Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Purchased from B&H Photo as others were out and/or backordered. Very disappointed! Neither my husband nor I can really sing - although we both love to - and so we thought this would be great as it is advertised as "the next-generation karaoke machine that makes bad singers sound good". We saw it demonstrated on Shark Tank first, then I looked around online and didn't come up with too much other than the standard advertising from the manufacturer (SingTrix). The things I did see were what appeared to be people who were, for the most part, better singers to begin with. Of course I realize that *now*... This review is from our experience with the item using a desktop PC - I've tried to be as fair and accurate as I can - and is based on our opinion of how the product performed. For us, it was not good, and although we tried a variety of settings, we did not find it to be overall as advertised. Which is really unfortunate, because we were so looking forward to it. So, "I'm Out" - we have sent our SingTrix back. One of the biggest turn-offs for us was the fact that there are NO songs loaded on this! I'm sure it is `our bad' for not reading up on it more thoroughly, but from just the advertising I honestly perceived it to mean that 300+ songs came with it, which is why it was called a karaoke machine (it would be more accurately described as a `voice-distorting machine', in my opinion). You have to find a place to download your own music (and/or Karaoke songs with the vocals removed, and good luck with that), or sign up for a subscription that will cost you extra $$ per month. We are over 60, and don't have (or want to get) the Smartphone, iPad/iPod or other technological whiz-bang things, so resorted to trying to find stuff via our desktop computer (as it was advertised that it works "with any music and any audio device"). Which it will work with a computer - just plug in a (provided) 3.5mm cord from your headphone out jack to the line in on the SingTrix. Finding FREE stuff (I mean really free, without giving a credit card or any personal info first) was almost impossible; we found a few songs, but nothing that we liked (the ones we did find were more of today's hits and we were looking for country and old classic rock). Be sure if you are intent on getting this that you know in advance where you will be getting your songs from, because there are NO songs that come with it. I believed that the "presets" (i.e., the 300+ preloaded items) were karaoke songs - they are not. Imagine my surprise, believing this, when we hooked it all up and we're like, "Okay, so where's the music??". Which brings me to the next thing... In the advertisement there is a statement, "Sound like your favorite stars with hundreds of professional vocal effects", that I absolutely disagree with that. The 300+ presets, with about a couple dozen exceptions, all sound about the same - honestly. There are a few that are kinda fun, like gender-changing voices, robot sounds and echoes, but other than that they are pretty much all alike. A faux ("in style of") "Elvis" setting is really no different than the faux "Madonna" setting, nor is the "country", "hip-hop", or "rock". Additionally, I do wish there was a way to more simply find a preset too, other than having to keep turning the dial - it takes awhile to find the preset # you want... maybe they can rethink the design so you could be able to punch in a number? Anyhow, the points is, they could probably save having so many presets and just take it down to having only about 20 presets since they mostly all sound alike anyway. I also found the feature they claim removes vocals to be totally false ("With standard songs you are able to lower the song vocals using our "SONG VOICE" feature."). What it does instead is distort the vocals a little, but does not remove them nor lower them with any significance to warrant making this statement; further, it seemed to also affect the music (turned it lower so some of the instruments were almost muted out and/or fell out of the background practically all together). That was another of my great disappointments. And a few other reviewers here have mentioned that as well. So unless you like to sing along with the artist (or have access to `true' karaoke music/songs), know that this feature doesn't work well at all. I don't know how others use it, but for us, there was no real difference in the voice pitch and sound; it is probably us just being bad singers, which is another reason I am unsatisfied with the SingTrix. I just do not agree with the statement they (the mfgr) make that it changes your voice... other than to distort it so much that you can't tell that someone is that bad of a singer. I do see it being a draw for kids and youths, as in that regard it would be fun, and probably fun for the family as a whole. For our purposes though (social entertainment), it is not worth the price given all the cons. Could be our inexperience with singing into a microphone too, but we also didn't hear much difference because the microphone sound didn't go up all that loud that it wouldn't `drown out' the singers voice so that you could hear it coming out of the speakers. I'm not sure what I expected, but I didn't expect that. We tried turning the mic and the music up, tweaking this and that, looking on their website for FAQ's and Support, but it didn't help - I could still hear our voices over the distorted voice/music... which was the whole point (for us anyway) of getting this machine. As an aside: if you find that you do not like it and need to return it, my suggestion is that you find out what the return policy is from the folks you are purchasing it from first. Although I read the policy on B&H Photo where it says "REQUEST AN RMA NUMBER (Return Merchandise Authorization)... You will receive your return instructions and return label by email." (and I thought to myself, Great, they will send me a return label so I don't have to pay if I need to return it), I apparently missed the small print at the bottom (until now, when I now have to return it) hidden amongst other wording where it says, "Return shipping charges are the responsibility of the customer.". Sure, they send you a return label - but it is just that: a return label; it says right on the label (when they send it to you) "This is not a prepaid shipping label". So dangit, in addition to it not working for us, now I have to shell out $75 via UPS to send it back (the whole package weighs almost 30 pounds and is BIG, 27x18x16). That is a hard hit for us! My fault for not seeing the return policy specifics in the first place I'm sure, but I certainly learned my lesson and will order from more reputable folks such as Amazon who typically guarantee a return shipping label. (This paragraph has nothing specifically to do with review of the item per se, but rather is a forewarning on the size and weight of the item should you need to return it and be responsible for paying the return shipping.) I only give the product 2 stars, and would have given it only 1 star except I also took into consideration that this item really does seem to be made well. It doesn't work as expected, but does seem sturdy and constructed of quality materials - we were surprised how heavy (and heavy-duty) the mics were. It also comes with several cords (like USB-to-device) and input/output connections with jacks (sound/audio), so you pretty much don't need to get any special adapters or extra cords. Unfortunately for our purposes, it did not work as advertised, and we were disappointed with almost everything overall (except the quality of the workmanship).