Okay, when I start writing this I have the M90 Mini for two weeks now. Shall I spoil my (personal) result first? I think I will, just like I'm used to when writing in my job – decision first, then substantiation and summary.
So both of course aren't perfect but pretty cool. The A 30 is really more than „a cheap knockoff trying to ride the success wave of the mini M90“ as goill773 predicted in the opening post. In German / American school marks in my opinion the A30 is a 2 / B and compared to that the M90 a 3+ / C+.
The NWT M90
Big PRO if course is the look. It's just an almost perfect resized 1:1 copy of the JVC/Victor RC-M90, what more can you ask for? Mine is the Slick Rick version in black/gold/violet and that crazy but nice colours were the actual reason for me to buy it, too. In addition to a silver A30 a silver M90 would not have made sense to me.
But when talking about the perfect resizing of the M90 you're soon coming to some „bads“ of the box. To me the antennas of the radio and the handle are both a little thin. I'm really afraid I could accidently bend the antennas, the ends are like paperclips or even thinner. As many Youtube reviews mention, the M90 Mini is rather heavy and compared to that the handle seems a little fragile. It's a little effort to carry it like that even in the flat. Wouldn't dare that outside I guess. And of course some knobs are really small. Fortunately so are my hands but even I could need a little more grip. The extra knobs given as an extra might help but look terrible on the box.
The reason why I'm not TOO anxious about the thin antennas is: The radio is rather weak and I will barely use it. After I found out that it helps putting both antennas in the same direction I had some acceptable results but overall the radio is just disappointing. There's plenty of local FM stations, actually easy to receive, but the M90 Mini doesn't play a single one in clear stereo sound. It even confused me with good reception when having my fingers on the tuner and then being rather noisy when I take my fingers away. I'm only used to that effect with weak stations of other regions, not the local ones.
The functions of Bluetooth, USB and SD card are problem-free. Connecting is easy, so is playback. But with the last two of these functions you're left to the built in equalizer. You can turn up the bass fully and then bring the treble to your favourite level. Standing free on a table it's „just good“ like that but seems to lack a little power or let's name it: bass. If you read Youtube comments there's at least some agreeing with that. I'm used to more pressure from my Bose Micro II and Marshall Acton. Strange effect: It's know sound and bass improve when you put the speaker close to a wall or something but I never ever noticed a difference like this. When I put the M90 Mini to the corner of my sofa and lay myself down in front of it for reading I can suddenly literally feel the bass. I'm far from being an expert what causes this. The M90 Micro acts quite the same, fantastic sound for that little size when put on the sofe or top of my bed. As if both of them blow their basses mostly to behind and cause a massive reflection when standing close to something.
Using Bluetooth you can of course also use the device's / app's additional equalizer. On one hand this shows the speakers can actually give you a more powerful bass. On the other hand you also learn the speakers have their limits. As my playlists' songs are not all on one level it can happen that the fine powerful bass of one song turns into a bad knocking when playing the next. Over all the sound is still good but I'm a little disappointed at a price of 200 (250 incl. Shipping) US$.
The little pros and cons apart from aready mentioned: (+) storage compartment for USB cable (+) 20.000 mAh battery (-) almost no lights on the front, you can't even see if it's on (-) tape deck with no function and in my case even hardly opening (-) VU meters not working (-/+) remote control wired but probably because so is the original (+) original voice of Slick Rick on my limited edition (-) USB and SD card are both just introduced as „media mode“ when switching from mode to mode (+) easy handling, buttons and knobs seem to be rather solid (-) playback from USB and SD card can't be faded to small volume; especially from USB it's like 15/20 percent is the smallest volume, next move on the know is Zero.
The ESQ A30
Except the idea this is not really a copy of anything special. It has some similarities to boomboxes from the past but always far from being a small 1:1 rebuilt. It has a cool vintage look anyway and you can easily imagine this in double size. Talking about it: I was expecting it the other way round but the A30 is a little bit bigger than the M90.
It has one antenna only which seems to be common size of former radios and small boomboxes. Sadly the radio reception isn't much better than on the M90. Few local stations at least can be heard in clear stereo, even when I take away my hand from the tuning knob. That know to me is reacting the wrong way. When I turn it to the front the tuner moves to the right; all radios I had so far were moving to the left then.
Bluetooth, USB and SD card modes are working fine. The built in equalizer already gives great powerful sound. If you put the A30 and the M90 Mini on a table side by side I guess there's no two opinions this not a cheap copy but simply better in sound. Interesting: Both producers say their boxes have 30 Watts, I can hardly believe it. From Bluetooth with additional equalizer on the source you can get even more bass. I didn't find any limits of the speakers so far but must admit I didn't try it to the max yet. Bass always stayed bass, no evil noises. In one of their campaign videos they did a comparison to a Marshall Bluetooth box of about same size and I must say... yes... that was no fake.
One bad thing I noticed: The A 30 has problems with silent music files. When songs fade in or fade out or just have a low level intro... several tones seem to be missed out. As I noticed that with several files of different sources it doesn't seem to be a matter of the MP3 quality but of the playback.
The little pros and cons apart from aready mentioned: (+) big solid handle; never saw a real JVC M90 but could be kind of the same size and look (-) no storage compartment cable or cassettes (-/+) „only“ 16.000 mAh battery (first recharge of my box after 4 weeks) (+/-) rhythm lights and VU meter - at least they tried; both are enlighted when device is turned on but only moving at VERY high volume (+) tape deck is working as SD card holder and opening easily; cool thing especially as they promised I can get more cassettes soon (+) wireless remote control for all functions except turning on the A30 (+) pleasant voice announcing every mode, also differing between USB and SD card (+/-) knobs look more solid than on first product pics of the campaign; good grip and good size; buttons for mode, pause, record and such have to be pushed quite powerful and seem a bit shaky to me – not sure how long they will last (+) Record button? Yes, it can actually record, too. I didn't try it yet so I can't say anything about it except ESQ promises it works and there's no reasons not to believe them looking at the rest of the item. Will add information on that later. (+) Yes, it's somehow a cheap copy of the M90 Mini success. As a backer of the Kickstarter campaign I only paid about $100 incl shipping (-) delivery was about 4 to 5 months late but that seems to be „normal“ I learned from the projects I backed so far. (-) When campaign started the device also was promised to be given a 3.5 mm headphone jack. That was left out on delivery.
Phew, this got a little long. Hope I don't have to split it...
This time they say they send out by June so I guess one could expect it right in time for Xmas. But I really like the sound and looks of the A30, it's good work and worth the wait. This time you can also add more "cassettes" (aka SD/TF card holder) to the order for an even better old school feeling.
