The name of Tunbow Electrical may not be all that familiar to you. This company is a Hong Kong based Chinese technology manufacturer with over 3,500 employees and 140,000,000 products that are sold in 30 countries around the world. Recently Tunbow Electrical set up Aves Digital as its first subsidiary brand operating from a UK base in Milton Keyes. I came across Aves Digital at the London version of The Gadget Show. Included in the Aves Digital portfolio of products is one known as the Diamond which is the subject of this review.
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click image to enlargeThe Diamond is a Bluetooth Stereo Speaker that is supplied with a power lead, remote control unit and a small instruction booklet. With dimensions of 381 x 142 x 135mm, the Diamond is obviously not intended as a portable device that you could slip into a pocket or bag when setting out on your travels. This is a more a speaker unit that can be used to enhance the audio output from an appropriate smartphone, tablet or other device that holds your favourite music when you are resting at home.
Predominately black in colour, this cylindrical and slightly squashed oval-shaped unit has a cloth material covering the front and a lacquered highly-polished sides and rear. I found the appearance of this product to be appealing and one that should fit in with most home environments. Built into the Aves Diamond are a series of speakers. There are two 3-inch full range speakers plus a further two 1.5-inch high frequency speakers. This combination provides an output of 30W.
Located on the rear of the Aves Diamond are sockets for mains power, Line Out and AUX In. Centrally positioned on a top-mounted silver plate are volume adjustment buttons plus an on/off switch which the Aves Diamond Instruction Booklet insists on referring to as the Standby key – a minor fault and one that can be easily rectified with the next version.
Once the power lead has connected the device to the mains, a red light will glow at the front of the Aves Diamond. Once you have turned on the unit it will automatically go into pairing mode allowing you to pair your chosen Bluetooth storage instrument to the Aves Diamond unit. The red light will have been replaced by a flashing blue light to indicate that pairing is possible. This is a quick and easily operation. Once the pairing has been completed and a connection made then the flashing light will change to a steady blue light.
If, for any reason, you move the connected music source device outside the 10 metre range of the Aves Diamond Bluetooth Speaker then a disconnection will occur. For the next 30 seconds the Aves Diamond will automatically switch to search mode as it attempts to re-establish the lost connection. If the search fails to make a connection then you will need to run the pairing process again to connect the two devices.
While there are the already mentioned basic controls on top of the Aves Diamond unit, you do have the option of using the supplied small remote control unit with your Bluetooth music source device. Along with volume adjustment, on/off and mute options, the remote control offers some other features. A cross-shaped arrangement of buttons on the remote control allows you to switch between five preset EQ modes that have been designated as Flat, Rock, Pop, Classical and Jazz. These presets are fixed and can not be adjusted. The only difference my well-worn ancient ears could detect was in the volume level delivered by each of the EQ modes.
As well as handling Bluetooth connections, the Aves Diamond can boost the output of other types of music devices via the AUX port at the rear of the unit. You will need to provide the audio lead for this connection (3.5mm jack) as one is not supplied with this product. By attaching a non-Bluetooth device to the Aves Diamond, the light at the front will change to yellow and any Bluetooth capability will be temporary disabled. You will also loose the functionality offered by the small remote control. You will need to use the volume buttons on the top of the Aves Diamond to adjust the output level.
The Aves Diamond has an attractive appearance and provides reasonable audio output. However I feel that its price point of £129.99 quoted on the Aves Digital website does seem a little high. Our good friends at Amazon.co.uk obviously are of a similar opinion and currently have listed this product at £89.99.
http://www.avesdigital.co.uk/en/product_detail.php?pid=20
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Comment by Ryan, 19 Apr 2014 14:50