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Review: Roadie ADVERTISEMENT
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Franklin Electronic
Publishers, was kind enough to send us the Roadie EVS-4000 portable speakers.
You can find more info on Franklin
Electronic Publishers at their website.
Franklin Electronic Publishers is a privately-owned
company dedicated to enriching lives by enhancing media consumption and
language communication. Since our founding in 1981, we have specialized
in creating tools to help people around the globe effectively connect with a
technologically diverse and dynamic world. At Franklin, we use our nearly
30 years of experience to reliably make anyone's language interaction
successful. For more info click here.
First Look, and contents
Time to take a first look at the EVS-4000,
and what you will find inside.
Here is the front and the rear of the
package.
And here is everything that there is inside
the package. We can see the three units, that make the EVS-4000, a cable with
two 3.5mm connectors and a USB/Mini USB, the user manual, the PSU with 4 adaptors,
a plastic cover in case you only need to use one or two components, and also a
bag that you can put everything in and carry it with.
Let’s head to the next page where we
will take a closer look at Roadie EVS-4000.....
NEW PAGE NEW PAGE NEW PAGE NEW PAGE
A closer look at the EVS-4000.
The EVS-4000 has three separate units, and
you can use one, two or all three units to have the best sound that the Roadie
EVS-4000 has to offer.
The top view of the three units,
and here is the bottom view of the the
Roadie EVS-4000.
Here is a view of the Roadie EVS-4000 with
all the components.
Here is a picture of SD card reader, and
all the connections, AUDIO IN/MIC/EXT.MIC the mini USB port, and the DC in.
There are three ways that you can use the
portable speakers. You can only use the base unit alone or you can add the
extra tweeter, or the rechargeable battery with the built mp3 player.
A closer look.
The Roadie EVS-4000 has three units,
the Roadie is the main unit and you need this because it has all the
inputs and outputs, the speakers, the built in microphone and the connections
to power the unit. On the front there are four red buttons, two for the volume,
one to mute the microphone, and the power button. To start the Roadie unit,
you need to hold the power button for 2-3 seconds, simply pushing it again will
turn it off.
A
picture of the Roadie when it’s powered on, and all the function buttons.
Next we have the Get Unplugged unit
that has the built-in mp3 player, the SD/SDHC card reader and also the rechargeable
battery. Before first use of the built-in lithium rechargeable battery you need
to charge it for eight hours. At the front there are three blue buttons, the
play/pause button which when held in takes you into shuffle mode, when you are
in shuffle mode you will see the next and previous buttons flash alternately.
The other two buttons are the next and previous buttons, which when held in can
be used to scan forwards or backwards.
The
Get Unplugged unit, and all mp3 player buttons.
The Get Amp’d unit will add a tweeter
and an Equalizer, the tweeter improves the overall sound. You can also use the
Equalizer for further improvement of the sound. There are two green buttons
that have two different settings, normal and HD. The normal setting
is selected by default when the Roadie EVS-4000 is powered on and
you can select the HD setting to improve high frequency sounds.
And
the Get Amp’d unit, powered on, with the two settings for the EQ.
The Roadie EVS-4000 can be used in
four different ways depending on your personal needs. You can use just the Roadie,
or the Roadie and Get Unplugged, also the Roadie and the Get
Amp’d unit, and of course use all the units at the same time to get the
maximum out of the Roadie EVS-4000.
The Roadie EVS-4000 has two more
things that are very handy. First there is a plastic cover that will protect
your equipment from dust, if you only want to use the Roadie, or the combination
with the Get Unplugged. The second item is the bag that comes with the Roadie
EVS-4000. This bag is very useful, as firstly you can put everything in it,
the EVS-4000 and also the PSU and the cables, and you will have
everything with you when you need it. The bag will also protect from dust or scratches
and save you time searching for cables or the PSU.
Features and performance.
Since this unit is portable, I decided
first to use it powered only with the USB. It was working fine with USB power and
the sound was very clear and loud. After that I used the built in microphone to
record a small sample, so that I could test the built-in microphone. The
recording quality is very good, so if you use applications like Skype or MSN, the
built-in microphone does a very good job and it will clearly deliver the sound
of your voice. If you like you can also use the EXT.MIC to connect your
microphone.
Removing the USB cable and using the
external PSU to power the Roadie EVS-4000 doesn’t change the
performance, or the sound quality, or the sound of the built-in microphone. The
final test that I have to do is to use it with the rechargeable battery that
the Roadie EVS-4000 has. It was able to play music from the built in mp3
player for 30+ minutes, with the volume set somewhere in the middle.
The thing that I'd like to mention is
that when you are using the USB cable to power the speakers, and as you
get close to the maximum volume you can see the light in front starting to tremble,
so I didn't feel very comfortable with that, and my advice would be to try and
avoid it. I personally prefer to have the external PSU powering the EVS-400 and
use it with the USB cable only if I am away from home.
The media player is a useful feature to
have as you can put your mp3’s on an SD or SDHC card and listen to them. You
have the basic functions of an mp3 player, such as play, pause, skip forwards
and backwards, shuffle and scan forwards or backwards. Insert an SD or SDHC
card and press play, and the music starts, you can move forwards or backwards
simply by pushing the buttons, if you keep pushing the forward or backward
buttons you will be moved a few seconds forwards or backwards. You can also use
the shuffle mode by holding the play/pause button for a few seconds, and then
the forward and backward buttons will flash alternately.
The only negative is that if you put music in
folders the player simply refuse to play them, so unfortunately you have to put
all your music inside the root folder of the SD/SDHC card, and this can
cause some confusion. ....
I finish this review, by saying a few words
about the sound of the Roadie EVS-4000. I was surprised at how loud this
portable speaker was, even when it was only powered by USB. Put the Roadie
EVS-4000 on a solid surface, connect it, power it up and listen to some
music. The overall sound quality is very good, low frequencies are very clear
and the same applies for the middle frequencies. The part that really makes the
difference is the tweeter. The tweeter makes the sound feel more alive and
pushing the HD button boosts the higher frequencies which improves the overall
sound.
Final thoughts and the conclusion.
Summarizing this review, I can say that the
overall performance is very good. The Roadie EVS-4000 offers good sound,
and is also very loud. You power them with only a USB cable, a thing
that will make your life easier when you are out of the house, and you have
your laptop with you. The flexibility of the Roadie EVS-4000 is another
positive, you can decide which units you want to have, and not carry any extra
weight with you. Even with only the ROADIE you will always have a
microphone with you. The rechargeable battery will save your laptop's battery
life, and also you will have good quality sound everywhere you go, and all this
in a bag that you can put everything in and protect your speakers from getting
damaged.
The only negative is that you have to put
all your mp3 files in the root folder of the SD/SDHC card.
Positive
- Very good sound, and also loud.
- It’s portable, and you can power it using
only a USB port. - Flexible.
- Comes with a carry bag.
- The AC adapter comes with four adapters
what will allow it to work in the EU/UK/US and AUS. - Has an mp3 player and a SD/SDHC
card reader.
Negative
- The mp3 player works only if you have all
your music files in the root directory of the SD/SDHC card.
In conclusion I can say that “the Roadie
EVS-4000 offers flexibility, very good sound, and the extra mp3 player and
battery can only add more. So with all this in mind, and with only one
negative, I rate the Roadie EVS-4000 as very good”.
