Quality outdoor audio gear is something that we can never afford to pass on, writes Stephen Dawson. And the OutCast 8i reconciles two conflicting virtues: wireless portability and high performance.

The OutCast 8i system has two parts: an iPod/iPhone dock with a transmitter, and the OutCast 8 speaker itself. The concept is simple: you put an iPod on the dock, switch on the OutCast 8 speaker and start listening to music.

The wireless connectivity works using proprietary protocols. This doesn’t mean anything other than this is a closed system: don’t expect to get third party devices to work with it somehow. As with so much other wireless gear it works in the 2.4GHz wireless band. Since this can be rather crowded – and since you probably don’t want to accidentally listen to the musical tastes of any OutCast-owning neighbours, the system has three channels which can be selected using a switch on the both the transmitter and speaker system.

Up and running

It would be difficult to think of an easier to operate system. Set the channel switch on both units to the same number. Plug in the transmitter and put an iPod in its dock. Press the ‘on’ key on the speaker (I’ll assume that you’ve charged it up). Almost instantly a blue light comes on to show that it is wirelessly connected. Press ‘Play’ and you’re getting music straight away.

The controls available on the speaker are play/pause, skip track (forwards and backwards) and volume up/down. There is also a switch to turn on a couple of blue lights in the base, but that’s just a bit too lairy.

What you can’t do is navigate menus, choose different albums and so on. All this should be done from the iPod’s screen (which still operates in the dock). Probably the best way to use this, as with most external controllers for iPods, is to set up suitable play lists beforehand.

Incidentally, SoundCast says that the transmitter range is about 100m. Testing this is always hard (how many other devices are using the same spectrum; what RF-killing barriers are in the way?) In my case I set up the transmitter in my office – which is always a bit of a trap for RF transmissions – and even so the unit still worked quite well at a range of 40m (although at this range it was susceptible to dropping out when someone walked in front of it). A normal suburban yard is generally going to be fine.

All About the Sound

Well, it all sounds good on paper, but what about in practice? How does the system sound?

Given that it’s hard for anything to sound even half decent out in the free space of a back yard, the system sounds very good indeed. The bass was surprisingly extended: I’d say that it stretches to a little below 40Hz. And is in generally in balance with the upper frequencies. The only exception to that is if it is placed too close to a wall, which boosts the bass too much. The unit is clearly designed for free-standing operation.

You can tune that, though, using the EQ settings in your iPod. Select ‘Bass Reducer’ and that tames things nicely.

This bass performance is something that sets it apart from most outside systems. Your friends will be impressed that they can hear a well-articulated bass guitar and get a bit of the impact of a kick drum.

The sound was tight and controlled and surprisingly listenable. You don’t get especially loud high frequencies – perhaps not surprising in view of the full-range drivers used for all but the bass. But this contributes to the tight, clean and controlled sound.

It also goes quite loud. Certainly plenty loud enough to irritate neighbours. SoundCast seems to have set the gain levels to just the right amount so that full volume on the unit doesn’t throw it into audible distortion.

Even though the OutCast is one solid unit, it is still stereo. Obviously the bass is mixed for the woofer, but two of the four smaller drivers do the left channel and two do the right. Clockwise (looking down) from the rear, the speakers deliver left, right, left and right.

Variations

Want a bit more music? The system supports up to two speaker systems for each transmitter. So you can purchase an additional OutCast 8 speaker only to double the sound. Or if you have a smaller area that can do with its own sound, perhaps the smaller OutCast 6 would suffice.

Another variation is the the OutCast 8u system. This comes with the same speaker but replaces the iPod dock/transmitter with what’s called the UAT, for Universal AudioCast Transmitter. This is a tiny little unit (it looks massive in the company’s promotional material, but its only 13.4cm long and 1.7mm thick) with three inputs. One is a set of standard RCA stereo inputs, one is a 3.5mm input, while the third is a mini-USB socket. Use this with a computer and it is installed as a USB Audio Device. All music on your computer becomes available to it through Windows Media Player or iTunes. In some system configurations you can even remotely control playback using an iPhone/iPad/iPod touch as a controller.

The UAT is also available separately for $199.

Conclusion

The SoundCast OutCast 8i system sounds good, is very flexible in use, and robustly built. It’s difficult to think of any other system that comes close for performing the same functions.