Revo SuperConnect Stereo

Verdict

You could possibly name the SuperConnect Stereo a radio, however it’s greater than that with its options, connectivity choices and music streaming skills, delivering a constant sound throughout its sources that’s huge, detailed and spacious. It’s costly, nonetheless, and its bass output will not be probably the most balanced.

Introduction

As is more and more turning into the case with every passing yr, radios aren’t simply radios within the standard sense, they’re a breed of versatile music techniques that may additionally pump out tunes out of your favorite radio disc jockey.

The Revo SuperConnect Stereo is one such machine, boasting assist for DAB, FM, Web radio, podcasts, and music streaming over a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection. With the SuperConnect Stereo it’s close to sufficient an all-in-one system that sits on the coronary heart of your day by day listening actions.

It additionally replaces the well-regarded SuperConnect that launched a number of years in the past, bringing stereo sound to its repertoire. That is undoubtedly an costly radio, and has German model Revo carried out sufficient not simply to supply a ‘fashionable’ radio however one which additionally presents sufficient worth?

Design

• Nice wooden end
• Massive footprint
• Loads of connectivity choices

Revo, like British audio model Ruark, has all the time made techniques that stood out from the pack, and the SuperConnect Stereo is one other that I feel would sit proudly in somebody’s dwelling from an aesthetic viewpoint. It’s a stunning wanting radio and it actually places the ‘tremendous’ into SuperConnect.

The Revo has a giant footprint with dimensions of 370 x 190 x 150mm (WHD) – so this isn’t a lot a radio as a stereo hi-fi system with a radio tuner. It’s a good-looking wanting unit with an outer wooden cupboard chosen for its acoustic properties (wooden tends so as to add heat to audio). Rapping my knuckle on the cupboard provides off a strong feeling, and the wooden used has acquired FSC certification.

The wooden end is available in furnishings grade American walnut, and additional combos will be had with the selection of the silver or black anodised fascia. It’s price noting that the walnut/black model used for this assessment did appeal to just a few scratches and smudges over the course of testing. Tip the radio over and also you’ll spy a downward firing bass port on its underside.

The fascia has an virtually symmetrical look with the extremely seen (and readable from a distance) OLED display screen within the center, speaker drivers to both aspect and a row of buttons throughout the underside. Presets are positioned within the center with playback buttons to the suitable (as you’re going through the unit), with menu and alarm buttons off to the left. Quantity will be adjusted with the slider on the aspect, or you can make use of the slim and effectively laid out distant. You’ll wish to level the distant immediately on the radio, as utilizing it in my front room triggered it operated my soundbar too.

There’s additionally a headphone output on the entrance, backed up with a digital optical output on the rear, an aux enter and an RCA cinch port, so there are fairly just a few choices when it comes to hooking a tool to the Revo or connecting it to a different supply.

Options

• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth assist
• Undok app for music streaming
• Two alarms

The Revo SuperConnect Stereo helps DAB, DAB+, FM and Web radio, providing loads of choices to hearken to your favorite native stations or to journey internationally for a brand new one from the 36,000 out there. Wi-Fi assist additionally brings podcasts into the equation in addition to music streaming providers reminiscent of Spotify Join, Deezer and Amazon Music.

The latter two providers, just like the BoomBocs Studio reviewed earlier in 2023, are accessible via the Undok app. Inside the app, you’ll be able to choose and entry all the assorted modes, assign stations and tracks to presets, and alter settings with the assorted EQ choices (Information, Rock, Pop, Customized, and so on.,) in addition to the audio high quality (low, regular, excessive).

It’s an app that’s simple to traverse, and like BoomBocs, it’s the tactic of management I exploit probably the most given how simple it’s to go looking by way of the app (although annoyingly the app by no means remembers any search beforehand carried out). I do discover that there are just a few too many spinning circles throughout navigation, which suggests it may very well be extra responsive.

One other trait the Revo shares with the BoomBocs is the moderately complicated set-up concerning presets. On the radio itself there are six presets for every mode, on the distant are seven presets and within the Undok app there’s a most of ten presets. In the event you programmed 10 stations within the app, you’d solely be capable to entry six or seven on the radio or distant respectively. It’s not probably the most thought-out strategy.

You get two alarms, which appears to be par for the course with radios today. You’ll be able to set them day by day, as soon as, on weekdays or for the weekend. The alarms will be programmed to alert the person with a buzzer sound, Web Radio, DAB+, or FM.

There’s additionally Bluetooth 4.2 assist, although there are extra steps than essential to pair it with a smartphone. When chosen it ought to enter pairing mode, however it’s good to dive into the settings first to begin the pairing course of.

Sound High quality

• Spacious and detailed efficiency
• Energetic, if not significantly dynamic
• Uneven bass output
• Easy vocal perfomance

Armed with Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) drivers and 30W of energy from Class-D amplifiers, the SuperConnect Stereo is greater than able to delivering a giant, spacious, and detailed efficiency throughout its streaming and radio modes – DAB+ stations sound crystal clear with none background noise.

There’s a smoothness to the Revo’s midrange efficiency that avoids any traces of sibilance when listening to radio on the Rock or Information EQ profile, and a stream of Janelle Monae’s The Electrical Girl confirms that by bringing out her voice with readability and confidence.

With Harry Connick Jr’s cowl of Cry Me A River (in stereo), the Revo sounds unbelievable, providing excessive ranges of readability and a weighty sound whereas describing Connick Jr’s voice and devices with loads of element.

The Revo’s sense of dynamism is merely first rate, streaming Linkin Park’s Meteora album and not using a noticeable shift between quiet and loud. Even with Michael Giacchino’s Can’t Combat Metropolis Halloween from The Batman, the rising notes of the distinctive four-note-motif because the music builds isn’t portrayed with the rousing energy the observe calls for.

Nonetheless, the Revo can talk the thrust and vitality of tracks, offering loads of punch and impression to the drum hits in Audioslave’s Spoonman and The Day I Tried to Stay, making for a rocking good time with this radio.

With excessive frequencies the SuperConnect Stereo isn’t overly vibrant, the truth is I’d describe it as barely dulled because it may gain advantage from extra shine and sharpness, nevertheless it’s detailed and clear sufficient to render the various piano notes in GoGo Penguin’s Raven.

Bass is probably the most certified facet of the Revo’s efficiency. Sure, there’s heft and energy to the decrease frequencies, however the steadiness appears off, particularly in its radio mode. With Sparks’ This City Ain’t Massive Sufficient For the Each of Us or Betty Davis’ They Say I’m Completely different, the bass hogs the limelight and doesn’t sound well-formed, main the midrange and treble sounding barely recessed in consequence.

It exhibits extra confidence with its bass dealing with when coping with music over streaming for a efficiency that carries extra heft and is introduced with extra management. I wouldn’t mess around with the bass settings within the EQ although, as pushing the these settings creates an excellent larger imbalance, fawning over the low frequencies whereas the remainder of the frequency vary is left within the background.

Transferring onto its Bluetooth efficiency and what marks the Revo out from different radios I’ve reviewed not too long ago is how constant it sounds throughout its sources. Bluetooth streaming doesn’t require a lift in quantity to make it audible, with vocals described with readability, element, and that customary smoothness. Once more, there’s strong vitality and momentum to a observe like The Preatures’ Is This Is How You Really feel?, even when the extra dynamic elements of the music aren’t probably the most potent.

Plugging in a pair of Sivga Robin cans into the headphone port and the Revo describes tracks with readability, element and house. To repeat myself once more, the distinction between quiet and loud will not be probably the most pronounced, however the bass is agency and weighty in its supply.

In fact, one of many key promoting factors about this machine is that it outputs in stereo. With stereo tracks it outputs an open, broad and uncluttered soundstage, and shifting throughout the room there’s no apparent shift in how the SuperConnect Stereo sounds at numerous angles.

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Sustainability

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As a part of this mission, each time we assessment a product we ship the corporate a sequence of questions to assist us gauge and make clear the impression the machine has on the surroundings.

We presently haven’t acquired solutions to the questions on this product, however will replace this web page the second we do. You’ll be able to see an in depth breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability data web page.