Student Sound System: Evoke 2XT
March 25th, 2008
I still buy CDs and up until now brought the essentials out of my collection with me to university, along with my separates system. This proved an inconvenience, so I looked into docking stations but there were some problems:
- Not all had radio.
- Mostly designed for iPods
- Not all had a separate AUX connection, which meant buying an iPod. Also having a iPod-shaped hole would look lame.
- Some were too cumbersome.
- Expensive, especially the Bose ones.
After a bit of searching I found Pure included an auxiliary 3.5mm socket in some of their higher range DAB radios. I settled on the 2XT, which you can buy from Amazon
Basically having a 3.5mm socket means that you can connect it to any device that you can connect headphones to. If you don’t know about cables, search or ask for a ‘male to male 3.5mm stereo jack’. I bought one off Ebay for £2.50 inc. postage. You connect one end to your audio device and the other end plugs into the back of the 2XT.
I appreciate good sound and have heard good things about Pure radios. I wasn’t disappointed. It includes tone control which you can turn down for Johnny Cash and up for Chopin. Digital broadcasts are also very good, unfortunately the stations have been closing down lately, but the BBC stations will remain, which are all I listen to anyway. The sound is so good that I don’t bother with my separates system when playing music on my laptop, as I can navigate my library faster than changing CDs.
Even if you decide to buy an iPod docking station, I would recommend looking out for the auxiliary jack feature. You don’t have to own a television licence to watch BBC iPlayer and having the sound come from proper speakers really makes the difference.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:48 am
What’s weird is that over here we can find stereos with AUX ports. I bought a Creative Zen Vision M and I love it compared to my old iPod- so I needed something that it would hook-up to. The stereo I’ve got at school is quite slim and has radio, CD, and AUX- made by Memorex.