Geek Wave: A No-compromise Portable Music Player

[chartwell85]

Apple has completely abandoned iPod, the original portable music player. Their vision is to integrate music playback into the iPhone. That's great for everyday music listeners, but what about those of us who don't want our music interrupted when a phone call, email, or text comes in? What about those of us who want the highest quality sound? We know when you start mashing up devices, compromises have to be made. What about those of us who love what high-resolution digital audio sounds like? We know iPhone just can't cut it.

We're trying to save the portable music player, and we're not alone. Along with friends like Sony, Pono, and Astell & Kern, we're dedicated to making a small, portable device that's dedicated to one task: to uncompromisingly playback high resolution music.

Geek Wave is the evolution of the portable player. It provides uncompromised sound quality, while also loading you up with the portability, functionality, tech specs, and features LH Labs is known for. It plays PCM formats natively at up to 384 kHz sample rates in pure 32 bit depth. Beyond PCM, it plays DSD formats at up to 128 times the sample rate of a standard CD. Geek Wave doesn't mess around.

Whether you're just looking to replace that old iPod you've been carrying since the early 2000's or you're a hardcorde, dyed-in-the-wool audio aficionado, Geek Wave mixes work with play, and is ready to party. Beer, cheeseburgers, and giddiness sold separately.

For more details and tech specs on Geek Wave check them out here: http://bit.ly/geekwaveID

 

 

[shanecg32]

If ordered today, when will delivery in the U.S. be expected?

 

[chartwell85]

  If ordered today, when will delivery in the U.S. be expected?

We're looking at a July delivery of Geek Wave.

 

[shanecg32]

  We're looking at a July delivery of Geek Wave.

Okay thanks. Do you know how long this campaign will be active?

 

[shanecg32]

Also, is there any pre-production/demo units available for review? I would be highly interested if so

 

[chartwell85]

  Okay thanks. Do you know how long this campaign will be active?

The campaign will be ending relatively soon.  I dont have an exact date yet.  

 

[chartwell85]

  Also, is there any pre-production/demo units available for review? I would be highly interested if so

No pre-production units are available....yet.  We'll begin sending those out for review shortly after the campaign wraps up.  

 

[shanecg32]

Gotcha, that makes sense. Any way I can get on that list?

 

[chartwell85]

  Gotcha, that makes sense. Any way I can get on that list?

Every pre-production unit we have has already been spoken for.  

 

[shanecg32]

okay, if a spot opens up, I would love to do a review/survey. Let me know. Thanks!

 

[vinjeman]

After reading reviews of their headphone amp I am really looking forward to this player. Specs look amazing. Joining the campaign today...

jhv

 

[Earbones]

Just saw this thread... The statements that Apple has "completely abandoned iPod" or the insinuation that they don't deliver the "highest quality sound" are strong ones. And I'm unsure how true they are.
 
With regards to the seeming discontinuation of the iPod, there are persistent rumors of a new iPod Touch 6th gen... Perhaps it will happen, perhaps not, but as things stand, it can no more be called Vaporware than the Geek Wave, which if you remember, was supposed to ship a while ago. 
 
With regards to the highest quality sound and iOS devices, I will direct you to Ken Rockwell's findings. Hard cold measurements have shown again and again that iOS devices provide some of the best portable sound quality available, period. THD and FR measurements are perpetually some of the very best in the portable audio industry. In fact, the vast majority of external amps, DACs, and amp/DAC units actually provide measurably worse sound quality than whatever iOS device they are connected to. I do believe that the sound quality of iOS devices can be improved upon by external DACs and amps... But as I've said before, it's no mean feat to do so. You're talking about a pretty special external device that can do that. The cry of the snake oil salesman is that anything will improve an iPhone. It's simply not true. And for the record, you can turn off alerts if you don't want your music interrupted.
 
Perhaps you're talking about iOS devices and high-rez audio files though? 
 
On that subject, we have to remember that while a 6th gen iPod is a big maybe, what can reasonably be expected from Apple, based on all available information, is a rebranding and relaunching of Beats Music as a lossless streaming service to leapfrog Spotify, Rhapsody, et al and compete directly with Tidal (although "compete" may be an optimistic term for Tidal). Every public move the company has made thus far seems to support this happening.
 
This speaks to the iPhone 6S (or whatever the mid-life refresh will be called) having high-resolution audio playback capability. Ditto any 6th gen iPod that may or may not appear.
 
Bottom line, dismissing Apple from the music playback game (high-rez or otherwise) at this stage is irresponsible in so much that it's most likely wildly erroneous.
 
Like many, I'm excited to see what the Geek Wave is all about when it drops. But like many, it also leaves a bad taste in my mouth when you trash talk the competition. If you believe the Wave to be a better option than whatever comes out of Cupertino, great.
 
Let the device do the talking. 

 

[alishafai]

Technically, it seems that this player is above anything else out there. The details on the UI/UX are less than satisfying.
 
Can you share some screen-shots or a video of the player in action?
 
Thanks.

 

[musicday]

Any news about this?

 

[Army-Firedawg]

First time I've seen this thread but it looks awesome, like the person above me is there any news on it? What's the price? I've been looking into a DAP and this beauty sounds very impressive ESPECIALLY with such a large hard drive.
 
EDIT: Just looked through the campaign and found the price but still SUPER interested in the ability to try out this guy