Sennheiser Raises the Bar with Evolution Wireless Digital System

Judging by its game-changing new Evolution Wireless Digital system, the staff at Sennheiser has been doing a lot more during lockdown than watching Netflix and baking bread. This fully digital UHF system offers a flexible and reliable solution that delivers pristine, nuanced sound with a 134 dB dynamic range for professional live events, performances, and presentations. What’s more, the EW-D does this while eliminating the major hassles that can make setting up a wireless system challenging, especially for first-time users, with an automatic setup assistant that you can use remotely from your phone or tablet.

At the heart of all this is Sennheiser’s equidistant spacing-grid technology from its top-tier 6000 and 9000 systems, allowing you to use up to 90 mic channels simultaneously without having to worry about frequency coordination and channel groups. With an impressive 134 dB dynamic range on the transmitters’ inputs, the days of worrying about overloading your signal are over; the Evolution Wireless Digital can handle a wide variety of sound sources, including loud vocalists and performers, connections to musical instruments, and even line-level signals from mixers, all without requiring any gain adjustment at the transmitter.

With the channels spaced apart equally across the wide 56 MHz bandwidth, intermodulation issues that can cause dropouts are eliminated and setup is made simple. The auto-scan function automatically searches among 2240 available frequencies in the UHF range, far away from the crowded 2.4 GHz spectrum used by Wi-Fi devices, to find a clean operating channel, while Intelligent Switching Diversity technology ensures a clean, interference-free signal you can rely on. You don’t even need to bring the transmitter close to the receiver to sync the components; that’s handled by a Bluetooth low-energy connection, so the transmitter can stay on stage and sync from up to 120 feet away.

Bluetooth Low-Energy Connection

The Bluetooth low-energy connection offers additional benefits via the EW-D Smart Assist app for Android and iOS phones and tablets; it’s a bit like having an engineer at your side ready to help. The app shows you battery status and gives you remote control over setup automation, manual frequency allocation (if you need it), channel naming, muting, and other functions on a maximum of 16 mic channels, via your mobile device. Additional channels can be controlled from another mobile device. Of course, settings can be updated directly from the receiver’s front panel, which offers status LEDs you can see at a glance and an easily readable OLED screen showing important settings, including transmitter battery life along with audio and wireless signal strength.

Musicians and performers will also especially appreciate the EW-D’s ultralow 1.9 ms latency specs, helping them to stay in the groove and be spot-on at critical moments. The system offers an operating range of 330' under ideal conditions, more than ample range for a wide variety of applications for corporate events, houses of worship, live performance venues, and more.

The lightweight, streamlined metal bodypack and handheld transmitters don’t offer unnecessary screens and controls, but they do feature mute buttons, although these can be locked out at the receiver to stop the talent from accidentally muting themselves. A pair of AA batteries will power the transmitters for up to 8 hours, but Sennheiser offers a separately available rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack that will give you up to 12 hours of operating time. A dual charging station for the batteries is also available.

The half-rack receiver is housed in a fully metal chassis and rack-mounting hardware is included along with ¼-wave dipole antennas; these can be upgraded to ½-wave antennas or external antennas for added range and reliability.

Wide Variety

The Evolution Wireless Digital is available in a wide variety of configurations, including sets with bodypack transmitters, handheld transmitter mics, or a combo set with both. The bodypack systems include the EW-D ME2 SET with an ME 2 omnidirectional lavalier, EW-D ME4 SET with an ME 4 cardioid lavalier, EW-D ME3 SET with an ME 3 headset mic, and EW-D CI1 SET with a CI 1 instrument cable for guitar and bass players. The handheld systems include the EW-D 835-S SET with an MMD 835 cardioid dynamic mic capsule, but the interchangeable capsule system lets you swap it out for a different Sennheiser (or even a Neumann) capsule, if you prefer. The combo EW-D ME2/835-S SET includes a bodypack with an ME 2-II lav and a handheld transmitter with an MMD 835 capsule. Base sets including transmitters only and no microphones or mic capsules are also available. Choose from three UHF frequency ranges: The Q 1-6 spans from 470.2 to 526 MHz, the R 1-6 from 520 to 576, and the R 4-9 covers 552 to 607.8.

It’s been a long and quiet time for stages and events but we’re finally seeing a reopening world of exciting performances, live presentations, business opportunities, and new entertainment experiences. With their revolutionary combination of worry-free setup and pristine digital sound quality, Sennheiser’s Evolution Wireless Digital systems are arriving just in time for the party. If you have any questions about the EW-D or any of our other wireless microphone solutions, give us a call, or chat with us online—we’re always happy to help.

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