installed, which is a fine price to avoid terrestrial radio and the frustration of an FM transmitter.
UPDATE: Apparently, the 2007 Outbacks do have an aux-in option, not just an iPod connector option. Apologies for my prior error, but that still doesn't fix the problem for us '05 and '06 owners.
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