IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor Pro Review

Video Review

First Impressions / Setting up

The IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor Pro is the follow-up to a model we reviewed positively several years ago and have been using in the studio here at Digital DJ Tips ever since.

Just like the model it follows, this looks like a desktop multimedia speaker, but is much more than that. What’s more, this time around it has a mind-blowing twist, something that’s never been seen before on speakers at this price point or of this size.

The package loaned to us for review was actually two identical speakers with a calibration microphone in the box, which I’ll talk to you about shortly. But they can also be bought individually, although most people obviously would go for a pair. They come with power cables and USB cables for attaching to a computer—again, more coming up on that.

The speaker is pretty much identical in looks to the previous model, which means that each unit is almost impossibly small, very modern-looking, and quite heavy for its size. They have flip-out stands underneath, meaning you can easily angle them up towards your listening position, and they also have a thread for a pole, so they can be mounted that way too.

Once you have positioned them, plugged in power, and attached an audio source (which for DJs, this would typically be a DJ mixer or controller) via either the XLR or RCA input on the back of each speaker, getting going need involve nothing more than turning them on and adjusting the volume.

Fine adjustment

You can, if you wish, experiment with tapping the switches on the back, which allow you to adjust the high and low frequencies by cutting or boosting slightly, switch on a useful desktop mode (an EQ curve that has already been calibrated to sound good when sat at a desk with a laptop, for instance), and finally switch in a low frequency boost.

These are not full EQs, just tweaks; if you’ve used any speaker of this type before, you’ll know exactly what these controls do, as they’re highly similar to such controls on other speakers of this type and in this range – “set and forget”, designed to fine-tune the speaker roughly to the listening environment.

Digital calibration

But that brings us on to the USP of this speaker, which is its digital calibration feature. Plug in the supplied microphone (which unfortunately doesn’t come with a cable, so you’ll need to provide an XLR cable for that), tap a button, and position the microphone where you’re going to be listening to the speaker, and it will automatically tune each speaker to sound as good as possible in the particular room you’re listening to it in.

Do it with both, which only takes a couple of minutes, and you can be sure that the speakers will sound as transparent and true as possible based upon your listening environment. Such magic cannot solve big acoustic problems, but it certainly makes a difference, and it’s great to see it on speakers of this size and at this price point.
 

 

In Use

These might look like desktop speakers, but sound-wise, they’re closer to reference monitors. They’ve always sounded excellent, and if anything, they now sound even better in this latest incarnation.

The specifications tell us that they’ve got a 50Hz to 20kHz frequency response with just a 2dB variance within that, and they certainly sound true to that. You’re never going to get tummy-rumbling bass with speakers this size, but they sound better than they have any right to at this price point and size.

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Frankly, tuning them using the simple touch buttons on the back will get them pretty close to sounding their best in any environment (at least that we tested them in). However, the calibration microphone is there to help you if you want to get that extra ounce of performance out of them.

Taking it further with software

Arguably the real advantage of this new tech that’s built into them comes when you use the USB socket on the back to plug each speaker into your computer. The reason for that is that IK Multimedia will give you (for free) its X-Monitor software for Mac or Windows. Once the speakers are plugged in, it allows you to have far more visibility over tuning your speakers.

You can see frequency response graphs, before and afters and so on, but also dial in speaker emulations for more than 20 popular speaker types, so that you can have your speakers give you an approximation of what any music you’re producing or DJ mix that you are mixing would sound like on a whole range of different systems, from famous studio monitors to things like car speakers or even your phone. It’s a pretty cool addition if you want to get down into the weeds when you’re making music or mixing songs.

Conclusion

The IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor Pros sound even better than before. And as I said at the start, they always have been much more than desktop speakers.

We love the fact that they have no power brick and that the transformers are built in so you can plug a normal mains power cable into them.

We appreciate the adjustability with the stands that can angle them up if needed.

And overall, we’ve always loved just how truly compact these are, bearing in mind the quality of the audio from them.

Adding in calibration just gives a whole new layer to these speakers, and frankly, the results are good enough without even going near your computer. So that’s just icing on the cake should you use the X-Monitor software and the things it can offer.

True multimedia smarts?

One thing we think they’ve missed here with this form factor, though, is having an audio interface built into the speaker so that the USB sockets could be used to put these into service as bona fide laptop monitors too, as well as their existing ability to have analogue audio plugged into them.

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You’ve already got a USB cable between the speaker and the laptop should you use the IK Multimedia software, so to be able to use them in the way that modern computer monitors are used like this would have been great. And while we’re at it, having Bluetooth would also have made sense here as well. These things would have made them a true all-rounder that straddled both the consumer and the professional world.

However, you’re still getting an awful lot for your money here. And as I said earlier, we’ve always been big fans of the original, and these simply improve on that. If you have no room for anything bigger but you want high quality, then we can fully recommend the IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor Pros.