[silverstare11]

Any more news?

Nothing from either DHL or Echobox for me yet.

Update:
Pinged Sam again and got a response. The missing units weren't shipped, nor have they been produced. Long story short, 41 units have yet to be produced/delivered to backers who did not receive one from the first/problematic production run.

There's more content to Sam's response, but I feel so gutted by the whole ordeal and this latest development that I've no motivation to go into further detail here. I imagine Sam will eventually post something on the IGG page(s).

 

[dlayman]

I posted about the same issues in the other Explorer topic here. I suggest emailing Echobox at the address that comes with the unit. They replied to me right away and offered to walk me thru the process of updating Tidal. I can't understand why they did not provide even an online faq, especially given all the extra time they had, but they are apparently writing something now. I can't be of any help on the Wifi other than to say that that the issue went away for me.

I'm in the same boat on the logo, but I was aware in advance, so it was not a surprise. I think it looks fine even with the logo. I'm guessing that did not want any units out there without a logo, for branding reasons.

This is why their policy of not helping anybody in a public forum is poor. Nobody else can benefit from the knowledge that is gained. Each person has to inconvenienced to write to them and wait for an answer, everything behind closed doors. And not including a proper instruction manual, especially after all the delays is just astonishing.

 

[bearFNF]

LOL here's the route...

 

[dlayman]

LOL here's the route...

Are you in a very rural area? That might be why. Mine bounced around a bit, literally judging by the bock, because I'm in a pretty rural area, but not as convoluted as yours. You must have some terrible winters there.

 

[silverstare11]

This is why their policy of not helping anybody in a public forum is poor. Nobody else can benefit from the knowledge that is gained. Each person has to inconvenienced to write to them and wait for an answer, everything behind closed doors. And not including a proper instruction manual, especially after all the delays is just astonishing.

The offical response is up on the IGG Updates page.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/...l-audio-android-streaming/x/12973422#/updates

 

[bearFNF]

Are you in a very rural area? That might be why. Mine bounced around a bit, literally judging by the bock, because I'm in a pretty rural area, but not as convoluted as yours. You must have some terrible winters there.

Yep, two hours to anywhere. Heck we don't even have a McDonald's in town. Nearest one is an hour away and it is in a gas station. Winters are cold and windy.

 

[dlayman]

Well, I decided to give the player a chance. These are very early impressions based on limited usage. I haven't tried to connect to WiFi so I have no comment on that aspect.

Build quality of my unit overall is good. No defects in the wood. I was told I could remove my original engraving when the shells were remade, but that failed to happen, as I expected. Disappointing but no big deal. Disappointed with the case. It doesn't fit very well. It's very tight getting on and then the fit is sloppy.

I just pulled the micro SD out of my tablet and put in the Explorer. Scanning of the 15 GB of music took about 10-15 minutes but it eventually got there.

The unit supposedly has stock Marshmallow, but it doesn't look that way to me. Some standard features, such as ability to set channel balance globally, are missing. The player app has this, but it's effect is too subtle.

The UI is pretty snappy, especially given the limited RAM. The display is pretty good too. There isn't much in the way of apps on the device, but at least it has an internet browser. Since you have to sideload everything, a tool to make this easier would have been helpful.

So far, I seem to be free of any annoying clicks or pops, using forgiving 32 ohm moderate sensitivity IEM's.

I'm not thrilled with the sound so far. Maybe it needs some more break in. The sound is too laid back, compared to my Shanling M3, and even my Sansa Clip Plus. It makes for a fatigue free listening experience, but it isn't very involving. Soundstage is average at best, and so is instrument separation. I guess the word I'm looking for is congested. The treble presentation in particular is lacking. It seems rolled off and lacking in definition and detail. The player has a mid forward sound to me with bass, while present, that lacks impact.

I can't see me using this device over my alternatives, unless the sound improves significantly. I expected a lot of glitches and issues, and so far I don't have any. But I expected the sound quality to be better than it is. To my ears, it just doesn't sound like a high end device or even mid range. It seems to take the life and emotion out of the music.

It does get very warm. After an hour or so the metal caps aren't just warm, they're hot, again with simply playing from a card. I would imagine streaming or Internet browsing might make it worse. Hopefully it reaches a maximum temperature of what I'm experiencing and doesn't get any hotter. The unit makes a small click when powering down, no big deal.

I'm still not sure what will be the ultimate fate of the player. It functions very well, I just don't think it sounds very good. Maybe the IEM I've used so far isn't a good match or maybe the player needs more break in, something I don't really believe in with solid state electronics. It might pair better with a strong V-shaped IEM, like the Finders.

 

[Trager]

Well, I decided to give the player a chance. These are very early impressions based on limited usage. I haven't tried to connect to WiFi so I have no comment on that aspect.

The UI is pretty snappy, especially given the limited RAM. The display is pretty good too. There isn't much in the way of apps on the device, but at least it has an internet browser. Since you have to sideload everything, a tool to make this easier would have been helpful.

So far, I seem to be free of any annoying clicks or pops, using forgiving 32 ohm moderate sensitivity IEM's.

I'm not thrilled with the sound so far. Maybe it needs some more break in. The sound is too laid back, compared to my Shanling M3, and even my Sansa Clip Plus. It makes for a fatigue free listening experience, but it isn't very involving. Soundstage is average at best, and so is instrument separation. I guess the word I'm looking for is congested. The treble presentation in particular is lacking. It seems rolled off and lacking in definition and detail. The player has a mid forward sound to me with bass, while present, that lacks impact.

I can't see me using this device over my alternatives, unless the sound improves significantly. I expected a lot of glitches and issues, and so far I don't have any. But I expected the sound quality to be better than it is. To my ears, it just doesn't sound like a high end device or even mid range. It seems to take the life and emotion out of the music.

It does get very warm. After an hour or so the metal caps aren't just warm, they're hot, again with simply playing from a card. I would imagine streaming or Internet browsing might make it worse. Hopefully it reaches a maximum temperature of what I'm experiencing and doesn't get any hotter. The unit makes a small click when powering down, no big deal.

Same here -- just got the device, giving it a listen. First impressions:

It's very strange... the sound on mine isn't like what you're describing at all, except for the background hiss that makes it sound like I'm listening to a mid-80s walkman (slightly exaggerated). If I ignore that, the sound is pretty good. I mean, my iPad sounds better at the moderate volumes that I prefer, but this thing definitely has some overhead to drive much heavier cans than I'm currently using. I agree it's a little mid-centric, but I'm not getting the treble rolloff.

I'm using TIDAL and downloading offline, so currently my wifi is on. That might have something to do with it. I'll try again once downloading is done and see if that changes anything.

 

[dlayman]

Updated impressions: sound is definitely improving. Still not the moist airy presentation but treble performance and soundstage are improving as is bass impact. Still seems to be an emphasis in the upper mids. I guess I will let it just play for awhile and see if things get better, at least things are moving in the right direction. My device has a good noise floor, no hissing so far, but I'm using an IEM which is almost immune to it unless things are really bad. I don't have any super sensitive IEM's to try the unit with.

WiFi performance isn't good. Range is pretty short and speed is quite slow even on my home network with no traffic. Use of WiFi doesn't cause any audible problems, so shielding is improved from the first batch, although possibly at the expense of signal strength.

My first bug, the date and time always resets to 8 AM January 11, 2000 every time the unit is turned off. It won't correct itself until connected to a WiFi network. Using auto or manual time and date set up has no effect. Nobody else has reported this as far as I know. Update: I reported it to EB, and it's a known bug. The only way to get the device to display the correct time and date is to connect to wifi.

 

[On The And Of 1]

Same here -- just got the device, giving it a listen. First impressions:

It's very strange... the sound on mine isn't like what you're describing at all, except for the background hiss that makes it sound like I'm listening to a mid-80s walkman (slightly exaggerated). If I ignore that, the sound is pretty good. I mean, my iPad sounds better at the moderate volumes that I prefer, but this thing definitely has some overhead to drive much heavier cans than I'm currently using. I agree it's a little mid-centric, but I'm not getting the treble rolloff.

I'm using TIDAL and downloading offline, so currently my wifi is on. That might have something to do with it. I'll try again once downloading is done and see if that changes anything.

Somewhat disconcerting that an iPad sounds better than a dedicated "music player".

I'm part of the missing, (is it now 41?) so can't comment on either first or second production run, but if your findings are indeed the facts then the wait, and eventually receiving the unit maybe deflating as riding out on the visionary wave?

 

[dlayman]

From what I was hearing earlier, I would have said I preferred my Samsung tablet to the Explorer, although the Explorer is improving with some playing without me listening, which I find odd. Some tablets and other mobile devices are very capable as long as the load is easy to drive. I still definitely prefer my Shanling to the Explorer by a good margin, but we'll see if things improve. The Shanling was awesome right out of the box, and can drive darn near anything.

 

[Trager]

Somewhat disconcerting that an iPad sounds better than a dedicated "music player".

I'm part of the missing, (is it now 41?) so can't comment on either first or second production run, but if your findings are indeed the facts then the wait, and eventually receiving the unit maybe deflating as riding out on the visionary wave?

Right now, there is no difference to me between my initial unit and the replacement one. I don't have the initial one with me right now to do an A/B test, but the same problems I had with the first persist in the second. Especially frustrating since I listened to Sam's "fixed" one at CanJam SoCal and it was, indeed, significantly better.

 

[bearFNF]

Updated impressions: sound is definitely improving. Still not the moist airy presentation but treble performance and soundstage are improving as is bass impact. Still seems to be an emphasis in the upper mids. I guess I will let it just play for awhile and see if things get better, at least things are moving in the right direction. My device has a good noise floor, no hissing so far, but I'm using an IEM which is almost immune to it unless things are really bad. I don't have any super sensitive IEM's to try the unit with.

WiFi performance isn't good. Range is pretty short and speed is quite slow even on my home network with no traffic. Use of WiFi doesn't cause any audible problems, so shielding is improved from the first batch, although possibly at the expense of signal strength.

My first bug, the date and time always resets to 8 AM January 11, 2000 every time the unit is turned off. It won't correct itself until connected to a WiFi network. Using auto or manual time and date set up has no effect. Nobody else has reported this as far as I know. Update: I reported it to EB, and it's a known bug. The only way to get the device to display the correct time and date is to connect to wifi.

I reported this earlier, it is the same with first batch players.

PS - just got my package, delivered by USPS -have not opened yet but will in a few minutes.

 

[dlayman]

I reported this earlier, it is the same with first batch players.

PS - just got my package, delivered by USPS -have not opened yet but will in a few minutes.

Well, you got it at least a little earlier than expected. Good luck. There seems to be a lot of variation among units.

 

[Trager]

Strange. I had wifi on the whole time, and the date/time didn't update until I turned wifi off and then back on.

I don't really think my Beyerdynamic Xelentos are all that sensitive. The Westone W60 that I used before were significantly more so, at least if my iDevice volume settings can be trusted at all.

On a lark, I decided to try these with my Oppo PM-3. That does fix the hiss and makes the popping less noticeable. On the other hand, it's not a particularly good pairing. Also, strangely, the Explorer doesn't drive the PM-3 all that loudly. I have pretty sensitive ears and was able to crank them almost all the way up. Again, it seems like my iPad drives louder and with more authority than the Explorer.