17th october 2006

yes, it is wireless and yes, it is sexy

you may remember a post i made a while ago regarding logitech's wireless dj music system. luckily, if you can't remember, i've been so rubbish at posting lately that it's only three posts below. anyways, mine arrived at the weekend, and i'm very, very impressed.

the remote and dock - which also acts as a charger - look great, and the bright, blue, back-lit screen is beautiful. it feels great too, heavy enough so it doesn't feel cheap, light enough so you don't think 'what is in this thing!?'.

the software installed with no problems, and looks to be pretty good. we all know that some electronics companies do software well, and some - perhaps most - don't, but i have no problems with what i've seen so far. the streampoint app indexed all my music easily, and you choose how that music should be played, thankfully allowing you to use your usual player - itunes for me - rather than forcing you to use windows media player because you're using a windows machine, or even worse a manufacturer's own player (i still have nightmares about having to use sony's awful sonic stage when i first bought a sony mp3 player back in the day). the transmitter again looks good. small and classy looking, and doesn't seem out of place on my desk. and no problems so far with it's range (my pc - and music - is upstairs, my entertainment system downstairs).

the best thing though? for me, the sound quality. i was really quite aprehensive about this. i tried a couple of times playing my ipod through my home entertainment amp, and it sounded like a cheap transister radio. i figured this may need to have an digital connection, rather than using stereo jacks, but i was wrong - the sound is excellent. granted, my jacks lead cost me about £60 (used to use it with my last dvd player), but still.

so my one problem - there had to be one - is with the scroll wheel. i know i'm used to the ipod's wheel, so i immediately didn't like that fact that this wheel actually does turn (not a touch sensitive thing), but it just feels a little... plasticy. this surprised me, considering the quality of the rest of the system. but that, i can live with. what is irritating is the speed of the thing. i have somewhere in the region of 600 albums, and if i want to quickly listen to a favourite track from an artist starting with, for example, "S", you soon realise that "quickly" just ain't gonna happen. that's what i did yesterday, and although i didn't time myself, i reckon it must have taken a couple of minutes to get to "s". that is gonna be a problem. despite the fact that i don't like zz-top. hopefully they can release an update to the software. perhaps an "artist by letter" and "album by letter", so the maximum number you have to initially scroll through is 26?

all in all though, if you're looking for a wirless, streaming solution, this is it. it simplys looks great and it just... well, works.

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