[plakat]

OK, seems like we've been heard... Will added a post on the products discussions page. Thats the good news... bad news is that July 31 scheduled deliveries are obviously moved to end of August, citing supply chain disruptions (just as is to be expected). It's not that I don't have any other headphones to listen to, so I guess I can wait...

 

[JDar2M]

At this point, I feel sorry for the people who ordered theirs for September.

 

[Kalli]

Hey guys,
I'm new to this thread, but it seems like this hasn't been asked before.

1. Is it still a hassle to purchase from europe/germany? About duty fees.
2. Anyone compared the Panda to the Shure AONIC 50 yet?
3. How do they perform on public bus/train/airplane? Since they don't have ANC.

 

[Kalli]

For audio, only LDAC matters at the moment and when using at least the 660Kbps option. However, as stated before, LDAC mostly falls back to 330Kbps in which case aptX-HD is better (lower noise floor, better upper frequency extension). You have to force the 990Kbps option in Android's dev settings but then the connection becomes more sensitive to interference.
Panda on the receiving end shouldn't have much trouble but the smartphone/dap on the other end is the limiting factor (antennae implementation, chipset used, bluetooth software stack etc).

Here are some useful links on the matter:

https://www.soundguys.com/understanding-bluetooth-codecs-15352/

https://www.soundguys.com/ldac-ultimate-bluetooth-guide-20026/

The best we can get with bluetooth right now is (almost) "CD quality"

Any idea how to monitor LDAC speed while using it? In adaptive mode.

 

[JDar2M]

Hey guys,
I'm new to this thread, but it seems like this hasn't been asked before.

1. Is it still a hassle to purchase from europe/germany? About duty fees.
2. Anyone compared the Panda to the Shure AONIC 50 yet?
3. How do they perform on public bus/train/airplane? Since they don't have ANC.

1. I believe the problem with EU shipping is that they have to be shipped to the US to then be shipped to the EU and with the virus hitting the US like it is, there might still be an issue.

2. and 3. I can't help there, sorry.

 

[Kalli]

1. I believe the problem with EU shipping is that they have to be shipped to the US to then be shipped to the EU and with the virus hitting the US like it is, there might still be an issue.

Thanks man. So duty fees still apply, which brings them close to 450€.

 

[plakat]

Hey guys,
I'm new to this thread, but it seems like this hasn't been asked before.

1. Is it still a hassle to purchase from europe/germany? About duty fees.
2. Anyone compared the Panda to the Shure AONIC 50 yet?
3. How do they perform on public bus/train/airplane? Since they don't have ANC.

Drop still has no presence within EU, therefore you're importing the items you buy there yourself. Which means you'll have to pay import fees. Otherwise it's no problem, you can book shipping to EU at a reasonable fee.

I've had the PM3 once for testing, which the Panda is based upon with minor tweaks to its sound signature. The PM3 was not to my taste I have to admit, nevertheless I preordered the Panda... yet I'm thinking about cancelling that preorder given the rather long delay and the fact that I do have some wireless headphones I'm quite happy with, the Aonic being one of them...

 

[Kalli]

Drop still has no presence within EU, therefore you're importing the items you buy there yourself. Which means you'll have to pay import fees. Otherwise it's no problem, you can book shipping to EU at a reasonable fee.

I've had the PM3 once for testing, which the Panda is based upon with minor tweaks to its sound signature. The PM3 was not to my taste I have to admit, nevertheless I preordered the Panda... yet I'm thinking about cancelling that preorder given the rather long delay and the fact that I do have some wireless headphones I'm quite happy with, the Aonic being one of them...

Ye, I remember you from the Aonic 50 and Club One threads.

 

[thomaspf]

Hi,
since I have some more time on my hands before my Panda will get delivered I started looking at which Bluetooth transmitter will provide the highest quality. It seems there are still no simple USB dongles for Windows 10 with LDAC support.

There are a bunch of DAPs/USB DACs that can stream LDAC to Bluetooth headphones but I wonder whether I will lose the microphone on the Panda.

Anyone has found a solution for hires playback (LDAC at 990 kbps) and microphone functionality that works on Windows 10?

 

[smallcaps]

Hi,
since I have some more time on my hands before my Panda will get delivered I started looking at which Bluetooth transmitter will provide the highest quality. It seems there are still no simple USB dongles for Windows 10 with LDAC support.

There are a bunch of DAPs/USB DACs that can stream LDAC to Bluetooth headphones but I wonder whether I will lose the microphone on the Panda.

Anyone has found a solution for hires playback (LDAC at 990 kbps) and microphone functionality that works on Windows 10?

I was also searching for something like this but haven't really found anything. There are certainly Bluetooth transmitters in existance, but the highest codec I've seen is AptX HD, not LDAC nor HWA.

 

[Raketen]

edit nvm, misread question

 

[Kalli]

Hi,
since I have some more time on my hands before my Panda will get delivered I started looking at which Bluetooth transmitter will provide the highest quality. It seems there are still no simple USB dongles for Windows 10 with LDAC support.

There are a bunch of DAPs/USB DACs that can stream LDAC to Bluetooth headphones but I wonder whether I will lose the microphone on the Panda.

Anyone has found a solution for hires playback (LDAC at 990 kbps) and microphone functionality that works on Windows 10?

Hey, I had the same problem some time ago. All those USB-Dongles are pretty bad normally. I decided to get a Wifi card (which normally includes Bluetooth) and add it with a PCIE adapter. Depending on what kind of PC you have that might not be possible, but chances are good it works out one or the other way.

As for the Wifi card the Intel AX200 is pretty much a no-brainer those days.
For the adapter you can either get something from AliExpress or buy something from a known brand.
I got this one quite cheap. https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GC-WBAX200-rev-10#kf

 

[thomaspf]

Thank you @Kalli. The problem is that LDAC is not a supported codec in Windows. So any generic Bluetooth solution will not work.

A possible workaround is to find a device that looks like a soundcard with outputs and inputs to the operating system but in fact relays the audio bits to the Panda headphone via Bluetooth using the high bandwidth LDAC codec.

Anyone?

 

[Kalli]

Thank you @Kalli. The problem is that LDAC is not a supported codec in Windows. So any generic Bluetooth solution will not work.

A possible workaround is to find a device that looks like a soundcard with outputs and inputs to the operating system but in fact relays the audio bits to the Panda headphone via Bluetooth using the high bandwidth LDAC codec.

Anyone?

True story, Windows is a pain in the ...
The transmitter side (of LDAC) is free though as far as i know. So maybe you can find some piece of software workaround. On Linux it's kinda straight forward.

 

[billbishere]

i wanted these really bad, but glad I didn't waste my money. If the ever get the supply chain giong for them maybe I will get them then, like the 58x and such.