Digital Trends

Vers 2X October 7th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Setup and Use

Setting up the Vers 2X is an easy (and surprisingly pleasant) experience. Upon opening the product packaging, it's easy to see that Sprout Creation (the makers of the Vers 2X) care for their product and your overall experience. The packaging is 100% recycled material. Each individual component (dock connectors, remote, etc.) are individually wrapped in what looks like (but is not) rice paper. There's even a nicely designed user guide and inventory sheet, letting you know what's in the box and what it's used for.

After removing the Vers 2X from the packaging, place it on a desk or table. It's a good idea to rest it upside down on a towel or other soft surface to help prevent scratching the wood body. Plug the power cable into the bottom of the Vers 2X and flip it upright. Plug the power adapter into a wall outlet. Find the appropriate iPod dock adapter from the packaging and pop it onto the dock bay on top of the Vers 2X. Then set your iPod on the dock and turn on both the Vers 2X and the iPod. That's it - you're ready to use the Vers 2X to enjoy your music!

As mentioned above, you can either use the iPod's interface to select songs or playlists, or use the remote control included with the Vers 2X. Once you find the music you want to listen to, press "play" and adjust the volume to your liking.

Because the Vers 2X doesn't have its own controls for adjusting bass and treble, you'll have to use the EQ presets on your iPod to find an ideal balance of sound.

When playing the Vers 2X, it seems that the cabinet is fairly well braced and dampened. There's little to no vibration on desks or tables.

The back of the Vers 2X shows the two ports

Sound Tests

The Vers 2X speakers sound very nice under most circumstances. As with any speakers, the higher quality the source audio, the better the final output. In the case of the Vers 2X, it seemed that the bit rate and encoding format had more tangible effects on the listening experience. Songs with heavy bass sounded solid and deep when encoded at 256kbps or higher, but their 128kbps counterparts seemed to be accompanied by intermittent flatulence of the bass and, in some cases, the flawed lows overpowered the clean mids and highs.

When setting up the Vers 2X speaker system for desktop use, I tested it at various distances and angles from my main work space. In almost every configuration, the 2X pushed sound in a super-defined, narrow pattern. This gave a sensation that the two 3" speakers were acting as one - a combined power - instead of taking advantage of the duality and sound separation that two speakers can (and should) produce.

Banana Pancakes byJack Johnson: Jack Johnson songs don't have a lot of heavy bass, but what bass is present sounds very good. Mids and highs are clean and seem to represent the original recording quite well.

Shoulder Holster by Morcheeba: The opening moments of this song carry deep bass, pulsating mids and razor-sharp highs. It's a sonic crucible of sorts, as with many Morcheeba songs. The Vers 2X handles the low lows with clean, natural effects. The mids and highs are equally pristine on their own. When the lows, mids and highs combine, the output seems to go on overload, mostly with volume levels above 30%. The same song plays fine on high-end studio speakers at all volume levels.

Say it Right by Nelly Furtado: Bass - one of the most critical elements of this song - sounds chunky and forced above 40% volume. Mids are very good, but the troubled bass interferes the otherwise crystal clean highs. High volume output distorts, no thanks to the 5.7% THD.

La Fin Justifie Les Moyens by MC Solaar: The heavy, pulsating bass line prominent throughout this hip hop classic sounds clean and strong. Mids and highs are nice, and vocals sound fluid and smooth. This song survived playback at higher volume levels.

In short, most music sounded good or very good, but never excellent. At lower volume levels and with high-bitrate audio files, the Vers 2X sounds great. Distortion was present at times; often too present.

Conclusion

The natural wood encased Vers 2X is a good looking, good sounding speaker system for iPods and other MP3 players. It's very unique in design - excellent for hip lofts and offices. The fact that the remote can control all the menus on an iPod is a huge bonus. The sound quality is good to really good, but never graduates to excellent. Of course, it is a 30 watt 2.0 audio system, so audiophile quality sound cannot be expected. At $179 USD, we expect an iPod speaker system to have a more dynamic range and less distortion at higher volume levels.

The Vers 2X would be a fine purchase (or gift) for those who want a good, compact speaker system for dorms, apartments, small offices or any other place where music can be enjoyed but not "turned up to 11".



Pros:

• Beautiful design
• Lots of accessories
• Sounds very nice in most cases
• Remote controls iPod menus 



Cons:

• Distortion at higher volumes
• Lacks deep bass