Como Duetto Speaker Review For Formuler Z10 Pro Max

★★★★★

Description

• Multi-room music system with one-touch streaming and Hi-Fi sound
• Countless music sources including FM radio, Internet radio, Bluetooth streaming, Wi-Fi connectivity
• No phone or device needed for most functions
• Hand crafted furniture grade real wood veneer...

  User reviews

  ★★★★☆ I have only had this for 3 days, so the jury is still out, but it's a disappointment so far. For a supposedly high-end audio product from a company with a good reputation the audio quality is poor. The bass is boomy and resonant and muffles the sound, particularly on voices. I have situated the unit as recommended in the manual (not surrounded and at least 3.5 inches from a rear wall). The 'equalizer' is not an equalizer at all, but merely bass and treble controls. I was expecting a parametric equalizer or at least something controlling slope and gain at different frequencies. Raising the treble by 4dB and reducing the bass by 6db helped improve the voice clarity but it still does not equal the clarity of the old Sony Dream Machine it is intended to replace. Those who listen to a lot of pop music and who like an exaggerated bass boom may be OK with this.The set-up and menu system is far from easy or intuitive. Having set up the My EQ 'equalizer', there was no way to exit the setting. I had to let it time out and hope that the settings took effect. Selecting "sleep" involves drilling down two levels in the menu and then adjusting the sleep time, pressing 'Menu" to confirm and then, again, waiting for the Menu to time out. This is a single button press on the Sony. Setting the alarm is somewhat easier as it can be done from the remote alarm button. There is no way to cancel the alarm if you wake before the set time other than to drill down through the menus. The lack of dedicated function switches will add to your nightmares if you use the Duetto in a bedroom. The display does not dim or brighten with changes in ambient light. Three manual brightness settings are available for "on" and "standby" modes.The sketchy 6-page manual which comes with the unit is not enough to guide you through anything but the simplest setup, but there is a comprehensive manual online which is better. The telescoping antenna is ugly on an otherwise nice design, and it cannot be removed to plug in an external antenna.I like the ability to stream world music and radio from the Internet or from my media collection. I am still deciding whether to keep this unit or send it back within the trial period. I will post an update when I'm more used to it.I have not used Bluetooth or DAB and Duetto will not receive HD radio (except where available on the Internet)Two weeks later....Having read Como's response (below), I can add a few notes. I did not realize that the My EQ settings have to be saved. There is no "Save" option in the menu and the manual is silent on the subject. However, pushing the 'Source' button to back out of the My EQ Profile settings prompts you to save the settings. Reducing the bass considerably makes voices sound much more natural without affecting music quality much. I agree with Como that audio quality is subjective. I ran a sweep test with the EQ set to "Flat" and the Duetto's response is actually quite flat (+/- 2dB) from 100Hz up to 14KHz or so. There were notches but my bedroom is hardly a laboratory so I am not claiming that this is a definitive test.Como says the unit is not intended to be a "Clock radio" (their term, not mine). If it's not intended to be used in the bedroom, why provide two alarms and Sleep settings? The headphone output is on the back of the unit instead of the front which makes it difficult to plug in phones at night without disturbing a sleeping partner.I am now happier with the audio quality so I am raising my rating to four stars from three. I still think the ergonomics of the menus, the headphone jack and the antenna are poor and my wife agrees. She thinks the whole thing is way too complicated and so I have to set the alarm and "Sleep" for her. The ability to stream radio stations from around the world is a huge plus, so we will probably keep the unit because of that.

  ★★☆☆☆ I had high hopes based on the other reviews. I wasn't expecting to be blown away by some sort of unbelievable sound but the reviews made it sound like I could expect something truly amazing regardless. Hopes dashed. This radio would be best suited for a rather small space, better yet an enclosed one where you don't really need to be blown away by a lot of sound. It really doesn't get that loud, is not made for a large space AT ALL and has a bit of a wonky user interface. Bass leaves a lot to be desired. Bluetooth range wasn't that great and I had to be really close to the unit. I was on the cusp of ordering their bluetooth turntable to connect to this radio but now I don't think that's a great idea (especially considering the cost of the turntable). I will say that once I connected the radio to my B&W Zeppelin speaker the sound improved significantly but that sort of defeats the purpose of this unit if I have to connect it to another speaker, plus I could just bluetooth connect my phone to the B&W speaker and not spend the money on this unit. The whole point was to be a "minimal" footprint for great sound. You absolutely need to download the companion app (which honestly could use some improvements). Otherwise prepare yourself for a lot of "spinning dials" on the unit itself to play internet music for ex. I can't even begin to think of how much work it would be to play something using a flash drive in the USB slot (I tried, followed the requirements on their site to do this and the drive disconnected several times within minutes of using it). Currently wrestling with do I return it or relegate it to perhaps my guest bathroom which is a tiny space because I really think it's the only space that might benefit from the low level of sound input this thing puts out. I had planned on building a whole system of these speakers (along with the turntable) throughout my house and this was the first "test out the sound" unit. That plan is now gone as I can't imagine a bunch of these low sound producing radios/speakers playing throughout my home. I hate being disappointed. Sadly, I am.

  ★★★★☆ First off let me say I really like this radio a lot, it has excellent sound quality and the unit is well made and it looks great sitting on my night table. Now for the flaws, the controls are recessed on the front of the unit which makes it a bit difficult to to adjust them. The biggest flaw however is the LCD screen, it has the lowest resolution of any LCD screen I've seen in the last 15 years, it looks like a screen on a old flip phone and It is extremely hard to read. At this price point it should have a screen resolution up to par with a modern smart phone. With that out of the way I'm still pleased with my purchase, I use it mostly to stream podcasts and music from my iPhone and to listen to MP3's stored on a flash drive. The COMO app works well and I use it to control the functions on the radio instead of using the front controls or the included remote control. One other thing, I can't seem to figure out how to get the clock to automatically set the correct time when daylight savings time / standard time starts.

  
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