We reviewed the core system package (AU$449) that includes a stereo base station and one set of remote stereo speakers. Up to three extra speakers (AU$199 each), for a total of four remote speakers, can be paired with one base station.
Design
The base itself is covered in acres of piano black plastic. Two mid-range drivers flank the dock on either side while a bottom-mounted subwoofer is hidden behind a circular plastic grille. The main unit is sturdy and won't slide away thanks to its four rubber feet.
Two blue LEDs up front signify your two sources of selection and four blue LEDs will illuminate to let you know how many of the four possible wireless speakers are connected. Non-iPod MP3 players can be hooked up via the EOS's 3.5mm auxiliary port on the rear of the base station. All of the control buttons are found on the front of the base except for track controls, which can only be found on the included remote. You cannot navigate your iPod via the remote, that can only be done on the iPod itself.
The remote feels a bit flimsy and cheap, and there's almost no tactile feedback when its buttons are depressed. Also, the remote will only work with the base station. So if you're streaming music in another room, you'll have to get up and change tracks manually.
Interestingly enough, there's no power button on the EOS base station. While each individual wireless speaker can be turned off manually, there's no such option to do so with the base. It will remain powered unless you physically remove the plug.
The wireless speaker's design is exactly what you'd expect the base station to look like without the space needed for the iPod dock, although the subwoofer's been relocated to the rear. A volume/power knob rests at the top of the speaker located directly next to the device's antenna. The blue LED light on the antenna will blink while searching for a signal from the main base and stay static when connected.
Features
Each wireless speaker comes ready to plug right into a wall outlet. Although interesting, we can't imagine anyone wanting the location of a speaker far below a desirable listening height. Thankfully, you can detach the electrical prong from the speaker, although it will only give you around a metre of slack. Extracting the prong was like getting a kid — or an adult, even — to go to the dentist, while tucking the wire back into the speaker and reattaching the power adapter wasn't much easier.
The EOS system will support any iPod that has a standard 30-pin dock connector. Included in the packaging are various dock adapters to support your specific version of the iPod. The system will also work with the iPhone and iPod Touch; however, the iPhone will need to enter "flight mode" in order to perform correctly. This is an automatic feature of the phone that will engage once it's been placed in the base station.
Setting up the system is quite easy. After you've placed your iPod on the base station dock and powered on all your wireless speakers, the system will automatically sync with all the speakers that are within range. Should an external speaker not link up, it's probably out of range.
EOS claims you'll get up to a 90m range outdoors and 50m indoors. We found the outdoor assessment to be accurate, but as far as indoor performance is concerned, it's really going to rely on how many walls are located in between the base and speaker. There's a "Range EX" button on the rear of the base station that is supposed to extend the reach, but we barely noticed a difference when we turned it on during our testing.
Performance
Sound quality is about average compared with other iPod speaker docks we've tested and that's a pretty low bar to begin with. The system seems biased toward the mid-range, but all music felt hollow and lacking in warmth. With our remote speaker there was an audible hiss when the unit was switched on but with no music playing.
We should add another note on the overall performance of the EOS system. We noticed that not all of the speakers will sync up at the same time, so if you have more than one wireless speaker within listening distance from one another, you may catch a bit of a delay when listening to music. This effect may deter some consumers from using multiple speakers in the same room, which is a set-up we were hoping to take advantage of.
Conclusion
At AU$449 — or up to AU$1028 if you get all three optional remote speakers — the EOS certainly isn't cheap. With its acceptable, but by no means exceptional, sound, it only makes sense if you absolutely need to stream music from one room to another.
4%
1%
