Saregama Carvaan Premium Portable Digital Music Player (Royal Blue)

Product Information

Geetmala is another treat for old timers, who remember the first ever weekly countdown show of India. You get all 50 year worth of annual show of this!!

The design and feel of the Carvaan 2.0 remains largely the same as its predecessor, with a fourth function button added to give users access to Internet-based content. Additionally, Saregama has also launched the Rs. 15,990 Carvaan 2.0 Gold, which like its predecessor, comes with Harman Kardon-certified speakers, and similar Wi-Fi connectivity for access to online content. Connecting to the Internet has also been simplified, and is done through the Saregama app - available for iOS and Android. Once connected, the Carvaan receives the Wi-Fi credentials through the smartphone, and automatically connects and functions when the Wi-Fi mode is activated. Of course, users can continue to access the preloaded content as well.

While the build quality is excellent, I had to return the product for several reasons. Returning this was a hard decision, because the thing *looks* very cool. So, here is my verdict about the device. It is a perfect family music system for today’s day. I know people have moved on to their individual mobiles and headphones for playing music now a days. But that is the gap it is ready to fill. You have a Bluetooth speaker, which can be connected easily by any mobile phone in your family. They can customise their own playlist on their mobile, and play it for the entire family. A birthday or similar occasion in family, and it is fun to do as well. You also have presets for when you’re using the soundbar to watch movies, so if you are, for instance, watching action movies, the extra bass should help give you that thumping sound effect for explosions and such. Bluetooth mode is very basic. It does not have microphone, so you can’t use it to take a call. Also, none of the button works in Bluetooth mode. So you can only operate it from your mobile. At least the next / previous button should have worked in Bluetooth mode.

USB implementation is very good. If the songs are spread under various folders, you can easily skip through folders using big dial. But songs on USB are played sequentially. Online content for the Saregama Carvaan 2.0 comes in the form of audio stations that work exactly the same as the preloaded artiste and genre-based playlists, except that music is streamed from the Internet. The available audio stations currently number in excess of 150, and Saregama says that more stations are being added regularly. However, a big addition to the new product is Wi-Fi connectivity, which allows users to access over 150 audio stations, being pushed as podcasts and curated by Saregama itself. The content on these stations includes music, talk shows, devotional content, children's content, and more. The stations are regularly updated, with Saregama claiming that between 6-60 minutes of new content is added to each station every day. Saregama has plans to increase the number of stations to 1,000 in the coming months. Apart from this, you’re also provided a remote to control various functions, an HDMI cable and a 3.5mm cable—all in the box itself.The Carvaan range of speakers includes the Saregama Carvaan and Carvaan Gold, which offer a variety of content and connectivity options. Think of this, all such playlist based on same 5000 songs, and the device can be more, much more unique in its own way. And I know for a fact that with various mp3 tags, it’s very easy to do so. The tagging of the collection also leaves a LOT to be desired. The Artists collection has several singers, but then a lot of songs are also put under names which are not the artists but rather music directors and even lyricists (eg. Javed Akhtar, Kalyanji Anandji, Shankar Jaikishen and others who really weren't singers). I guess this is only done to have a perception of a large number of artists, otherwise most songs would end up under 'Lata Mangeshkar' and 'Kishore Kumar'. Both the soundbar and subwoofer are made of plastic, which makes them very light. The soundbar weighs just 1.6kg, while the subwoofer comes in at 4.92kg. When asked if Saregama was working on a hardware product for younger audiences, Vikram Mehra - Managing Director of Saregama India - stated that it wasn't something it was working on, and that the company's focus was on providing a product for its older audiences.

The app is necessary to set up Wi-Fi connectivity for the Saregama Carvaan 2.0. The process to do so was a bit complicated and quite buggy; it took us a few attempts to finally get the speaker connected to a Wi-Fi network, with plenty of unexplained errors popping up along the way. However, we finally did get the speaker connected, after which it was able to stream without trouble. Once configured, the speaker automatically connects to your Wi-Fi network, and it worked perfectly for us. Users not comfortable with tech may have trouble with the initial setup process and may need help from someone more tech-savvy. So, overall its very good unit, but I also have some points I would like to mention before giving my final verdict. These are not the Cons as I loved this unit, but nothing is perfect, so here are the items I wish they had given in this unit. Some of the finest songs selected for this unit, and a fine collection of playlist or station created for easy selection. In terms of design, the Musicbar Karaoke is a bit of an upgrade from the previous Saregama Carvaan Musicbar, because it gets these rose-gold accents on the button area, and this fake-wood trim at the ends. The subwoofer is very simply designed, with no buttons at all, but the Carvaan logo is finished in Rose Gold to match the soundbar. Saregama India Ltd., incorporated in the year 1946, is a Small Cap company (having a market cap of Rs 7,217.82 Crore) operating in Media & Entertainment sector. Saregama India Ltd. key Products/Revenue Segments include Licence Fees, Media Products, Films/TV Serials and Other Operating Revenue for the year ending 31-Mar-2023. For the quarter ended 30-09-2023, the company has reported a Consolidated Total Income of Rs 185.55 Crore, up 2.59 % from last quarter Total Income of Rs 180.86 Crore and down 7.47 % from last year same quarter Total Income of Rs 200.54 Crore. Company has reported net profit after tax of Rs 47.99 Crore in latest quarter. The company’s top management includes Dr.Sanjiv Goenka, Mrs.Avarna Jain, Mr.Vikram Mehra, Mrs.Preeti Goenka, Mr.Arindam Sarkar, Mr.Noshir Naval Framjee, Mr.Santanu Bhattacharya, Ms.Suhana Murshed, Mr.Umang Kanoria, Mr.Pankaj Mahesh Chaturvedi. Company has BSR & Co. LLP as its auditors. As on 30-09-2023, the company has a total of 19.28 Crore shares outstanding.Now, the Musicbar Karaoke is aimed at mass-market users, so it has a largely bass-heavy sound profile that’s suited to appeal a larger audience. The subwoofer puts out loud, booming bass that dominates the sound signature, but you do have controls on the remote to tune the bass and treble to your liking. Saregama Carvaan 2.0 will be offered in two colour options, and the Gold variant will also arrive in two colours A remote would have added more ease to the unit. I know it is not included to give it a retro look, but think about it. This unit is trying to cater for both older as well as new generation. The older generation wants a radio like feel, and songs from their era. The newer generation wants to play their own songs with more control using bluetooth and pen drive. Now, you have these options, but newer generation also don’t want to walk to the unit to skip the current song. So, while people will love it for retro radio effect but find it little difficult for playing songs on pen drive and always has to walk to the unit for skipping a song. This is not an issue while playing via Bluetooth, as full control is in mobile. The Saregama Carvaan 2.0 comes with a rechargeable battery that promises 5-6 hours of use on a single charge, along with external connectivity through Bluetooth, USB, Aux In, and FM/AM radio. The Wi-Fi audio stations are maintained by Saregama itself, and are currently free to access with the speaker. For the music lovers, this has great collection of songs, and on top of that, it allows you to play FM and your own songs from USB or Bluetooth. That makes it a near perfect music system. So, according to me, this is one of must buy for any music lover, or families looking for a music system.