I saw the Simplyvibe S350P speakers had great reviews and then I saw the same company had another model that has a LCD display for the same price. I decided to buy this one even though I wanted a black color. Well, I am happy that I did. When I tried it out I was truly WOW'ed by the number of things it can do.
The speakers are more than decent first off. They also threw in a ton of cool features too. It can play MP3s from SD and USB drives, plus FM stations (with auto tuning), plus a Calendar and Clock w/ Alarm settings. It's mind blowing how they can fit all of these things in a tiny speaker that's about the size of a hotdog bun. It even has like 20 language settings if you want Spanish or French?! I am glad it uses a rechargeable lithium battery and not pricey alkaline batteries.
Ok, here's the kicker (it took me a minute to figure out): It has a built in microphone so you can record voice AND FM music playing from the speaker at the same time. You just need to insert a SD card. That's just insane.
I haven't tried all the functions yet, but I am sure it has some other things that I will discover. I only had it for a day, but I had to write a review. Maybe I'll upload a video later if I have time.
For the price, I would've been happy if it just allowed me to amplify the weak speakers on my iPad and iPhone. The only Con was that it didn't come in Black color. Rarely, do I get this excited about anything I buy that's not Apple, but this product is COOL in my book! SimplyVibe SV-X6 Premium Rechargeable FM, MP3 Player and Portable Speakers (White Color) w/ DSP Bass for iPad, iPod, iTouch, iPhone, Laptops (Mac/ PC) and Mobile Devices (Lithium Battery)
I love the idea of this. It has everything I am looking for: iphone connectivity, mobility, rechargeable battery (5 hours), great sound, and fm radio. It has a few other things like SD card slot and recording ability that I probably won't use. The price is great too.
This little speaker provides a great balance of sound quality, loudness, compact size 6" w, 2.5" h, 1.5" d; light weight, versatile features, and battery life. In my relative comparison background for the X6 sound quality, I have listened to the Jambox closely; used the Saitek SD mini pop-up, and I regularly use a Logitech 715i, and Altec orbit 237 USB powered - which is great for notebook use because it is always ready with no battery and a single cord plug-in. In my opinion the X6 is better than the Saitek and orbit series and gives the Jambox a run for the money invested.
The SV-X6 is in a different class, the very-compact low-cost class - portable and easy to move around, it produces satisfying sound quality and reasonable bass response. The X6 is rugged, I have bounce-dropped it several times with no issues. It is easily tucked into a notebook accessory bag-pouch, or held in the same hand as my connected phone or MP3 player while moving around, it also fits in my back pocket for quick carry. Good for sound during a group presentation, and I occasionally use it as a speaker phone with my Motorola bravo phone's mic and line out - it works well.
Considering its size, it produces good sound quality and volume level in music and talk shows, incorporating a full range 40 mm driver with a second bass driver, 2 watts power producing more loudness than most in this class. It also has a rubber base pad making it slip-stable and non-scratching on furniture; I use it as an alarm-clock-radio, it occupies a small footprint on my night table.
What makes the X6 stand out from the other ultra-mini speakers is having a sensitive integrated FM radio, SD card reader and display for music (16 GB works fine, using 128kbps, 160 kbps and 256 kbps MP3), an alarm-clock with FM-radio/SD-card-music wake up or buzzer, and removable-rechargeable battery. Its display is small but usable, better than having none. Additional removable rechargeable BL-5C batteries can be acquired for five to ten dollars in 600 mAhr to 1020 mAhr; making X6 even more versatile, you can have a spare battery ready at the picnic or beach to continue use. I currently use a 1020 mAhr from a phone, it shipped with 600 mAhr. The user interface is a little goofy, but adequate. It has a turn-off timer which unfortunately has to be set each time it is used. Blue-tooth capability would be a great addition, though would add cost and battery drain. The X6 in my opinion is the best sounding, very small, wire-connected, multifunction-rechargeable-speaker I have used. I recommend it.
Update 2011-04-25
I decided to increase my rating from a four star to a five star rating. At our family party this weekend, folks commented on how great the sound quality is, with very good bass response, mid-range, and highs, very small, "large speaker sound from a mini-speaker" one said. The battery life using a 1020 mAhr battery (from a Nokia go-phone) has been phenomenal, even at nearly the loudest setting, outdoors it produces enough volume to project enjoyably well.
I initially bought this unit for the FM radio option it has, and am very impressed with it. The reception is great. There is an auto station search function that selects all available stations in my area. I run that function, and then delete extra stations assigned to the memory which I don't use. The station memory has survived a battery swap. The FM antenna is in the case somewhere. There is no wire or antenna rod to pull out. The antenna reception appears to be quite effective. One minor problem with the FM radio is when using the menu functions for the FM radio, it is quite easy to select the erase all stations options. I then go through the steps I use to reset the memory to the stations I prefer. It's pretty simple to do, but if the FM menu navigation was arranged a bit different, this would not be a problem.
One important thing to note: The buttons for menu navigation on this device are not responsive unless the menu screen is being displayed. Therefore, you may have to press a menu button twice when using various options. The first press will turn on the menu display, and subsequent presses will then perform the desired functions.
I thought I would try the devices ability to play music from a SD card. I placed a few MP3's and WMA files on the device and was immediately impressed with the sound quality. It was hard for me to believe that this little hotdog bun sized device could produce sound of this quality. The volume can go quite loud without distortion. The problems I found when using the SD music option is menu navigation. It took a while to figure this out, since the instructions that come with the unit are very basic. What I learned is that the buttons on the device do different things based on what the device is doing at that moment. For example, if you are playing a song you have the ability to navigate to options for random or normal song selection, equalizer settings, and replay option settings. If the music playing is paused, button presses will perform different functions (like navigating to different music folders). When using the "random" music playback setting it does not appear that it is a "smart" random option. I have noticed songs being repeated in the music folder before all songs have been played. Also, the random option seems to only work for music in a single folder. I don't believe when using the random setting the device will progress to a different folder like it does when using the "normal" setting. When using the "normal" setting, the player will advance to the next folder and continue playing music. If you wish to use the buttons to navigate to different folders, you must first pause the music playback to achieve this function. Depending on how you set up your music folder structure on your SD card, the navigation can be a bit cumbersome. But, with a bit of practice, the navigation is very useful. Since you cannot create playlists on this device, you can use folders on the SD card to mimic a type of playlist capability. One word of caution when doing this is that in order to actually switch to the new folder, you must actually select a song in that folder and then press play. Otherwise the menu reverts back to the previous song that was playing, and menu navigation must begin all over again to get to the music folder you wish to play.
The battery life in this unit is pretty good. The unit comes with a 600mAh which should play the unit for 5 hours or more when the new battery has been fully cycled a few times. This device takes a Nokia BL-5C type battery. I actually purchased two high capacity batteries ($7.00 each) from Eastmaze. The battery was shipped directly from China (I did not know this from the web site when ordering). The battery rating is 1400mAh. I cycled the battery a couple of times. To fully perform a single cycle of the battery, I use a fully charged battery until the device shuts off, then immediately charge the battery to full state again. In my experience when doing this with a new battery it will be a much better performer. I have gotten about 10 hours of continuous play time with the high capacity battery I purchased. It seems to me to be pretty amazing battery life. One reviewer mentioned that the battery life does not last overnight. I believe that may have been due to the devices menu system. If you just pause the player, the display will go blank, and it's easy to think the device is off. When turning off this device, you must hold down the "play" button until you see "SimplyVibe" display on the menu. The device will then properly shut down and battery depletion should not be occurring.
When this device is hooked to a laptop or portable DVD player the sound is just as amazing as when using SD cards.
Even though I have a few minor gripes about this devices menu navigation, I am giving it a 5 star rating due to the exceptional sound it produces for its size. Also, to charge this unit you can use any mini USB AC power adapter. I use an old Razor cell phone charger. It works great, and I believe that charging stops when full because the battery does not seem to get hot at all.
Whoever designed this product seems to know something about the science of acoustics. - Laptop Speakers - Portable Speakers - Iphone Speakers - Fm'
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