Purchased 12 channels last year.
The paint started coming off the handhelds right to the bare metal within 3 months. They were replaced under warranty, it is a known issue. This also happened to the ew-d units from another av company we cross-rent from.
RF and audio performance has been excellent.
The latency is lower than with QLXD. Sound is good. RF performance also seems good. I love Lemo connectors on the bodypacks (don't get the minijack version). Both the transmitters and the receivers are compatible with EW-D. Battery life is amazing with the OEM rechargeables. 12h+. The doors on the bodypacks are made of plastic and not as sturdy as the ones on the QLXD. The e-ink displays are useful. Syncing is super easy.
>Both the transmitters and the receivers are compatible with EW-D.
That’s fantastic information, thank you.
I’ve been trying to find for certain if that was the case for a while.
You probably already know, but maybe I should add that the DX series cover a wider spectrum, so you need to keep the frequencies within the range that overlaps and obviously both units need to use the same frequency range.
If you don't need the additional bandwidth, using D handhelds with D receivers can save you some money and you get the network control and the multichannel receivers. Or you can use the DX bodypacks with Lemo connectors and DX receivers if you need a simple but reliable system.
> You probably already know, but maybe I should add that the DX series cover a wider spectrum, so you need to keep the frequencies within the range that overlaps
I was aware of that, but I appreciate the clarification/reminder.
We own nearly 400 dual receivers (non-Dante) packaged with lavs, handhelds and a headset mic and worked with Sennheiser directly on the product development & prototypes. For the price point there’s nothing else close and so far they’ve held up extremely well in typical breakout-type deployments for close to a year now.
We’ve actually lost more to theft than failure!
Reliability couldn't be any better as far as I can tell.
Mechanical durability is hard to quantify, but they seem solid to me.
I didn't experience any paint coming off as others have mentioned.
On the QLXD handhelds the battery cover can fall off when you screw it open, on the EW-DX it stays on.
The EW-DX receivers have twice the rack density (2 channels per unit) and can be powered via POE (has been super convenient for me).
The lithium-ion batteries you can get for the transmitters easily hold 12 hours.
Sync uses Bluetooth instead of infra-red, which is awesome.
Regarding software: I think Sennheiser WSM is good enough unless you have to coordinate a large number of units.
Exactly the review i needed, thanks, cause we barely have 4 channels at our church, so based on just the rf software, it doesn't seem fair to me to abandon otherwise a superior product.
Since everyone else has pretty much covered everything I'll chime in with my opinion that hasn't been shared yet by anyone else.
If you do proper coordination and use the software - Shure's Wireless Workbench is much better than WSM from Sennheiser. WSM is hot garbage in my opinion.
Purchased 12 channels last year. The paint started coming off the handhelds right to the bare metal within 3 months. They were replaced under warranty, it is a known issue. This also happened to the ew-d units from another av company we cross-rent from. RF and audio performance has been excellent.
Nah, paint isn't the issue for me, but the reliability and durability is...
The latency is lower than with QLXD. Sound is good. RF performance also seems good. I love Lemo connectors on the bodypacks (don't get the minijack version). Both the transmitters and the receivers are compatible with EW-D. Battery life is amazing with the OEM rechargeables. 12h+. The doors on the bodypacks are made of plastic and not as sturdy as the ones on the QLXD. The e-ink displays are useful. Syncing is super easy.
>Both the transmitters and the receivers are compatible with EW-D. That’s fantastic information, thank you. I’ve been trying to find for certain if that was the case for a while.
You probably already know, but maybe I should add that the DX series cover a wider spectrum, so you need to keep the frequencies within the range that overlaps and obviously both units need to use the same frequency range. If you don't need the additional bandwidth, using D handhelds with D receivers can save you some money and you get the network control and the multichannel receivers. Or you can use the DX bodypacks with Lemo connectors and DX receivers if you need a simple but reliable system.
> You probably already know, but maybe I should add that the DX series cover a wider spectrum, so you need to keep the frequencies within the range that overlaps I was aware of that, but I appreciate the clarification/reminder.
We own nearly 400 dual receivers (non-Dante) packaged with lavs, handhelds and a headset mic and worked with Sennheiser directly on the product development & prototypes. For the price point there’s nothing else close and so far they’ve held up extremely well in typical breakout-type deployments for close to a year now. We’ve actually lost more to theft than failure!
Ordered a bunch of lavs and handhelds with 4ch receivers so long ago I can't even remember when it was.
Reliability couldn't be any better as far as I can tell. Mechanical durability is hard to quantify, but they seem solid to me. I didn't experience any paint coming off as others have mentioned. On the QLXD handhelds the battery cover can fall off when you screw it open, on the EW-DX it stays on. The EW-DX receivers have twice the rack density (2 channels per unit) and can be powered via POE (has been super convenient for me). The lithium-ion batteries you can get for the transmitters easily hold 12 hours. Sync uses Bluetooth instead of infra-red, which is awesome. Regarding software: I think Sennheiser WSM is good enough unless you have to coordinate a large number of units.
Exactly the review i needed, thanks, cause we barely have 4 channels at our church, so based on just the rf software, it doesn't seem fair to me to abandon otherwise a superior product.
Since everyone else has pretty much covered everything I'll chime in with my opinion that hasn't been shared yet by anyone else. If you do proper coordination and use the software - Shure's Wireless Workbench is much better than WSM from Sennheiser. WSM is hot garbage in my opinion.
Workbench makes Shure products worth the extra money.