GEAR4 BlackBox

[gavinguinness]

Ok. So let's do the good bits first...

Beautifully packaged, and well presented. You can tell the company are a professional outfit.

It took about 30 seconds to unzip it from it's bag and plug it into the mains with the provided adaptor. Indidentally, this comes with interchangable plugs ends for UK and Eroupe. We also have a battery compartment underneath that takes 4 "c" batteries. There's also a USB lead, a 3.5mm to 3.5mm lead and a remote.



So then you just power it on with the little switch at the back and it instantly goes into pairing mode. After a quick search on the phone, and several random attempts at the pairing code (without reading the manual) "0000", "1111", "1234", and we're paired up! Indicated by a tick! And you get this tick each time the phone automatically connects after a power on...



Then it's just a matter of starting up the music player!... The range is good, I would say about 7m in the house. Certainly further outside. Although you would ideally want to stay close, so you can hear the music!!

There are a few basic vizuals, that I imagine I shall probably only use to show off, really.

Vertical lines, where line of LED's represent a frequency - Bars, you know the thing.

Horizontal bars, which just blast out to the sides to represent Left and Right volume:



Touch sensetive controls on top adjust the volume, pause, skip tracks etc...
You can also control all this from the remote. Every action results in the LED's displaying something. 0-60 for the Volume, Arrows for the track skip.



And it all works as you would expect... And looks reet good.

The manual is really basic. It's in umpteen languages, and nicely printed, but if you've ever paired up a bluetooth headset, you will easily find your way around the BlackBox. Only refering to the manual to see if you've missed any features after playing with it for an hour or so! ie. It's easy to use, simple and sort of "does what it says on the tin"!



So how does it perform then, for what is really £100 of speaker?

Well, it's not bad at all. For the size of the drivers, it's quite loud, and I was a bit reluctant to turn it up at first. At low volume, it appears to be more bassy, so I expected it to distort and sound pants when I turned it up. But as I turned it up, the bass seemed to tone down and compensate. Which is a bit clever!

I also found that truning off the loudness, stereo and equilizer on the phone, giving it a direct source, appeared to improve the quality at low volume. On some songs, the bass did muffle the sound a touch. But it really depends on what you are listening to and the quality of the source.

It has a small air port at the back, which "breathes" when at high volume. This certainly does something to the sound and I've learned that the box does sound better when in different positions. Kind of bouncing sound off a wall, or in the corner of a room, for example.

Calls: Ok, it's not a handsfree device. So far as I can tell, it doesn't have a Mic, but you can use the speaker, if you wish. But when a call comes in, the LED's make a phone handset sign. The Music pauses and the N95 goes into Handset mode. You take the call on the phone. When you hang up, the music un-pauses and continues to play through the blackbox. Which is probably best if you are our for a picnic or on the beach, really. You wouldn't want it blasting out your private call to all the world?

My only criticism is that the carry case doesn't have grills in the ends. The case is really well insulated and so you can't really use it as a modern day ghetto blaster! Sort of carrying it on your shoulder in da street!

My conclusion is that you could spend £100 and get some much better wired speakers. You could probably find a cheaper Bluetooth speaker, but not as portable. But all in all, it's an excellent all in one product - and that's what we N95 users like!

Any questions, please ask.

[Micky]

Great review Gav. Im looking to get one of these now :O

Did it come with the dongle, or did you have to get that separately.?

GEAR4 NEW! BluStream TX

Ive found a couple, and both adverts say dongle required, but surely, you can just use your phone.?

[Mein_fury]

That is just some sexy kit!!!

[Micky]

Just bought one :) £90 delivered.

[Mein_fury]

Originally Posted by GSi-R

Just bought one :) £90 delivered.

Keep us up2date on it :)

[gavinguinness]

Originally Posted by GSi-R

Great review Gav. Im looking to get one of these now :O

Did it come with the dongle, or did you have to get that separately.?

GEAR4 NEW! BluStream TX

Ive found a couple, and both adverts say dongle required, but surely, you can just use your phone.?

Sorry dude, haven't been keeping an eye on this thread since I wrote it.

It works natively with the phone (N95. and the K800i for that matter - The Wife's) No need for the Dongle.

I know why you might be confused though. It's one of those wierd iPod things manufacturers do. They say - "NEW iPOD Docking Station, play all yout iPod stuff blah, de blah....." Then at the bottom it lists all the various iPods it's "Compatible" with and finally in small writing it says "*requires GEAR4 BluStream TX (Bluetooth sender dongle)"

And they fail to mention ANY of the devices it DOES work with natively!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway. You'll not be dissapointed mate. I've been using it loads. I'm going to try it with some rechargable batteries this week. It strictly states not to use rechargables (?) , but regular batteries are too expensive. You get about 3 - 4 hours I would estimate from a set. (Also comes with mains power though - you don't need batteries....

[Micky]

Cheers for the PM Gav, appreciated.! Mine should be delivered Wednesday at my mothers UK address. I then have to wait for her to send it over here with my next parcel.

Thanks again :)

Originally Posted by Mein_fury

Keep us up2date on it :)

Will do mate.

[Micky]

Mines arrived today Gav! Not took it out the box just yet though.

[Micky]

Finally took it out the box, and set it up

Very impressed with the build quality, and the sound is great too, nice base. I have managed to get it working with my N95's, but don't seem to be able to get it to work through my laptop, even though I have paired them. Tried WINAMP, but to no avail, then Windows Media player, but the sound just kept coming out my laptop speakers. Not sure what I need to do. I will keep playing around with it, and let you know how I get on.

[gavinguinness]

You running Vista or XP (or Mac or Linux...) On my Vista machine with A2DP, although paired, I have to go into Sound and "test" the device to get it to wake up. I'll try the Blackbox and see if it's any different.