I would like to thank Bluewave for having kindly allowing me to review their Get wireless headphone amplifier. I was very pleased to discover this little gem after reading a review of it elsewhere on the Internet. I am also very pleased as this little gem is designed and made in Montreal which is just a few hours away from me and a city I frequently visit.
While I have no issues at all supporting companies that manufacture in Asia and elsewhere, it is nonetheless nice to support something local. The fact that it is a locally made product has nothing to do with my positive rating, that is just a bonus I find satisfying on a personal level.
I have not taken my own images so I will resort to using images taken from Bluewave themselves.
Design, build quality and usability
I very much like the design. It is simple and clean looking and exactly what a device of this nature should look like in my opinion, unobtrusive. The build feels fine in hand, clearly it is not made to be treated roughly and dropped repeatedly onto concrete floors, but really, what is? I have full confidence that with normal handling and usage the Get will last. Everything feels tight and secure.
Usability I also find quite acceptable. I used the Get as it was intended, on the go taking public transit around the city. I used my Philips Fidelio M1 MKII with the Get as that is a wonderful sounding, and also truly portable headphone. I hope to review the M1 MKII soon if time permits, but I digress. The controls were well laid out, easy to use and I found that I didn't need to look, I just explored with my hand to see how natural the layout of controls was to use and I had no issues at all pausing, playing, moving to another track, everything just worked.
The one caveat I have echoes the experience of Currawong, the volume control I find is not the best to use with one hand adjusting as it can jump up quite quickly. On a few occasions the Get did suddenly get very loud on me. It is easy to avoid this from occurring, but the user should hold the get while adjusting the volume. This would not at all prevent me from really enjoying and buying the Get, but it is important to note.
I liked the clip and had no issues using it at all. I deliberately moved it around while travelling and felt that one handed it was quite easy to securely clip to pockets. I would also like to make an honourable mention to the little sound confirmations the Get provides when a connection is made, and when the Get is turned off. They are nice little user feedback cues and certainly a nice touch that tells me that Bluewave paid attention to detail. I like that in a company.
Bluetooth and USB
I used the Get almost exclusively via Bluetooth as that is by far and away my preferred connection option for a portable device and quickly becoming my go to even when at home. Yes, Bluetooth when done right can sound that good. The Get paired easily with my LG G6 which does have Apt x HD and the indicator light on the Get confirmed that indeed a Apt x HD connection had been made and this was confirmed by my G6 messaging. I had no issues with stability at all. I was able to move between rooms, leaving my phone streaming away with no penalty for doing so. When reconnecting with my phone the connection was very quick, perhaps the quickest of any Bluetooth device I have used. I like that.
The USB connection was likewise very easy to establish and I was able to go into JRiver Media Center 24 and set my output option to Bluewave Get (WASAPI).
Sound
When it comes to sound we are mostly describing the sound of the headphone used as frankly, unless the amp and DAC are poorly designed, or deliberately colour the audio output, they should mostly get out of the way. I found that M1 MKII used with the Get with Bluetooth between my G6 sounded just as I expected. I did not hear any evidence at all that the Fidelio was being under-powered. The sound of the Fidelio M1 MKII was not being altered in anyway that I could detect so that is great and what you want. The same thing happened when I used my Pioneer SE Monitor 5, it sounded like it should in terms of frequency response.
The takeaway is that if your headphone is reasonably easy to drive the Get should have no issue establishing solid control over the driver. As with any amplifier, the louder you go, the more complex the music and the more difficult a load to control the Get would be expected to lose control, but I suspect with a reasonable load (headphones designed to be efficient) this shouldn't be an issue. As I type I have the song Two Against Nature from Steely Dan playing at a pretty decent volume and I am hearing no issues.
I did not use the Get via USB nearly as much, but I personally think most users will use it via Bluetooth as that is it's forte. The connection with USB was very easy to make and sound quality wise I do feel that it gives up some clarity and dynamics as compared to Bluetooth. I say that based on limited time via USB so I do wish to qualify that statement. If the difference I believed I heard was indeed there, it really wasn't major at all. Again, the Get is first and foremost in my mind a Bluetooth device, but saying that it is a perfectly competent USB enabled device that should be expected to improve the audio performance of many onboard audio devices in entry and mid-level laptops. Yes, the Steely Dan sounds just great as I am coming to the end of my review. I just have to end while listening to Hotel California live as that is one of my core evaluation tracks. There we go, the Eagles are sounding darn fine right now, darn fine. The Get is getting the sound just right. Is it perfect? Of course not. Does it sound really good? Absolutely it does.
Conclusion and specifications
I think the Get is a great sounding device, certainly I enjoyed it and was very surprised by just how well it performed and I believe that it is a very worthwhile device in a quickly crowding space. The price point is perfectly acceptable, and frankly, if I was to consider that just a few years ago I would have to pay this price for a portable amplifier that didn't have Bluetooth, from that perspective the Get is a great deal. I have no reservation about recommending the Bluewave Get Wireless Headphone Amplifier to you. It is priced right, sounds great and is easy to use with an appropriate level of functionality so an easy recommendation. Thank you Bluewave for this wonderful little device and for allowing me to review it, I shall miss it when I ship it back to you!
The specifications are provided below:
While I have no issues at all supporting companies that manufacture in Asia and elsewhere, it is nonetheless nice to support something local. The fact that it is a locally made product has nothing to do with my positive rating, that is just a bonus I find satisfying on a personal level.
I have not taken my own images so I will resort to using images taken from Bluewave themselves.
Design, build quality and usability
I very much like the design. It is simple and clean looking and exactly what a device of this nature should look like in my opinion, unobtrusive. The build feels fine in hand, clearly it is not made to be treated roughly and dropped repeatedly onto concrete floors, but really, what is? I have full confidence that with normal handling and usage the Get will last. Everything feels tight and secure.
Usability I also find quite acceptable. I used the Get as it was intended, on the go taking public transit around the city. I used my Philips Fidelio M1 MKII with the Get as that is a wonderful sounding, and also truly portable headphone. I hope to review the M1 MKII soon if time permits, but I digress. The controls were well laid out, easy to use and I found that I didn't need to look, I just explored with my hand to see how natural the layout of controls was to use and I had no issues at all pausing, playing, moving to another track, everything just worked.
The one caveat I have echoes the experience of Currawong, the volume control I find is not the best to use with one hand adjusting as it can jump up quite quickly. On a few occasions the Get did suddenly get very loud on me. It is easy to avoid this from occurring, but the user should hold the get while adjusting the volume. This would not at all prevent me from really enjoying and buying the Get, but it is important to note.
I liked the clip and had no issues using it at all. I deliberately moved it around while travelling and felt that one handed it was quite easy to securely clip to pockets. I would also like to make an honourable mention to the little sound confirmations the Get provides when a connection is made, and when the Get is turned off. They are nice little user feedback cues and certainly a nice touch that tells me that Bluewave paid attention to detail. I like that in a company.
Bluetooth and USB
I used the Get almost exclusively via Bluetooth as that is by far and away my preferred connection option for a portable device and quickly becoming my go to even when at home. Yes, Bluetooth when done right can sound that good. The Get paired easily with my LG G6 which does have Apt x HD and the indicator light on the Get confirmed that indeed a Apt x HD connection had been made and this was confirmed by my G6 messaging. I had no issues with stability at all. I was able to move between rooms, leaving my phone streaming away with no penalty for doing so. When reconnecting with my phone the connection was very quick, perhaps the quickest of any Bluetooth device I have used. I like that.
The USB connection was likewise very easy to establish and I was able to go into JRiver Media Center 24 and set my output option to Bluewave Get (WASAPI).
Sound
When it comes to sound we are mostly describing the sound of the headphone used as frankly, unless the amp and DAC are poorly designed, or deliberately colour the audio output, they should mostly get out of the way. I found that M1 MKII used with the Get with Bluetooth between my G6 sounded just as I expected. I did not hear any evidence at all that the Fidelio was being under-powered. The sound of the Fidelio M1 MKII was not being altered in anyway that I could detect so that is great and what you want. The same thing happened when I used my Pioneer SE Monitor 5, it sounded like it should in terms of frequency response.
The takeaway is that if your headphone is reasonably easy to drive the Get should have no issue establishing solid control over the driver. As with any amplifier, the louder you go, the more complex the music and the more difficult a load to control the Get would be expected to lose control, but I suspect with a reasonable load (headphones designed to be efficient) this shouldn't be an issue. As I type I have the song Two Against Nature from Steely Dan playing at a pretty decent volume and I am hearing no issues.
I did not use the Get via USB nearly as much, but I personally think most users will use it via Bluetooth as that is it's forte. The connection with USB was very easy to make and sound quality wise I do feel that it gives up some clarity and dynamics as compared to Bluetooth. I say that based on limited time via USB so I do wish to qualify that statement. If the difference I believed I heard was indeed there, it really wasn't major at all. Again, the Get is first and foremost in my mind a Bluetooth device, but saying that it is a perfectly competent USB enabled device that should be expected to improve the audio performance of many onboard audio devices in entry and mid-level laptops. Yes, the Steely Dan sounds just great as I am coming to the end of my review. I just have to end while listening to Hotel California live as that is one of my core evaluation tracks. There we go, the Eagles are sounding darn fine right now, darn fine. The Get is getting the sound just right. Is it perfect? Of course not. Does it sound really good? Absolutely it does.
Conclusion and specifications
I think the Get is a great sounding device, certainly I enjoyed it and was very surprised by just how well it performed and I believe that it is a very worthwhile device in a quickly crowding space. The price point is perfectly acceptable, and frankly, if I was to consider that just a few years ago I would have to pay this price for a portable amplifier that didn't have Bluetooth, from that perspective the Get is a great deal. I have no reservation about recommending the Bluewave Get Wireless Headphone Amplifier to you. It is priced right, sounds great and is easy to use with an appropriate level of functionality so an easy recommendation. Thank you Bluewave for this wonderful little device and for allowing me to review it, I shall miss it when I ship it back to you!
The specifications are provided below:
AKG K701
Sennheiser HD800
Shure SE846 (via iFi iEMatch adapter / I do not have the Bluewave impedance adaptor cable)
Hifiman Susvara
Source: Mobile LG v20 aptXhd Bluetooth