XVive U4 Review
If you’re a DJ like us, no matter how long you’ve been DJing, you’ve most likely run out of headphone cable before. You know the situation – you go to move away from your gear and hit the slack like a dog on a leash. Or maybe you start to dance a little with the music and get tied up in your headphone cord. Like almost every other area in our lives, it’s time to cut the cord!
Today, we’re taking a look at a new product from the company XVive, the U4 Audio Wireless In-Ear System. This simple product allows you to make your current headphones wireless, eliminating the tangled mess we are all too familiar with. In our Xvive U4 review, we are going to cover how the system works, how to set it up, and whether or not we think it’s a good buy.
What it is
Wireless headphone solutions aren’t a completely new idea. Many people in a concert or touring setting use wireless systems like the XVive U4 to communicate with Front of House. Even more artists use wireless headphones systems to monitor the band’s mix during a live performance.
However, when we first saw this product, we saw another use entirely. For DJs, the ability to make our existing headphones wireless is a much more exciting purpose for the U4. Having someone come up to request a track, leaning in to hear their voice over the blaring speakers, and having your head yanked back by your headphones isn’t exactly the best look. The XVive U4 solves this problem so simply, there really isn’t a way you could mess it up.
Setting things up
To get started with the U4, just grab your headphones. If you’re using a 1/4″ adapter on your headphones you can remove it – you’ll need the smaller 3.5mm jack. The receiver that you plug your headphones into is small and compact. After inserting your headphones, you can clip the receiver bodypack to your belt or pocket easily.
The transmitter is just as compact as the receiver bodypack. You’ll connect this to the headphone output on your mixer or controller. There’s just one problem; the transmitter has an XLR connection. In reality, this isn’t a problem, as XVive includes a XLR to 1/4″ adapter so you can easily convert the transmitter to work with the headphone output.
The button layout is easy to understand as well. On the transmitter, you have a slide switch to alternate between power on and mute. There is also a switch to change between “aux” and “line” out modes. A large central button allows you to switch between different 2.4Ghz channels in case you experience some wireless congestion. The receiver has a dial to select the corresponding channel and a volume knob to adjust the receiving volume. The whole system is rechargeable with a 5-hour battery life on each component.
Up and running
Once we had our unit set up, we gave it a little test run. For review purposes, we wanted to compare the sound we got from the wireless system to a standard wire connection. Switching back and forth between the wireless system and the regular connection, we couldn’t hear any difference in sound quality. The volume was just as loud and clear with the XVive as without (of course, without the wire hassle).
Latency is obviously something to think about with a wireless audio product. If you’re going to be able to mix well, you don’t want any delay between your controller and your headphones. In our review video, we attempted a quick mix live on video and had no issues syncing up our tracks on the fly. If there is any latency, it’s so minimal as to not affect our performance.
Summing things up
There you have it – our quick XVive U4 review. It’s a solution product that’s available at a great price. While we focused on an application specific to DJs and headphones, there are a lot of potential uses for this product. It could easily be used as a line-out transmitter to send a signal from one mixer to another, or from a mixer to a speaker. No matter how you choose to use the U4, it’s definitely going to make your DJ life easier.
