| |
 |
|
Date |
: May 25th, 2001 |
| Category |
: Audio |
| Manufacturer |
: Evergreen |
| Author |
: Jin-Wei Tioh |
|
The RumbleFX headphones come in an attractively designed box, with the RumbleFX feedback controller, a headphone conversion jack (from 1/8" to 1/4"), 2 AAA batteries, a brief instruction guide and of course the usual legal brouhaha. Looks like a product that is all ready to hit the retail channels.
First off, creature comforts. Evergreen chose to go with the closed format which separates and isolates the internal and external acoustics. Normally closed format headphones can be quite uncomfortable, trapping a pocket of air that warms up after extended use, especially those with smaller cups that are really air tight, such as the Sony MDR V100 which I have been using for the past 5 years. However, the RumbleFX is surprisingly comfortable, with its padded adjustable headband and bigger soft cushion ear cups that don't press down on your ear, rather the area surrounding your ear, leaving (in my case) a slight gap which allowed some of the trapped air to circulate. A big contributing factor is that the ear cups have a natural back tilt and a slight offset from the headband center. This feels to be a much better solution than the "straight down" design that many headphones use.
Evergreen chose to go with the classic tech look, with nice styling and a basic black and silver color scheme. It doesn't weigh as heavy as it looks, only 0.67kg. While this might sound heavy, you surprisingly don't feel much when you are actually wearing it. Unlike some other units, the RumbleFX headphones has only a single wire attached to its bottom left side. This reduces cable tangle and makes it more convenient to wear and remove than units with dual cords. The length of the wires are at least sensible, about 18 inches to the feedback controller, and a 3 meter 1/8 male to 1/8 male cable from the controller to your audio device. You can practically walk from one end of a mid-sized room to another with the RumbleFX plugged in. Construction quality is quite good, nothing looks like a rushed job and it is reasonably solid. My only qualm would be the cables that run from each ear cup into the headband look flimsy, and are susceptible to damage.
The feedback controller unit is a small plastic unit which contains the amplification circuitry coupled with a DSP. It takes 2 AAA batteries (included), and basically has a volume dial, a 3 position slider switch and a shirt pocket clip. The slider switch controls the level of feedback, alternating between "OFF", "I" AND "II". With "OFF" selected, you can still use the headphones (without force feedback) but the controller doesn't drain any power. Force feedback is active with the other settings, with "I" being the low and "II" being the high setting. This is one of the rare times that I've seen something sold with batteries included instead of batteries not included.  According to Evergreen, each pair should last up to 30 hours. I've used the RumbleFX on and off for quite a few days, varying between the "I" and "II" settings, and did not managed to deplete the batteries yet. Lastly, the shirt pocket clip is handy, if the clothing that you're wearing has a pocket, that is. Otherwise, you'll simply have to let the feedback controller rest in your lap.
Compatibility is a non-issue. Virtually any equipment with some sort of audio output jack can be used with the RumbleFX. At most, you would need the appropriate converter, eg. the Creative Labs AWE64 Gold which comes with a RCA to 1/8" converter. As mentioned earlier, the RumbleFX package itself includes an excellent 1/8" to 1/4" converter with gold-plated jacks, which is the audio output jack sported by consumer audio equipment, such as the Nakamichi RE-3 used in this review.
|
|
