Yoceweca Shidu Voice Amplifier Review: Move your voice
Purchase Price: $99.99
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A month ago, I had to be the MC for an event to celebrate my Sister and her Fiance’s union. No, it wasn't the main event (their upcoming wedding), but they wanted to be able to gather in the state where my Grandparents and a lot of family lived to be able to share some semblance of a wedding with their loved ones. Covid-19 has no doubt wrecked the wedding industry and it is the couples who have had to diverge their ideal plans thanks to various mandates and safety measures. With many loved ones unable to travel to the venue for their upcoming wedding, it was nice to be able to gather a portion of the guests to celebrate together.
What does it do?
If you’ve ever joined a tour on vacation, you’ve probably seen a tour guide using something similar to this product.
Pre-Covid, I had been all around the country working weddings and events in a multitude of roles. From being a Videographer and Ordained Minister in weddings to serving as a Head Line Manager for Comic-Con International, I’ve had my share of live event production jobs. So when my family wanted me to host this mini-wedding under certain circumstances (at the time) regarding venue rules, I had to find a way to not only coordinate the show, but also bring in alternative technology to do the things we originally wanted to do. One of the things I needed to do was to have a microphone in order for the guests to hear what I was saying in the ballroom. In normal times, this would have been a simple step, but with Omicron rearing its presence so unpredictably, sharing a microphone wasn’t a great idea to me. I came across a wireless voice amplifier with an included headset microphone and I instantly knew I needed to buy it. Not only would it be my personal speaker, but I’d look so rad rocking it with my suit.
I ended up choosing the Yoceweca model on Amazon for two specific reasons. First off, I liked the size and look of the speaker. The plan was for me to move around while not only talking, but broadcasting ambient music to set the tone during the event. Clipping this amplifier to my belt was the perfect solution. The second thing I wanted in this type of product was for it to be truly wireless. The headset included in the $100 purchase does include a Bluetooth microphone that makes you look like a call center scammer. It fits comfortably over your head thanks to the lightweight nature of the form factor. All of the weight on your face is allocated around the ear where the receiver is located. It houses the battery inside to go along with volume control buttons and a micro-USB slot for charging. While this aspect of the product is cheaply made, the most important quality for something like this isn’t necessarily the build, it’s the sound quality.
The microphone picks up vocal audio relatively well for a cheap headset. I did have to adjust the physical microphone closer to my mouth a few times here and there to make sure I was projecting clearly, but once the show got going, I forget I even had a microphone on my face. The main operation of the product lies within the amplifier. If you’ve ever joined a tour on vacation, you’ve probably seen a tour guide using something similar to this product. It’s essentially a Bluetooth speaker you can use to speak through. There’s a 4,400 mAh battery in the speaker that surprisingly doesn’t add too much weight onto the body. With a weight of 1.22 lbs, I was able to wear this on my belt without my dress pants sagging as if a brick were anchoring it down. There are two ways to wear the amp on your body: through the rear built-in belt clip or the included lanyard.
Can You Hear ME?
When the amplifier projects audio, it has a narrow field of view to reach ears throughout a room. The location of the amplifier has to be directly pointing at the person listening in order for it to be heard. This makes it a bit tricky when you’re giving a speech and facing one section of the crowd. The section directly behind where your body is turned to won’t be able to hear you well. I called an audible halfway through my MC gig and decided to unstrap the amplifier from my body and set it directly on a table facing the center of the room. This allowed the audience to actually hear my voice through the speaker (albeit weaker as it isn’t directly pointed at them). I personally would estimate that a comfortable distance of audio projection would be around 50- 60 ft. Anything beyond that in a room or outdoor setting would greatly dampen what the audience member could hear. As a result of that limitation, this would ideally be feasible for a teacher in a classroom or a museum tour guide to use when communicating with their audiences. I can’t fathom this working too well in a moderately small convention center hall for a panel moderator.
While the Bluetooth 4.2 connection was 100% consistent throughout my time using the product (quite impressive), my main concern was originally the battery life. The startup jingle was cute the first couple times you start it up, but quickly becomes a nuisance that drags on too long. I was worried I would have to turn off the unit periodically during down time to preserve the battery life instead of leaving it to idle. I ended up testing it one night prior to the event and I was quite surprised to see the unit last more than 6 hours of music streaming through Spotify. That’s actually really good battery life for something like this to have. I was pleasantly surprised. The headset (which requires charging separately) is more likely to die during a gig than the amplifier. Fortunately, since the amplifier doubles up as a power bank, you technically could make the Bluetooth headset into a wired one in order to keep the show going.
Speaking of streaming, soft media controls are on the top frame of the amp. There’s this rugged military appearance that makes it easy to feel out. They’re not the best buttons out there to interact with simply because they’re repressed and require considerable precision to operate. Part of the reason why they decided to go with this rubberized feel was due to the IPX5 waterproofing certification. This allows the amp to technically be able to survive a shower session if you wanted to broadcast that event to a viewing audience (lol). This area is where you can power the speaker on and off as well as dictate which Bluetooth device the speaker should pair up with. In my use case, it was my iPhone 13 Pro and the Bluetooth microphone that the amp was paired with at all times. Setting up the Yoceweca Shidu gave me a bit of a headache. While there technically was english on the pamphlet, this made in China product didn’t exactly make it easy to learn how to get things rolling.
Separate the Noise
The final thing I would have liked to be able to control was the audio levels in different channels. While you can stream music from Spotify using your phone to the amplifier while using it to broadcast your voice simultaneously, both channels of delivery are adjusted through only one avenue of control. I would have loved to be able to lower the music and raise the level of my voice during certain situations. Overall, I made it through my Sister and her Fiance’s event with the Shidu completing its job as intended. Instead of paying for an AV setup from the hotel at a much higher price tag, I was able to purchase and keep a product that accomplished my intended need. Just a decade ago, products like this weren’t as easily purchasable with a 2-day shipping window on Amazon. This further illustrates just how far gadgets have come and just how beneficial it is to have access to e-commerce.
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Alex
Caught in between the conundrum of his fascination with retro and the future, Alex has a very unique taste in technology. Never one to follow trends like his millennial peers yet constantly desiring to get ahead of the curve, he sees technology like he does his other love: comic books. Always looking for the best value or a hidden gem, his collector mindset reflects on some of his favorite gadgets: the Moto X (2015), HTC U11 and the Google Pixelbook. If there’s a good tech deal out there, Alex is on the hunt!