[mgoodman]

Quote:

If the M8 does it's own voltage regulation, then I think using the minimum voltage required would offer the greatest life out of a battery pack. Otherwise all that excess voltage gets shunted off as heat or whatever else it does. Well, maybe/maybe not. I'm not fully educated on what exactly goes on in a voltage regulator. A resistor divider would waste all the energy as heat, but I imagine a proper regulator is significantly more sophisticated than that.

My guess would be the opposite. You may have longer play time with a higher input voltage. Modern power supplies don't waste as much energy as a resistor. They are about 95% efficient these days. However, there is something else to contend with at the lower input voltage, and that's the current. When you are running 2+ amps down a longer cable, you invariably lose some energy due to the heat generated in that cable. No cable has zero resistance. While we can control the efficiency of a regulator, it's much harder to control the power dissipation on a brute force "resistor" that is formed when you have a long power cable. If the cable starts to warm up, so increases its resistance. Then, all bets are off as to how much energy is lost. This is why I'm making a guess (this needs to be proven in practice) that you would have longer play time with higher voltage, since that would lead to lower current and less heat-up in the power cable, so potentially less energy loss.
 
We are talking about small numbers however -- 5% delta difference max would be my gut-feel guess. So low voltage vs. high voltage will not be a "night and day" difference.

 

[Armaegis]

Yeah, I guess if the regulators are efficient enough then it doesn't really matter. I would totally defer to your expertise in this matter. The most of I've ever done is cobbled together a working active balanced ground amp (similar to Jan Meier's amps) in a franken-cmoy fashion

 

[pspivak]

Quote:

My guess would be the opposite. You may have longer play time with a higher input voltage. Modern power supplies don't waste as much energy as a resistor. They are about 95% efficient these days. However, there is something else to contend with at the lower input voltage, and that's the current. When you are running 2+ amps down a longer cable, you invariably lose some energy due to the heat generated in that cable. No cable has zero resistance. While we can control the efficiency of a regulator, it's much harder to control the power dissipation on a brute force "resistor" that is formed when you have a long power cable. If the cable starts to warm up, so increases its resistance. Then, all bets are off as to how much energy is lost. This is why I'm making a guess (this needs to be proven in practice) that you would have longer play time with higher voltage, since that would lead to lower current and less heat-up in the power cable, so potentially less energy loss.
 
We are talking about small numbers however -- 5% delta difference max would be my gut-feel guess. So low voltage vs. high voltage will not be a "night and day" difference.

 MGoodman: How "long" is too "long" with regard to the cable?  I can work out the physics but I just want your opinion.

 

[mgoodman]

Quote:

 MGoodman: How "long" is too "long" with regard to the cable?  I can work out the physics but I just want your opinion.

We have to consider not only the length, but also the circumference (thickness) of the cable. Thin cable will warm up quickly. Thick cable can carry far without warm up. If the cable is just a couple of feet, and at least 16 gauge, we will have no problems.

 

[Chexxchexx]

Michael,

You solicited feedback on the print ad. Here it is: scrap the photo of the girl. The whole thing is creepy. From the cropping (where are her arms and whose hands are on her face?) to the ridiculous expression on her face. Seems to me that you're wasting half of the space on a photo that conveys zero connection with audio. You'd might as well just post a picture of a woman wearing a bikini if all you're trying to do is get the page noticed in the hope that they'll read about the product. By all means, use a picture of a woman, but have her wearing headphones, for listening out loud!

 

[jacal01]

It's already been done.  Have Buddha or Thomas Edison or Ben Franklin wearing headphones and lose the sex altogether.  Who's your ad agency and when was the last time that they had an original thought? 

 

[FraGGleR]

Quote:

Michael,
You solicited feedback on the print ad. Here it is: scrap the photo of the girl. The whole thing is creepy. From the cropping (where are her arms and whose hands are on her face?) to the ridiculous expression on her face. Seems to me that you're wasting half of the space on a photo that conveys zero connection with audio. You'd might as well just post a picture of a woman wearing a bikini if all you're trying to do is get the page noticed in the hope that they'll read about the product. By all means, use a picture of a woman, but have her wearing headphones, for listening out loud!

I'm not coming to come down to harshly on the ad, as the girl catches the eye, and most people who would be interested in one will probably immediately look at the device and what it does.  I will say that with not being able to see where her arms crossed, it does make her hands look a little jarring or out of place.

 

[mgoodman]

You guys are coming down with the vengeance! I need to reconsider my strengths here -- you are looking at the ad agency... alas, the sad truth... We are a small shop.
 
Let me go back to the design table for a while. Meantime, I'll be thinking on creative thoughts and may present a revised ad soon!
 
Michael 

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

I missed it.  Where is it?

 

[mgoodman]

Now I'm extremely embarrassed, but it's in the blog:
 
http://centrance.com/products/new/blog/

 

[jacal01]

Transportable SQ.  That's your product core appeal now.  Beatific listening nirvana may work, too, o'course.

 

[FraGGleR]

Quote:

Now I'm extremely embarrassed, but it's in the blog:
 
http://centrance.com/products/new/blog/

Please don't be embarrassed.  The peanut gallery isn't always right, and certainly not always helpful.  This isn't to impugn anyone who has voiced their opinion here, but I would learn the professional backgrounds of people chiming in before taking it in too much.  
 
I, for one, am a sucker for cool electronics and beautiful women, so you have the right elements already to grab me.  Maybe some layout refinement might help bring it all together better.  I can put it in front a couple of the people who do design for me for their opinions.

 

[Armaegis]

I for one vote for the bikini.
 
 
 
 
 
 
... because squishy.

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

I agree. The pose is very odd and the woman detracts from the product.
 
I have an idea.  Get the everyone to work for you. Have a contest for the best ad. Offer some cool prizes with the winner getting a free HiFi M8, maybe some gift certificates towards the purchase of a HiFi M8; like 75% off for Second Place and 50% off for Third.
 
I'll bet there are a lot of creative people who would participate and some may be Graphic Artists. This will stir up the excitement and help promote HiFi M8 even if you don't use any of the ads.

 

[fuzzyash]

I agree. The pose is very odd and the woman detracts from the product.

I have an idea.  Get the everyone to work for you. Have a contest for the best ad. Offer some cool prizes with the winner getting a free HiFi M8, maybe some gift certificates towards the purchase of a HiFi M8; like 75% off for Second Place and 50% off for Third.

I'll bet there are a lot of creative people who would participate and some may be Graphic Artists. This will stir up the excitement and help promote HiFi M8 even if you don't use any of the ads.

+1 good idea
they are quite a few photoshoppers on head fi