NewQ Platinum

NewQ Platinum

When I first heard about the Samsung NewQ Gold I just had to have it. Why? Because there are mod freaks and there are MOD FR33KS, Some people kit up their cars well we all went through that phase didn’t we /wink. This piece of kit looked like a car stereo shoved in your bay and brought back long lost memories.

I helplessly searched day and night for reviews and specs on this and guess what Xev wanted one of these along time ago as well… do we all nerds think alike? Frantically I spammed everyone on my list to see if they heard about this and then EVERYONE wanted one. I was then informed of the Platinum version and as you see here definitely look the business.

Nobody in the UK sold this and a whole bunch of other stuff and at the time I was so close in buying a ticket and visiting the US in an effort to evade the silly TAX they put on imported hardware, I figured that I would actually benefit in making a free trip to the states, take a few days of sick from work (paid of course) and visit the US. If I was to import the goods it would cost me more and plus the savings I make from the states would pay for my ticket. Good plan or what?

A work colleague was already in the states and I rang him up on his tri-band Nokia (the scum bag) got his details of where he was staying and then ordered on my lunch break to his place of residence. I was so greedy that I ordered the last 2 remaining from www.outpost.com just before the New Year.

When Salvador came back to London I raided his house like a child grabbed my goodies of him…did I mentioned I brought some Levis Silver Tabs? Nah you cant get them in the UK either. On the box it said, “You have it they don’t” you should have seen the grin on my face.

What does this do? Well I didn’t care what it done I just wanted a cool VFD display in the front of my PC to dance around to my music.

Package contents:

Manual, Remote control! Yes I did say remote!, the Unit Leads and connector plate.

Here is the installation Guide which you don’t really need to use as its all very straight forward, I actually never knew this was included as it was inside the booklet they gave. Yes I had ants in my pants and just wanted to give this unit some juice.

Here is the remote control, this baby is slim and looks like the Kenwood remotes that you get for car head units. This thing came with a battery already installed.

Just an idea to show you how thin the remote actually is.

This is the back of the unit, which has a standard power molex connector, an input interface and an antenna input… OH yes indeed this baby has radio too. I was a bit worried that the radio might not work in the UK because the last time I brought a Kenwood mask about 3 year ago the radio wouldn’t play Kiss as it went in increments of 5’s but who cares!

This is the back plate that comes with the unit. It has dc in, aerial and audio ins and out in the form of 3.5mm jacks.

Rear view.

I have installed the aerial lead and ribbon for the input interface ready to be plugged into the back of the NewQ.

I put the back plate into the last slot because I don’t use the 8bit ISA but its not a problem as it does not take up more than 1 slot.

Power, Interface and aerial connectors into the back, you don’t need the Arial if you don’t want to listen to FM.

Back view, just under my sound card.

I couldn’t get the aerial thy gave me to work so I plugged in my cable TV coax into it!!!!!!

Because I had one of these:

Helps to have friends everywhere ;)

In go the speakers to the plate, you can actually plug in 4 speakers ill come to that in a bit.

The dc input is there to power the unit when you don’t want your PC to be on as well its quite handy and is an optional Item; the one I am using is a switch able one available from most electrical shops. If your going to do this just make sure it’s a regulated one as the cheap ones send spikes. Because of this cool idea I have also connected my neon’s so that I can have the PC lit up silently.

Yep all ready to be fired up! Lets have a look at the controls:

The infra red sensor is behind the purple bit in the middle of the rotary dial. Nice chrome buttons! This thing is class.

Power button and headphones output! The Mic jack is on the front as well! Handy as I always keep my mic in my draw and can just plug in the front when needed.

Cost of unit: $150.00 USD

Specifications:

FM-Radio
Remote control

* Trusurround

Provide virtual 6 speaker effect through four speakers.

* Easy Control & Installation

-. Easy access to Volume, Headset, Microphone, and Mute Controls
-. Quick & simple connection from NewQ to sound card
-. No software or driver needed/ No conflict with any PC

* Perfect compatibility

-. No need to upgrade sound card
-. Compatible with any 2 or 4 channel sound card

* Special Auxiliary Performance

-. Mp3 player, Mini Disk, Cassette player, CD player

* DSP(Digital Signal Processing) function

-. Hall, Live, Club, Stadium, S/F effect

Yes its got funky effects and the radio worked in the end. I don’t use the virtual speaker effects as my main machine has digital out and Dolby. But for the machine its in it does a wonderful job and the virtual speaker output is not really a gimmick you’ll be surprised just wish you could hear it. I suppose if you already had a soundcard and don’t really watch dvd’s but wanted to upgrade your sound card this is a trick piece of hardware. It definitely gets everyone talking until they see my window and neon…

More specs direct from www.newq.com