2013 HOLIDAY HIT – REVIEW AND #GIVEAWAY – Korus Wireless Speakers @KorusRocks

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The product featured was provided free of cost to me for the sole purpose of product testing and review. Please note that any personal opinions reflected in this post are my own and have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.

Unless you’re a new reader, you likely know that I absolutely love music. I can go an entire day without television and probably not miss it but cannot go a day without music. I listen to it everywhere – on my computer, on the stereo, in my car.At home it isn’t unheard of for me to turn the stereo up loud and go about my business around the house. the problem with this is, when I get to some parts of the house I don’t hear the music very well. When I learned about new Korus Wireless Speakers and was offered the opportunity to try them out I could not pass it up.

There may be some of you wondering what the big deal is about Korus, since wireless speakers aren’t exactly a new thing. Well, Korus Wireless Speakers are a new thing. They don’t work on Wi-Fi or bluetooth like some other systems do. Korus is powered by SKAA, a new technology that offers a reliable high performance connection without drops, pops or lag. I’ll share some more info about SKAA in a minute. What you really want to know right now is how they sound, and what I think of them. Right? Well, here you go. You can click on any of the photos to open them up to full size if you need.

I received two Korus speakers, the V400 and the V600.

As unboxing I pondered if there would be lots of things to read or many steps to take to get things working.

When you open up the box you”re greeted like the member of a club.

It turns out that connecting the Korus is easy.

Inside that box are the necessities – power cable, usb cable and Korus batons. You can see the batons in the second picture below, they look like small adapters. Which is basically what they are.

The V400 has a clean, streamlined modern look. There are five buttons on the top, and the power port in the rear. There’s also a built-in handle in the back.

The V400 and the V600 look very much alike. The V400 is the smaller, measuring 11 x 6 x 5.5 inches. The V600 is the larger, measuring 17 x 9 x 7 inches. Aside from size, another difference is that the V600 not only runs on AC power, but it will also operate on six D-cell batteries.

Getting a Korus wireless speaker to work is ridiculously simple. First, you decide where you’re going to put the speakers. Or not, you’ll find they’re super easy to move. For our first test drive I placed the V600 in the corner of the living room and the V400 in the kitchen. The Korus speaker system can stream music to one or up to four speakers simultaneously, placed in one or more rooms.

Next you plug the power cord in, one end in the bac of the Korus and one end into the wall. You can now turn the speaker on.

Now you need to connect the baton. This is what’s going to get your music from your phone or computer to the Korus speaker. There are currently three batons available – USB, 30-pin and Lightning. Android compatible Batons should be available in early 2014. I started with the 30-pin baton, which you put into the bottom of your iPhone. Then you turn the speaker on by pressing the power button on top.

After that I didn’t have to do anything really. I was prompted to download an app, which was free and took all of oh 30 seconds to download.

Once the app is downloaded you’re ready to listen to your new speaker. Start playing what you want to hear. Open the Korus app and you’ll see the volume controls. If you have more then one Korus speaker connected you’ll see the volume for each one that is connected.

Now you can move from room to room, adjusting the volume on each speaker as you wish or need. Yes that’s all there is to it. No need to get the Wi-Fi password and connect to the network. No need to pair with Bluetooth. Just plug a baton into your Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad or iPod and play. The Korus premium All-in-One Suite includes the batons to support PCs, Macs and all iOS devices. Android compatible Batons should be available in early 2014.

I gave the speakers a workout. I sent the V600 out to the garage on one end of the house and controlled it with ease from the bedroom on the other end of the house. I ws able to control the volume in the kitchen from the bedroom. At no point did I hear and loss of sound quality. And better yet, at no point did I hear any lag. If you’ve ever listened to satellite radio or television in two rooms then you’ve probably heard what lag sounds like. It’s annoying, right? Korus has no annoying lag. if you press play in iTunes on your iPhone, the speakers play just as though your iPhone itself would play the songs. I was able to go from end to end of the house and never lose sound or sound quality. It wasn’t until I got into my neighbor’s driveway, about 60 feet away, that I lost sound, the husband said it just stopped playing and that there was no static like you might get when satellite radio is losing or searching for a signal.

I even tried different types of music. I tried my favorite bands, the ones I know and love and know what they should sound like. My greatest love is rock music. The first bands that I tried were my favorites Oleander and my Digital Summer. They sounded amazing, the quality is on par or better with many home stereo systems that I’ve heard. I also tried some kids music, some 80s, some dance music and even a little country from Drankmore. It all sounded phenomenal!

In short, both of the speakers sound absolutely amazing. The V400 is loud and clear. It packs a lot of bass into the sound, surprisingly so for a smaller speaker. The V600 is even louder, and has an even fuller sound as it has side firing tweeters that the V400 don’t have. I have cranked both up really, really loud. At no point did the sound distort or provide poor sound quality. At no point did the speaker vibrate.

Here’s more on SKAA, in techno speak.

SKAA, the technology behind Korus, is based on the professional wireless audio standard PAW, or Pro Audio Wireless, which has a history of delivering high-quality music to top artists in the music industry. Korus is now bringing this technology to the consumer market, providing consumers with benefits unavailable with other Bluetooth or Wi-Fi speakers.

Korus, powered by SKAA technology, has a near-zero latency of 40 milliseconds, up to three times better than Bluetooth speakers. It also offers a wireless range of up to 65 feet indoors and 200 feet outdoors, much greater than that of any Bluetooth-powered device. Ensuring the delivery of flawless audio, SKAA incorporates something called Walking Frequency Diversity (WFD™) to reduce interference with wireless radios and maintain a rock-steady connection. SKAA also provides superior sound quality of 480 Kbps, compared to 201 Kbps as is typical for Bluetooth speakers.

Remember the handle I mentioned earlier? You can see it in the photo just above. Korus speakers are easy to move around in the house, out in the yard, or anywhere. The V400 is pretty compact, not much bigger then a small purse. It weighs about 4 pounds.  The V600 is a bit heavier at 11 pounds, but just as easy to move. You could move this for any number of reasons. I move a speaker into the bathroom every morning and crank the music up while I’m showering. My showers are so much more awesome with the music playing so I can hear it, previously I relied on a portable usb speaker that sounded like crap.

A great way to use the V600 would be for outdoor parties, events and camping. Because it will run on batteries you don’t have to worry about finding power in the great outdoors. And if you’ve ever camped in upstate New York, there’s also no problem finding a radio signal. Just connect it to your phone and you’re set.

Another way you could use it, for example, is for entertaining a group. Let’s say you have Netflix or a movie or something on your iPad and you have a house full of kids wanting to watch it. Well you know that sometimes a group of kids is a bit noisy, and things can be hard to hear. If you can turn it up you often lose sound quality. The Korus solves that problem. Korus speakers can connect to anything that allows you to control sound from your device. That includes phones, laptops and computers. It applies to music, movies, and even games. It’s amazingly versatile. It’s also exceptionally convenient because you don’t have to change set-ups when moving from devices. As long as there’s a baton on the device you want to use you’re good to go.

Here’s a short video on Korus speakers and SKAA technology.

I can’t say enough positive things about the Korus Wireless speakers. They are truly plug and play. The sound is absolutely amazing. It’s for these reasons that I’m naming Korus a holiday hit for 2013. If you appreciate the difference between lousy or average sound quality and outstanding sound quality, Korus is something you need to check out. Any true music lover would be delighted to find Korus under the tree this year, along with people who enjoy entertaining.

The Korus wireless speaker is now available for the first time in Best Buy Magnolia Design Centers nationwide in a special all-in-one value package for the Holidays. You can save nearly $140 by purchasing the value package, which offers a portable V-600 speaker and accessories for $449.99, as well as the smaller and more compact V400 and accessories at $349.99. The Korus All-in-One Suite includes a wireless Korus speaker; USB, 30 pin and Lightning Baton wireless audio transmitters to seamlessly connect to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC; and two charge cables to keep your mobile devices powered while streaming audio to Korus speakers. Both are also available online at www.korussound.com.

MORE INFO

Korus website

Korus on Twitter

Korus on Facebook

Korus on Instagram

WIN IT!

One (1) winner will receive a Korus V400 Wireless Speaker.

HOW TO ENTER. (MANDATORY)

To enter leave a comment on this post telling me why you’d like to win this AND what band you’d play first over the speaker if you won.

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THE SMALL PRINT.

The winner will be selected using the “And the winner is” plugin. US addresses only please, no PO Boxes. This contest will end on Tuesday 12/17/13 at 11:59 pm est. If you’ve entered any of my giveaways before then you know that only comments containing all of the requested information will be eligible for entry. Good luck to everyone!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.