FAQ24: Does the Servox Digital differ in sound quality from the Servox Inton?
by Paul Galioni

Answer:
As I mentioned I got a new digital to try out so I'd know what I was talking about. I have been moving into using it slowly — first at home, then in my office and then in my lectures.

I varied the use of the Servox — switching out battery caps and such so that students would have no visual clue if I was using the new digital or the old Inton. I have been asking my classes for this week on and off if they found the sound of the device I was using OK or not — saying that it didn't sound quite right to me — and I'd say this with both the digital and the Inton — and here is their nearly unanimous response:

THE DIGITAL IS 'CLEANER' AND THUS 'LOUDER' AND 'EASIER TO UNDERSTAND

Now I need to say that while I at first found the new digital to seem louder than the old Intone — after awhile it began to sound, like the other person mentioned, not quite as loud. And since some of my lectures are in a fair sized classroom I do need to pay close attention to the volume — I do have wireless mics and such, but I hate to use them — the easier, simpler, and less cluttered my life is, the better I like it - the less fuss I have to make, the less I have to think about being a larrie and the more I can think about being me.

So, I have to admit that I was surprised at my students feedback. They knew I was having 'trouble' with my Servox — something I told them to set them up to listen to the differences without cueing them to the nature of the experiment.

Virtually all students said — from a lab with lots of background noise, to a standard 30X30 class room to a lecture hall — that the new digital had a 'cleaner' tone that carried farther without the distortion of the Inton - and it was easier to understand.

I also need to mention that recently I feel like I have been courting a cold — so sometimes my throat is clean and clear, and sometimes it isn't — it feels hot and inflamed — it feels normal — so switching devices in class with various throat conditions — and asking — I think I have a pretty good universal and overall assessment of the digital.

As far as volume and clarity goes — my students believe that it beats the old Inton. And that is switching back and forth between three Intons of varying age and condition (one of which is fairly new and in excellent condition) —- and the new digital.

So — in an unbiased test on unknowing subjects who have to listen to survive — the digital won hands down.

More will come as I become more proficient with it. Please remember that because I am a professional who makes most of my living by talking and conveying information, often to the uncaring and unwilling, I demand a much higher standard for my speech than most folks just walking around the street or talking to friends or co-workers in an office environment.

So it is with great confidence and a bit of relief, I can tell you that the new digital out preformed the old Inton in tone quality and projection — even if it began to sound less loud to me — it carried what ever intelligence powered it — further than the old Inton.

more will follow…