Sennheiser Makes Wireless a Breeze

	With an app-based workflow and many professional features under the hood, Sennheiser's Evolution Wireless Digital makes wireless easy.

Wireless is meant to make things easier. It gives freedom to perform. It makes set-up times faster. But for many musicians who are their own technician, wireless microphones can be a nuisance or even intimidating. Now Sennheiser brings simplicity to wireless with Evolution Wireless Digital. The series introduces an easy, app-based workflow while retaining all the professionality, multi-channel capability and reliability that users have come to expect of UHF and 1G8 microphones.

"We talked with dozens of bands prior to the development of Evolution Wireless Digital," explains Oliver Schmitz, product manager for Evolution Wireless Digital. "Many band members are in fact multitasking, driving the gig bus, setting the wireless up, performing on stage, doing the accounting, the marketing, you name it. They do not want to become experts at RF, they do not want to scan a venue for open frequencies, they do not want to battle with settings. They just want something that works right away, so all they have to do is switch on and go."

"This is why we came up with an app that does all the planning for you and guides you through the set-up," adds Benny Franke, responsible for the software. "An app, where all the expertise is under the hood, and where you don't have to be a mechanic to drive the car. There were many details that we sweated over so that you can keep your cool before, during and after the show."

As the engineer in the user's pocket, the Smart Assist app guides them through the set-up in easy steps. "If you can handle an app, you can handle the RF wireless set-up with ease," says Franke. An intelligent set-up automatically creates reliable wireless connections, no wireless expertise is required, the company says. Users can name the channels to make it easy to stay organized, and have access to all system settings. Bluetooth Low Energy allows for remote access to the system and makes sync'ing with the receiver convenient. The app also includes tutorial videos presented by Franke to get users started and provides the operating instructions of the systems all in one place.

Evolution Wireless Digital transmitters have an input dynamic range of 134dB, five times more than the usual 120dB. This means that they can pick up everything from a very soft whisper to a jet engine at 50 yards' distance -- and this eliminates the need for a sensitivity setting on the transmitter entirely. The receiver has been set to a gain value covering most applications, which users can easily change if desired. A new user interface makes this easy, the company says, no complex sub-menus, everything is available at a glance.

More and more RF is appearing on stage but Evolution Wireless Digital (EW-D) takes on this complexity and helps users go with the flow. The app will scan the environment to find open frequencies. And as EW-D has borrowed tech from Sennheiser's top Digital 6000 and Digital 9000 series, the wireless microphone systems do not generate any significant intermodulation products. This not only makes for more room in a given frequency window, but the app can also simply set the wireless links at 600kHz intervals without any frequency calculation and is therefore able to fit in more frequencies than a standard mic system would be able to.

EW-D has a low latency of 1.9 milliseconds and a transmitter battery life of up to 12 hours with the BA 70 rechargeable battery pack. This will take users all the way from soundcheck through to the end of the show and beyond. A bandwidth of 56MHz with up to 90 channels per band makes it easy to find space even in the most crowded of RF environments.

As a digital system, EW-D does not use a compander. Gone are the associated noise floor and artefacts -- the system will sound like it's plugged in with a cable.

From newly designed antennas to antenna splitters, boosters, charging sets -- users will find everything to expand their system and accommodate larger multi-channel set-ups for in-person and streamed live shows.

EW-D handheld transmitters couple with any Sennheiser or Neumann wireless capsule. This includes the Neumann KK 205 and KK 204, the new Sennheiser MM 435 and MM 445 as well as the Digital 9000 capsules -- a first at this price level, the company says.

"Whether you are a singer/songwriter doing your first gigs and want to use your own microphone system, or a band tech who has mics, IEMs and a mixer in one convenient rack and uses a mixing app -- Evolution Wireless Digital will perfectly fit into your preferred usage scenario, no matter whether you are planning an in-person or a streamed live gig," concludes Schmitz. Evolution Wireless Digital is available now, with a choice of handheld, instrument, lavalier, headmic, combo and base sets (see Appendix).