I received my REI yesterday and have been conducting some preliminary testing with my Android devices. Unfortunately, I can't report on i-device compatibility as I have never owned an Apple product.
Not to repeat Expat's excellent review, I will limit my comments to some of the most notable of my early impressions.
First off, based on the photos I have seen and the overall shape, I was expecting a device approximating the size of the Shozy Alien. I was astounded to discover the miniscule size of the REI! It is only slightly larger than my Shanling M1 as you can see from the pix below.
Secondly, I discovered that it is rather picky on what it decides to play with. I tried the following devices: DX200 DAP, Sony Xperia tablet, Google Pixel Chromebook, HTC10 smartphone and Shanling M1 DAP. With the M1, Xperia and Pixel, USB connection was immediate but with the HTC10 and DX200 it was impossible to achieve a connection, despite rebooting, reconnecting, etc. With the DX200, the REI play/pause button worked properly and the REI began to warm, but no sound was heard regardless of what player app I used. With the HTC10, no connection was shown on the phone's USB setting menu. In comparison, using the same cables, my Shozy DAC/Amp connected immediately to all of my devices, although power was being supplied by the Shozy internal battery.
With the devices that were able to be connected, the sound was outstanding both when streaming Tidal and with my lossless ripped files. The sound was rich, expansive and almost holographic. Musical detail was rendered beautifully throughout the frequency range. Instrumental and vocal timbre was spot on and very lifelike. Lots of weight to the music with almost palpable bass.
I suspect that my failure to connect may be related to the available supply voltage delivered from the USB port of the non-connectable devices. Attempting to use the USB Audio Player Pro did not improve matters.
I also am guessing that the REI is a Class A device as it begins to heat as soon as connected, even with no music playing. I measured a temperature of 99.1 F after about an hour of use.
While I am very impressed with the audio quality of the REI, I am less pleased with the connectivity issues I am experiencing. I will likely have to limit the use of the REI to my tablets and desktop rather than for use with my DAP's. While the M1 worked flawless with the REI, the small internal battery of the M1 resulted in slightly less than 2 hours of battery life. I will give this another try as this is the ideal pairing otherwise.
More to come later~~~~
