Jake Widman
Thursday, 11 March 2010 10:15
Entertainment
Page 1 of 5
The Esiena iF360 is billed as a "complete home audio solution." It's not quite that, but it does pack a lot of great sound and nice features into its compact shell.
The Edifier Esiena iF360, introduced last fall but new to the Australian market, is an all-in-one music player, able to play FM radio, various sorts of CDs, iPods, and even material on USB drives and SD cards. It also has RCA input jacks for connecting other sources and a composite video out jack for sending video from an iPod to a TV.
At 29 x 14.5 x 23.7 cm (about 15 x 5.5 x 9.5 inches) and 4.7 kg (just over 10 pounds), the Esiena comes across as a large, hefty table radio. But it sound quality far exceeds that of most table radios -- enough for my teenage son to pronounce it "impressive" after taking it for a spin on DevilDriver, Kid Cudi, and the Who.
We first set it up in the kitchen, where the sound is usually provided by a Logitech mm50 iPod dock/speaker system. The Esiena blew that right away, with a depth of bass and midrange detail that would do a much larger system proud.
The sources were my first-generation iPod nano and his iPod Touch (the iPod dock is beneath a popup door on top of the Esiena), and we had no problem operating the iPods with the Esiena's remote control. My only complaint was that there was no dock insert that properly fit my old nano.
My desk is near the kitchen, so I was also able to the included RCA-to-3.5mm cable to hook up my laptop and use the Esiena as a very nice set of computer speakers.
For the Esiena in other settings, see Page 2.
