My band played last night at Broadway Studios in San Francisco, which is a fairly spacious mid-sized venue. I was daring enough to bring in a piece of gear which I had bought just hours before the gig: an X2 Wireless system. The model I used was the XDS95 - the most basic version they make ($300 retail from most dealers). I haven't seen the Line 6 versions in any stores yet, but they're supposed to be the same thing anyway.
I gave it a quick test run during our load-in period, long before the start of the show. Plugged it all in, played a few notes on stage while tuned to E standard. I also re-tuned to drop-D, since most of our songs are in that tuning. The results? Perfect clarity and response, no dropouts, no perceivable delays. I switched out the wireless system for one of my usual 15' cables, and heard no difference at all. So as far as sound goes, it's an authentic replacement for any instrument cable.
Then I gave it the range test. I walked out onto the floor and roamed around for a bit. No issues at all.
Then came the live performance... we headlined and had a blast. At one point, I jumped off the stage, played through the audience, and ran up a set of stairs in the back to get to the balcony level. I played a bit there, and then came downstairs behind the stage. I spooked the unsuspecting photographer who was shooting our drummer at the time, and continued on my merry way back to my original spot on the stage.
Overall... zero issues. I've heard of connection problems with the cable that leads to the receiver, and "line of sight" dropout issues, but I had no such problems last night.
I spent a long time during the past year or so reading a number of reviews on different wireless units... and I'm glad I gambled on the best-rated one. In fact, it's silly to call it a gamble - this unit is genuinely fantastic. Unless you need a lot of available frequencies for multiple instruments in a live band setting (assuming everyone goes wireless), or an unreasonable amount of range (is 100-150 feet really not enough for the casual gigging musician?
), then this will do the trick.
But then again, there are 5 channels available on the XDS95. And their higher-end models offer even more frequency options, an extended high-frequency range (as if it was even necessary!), metal casing (but the plastic casing is already solid enough), and larger range.
Line 6 made an incredibly wise investment. And so did I.
