[ExpatinJapan]

An enjoyable time meeting Sam of Echobox for the first time. Nakano, Tokyo.

I had a chance to listen to his Echobox Explorer.



Brief impressions of Sams Echobox Explorer.

Medium to large sound stage.
Excellent instrument separation and timbre.
Slight energetic and fun v/L shaped signature.
Vocals and music quite balanced with each other.
A dynamic and musical sound signature.
Good detailing.

I could detect a slight amp hum if i held it directly! to my ear like a sea shell. Common on many daps, but unnoticeable overall when using the Explorer.

Good build. Solid unit.
Easy to use UI.
Light in the hand.


Photo and edit: Sam



Regards
Expat

 

[Danivi]

Hi there
Is there the chance to use tidal in offline mode?

 

[Q Mass]

An enjoyable time meeting Sam of Echobox for the first time. Nakano, Tokyo.

I had a chance to listen to his Echobox Explorer.



Brief impressions of Sams Echobox Explorer.

Medium to large sound stage.
Excellent instrument separation and timbre.
Slight energetic and fun v/L shaped signature.
Vocals and music quite balanced with each other.
A dynamic and musical sound signature.
Good detailing.

I could detect a slight amp hum if i held it directly! to my ear like a sea shell. Common on many daps, but unnoticeable overall when using the Explorer.

Good build. Solid unit.
Easy to use UI.
Light in the hand.


Photo and edit: Sam



Regards
Expat

I concur on sound Expat.

I've been using my Explorer with Tidal exclusively (so far) and now have 92GB of my 128GB (119 as formatted by the Explorer) SanDisk micro SD filled with Tidal offline storage.

Due to my astonishingly poor rural 'broadband', downloading this has taken around 5 full days!
So Tidal better not wipe offline content as it has done to me before on my cellphone! (to be fair, Spotify also did that to me once and I had to download around 70GB again).
This issue could be operator error, although I don't see how, as at the times this has happened I did not exceed the number of devices allocated for offline use, or deselect the devices which I lost the offline storage from.
But I digress.

Hopefully I'm worrying about something which will never happen!

I love the sound I'm getting out of my Explorer.
I've been using it mostly with some Denon AH D-2000's which are my most recent headphone purchase, and they're the best 'transportable' combo' I have.
I also love the way my Sony MDR 1-A's sound from the Explorer, and that combo is a little better for portability (short cable, smaller headphones).

I'm finding a robust sound that's very dynamic, with a nicely propulsive feeling when the music calls for it.
Bass is full, deep and the Explorer has excellent control without 'strangling' it.
Clarity is good across the board, and the whole spectrum is coherent without any standout deviations or anomalies from what I consider a balanced reproduction.

Mids have a lovely liquid quality to them, and both voice genders are beautifully rendered with a very satisfying timbre.
I like quite forward Mids myself, and although the Explorer doesn't push them out in front of the ends of the spectrum, I am happy that they're not 'shy' or recessed, but present and correct.

Highs are lovely too.
I admit that I'm not much of a treble head, but I do demand clarity, a nice bit of sparkle, and near total freedom from sibilance, all of which the Explorer delivers (if the recording allows of course).

Soundstage seems good to me, but I confess that it's of less importance to me than it seems to be to others.

I was very keen to listen through my CIEM's (customised TF10's with an added dynamic bass driver - Cosmic Ears) but my Linum cables failed me in a really weird way recently, and I'm waiting for a returns response from Linum re' re-termination, so I can't yet say how the Explorer sounds with decent in-ears.

I'm surprised at the delicacy available from the Explorer /Denon combo.
I was concerned that the 'basshead' qualifications of the Denon might muddy the rest of the sound sig'.
And although I consider myself a 'borderline' basshead, I don't like it at all when the bass frequency has a negative effect on the rest of the sound quality.
I'm happy to report that the Explorer delivers excellent, hard hitting, musical bass without incurring a cost elsewhere with all of my headphones, especially the Denons.
Caveat:
I have yet to do any extensive listening via my T50RP's, AKG K553 Pro's, and my Stax Lambdas are in storage ATM.

I'm delighted with the sound, and I've done a bit of a 180 from being a concerned, angry and unhappy backer, to being extremely releived that Echobox has come through with a fantastic device.
The fit and finish of my Explorer is superb, and the stainless end caps, beautiful walnut, excellent volume/control knob and solid, secure feeling headphone socket all contribute to my satisfaction.

That's not to say that the Explorer is flawless.
I consider the issues I have encountered so far to be minor (very slight hum/squeal from unit when working and held to ear, tiny almost inaudible click through 'phones right at the beginning of tracks- non issues for me, and relay clicks from the amp turning itself on and off -inaudible through 'phones- also don't care about this).
The only issue I would like to ask for Echobox to work on so far is the battery drain when shut down.
I shut down last night with over 5 hours left on the battery, to find a completely flat battery (well, 2% left) this morning.
And I definitely shut down completely.

I hadn't noticed this before last night, and there have probably been mornings when I have had battery left, but I have been listening so much (really addictive sound, up WAY too late!) that I've been charging overnight almost every night, which might explain why I haven't noticed the battery drain.

I'm sure that this is something that can be fixed via firmware though, but I'm not looking forward to having to download for another 5 days after an update!

Overall I'm very happy so far, and feel that I got an astonishing bargain at the backer price.
The premium, solid feel and sound of the Explorer should IMO command well above what we backers paid, but I haven't heard the devices the Explorer will be competing against, so YMMV if you have more experience than me.

When I eventually get round to trying other 'phones and in-ears, and 'proper' hi-rez files via UAPP I'll report back again.
To those still waiting, please be assured that I for one now feel that the wait was worth it, and am very happy, hopefully you will too.

 

[hardbop]

Hi there
Is there the chance to use tidal in offline mode?

Offline mode works fine.

 

[pedalhead]

Anyone else having trouble copying music to the Explorer via Windows explorer? The copy keeps stalling on me, to both internal memory and sd card. I've had to resort to putting the sd card directly into my laptop to do a local copy instead.

 

[Q Mass]

A followup to my battery draining:
It seems I might owe Echobox an apology.
I have been trying to replicate the battery drain by deliberately leaving around 50% or 100% battery in the unit, and powering down completely overnight, and have had no drain at all.
The battery level has been the same the following morning every time, so I think it's safe to assume that despite my certainty, I failed to fully shut the Explorer down, oops.

So that's good news!

BTW, I'm getting around 7 hours of battery life whilst using 'Tidal offline' with a mixture of Denon D2000, full volume 'line out' and bluetooth in the car, and given the power this thing can push I'm very happy with that.

BTW @Danivi , Tidal offline works fine, but to designate a micro sd card as the default offline storage I had to download and install a more recent version of Tidal.
Echobox support gave me detailed instructions, and it all went smoothly.
I posted the instructions and a link to the Tidal APK in The Official Echobox Explorer thread, but I'll post them here too for convenience:

Here are the instruction for sideloading Tidal that I got from Echobox:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Download the attached file (Tidal_1.16.9-722.apk) to your computer. (there are links either here or the other thread that will provide this APK file)

2) Uninstall TIDAL from your Explorer. You can do this by pressing and holding on the TIDAL App, then dragging it to the "Uninstall" icon at the top of the screen.

3) Go into the settings menu of your Explorer and scroll down to "Security". Under the security section, you will want to enable "Allow Installations from Unknown Sources". If you cannot find it, you will be prompted to do this once you begin the installation later, however it will save you a step down the road if you can locate it right away.

4) Plug your Explorer in to your computer using the provided USB to Micro USB cable.

5) On Windows you will want to open your "File Explorer" and locate "X1" which is the name of the Explorer when it appears on your computer. Once you are in the Explorer folder, you will want to open the "downloads" folder. For a MAC, you will need to download the Android Tool, which you can find here: https://www.android.com/filetransfer/ Once downloaded, please follow their recommended instructions for how to transfer files.

6) On Windows or MAC, Once you have located the "Downloads" folder of the Explorer, simply "drag and drop" the TIDAL APK file into the Downloads folder.

7) Once you have moved the TIDAL file into your Downloads folder, you may unplug your Explorer from your computer.

8) Going back to the Explorer, open up the applications menu and look for an app called "File Explorer". Open this app.

9) Within the "File Explorer" app menu, you will want to locate "Internal Storage". Click on this.

10) Once in "Internal Storage", locate and click on the "Downloads" folder. Inside this folder you will see the TIDAL APK file you just moved from your computer.

11) Once you locate the TIDAL file, click on it. You will have a menu come up on your screen, please scroll down to the bottom of this menu and click on "Install". If you have enabled "Unknown Sources" already, it will proceed to install. If you have not, it will prompt you to go to the settings menu and enable this option. Once you have enabled it, work your way back through steps 8-10.

12) Once the installation is complete, press the "home" button on the bottom of your Explorer to return to the home screen. You can then go back to the Applications Menu, where you will find your newly installed TIDAL app. You can now open it and log in to your account!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once you have completed these steps, to use a micro SD card to store your Tidal Offline content:
You simply (In Tidal) go to 'My Music' and find the 'Settings' icon in the top right of the window.
Tap on it, make sure that 'Offline mode' is DEselected, scroll down to 'OFFLINE' and immediately below you will find the 'Download Destination' selector.
Tap on it and select your micro SD card to designate it as your storage for Tidal Offline.

Once you have chosen which of your playlists to save offline the Explorer will download the content via Wi-Fi (beware if you have really crappy broadband like me this will take a long time, around 5 full day/nights for my 3000-odd tracks! but I have REALLY poor broadband).

Once all your content has downloaded you can go back into My Music>Settings, and select Offline mode.

 

[makethemusic]

Love the impressions, keep them coming!!

 

[musicday]

Love the impressions, keep them coming!!

Hi Echobox,

Can you please check your email and your PM regarding CanJam London 2017?
I was pleasantly surprised to see how much the software Explorer has improved since last year.
Thanks,
Musicday

 

[masterpfa]

Hi
I have stayed away from this thread for sometime and a matter of fact stayed away from my Explorer too, to say the least this has been the most unpleasant experience I have had since getting hooked on this hobby of ours.

I have always prefered the sound of my DAC to that of any music player and to get the best (for my tastes) I have always hooked up my Onkyo, AK or phones to my Chord Mojo and listened merrily away.
Alas with the Explorer not so, having been nearly deafened on a few occasions by white type nose and/or hissing at extreme volumes (regardless of the volume setting on my DAC)

Has anyone had similar experiences or able to offer any guidelines.

I wanted this to work for me but battery and the now this... getting close to another ad in the classifieds at this rate

 

[bearFNF]

Hi
I have stayed away from this thread for sometime and a matter of fact stayed away from my Explorer too, to say the least this has been the most unpleasant experience I have had since getting hooked on this hobby of ours.

I have always prefered the sound of my DAC to that of any music player and to get the best (for my tastes) I have always hooked up my Onkyo, AK or phones to my Chord Mojo and listened merrily away.
Alas with the Explorer not so, having been nearly deafened on a few occasions by white type nose and/or hissing at extreme volumes (regardless of the volume setting on my DAC)

Has anyone had similar experiences or able to offer any guidelines.

I wanted this to work for me but battery and the now this... getting close to another ad in the classifieds at this rate

ACK, that's not good!!! I have used my Explorer lineout and headphone out to a few DACs and Amps and have never experienced this. I do not have experience worth mentioning with the Mojo.
What is wrong with the battery? Is your unit a first run or second run unit? there were issues with some of the first 45 sent out...
Echobox should be interested in this. Is it reproduce-able? Has it happened more than once? I would send Team Echobox an email with a description of the issue,

 

[Headmusic]

Hi folks,

I received my Explorer yesterday and was rapt to finally have it, it had quite a quite 3D soundstage, immediately clearer and more spatial and vibrant than both my Sony A15 Walkman and Pono HOWEVER the honeymoon is over quickly I have some ISSUE with it:

1. Would have been nice to explain how 'Toslink' mini works, they stated in marketing that you can use standard 3.5 mm cable NOPE, you need mini Toslink cable and if you use analog amp, like I do, a SPDIF-RCA adapter and TL cable required - looking at 50-100bucks there..
2. The 'popping' noises..OK when a track starts, but I notice after a few minutes these slight popping/stylus static noise goes through the track, it sound like you are listening to vinyl it's CRAP! I rebooted the device and they seemed to disappear, but they they come back, really annoying! This is with my cheap old Sennheizer MX-460 buds..a real pain! It seems like either the DAC isnt powerful enough or the transport software is flaky...

 

[Q Mass]

Hi folks,

I received my Explorer yesterday and was rapt to finally have it, it had quite a quite 3D soundstage, immediately clearer and more spatial and vibrant than both my Sony A15 Walkman and Pono HOWEVER the honeymoon is over quickly I have some ISSUE with it:

1. Would have been nice to explain how 'Toslink' mini works, they stated in marketing that you can use standard 3.5 mm cable NOPE, you need mini Toslink cable and if you use analog amp, like I do a SPdi t RCA adapter,,looking at 50-100bucks there..
2. The 'popping' noises..OK when a track starts, but I notice after a few minutes these slight popping noise go through the track, it sound like you are listen to vinyl it is CRAP! I rebooted the device and they seemed to disappear, but they they come back, really annoying! This is with my cheap old Sennheizer MX-460 buds..a really pain! It seem like either the DAC isnt powerful enough of the transport software is flaky...

Sorry to hear that Headmusic.
I think it unlikely that it's a software problem, or that the DAC gain is insufficient, as my Explorer doesn't exhibit this popping.

My guess is a hardware fault.
Hopefully Echobox can sort you out without too much delay?

Good luck getting this sorted out sharpish.

 

[Darkestred]

Does anyone who has the EchoBox have owned a Fiio X7 or Accoustic Research M20. Can you provide your impressions of the "2" units?

Also, what is the battery life just listening to MP3? Forgive me if this has been asked. I do not see a search thread link anywhere.

 

[bearFNF]

Hi folks,

I received my Explorer yesterday and was rapt to finally have it, it had quite a quite 3D soundstage, immediately clearer and more spatial and vibrant than both my Sony A15 Walkman and Pono HOWEVER the honeymoon is over quickly I have some ISSUE with it:

1. Would have been nice to explain how 'Toslink' mini works, they stated in marketing that you can use standard 3.5 mm cable NOPE, you need mini Toslink cable and if you use analog amp, like I do a SPdi t RCA adapter,,looking at 50-100bucks there..
2. The 'popping' noises..OK when a track starts, but I notice after a few minutes these slight popping noise go through the track, it sound like you are listen to vinyl it is CRAP! I rebooted the device and they seemed to disappear, but they they come back, really annoying! This is with my cheap old Sennheizer MX-460 buds..a really pain! It seem like either the DAC isnt powerful enough of the transport software is flaky...

I have used the FiiO Taishan D03k it's only $20 US, but it needs power so not so portable unless you use a battery pack.
In UAPP I had to adjust the Gain in the EQ to keep it from overdriving. Tidal worked just fine.

For your second problem not sure what that could be...may want to drop team Echobox an email

 

[Headmusic]

Hmmm..I have contacted Echobox and they are looking into it...I've noticed a few more things regarding this 'stylus static' type noise.. It seems to only happen with the USB-Audio proprietary app, and it seems to only happen (so far) with 24bit-192hz Flac...?? When I play the same files on the Android 'music' app, the FLAC's play fine without the 'stylus pop. I have tried upping the Bugger size and other switches within the USB apps with no avaial. It's hard to tell whether yes, my Explorer is faulty or it's a software issue between the DAC and the software itself.. Besides that I am happy with the sound coming out of the device, though I would have liked a standard analog 3.5 output option!