Hi guys and Happy Chinese New Year 2015! Today I’ll be reviewing another speaker and this time its from Elysium. The speaker model is known as Elysium Infiniio, a wireless 2.1 Hi-Fi Speaker, which can be used for music, movies and internet video entertainment. Infiniio comes equipped with 2 x 2.5″ satellite and 1 x 4″ subwoofer packed in 1 super compact portable speaker. This speaker can be connected via NFC, Bluetooth for convenience or with an audio cable with 3.5mm audio jack via Aux-input. There are 2 model for this speaker (Black or Silver) The speaker SRP (Suggested Retail Price) is 499 MYR, 138 USD. Product link: Elysium Infiniio

For those who have not heard about Elysium, its actually a new brand under Leapfroglobal (the company that owns Armaggeddon, PowerLogic and SonicGear) Elysium focuses on delivering high-end lifestyle products covering both hi-fi audio and power banks! Before jumping into the review, let’s take a step back and get an overview of the features and specifications!

Note: Below is a picture of the Elysium Infiniio “Black” model. The one that I’m currently reviewing is the “Gun Metal” silver model!

Features

• NFC hifi sound system with total power output of 40W
• Stream audio wirelessly from any bluetooth source device e.g. computer, tablet, smartphone etc.
• Bluetooth 4.0 EDR supports A2DP and AVRCP
• Built-in 5V USB power port lets you charge various mobile devices
• Even lets you play your music directly from a USB flash drive, hassle-free
• Includes an auxiliary (aux-in) 3.5mm audio jack for traditional usage
• 2 full-range drivers and 1 bass driver for an all-encompassing 2.1 listening experience
• Brushed cool-touch aluminium control panel minimises handprints
• Illuminated control keys make them easy to locate, even in the dark
• Stylishly matched remote control included for long range interaction

Specifications

• Pure output power (RMS): 40W
• Satellite output power (RMS): 5W x 2
• Subwoofer output power (RMS): 30W
• Full-range driver: 2.5″ x 2 (4 Ω )
• Bass driver: 4″ (4 Ω )
• S/N ratio: ≥ 80 dB
• Frequency response: 40Hz ~ 16kHz
• Wireless operation range: up to 10 metres
• USB port for charging: 5V, 2.1A
• Universal AC voltage: 100-240V~50/60Hz

Design

Design-1: Here is the front side of the Elysium Infiniio. The satellites and subwoofer are hidden behind a breathable fabric that allows sound to pass-through while providing an aesthetic premium appearance. There is a silver sticker brand positioned in the center labelled Elysium and a transparent circle sticker with a label “NFC” (refers to Near Field Communication).

Design-2: Looking from the top, we can see 5 buttons. Starting from left to right, we have Mode Switcher, Play-Pause, Power On/Standby, Previous and Next. The Mode Switcher button allows you to switch between different modes of input which are Auxiliary-In, USB Input and Bluetooth/NFC. The Play-Pause button along with Previous, Next buttons only works with music played via USB. There is a Bluetooth logo located far to the right to indicate this speaker has Bluetooth capabilities!

Design-3: Th rear of the speaker has an Auxiliary-Input. The speaker is ported (has a hole) to allow air to travel in and out. With a ported enclosure you get the benefit of using the vibrations of the back side of the cone to produce sound as well.

Design-4: Inspecting the speaker’s bottom, you can find 2 rubberized padding to prevent the speaker from sliding. Note: Remove the protective plastic on the rubberized padding, otherwise, it will slip out from the table when its vibrating due to the strong bass. The product serial number is located here too!

Design-5: There are 4 L.E.D (LED) Colors representing different modes! Starting from top left to bottom right: Red = Standby, Purple = USB Input, Cyan = Auxiliary Input, Blue = Bluetooth. I wished they used different colors such as orange, green, white to make it easier to differentiate the modes.

Design-6: On the right side of the speaker, there is an input for USB drive. To play music via USB, set to any mode except USB (purple LED), insert USB and finally switch to the USB mode (Purple LED) and wait for 3 seconds to allow speaker to search for the compatible music format before it plays them! See below for more info regarding the music format that it can play! The USB port can be used to charge your mobile devices and power banks too!

Design-7: The speaker’s power cable measures 62 inches. The length is just right, allowing the speaker connect to power source which is located far away.

Accessory-1: Here is a close-up on the remote control. There are 12 buttons serving different purposes. Starting from the top left to bottom right: Standby, Mode Switcher, Mute, Play-Pause, Previous Music, Next Music, Decrease Bass, Increase Bass, Play Music in Sequence, Play Music in Random mode, Increase Volume and Decrease Volume. The remote control uses CR2032 battery, commonly found in motherboards. With this battery type, it allows for a slimmer remote control design!

Accessory-2: The speaker comes with a short audio 3.5mm cable measuring 23 inches. I find the cable rather short, its not long enough to connect it to the PC with the speaker located center of the monitor. I presume its meant for connecting to nearby audio devices such as smartphones. I would prefer it to be at least 60 inches in length so it can serve for more purposes.

First Impression

At first sight, it looks like a typical premium 2.0 portable speaker with very curvy angles. Testing the speaker audio reveals that it has concealed a mini subwoofer in the speaker. The design looks minimalistic which allows it to be placed and suit with most furniture in the living room easily.

Discoveries

Temperature

Running the speakers for few hours with random music genre (techno, trance, K-pop, J-pop, instrumental, rock, etc) generated some heat in the front of the speaker. The warmth is similar to a 1TB Western Green Caviar on idle at 38 degree Celsius.

No hissing noise on Idle or Mute + No pop on power up/down

As expected from a high-end speaker, there isn’t any hissing/electrostatic noise emitted when the speaker is on idle, mute and standby. When the speaker is power up or power down from the power plug, it does not emit any annoying popping noise like most lower-end speakers. Do take note that it emits a weird bubbly sound when powered down but only occurs if its not under standby mode!

Speakers Magnetically Shielded

The one thing that annoys me about speaker is that they emit weird blip-blip noise when a SMS/call is received if the phone is placed close to the speaker. This common speaker issue doesn’t occur to the Elysium Infiniio as all the drivers are magnetically shielded. Thumbs up!

Bluetooth Coverage + Volume

I played a FLAC music via my smartphone using Bluetooth connection to the Elysium Infiniio and measured the distance the speaker can receive the signal. The speaker is capable of receiving the audio signal up to 4 meters with direct line-of-sight. The Elysium Infiniio volume can be adjusted through the Bluetooth Volume of my smartphone.

Remote Control Coverage

The remote control is capable of controlling the speaker functionality up to 4 meters too, similar to the Bluetooth signal. The buttons are small and are not well-spaced from each other, making it difficult to press with large fingers. There are some occasions where I pressed the incorrect button when turning the volume up/down with the controller. It would be much preferable to have the size of 2 buttons merged together as one.

Power Consumption

On standby, it uses 0W (Watts), and on idle it uses 2.8W. With sound volume (100%) and bass volume (100%) maxed, it consumes an average of 20~25W with random music and sometimes shoots up to 30-35W when the bass kicks in. When volume is set at 50%, it uses approximately 4~5W with bassy music.

Inconveniences

I noticed that when this speaker is powered on, it will always be on standby mode. So if you have this connected to a PC/TV and expecting it to automatically turn on as those devices too, you will have to put some extra effort to manually turn it on to Auxiliary-Input by pressing the mode button approximately 3 times to jump from Bluetooth to USB and finally Auxiliary-In. It will not remember the previous mode that you were in. To power on/down, it will take 2 seconds by press-n-hold the power button on top of the speaker. However, if it’s done via the remote control, the switching button mode can be be done in an instant, still you need to get out of the standby mode first!

Music Format via USB

I have tested several music file format and only MP3 and WMA works fine. The others such as FLAC, WAV, OGG does not work. Do take note that the USB Flash Drives (aka USB Thumb Drives / Pen drive) must be formatted as FAT32 and not NTFS, otherwise the speaker isn’t able to read any files on the device!

Sound Quality

The sound depends on the positioning of the speaker and the distance between you and it. If its placed on a computer desk close to you center of the monitor, the highs (tweeter) sounds a little recessed. However, placing it at ear level negates that issue and made the tweeter sound better. It sounds very good if you are sitting far away from it. When playing music that has high notes, it definitely sounds ear piercing instead of being mellow. Regarding the subwoofer, its punchy and sharp, follows to the rhythm of fast beat but sounding a little shallow and half-solid. When comparing Infiniio speaker with the Armaggeddon Panzer III 2.1 speaker, I discovered that Infiniio subwoofer doesn’t cover the low bass much and it does not have the rumbling feeling to it. After using for awhile, I also discovered an unusual symptom where the components in the speaker is rattles a lot with heavy bass, most probably the components inside are not secured tightly. Finally, comparing this against with my neutral sounding studio monitors Edifier R2730DB, the Elysium Infiniio speaker is colored to have sharper/higher trebles.

Verdict

If you are looking to purchase a music box to fit in small areas (e.g. open cupboard) in the lounge/living-room, has a beautiful look to match classy environment and not forgetting to sound awesome with 2.1 setup, I would highly recommend you to consider this speaker. Playing at max volume, its capable to annoy your neighbors next door even at 40W. However, if you decide to grab this speaker for PC (gaming/listening-music/watching-movies) for near-field usage, I would recommend you to look for other 2.1 speaker with dedicated satellites and subwoofer that can be placed far apart from one another to provide a more overall 3D sound feel instead of a direct-coned sound similarly to the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air Wireless AirPlay. Let’s not forget that this speaker comes with a cool feature where you can play songs via USB if you would want to use your smartphone for a call or bring it to somewhere else.

Expectations

For future enhancements, I hope to see support for FM Radio, so consumers such as me could listen to news from their favorite radio station. Another point is to have a longer audio cable for convenience. Thirdly, support for wider audio format which includes the lossless audio format such as FLAC, so users are not hassled with converting their high quality sound to MP3/WMA. Fourthly, to make the LED blink whenever the user interacts the speaker via the remote to notify user that the remote is performing its function. For example, blinking the LED once if user turns up/down the volume.

Sound Test Video

The sound test is done by connecting a 3.5mm audio cable to my motherboard audio-out equipped with VT2021 Audio Codec (Output SNR 110dB) which is on par with Realtek AC898.
[youtube url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIX2KsuOeYg]

Disclosure: The review sample was provided by LeapFrogGlobal – if you’re looking for this speaker, you know where to find them.