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New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8

Postby Rusty Mike » 14 Nov 2022, 23:29

I ordered an Electro Voice EVerse 8 powered speaker to try out for my big band piano rig. It's supposed to arrive on Wednesday, and I have a few rehearsals and gigs to test it out on.

I currently use a QSC K8.2 (I own a pair, but rarely need all that horsepower for big band), which has great quality and can fill a room, as most people know. I'm less concerned about the battery aspect of the EV, but was very impressed with the overall specs that are close to the QSC, and most importantly the weight. They are almost half the weight of the QSC's, and I'm all about reducing the schlep. Not a less expensive alternative, as they're not cheap, but a possible option for those of you looking to lighten your load.

Once I've run them through some testing, I'll post my impressions here. Stay tuned.
Mike from Central NJ, USA
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New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8


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Re: New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8

Postby FZiegler » 15 Nov 2022, 00:58

I didn't realise that the Everse 8 is so much lighter than the QSC K8.2 (7.6 vs. 12.2 kg).

At the moment, I'm fine with the weight of the latter (x2) - even more as I ceised using them in rehearsals. The rehearsal room is so narrow and the big band is already making so much noise that I'm glad to rehearse with my IEMs. So the K8.2s are only used on stage - outdoors in most cases.

But indeed, they looked interesting, the Everse 8. I only wonder why they need to make so much advertising for them. Or is all that on my digital gear because I'm in the sweet spot of the target group? Thanks a lot for reporting!
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Re: New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8

Postby Rusty Mike » 15 Nov 2022, 05:26

They were just recently released, so the requisite big push is still underway.

They’re also considered direct competitors to the very popular Bose S1 speakers, so many DJ oriented comparisons have popped up.
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Re: New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8

Postby Rusty Mike » 20 Nov 2022, 16:37

Everse 8 Preliminary Impressions.

This is the first installment of my review that compares the Everse 8 to the QSC K8.2. My main motivation in trying out the EV is due to weight. It weighs 16.8 lbs/7.6 kg compared to the K’s 27 lbs/12.2 kg. I understand EV is marketing this as a DJ/Busker speaker for battery use, but I think it has potential as a high quality keyboard amp that just happens to be battery powered.

I primarily play piano for a few big bands, as well as some small combo jazz groups. Acoustic piano is my main sound, but I do use Rhodes sounds as well as B3 from time to time. On my Nord Stage, I primarily use the White Grand and Amber Upright samples. My main EP is the EP2, Mk I Suitcase Close Ideal with a few tweaks. For the B3, I tend to favor a Jimmy Smith type of sound profile.

I don’t play rock at all, so there will no volume wars content in this review. The closest I came was playing in a jazz fusion band, but it’s been a few years and we will most likely not revive it anytime soon. The point is that my goal is never to “cut through the mix”, but rather to blend in, compliment the band, and stand out for my solo moments. Overall, I prefer a warmer, darker acoustic piano presence.

Nord keyboards are notoriously fussy about their amplification (no secret to anyone here), and the K series has been generally accepted as a standard bearer in this price range. That being said, it’s taken a little bit of EQ tweaking on the speaker to reduce the “honkyness” that seems to befall most other amplifiers/speakers, although it’s not completely gone. The upside is that the K’s are plenty powerful and have great projection. They sound better from 10 meters away than they do from 1 meter.

This review is purely a subjective impression about how the EV compares to the QSC for my particular application. I’m not going to talk about specs and things you can find elsewhere, but rather focus on what I’m experiencing and hearing. I will also not try to record a sound quality comparison, as that is an exercise in futility.

My typical configuration is to run audio cables from Outputs 1 and 2 (the default L and R) on the Stage into the A and B inputs on the speaker. This connection method will continue for the time being.

Initial Setup - Home
The first thing that impresses you about the EV is the weight - it’s amazingly light, making you wonder if it can really handle a load. It’s also a bit shorter than the QSC:
Image


Both speakers have a floor monitor mode, where they kick back horizontally. The upside on the EV is that you can still access the connections and controls; this is not really possible on the QSC due to the angle of the panel when set up as a floor wedge.
Image


The EV also has a vertical “kickstand” mode, which may be good for buskers; the QSC can’t do that on its own.

For the initial home test, I connected my Stage to a small mixer, put each speaker on a stand, sent the mixer’s L output to the QSC and the R output to the EV. Both were placed right next to each other about 2 meters away and facing me directly. The QSC channel gain is set to the level I keep it at for rehearsals (at about the 1:00 position), and left the EV to its default volume setting (0 dB according to the display). Both EQs were set to flat to start. My normal setting for the QSC has the treble and midrange (1kHz) turned down a bit to reduce the shrill.

I set the EV to “Live” mode. The DSP offers four sound modes, which the frequency response chart in the manual details. I could not make out a significant sound difference on my piano samples between the “live” and “music” settings.

To compare them, I simply played through one, turned it off and other other speaker on, and then played some more. Not incredibly scientific. The volume levels seem to be very similar from that distance, which is a good start. The true volume test will be at Monday’s full band rehearsal.

The sound quality difference was much more noticeable. The QSC has a much brighter treble in the flat setting, while the EV yielded what I consider to be more natural and warmer acoustic piano reproduction, very similar to what my studio monitors produce. While this was more pleasing to my ears, I have a suspicion that the crispy nature of the QSC is what allows the treble to project over distance in a live setting. Also, at flat EQ, the honkyness of the QSC comes out more emphatically. Again, this is, to me, part of why Nord keyboards are so hard to amplify. The K.2’s have been much less offensive than other products, but the EV outshines it here.

Nord EP’s are less fussy about their amplification, and they play very well though the EV. Clarity and richness all come through quite well across all the EP samples. For the B3, the body and gutsiness come through nicely. It’s a bit bright at the flat setting, but that is very easily taken care of on the Nord.

I tried some other sounds in clouding B3, sampled bass, some strings and sample synth sounds. Bass is surprisingly abundant and not what I was expecting for the size and weight. Everything else sounds just as good as through the QSC to my ears.

Again, Monday’s rehearsal will reveal more.

The DSP and the App
Pretty comprehensive DSP in the Everse 8. I’m not going to detail everything here, but want to just mention the EQ. In addition to the top level low/mid/high settings, there is a global EQ in the mixer section that can work in either as a graphic or parametric EQ. THE GEQ supports 7 bands at 63, 160, 400, 1k, 2.5k, 6k and 12k. Simple up/down sliders here and EV doesn’t mention the Q settings, but I assume they’re nothing out of the ordinary. The PEQ is also 7 bands, defaulted to the frequencies in the GEQ, but you can adjust the center frequency, Q and curve type (low/high shelf/low/high pass or just a regular curve). So you can go as simple or as deep as you’d like on sound shaping.

The speaker also has a decent selection of 30 effects, mostly reverbs, echo, delay and chorus with some combinations. The level is selectable for input channels 1 and 2. Doubt I’ll use these, so I’m not going to comment on them here.

The EV has an available app called “QuickSmart” which allows you to manage most settings over Bluetooth. It allows you to dig deep into the speaker’s OS and modify all the settings from your device. Nice to not have to dig through menus from the behind the speaker when you need an adjustment.

I should point out that there are three types of Bluetooth connections supported by the EV. The first is the control connection to use the app, the second is the streaming connection to send music to the speaker from a phone or tablet, and the third to connect wirelessly to another EV speaker. The speaker-to-speaker connection is not restricted to just another Everse; you can connect to several EV Bluetooth speakers. From what I understand from others, the speaker-to-speaker Bluetooth feature only works when you're streaming music via Bluetooth; it doesn't work if you're hardwired into one speaker and the other is wireless. If I ever own two, maybe I'll test this out.

I'll make another entry after Monday's rehearsal with the big band.
Mike from Central NJ, USA
Tools: Ten fingers, two feet, middle-age brain, questionable judgement and taste
Nords: Piano 5 73, Stage 2EX 76 HP, Electro 6D 73

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Re: New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8

Postby PScooter63 » 20 Nov 2022, 21:31

Thanks heaps for the heads-up on this, Mike - I'll also be interested in dispersion comparisons to the QSC. Perhaps your rehearsal space is large enough to assess?
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Re: New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8

Postby catosim » 21 Nov 2022, 18:12

I guess the EV is aiming to be an alternative to the Bose S1 Pro.
Hopefully not so much pre-prosessed audio as the Bose.
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Re: New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8

Postby Rusty Mike » 21 Nov 2022, 22:23

PScooter63 wrote:Thanks heaps for the heads-up on this, Mike - I'll also be interested in dispersion comparisons to the QSC. Perhaps your rehearsal space is large enough to assess?


The rehearsal space is a church hall, about the size of a grammar school auditorium. The acoustics are rather boomy, but much worse in the summer when it's hot and humid. Should be tolerable tonight. Before the band gets going, I'll ask someone to play a bit of piano while I walk around the room.

My basement is surprisingly well insulated with very little reverberation. It's also rather long, but just playing by myself is not good context for testing these out.
Mike from Central NJ, USA
Tools: Ten fingers, two feet, middle-age brain, questionable judgement and taste
Nords: Piano 5 73, Stage 2EX 76 HP, Electro 6D 73

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Re: New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8

Postby Rusty Mike » 21 Nov 2022, 22:26

catosim wrote:I guess the EV is aiming to be an alternative to the Bose S1 Pro.
Hopefully not so much pre-prosessed audio as the Bose.


The S1 would never be on my shopping list. I'm not into the Bose "sound", and am skeptical about their engineering. The woofer is too small and it's light on power. Plus, I really don't like that you would need to buy the Tone Match mixer for about the same price as the speaker to get any kind of sound shaping flexibility, and even then you're limited to what Bose thinks is correct.

On paper, the EV does much better on volume and capabilities.
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Re: New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8

Postby catosim » 21 Nov 2022, 23:23

Rusty Mike wrote:The woofer is too small and it's light on power. Plus, I really don't like that you would need to buy the Tone Match mixer for about the same price as the speaker to get any kind of sound shaping flexibility, and even then you're limited to what Bose thinks is correct.


Agreed :)
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Re: New Speaker On The Way - EV Everse 8

Postby Spider » 22 Nov 2022, 11:15

Thanks so much for the early impressions Mike, it's always nice to have some real-world reports for such a new product. I've been using a pair of EV ZX-A1 for years now, and they're definitely the best speakers I've ever tried, for the same reasons that you like the Everse: small and lightweight but with an amazing sound, clear and transparent but not shrill or honky. And really cheap for the quality they provide, which never hurts!

One question: were you running the comparison in mono? If the EV was receiving only one channel of the stereo signal and the QSC the other, of course they would sound vastly different.
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