Cheappie - possably "rubbish" kit

[Radio64]

In response to this thread I put 'Lidl Thursday' in my diary, but then, as so often, got on a trail of internet research. The first fruits (see #7) were that you could get a similar Bluetooth speaker for less that Lidl's price on-line. Then I browsed around and found what seemed a maybe better made item, with good Amazon reviews, for £13.99, delivery free:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JK6MQEI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

I've ordered one and await its arrival.

Will report in due course.

oooh! with a mike too .. .nice.

[Don Petter]

oooh! with a mike too .. .nice.

That wasn't a factor for me. My phone is so old it doesn't even have a camera, let alone Bluetooth!

(The speaker is to use with my Nexus 7 tablet.)

[Dave2002]

I'm going to have to look in the shop - Lidl at first. I just couldn't believe the minute size in one of the videos associated with one of the previously offered links - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WIRELESS-P...item2337b80921 and rather oddly this YouTube video is SILENT on my MBP - which seems not helpful for a loudspeaker advert.

I really don't one which is microscopically small - I thought this kind of thing would be around the size of a small biscuit tin. It's really an idea for a present - maybe for me, maybe for others and I may be about to cross it off my list of possibles. Pity, I was just getting a bit excited!

I learnt something new - I'd never heard of a TF card before, but it seems it's basically a micro SD card.

[Don Petter]

I'm going to have to look in the shop - Lidl at first. I just couldn't believe the minute size in one of the videos associated with one of the previously offered links - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WIRELESS-P...item2337b80921 and rather oddly this YouTube video is SILENT on my MBP - which seems not helpful for a loudspeaker advert.

It is very easy to be subjectively misled by size from such as an eBay picture. (I was once expecting a small fruit bowl which turned out to be the size of a cup. My fault for not reading or asking, and it is still a very nice item, so no harm done.)

I was surprised to see the speaker I have ordered is only about 9cm diameter, but for what I want (portability on trips, etc) this should be ideal.

[Radio64]

That wasn't a factor for me. My phone is so old it doesn't even have a camera, let alone Bluetooth!

(The speaker is to use with my Nexus 7 tablet.)

Good excuse to get a new 'phone as well then!

[Dave2002]

So much for seeing the stuff "in the shop" - almost all the goodies items for this Thursday had sold out. I queried whether they had been on sale, but was told that most items had indeed sold very quickly, so even if it might have been cheap and hopefully cheerful, I did not even get a chance to test the quality. I may have a backup plan though, but it wasn't what I was intending.

I did buy fat balls for the birds, though!

[Dave2002]

Looking at similar items to the USB turntable on Amazon shows a few at around the £90-£100 mark. Various comments, such as "1960s sound" and some people liked the experience of reminding them of playing records in the 1960s-1970s - bedroom record players etc. I suspect that in context and at its price point the Lidl offering is quite a good buy, but anyone expecting the near CD quality (some might say better than ..) of Linn Sondeks or better, with Ortofon moving coil cartridges or esoteric Japanese cartridges would clearly be crying for the moon!

Also playing near perfect LPs on it, for those who are concerned about such things, might not be a good idea. The recommended playing weight seems to be about 2.5 grams - a bit high, though probably right for a modest quality cartridge.

it does appear to have an internal amplifier for the cartridge, which would allow a line out output rather than a phono output, though it has one of those as well, and hopefully it does acceptably good RIAA equalisation and maybe also the mp3 encoding to flash/USB cards is reasonable enough.

[johnb]

Forgive me for asking but why on earth would anyone genuinely interested in music want to buy this type of (almost certainly) crap kit?

[Dave2002]

Forgive me for asking but why on earth would anyone genuinely interested in music want to buy this type of (almost certainly) crap kit?

If it is indeed crap, then it can be returned. Sometimes one is buying for people who are not, as you put it, genuinely interested in music, and they might get enjoyment from it - it may be good enough.

Another item which has been mentioned on these boards is a USB cassette unit. It seems that some people around here have had pleasure from it. However, I bought one, and I'm still deliberating whether it's worth my effort returning it, or sending it to a charity shop. Tests so far suggest it's below my crap threshold.

The stuff must also be popular, as the shops cleared out of most of the items mentioned within a few hours.

[richardfinegold]

Our local Lidl is advertising a few items to come up in the next week or so. One is a set of Bluetooth headphones. My guess is that they won't be as good as headphones I already own, but they are wireless. Would they be likely to work with a Mac running OS X?

Another is a Bluetooth loudspeaker - might be good to go with suitable kit - will it work with a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone?

The last may be about as good (!!) as some of those things that used to get advertised in the Radio Times - a record deck which appears to record to USB stick. It's not at all clear whether it only records to mp3, or whether it does wav format files. I wouldn't want to risk playing some of my LPs on it, but it could be good enough for discs bought in charity shops. It's priced just under £50.

I always thought that when I had more time I'd get all my good equipment out, and set it up, and be able to do a much better job than might be possible with such equipment, but I still don't find the time, and if some of these devices do the job only moderately well, then that might be good enough in some cases.

However, if the quality is as good ( :thumbs down: ) as the recently purchased and not yet sent back USB cassette drive, then it won't be worth spending either time or money on.

I have had some bluetooth phones in the past. I loved them until I walked a few feet and was out of range.

[Dave2002]

I have had some bluetooth phones in the past. I loved them until I walked a few feet and was out of range.

I did manage to acquire one set of the Lidl Bluetooth headphones. They're not bad, at a tad under £20, and at least have shown me some of the intricacies of using Bluetooth. They work with my iPad, though it took a while to figure it all out, but I haven't managed to get them to work with my circa 2007 mobile phone.

A quick comparison with a pair of Beyerdynamic phones (wired) which cost more than twice as much suggests that the wired cans are better, and some Sennheiser models (wired) which are also good are priced similarly to the Lidl Bluetooth ones. One does not perhaps buy Bluetooth phones for sound quality reasons.

I have been surprised that drop outs can happen by walking just a few feet away from the source, though this does depend on room layout. Can I also assume tha Bluetooth is not allowed on aircraft during flights?

Looking at some reviews, it seems that few are considered really good, even at high prices (£100 and considerably over) though a Philips set is claimed to be very good - around £170-180) with another model over £200. At that price level I would expect to be able to buy a rather good set of wired headphones!