UPstage 360 Omni-directional Speaker

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 3417 times.

mresseguie

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 4698
  • SW1X DAC+ D Sachs 300b + Daedalus Apollos = Heaven
UPstage 360 Omni-directional Speaker
« on: 4 Apr 2018, 02:29 pm »
This past Saturday I was invited into the Level10 offices to listen to the latest pre-production model of the UPstage 360, and to ask whatever questions I thought would help me better understand what I was looking at and listening to. The company says this about the speaker: "UPstage 360 is the smartest and the best-performing speaker that combines a 3-way system, 40Hz-40kHz ultra-wide frequency range, and ultimate Hi-Res sound quality in 360° enveloping soundstage."

So what does this mean for you and me?

Well, first of all this speaker is quite a bit different from nearly all the speakers I normally listen to. It's intended to be a stand alone unit. It is not intended to be a two-channel approach to music reproduction. This is pretty daring in my opinion because if it is done poorly, it's going to fail like a lead balloon. However, I discovered that they've managed to come up with a quality product that does a pretty good job of reproducing clean non-fatiguing music, and that it performs as they claim. The speaker is paired to an Alexa Echo Dot that fetches music, radio stations, and pretty much whatever you want from the internet. This was my first exposure to Alexa and I enjoyed it.

The office where I listened to the speaker was filled with hard reflective surfaces that could make the best sounding speakers sound like crap because of all the reflections. It reminded me of my home office.  :oops: However, as I moved about the room trying to find weak points or nulls, I discovered the speaker did a pretty good job of spreading the music throughout the room. I knew I had a bias before I listened to it in that I was expecting it to be bright sounding. However, even after playing trumpet, sax, and female vocals, I didn't detect any irritating brightness. I found that it sounded especially good with vocals - girl with a guitar or piano, solo vocals, etc. Using my iPhone 6+ as source I played songs by Chris Botti, Barb Jungr, Eva Cassidy, Paul Simon, and Yo Yo Ma.
 
This speaker seems to be especially well suited to use in a home office, an exercise room, the kitchen, or on a patio. My wife thought it would be great for yoga because it doesn't distract her like the JBL Charge 3 that she's used for the last year or so (her words).

Even though the specs suggest it plays down to 40Hz, I felt that my Fritz LS-5/R two-way monitors produce deeper bass than this speaker. There is a separate subwoofer that can be attached to the 360 unit. I'll see if I can get specs and pricing on this unit. I did not listen to it with the subwoofer attached.

My wife liked this speaker so much that it took her just 10 minutes to tell me to buy one of the Kickstarter early bird units. Being the well trained hubby I am, I did as ordered.

While this is a pretty good sounding speaker, it is not going to replace my two-channel audio system - and it's not intended to do this. It may well replace our JBL Bluetooth Charge 3 speaker. Once we receive our speaker, I'd like to give it a good solid workout to better understand its limitations and strong points. Does it work well in a backyard setting, or on a camping trip? TBD.

I got a second opportunity to listen to this speaker at a friend's home. One of the guests brought the speaker with him. It's one of the prototypes.

Initially, it was placed on a dining room table. This space was huge. [It's a very nice home.] It was as big as any formal dining room in the States and the very large living room adjoined the dining room. There's no way my Fritz speakers could fill that space. As I expected, the bass was really weak because it was trying to fill the entire space. After a few songs, it was moved into different rooms - the home office 10'w x 12'l x 8'h, master bedroom 14 x 16 x 8, and the piano room 10 x 12 x 8. [Edit: It was more likely a 9 foot ceiling.] Not too surprisingly the bass sounded a heck of a lot better - quite good in fact. I felt the master bedroom was just a little too big, but the music was still listenable.

There's a meditation function in which four different sounds can be played - birds chirping, river sounds, Tibetan horns, and I forget the last one. We got to hear all four. I feel ambivalent about this function, but I think the intent is cool.

Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: I was not offered any remuneration to post this. I do know two of the people involved in its development. They know I'm an audiophile, so they invited me to listen to it. They've been very careful to not try to influence my thinking about it. They did ask me if I would write my impressions here. None of the people involved with its production are AC members.
Link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2034870069/upstage-360-the-ultimate-360-hi-res-smart-speaker?ref=email


« Last Edit: 5 Apr 2018, 01:57 pm by mresseguie »

poseidonsvoice

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 4016
  • Science is not a democracy - Earl Geddes
    • 2 channel/7 channel setup
Re: UPstage 360 Omni-directional Speaker
« Reply #1 on: 4 Apr 2018, 05:54 pm »
Thanks for the review.

I guess everything deserves a chance...or listen.

Best,
Anand.

JLM

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 10654
  • The elephant normally IS the room
Re: UPstage 360 Omni-directional Speaker
« Reply #2 on: 5 Apr 2018, 12:00 pm »
Size?  Ballpark price?  Description of drivers? 

Sounds like an omni-directional souped up version of my Logitech UE Smart radio which is also monophonic and produces a rather nice non-distracting/non-fatiguing sound that faults on the side of omission versus commission. 

poseidonsvoice

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 4016
  • Science is not a democracy - Earl Geddes
    • 2 channel/7 channel setup
Re: UPstage 360 Omni-directional Speaker
« Reply #3 on: 5 Apr 2018, 12:21 pm »
Size?  Ballpark price?  Description of drivers? 

Sounds like an omni-directional souped up version of my Logitech UE Smart radio which is also monophonic and produces a rather nice non-distracting/non-fatiguing sound that faults on the side of omission versus commission.

Here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=156494.0Best

Best,
Anand.

OzarkTom

Re: UPstage 360 Omni-directional Speaker
« Reply #4 on: 5 Apr 2018, 12:57 pm »
Thanks for the review Michael, very tempting.

mresseguie

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 4698
  • SW1X DAC+ D Sachs 300b + Daedalus Apollos = Heaven