Logitech Wireless DJ Music System

Logitech is a regular guest at our Tech2 lab; in fact its products almost seem to walk in on their own will these days. One thing is for sure – they’re always welcome! Just a month back its Wireless DJ System was launched in the market, and caught my eye instantly. And before I knew it the product was on my desk grinning at me.

We exchanged a few pleasantries (after you review so many products you really can converse with them – or am I losing my mind?) Basically I asked the sleek little thing about its existence, about its predecessors etc. I learned this is a new model in its own right, and not a direct upgrade from the previous wireless models released by Logitech.

It also seemed to imply that it’s better than anything else in its class, but I drew the line at that. That’s for me to find out…

Design and Features
Logitech products, at least the newer ones, look brilliant. Even the previously reviewed Harmony remote was a stunner, and so is the wireless DJ system. The ‘system’ consists of mainly a remote, a charger-cum-receiver, and a USB transmitter. Besides that you have the regular software setup CD, manuals, wires etc.

The color of the exterior is black and faux finished aluminum, shine levels being very mild. The remote is long and slim, with a removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery that conducts in its bottom quarter. The buttons are arranged well, mainly around a centric dotted scroll wheel placed bang in the center of the front panel.

The two main buttons are for menu and home, and there are two playlist organizer buttons called ‘Dj’. On top of this matrix are three transport buttons, being on the silvery side, while the former are black. On a bottom strip are small round buttons for volume and mute.

The Logitech logo is ubiquitous, but never does it detract from the class of the design. The top half has a two-inch monochrome LCD display. Once switched on, the screen radiates a lovely blue hue, though I would have preferred a nice multicolored screen as in the Harmony 1000. The other components are simple in their aluminum finish, and bear just the logo.

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Performance
The setup is much simpler than in previous Logitech devices; you have to just insert the CD in and click 5-6 ‘Next’ buttons. During setup itself it asks you what software and folders you want to synchronize with, so later on the remote screen displays ID3 info etc.

The total time needed for this was three minutes, and I was good to go. The system works quite simply – as in, you have to first plug in the Bluetooth adapter to a USB port, and then plug in the receiver wherever your main music system is. The receiver also charges the remote, so that’s cool.

Once the system was set up, we proceeded to just turn it on, and of course blast the music to annoy everyone in the vicinity. The unit works perfectly at all places in the sphere of the transmitter, except at one spot, behind my CPU on the other end of the office (about 50 feet) there was some glitches in the sound.

This may have been a fault of the radio frequency disturbances, or due to my PC running some other software at the same time. To check the latter I stripped down to just streaming, and it was still there. Plus the stated range of Logitech is not happening; it’s less than 150 feet. The killer thing is that walls and glass don’t do sh*t to the sound, it’s as clear as if it were one foot away.

The good thing is that DRM protected songs stream perfectly and, even better, there is a PC mode by which you can play almost any sound on your PC (which means Internet radio and all that). Last.fm streams and few others also come in with ease.

Conclusion
At Rs 15,995, the Logitech wireless DJ music system is not cheap. Like with the wireless remote, the unit will lose points for this. However, some sites quote $100 prices, so I don’t know what the scene is. But hear this – if you can afford it, go for it; it’s great.