Recently I've came across a rather new device - Voiis Stereo, which is a wireless music gateway manufactured by Mobile Action Technology, Inc. Now I want to share with you my thoughts about this gadget.

Voiis Stereo is a two-way gateway (it operates bi-directionally), and after the first sight it reminded of Motorola DC800 that I've tested some time ago. Still, Voiis is not so clumsy!

Appearance

Well, at ones I was a little bit surprised with its size. In photo it seemed to be bigger. Though, some users complain that it is too big. But you should take into account that this gadget is intended for home usage and shouldn't be pocket-sized. With its beautiful design it will perfectly blend with the interior and add style to your room. Moreover (and very important) its size gives more technical possibilities to increase the connection stability and the range, which is stated to be 100 m.

The device has white casing, but its front side is black with Voiis logo. You will see only one Function button of the same black colour and three LEDs: one for the Music Transmit, one light for the Music Receive, and the Bluetooth indicator. On the back of the Voiis Stereo you will find a 3.5mm line-in and 3.5mm out jacks, Mini USB and Power connector. Thanks that you can manage without wall outlet.

Possibilities

Voiis Stereo streams music:

• from your wirelessly connected iPhone/iPod/Mac/PC or A2DP-available mobile phone to the home stereo
• from TV/DVD player, home stereo or any other 3.5mm jack-compatible line-out to Bluetooth stereo headsets

Officially it is compatible with iPhone 3G (OS3.0/above) and iPhone 3GS, but if you remember about A2DP Enabler For iPhone 2G (Original iPhone), you will pair it with older iPhones too.

Devices

We used in our tests different Bluetooth stereo headsets, among which are Motorola S9, Lubix NC1 and Jabra BT 620. We've chosen Jabra for it has a perfect basses and highs balanced. Though it is old, awkward and skipping, its sound quality is far the best.

Also we used iPhone, iPod Nano 3G and 5.1 home stereo system.

We had a desktop PC with Sound Blaster Audigy sound card as well.

The sound was streamed from two phones: T-Mobile G1 that runs Google Android OS and Palm Centro with Softick Audio Gateway installed.

Google Android OS has got a built-in A2DP, and we've installed Softick Audio Gateway on the Palm Centro. It is confirmed, that Audio Gateway transmits sound far better than iPod, and AG for Mac OS turned out to deliver a better sound quality as well. As for Android OS, the guys who created it made it with all their heart, which I can't say about Apple, whose Leopard, Snow Leopard, iPhone 3G provided A2DP support too late and not the best one.

Pairing/Bluetooth

At once we started to investigate the Voiis without reading User Manual. It turned out, that the process isn't intuitive. But we've done it ;) Though, just one more button would not be out of place, because pairing and switching between music streaming to the speakers and to headsets turned out to be a tricky thing.

Well, to begin with, we plugged the Voiis into the power outlet. After reading manual, we got to know that in order to pair the Voiis with a stereo headset we have to press the Function button for 3 seconds, and in order to pair it with the phone we must wait for 8 seconds. Nevertheless, knowing it, the re-pairing and switching from music transmit to music receive took time. Luckily, the blue indicator blinks for 60 seconds and waits for people's understanding how to pair. On the other hand, we've managed to connect another audio source (after disconnecting the Palm) at the second attempt, which is not bad.

The range is good, it is enough for the apartment, yet I wasn't able to go farther than promised 100m as my flat is not so large. But as I went to another side of the apartment with one room between the Voiis and the sound source, I admitted sound dropouts if a person stands between. The good point is that I've heard no skipping even while moving intensively with the Moto S9.

Sound

• Test 1. From A2DP device (e.g. cell phone) wirelessly connected to home theater, that is plugged into the Voiis line-out.

Works great. It's even hard to tell the difference between playing a digital track with this one combination, and playing from the home theater itself (or from PC to Speakers).

We synchronized the sound stream from different sources, after that switched audio sources of 5.1 home stereo system in order to compare the sound quality. We liked what we heard!

• Test 2. From PC connected to the Voiis that streams music to Bluetooth stereo headset.

In case of such connection the sound is a bit worse than that one we 've got in the Test 1. All in all, the sound quality (how basses, middles and highs are sounding) greatly depends on the headset.

Moreover, when the Voiis transmits sound to a headset it has to perform encoding, which is usually harder than to decode.

The latency time is not big, which is very good for video watching.

We've got one more interesting combination. While testing sound transmission to A2DP headsets, we had a possibility to test it more accurately.

We streamed the sound from the desktop PC to the two pairs of headphones using a splitter to which we connected wired headphones and the Voiiis with Bluetooth Stereo headset connected. To tell you the truth, the difference in high-definition music was perceptible, but when I watched movie I totally forgot that I'm wearing a Bluetooth stereo headset.

Pros and Cons

Bad:

• Some people complain there is no rechargeable battery (still I can't agree with them) so they are nor able to use the Voiis walking on the street. I should mention that this device is not intended for outdoor using.
• No intuitive installation. No easy switching between devices. The Voiis definitely lacks one more button.

Good:

• The range is good.
• The sound streamed to speakers is even better than the sound streamed to A2DP headset. Of course the headsets' fault has also to be taken into consideration.
• The Voiis works with iPod (connected to 3,5 jack) and iPhone (wirelessly), hence saves money of buying another iPhone speaker or iPhone Dock.

I've always said that nothing will compare to the sound of good wired headphones. Though, with all our exactingness we always find an use for our A2DP devices.

The Voiis made a good job. I think, if you are tired of wires, the Voiis is worth purchasing.

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