[Zackobrien]

One of the stretch goals (which was met) was Aptx HD, so I expect that's the route they've gone. They wrote that their sample units had 20+ hours of playtime. As @AlwaysForward suggested, go take a look at the KS page here. The FAQ section should be very helpful and should answer some of your questions.

Thanks for that, all I could find was "immediate extension of battery life". I might go ahead and get a perk, these might be worth it. AT least, scientifically they look like it.

 

[Currawong]

Hmm, two campaigns, $1.7M raised so far and they've had to build their own factory in Canada for the drivers and seem to be only now organising actual manufacturing. I'd wait personally. I'm betting on end of 2019 for actual production.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Hmm, two campaigns, $1.7M raised so far and they've had to build their own factory in Canada for the drivers and seem to be only now organising actual manufacturing. I'd wait personally. I'm betting on end of 2019 for actual production.

They’ve raised about $900k & that the indegogo number includes the Kickstarter number.

What gives the idea that end of 2019 is more realistic? Other kickstarts?

 

[Currawong]

Wait... how can an Indiegogo campaign include a Kickstarter one?

And yes, other campaigns.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Wait... how can an Indiegogo campaign include a Kickstarter one?

And yes, other campaigns.

Well, I don’t know the “how” on the backend paperwork as much I watched the campaign close as an early backer. When the gogo launched, it was immediately after the end of kickstart and included the prior funding total.

The creators also said they are leaving the stretch goals open. Everyone is kinda hoping they hit $1M for the black option.

 

[FunctionalDoc]

I was wondering with their chipset will it support both AptX and AptX HD ?

The efficiency numbers look very good so wonder what the sound will be like of you phone as a source or a DAP?

I think sit back and wait another couple of months to see if there any more delays before pulling the trigger.

How will the sound isolation be for these ?

I what version of Bluetooth will this be 4.0 or 5.0?

What about range and antenna array configuration since this is also critical in bluetooth connectivity in preventing latency ?

If the build quality come out like the way the prototypes look should be well built.

 

[Victorfabius]

I was wondering with their chipset will it support both AptX and AptX HD ?

I think sit back and wait another couple of months to see if there any more delays before pulling the trigger.

I what version of Bluetooth will this be 4.0 or 5.0?

It will support both aptX and aptX-HD and have Bluetooth 5.0. It was one of their fundraising goals that was met on the Kickstarter campaign. If I'm not mistaken, their choice of Bluetooth chip caused a delay for some reason.

I'm a supporter and I don't mind the wait too much. I think waiting to purchase is ok, too. Just don't wait too long!

 

[Currawong]

After seeing thousands of people burned by other campaigns, I’m going to say wait at least a year, or even better, put aside a few dollars a month to save for if they make final production.

Egging people on to join in throwing money into what may be an abyss is insane.

 

[AlwaysForward]

After seeing thousands of people burned by other campaigns, I’m going to say wait at least a year, or even better, put aside a few dollars a month to save for if they make final production.

Egging people on to join in throwing money into what may be an abyss is insane.

No one is egging anyone to join here. If you would rather wait, do that.

 

[Currawong]

Just don't wait too long!

*COUGH*

Given that one of their recent announcements included how they were starting a factory to produce the drivers from scratch, my recommendation is to put aside some money every month and buy them at their final price IF they make production and it's what you want then. Again, my prediction is for end of next year at the earliest.

I just had a manufacturer contact me again about reviewing a far more simple product that they crowd funded in 2016 as it was only now ready.

 

[Victorfabius]

*COUGH*

Great response; I'm laughing! Yeah, I have doubts about the August 2018 timeline, too. I don't think they'll make it. I do think they are committed to their product, so, to me, it's all a matter of whether one can be patient enough with ORA while they learn as they go.

RE: ORA's driver manufacturing plant. This is the one they're making in Montreal, right? I think they're doing that because the driver material, GrapheneQ, is their chief product rather than the headphones we're talking about. It'll be interesting to see what other applications this GrapheneQ will have. Thoughts?

 

[Currawong]

My main thought is: How fast can you go from an empty building to stable manufacturing? It's one thing to turn out a few samples, quite another to be producing a consistent product. Then that consistent product has to be tested and sent to China for assembly. Then there is packaging, supply chain and a whole bunch of things that we don't think about. The factory isn't just about installing a bunch of machines and running them, but there will be a whole bunch of planning involved, ranging from regulatory, staffing, security, utilities, basically a heap of work before even issues that arise after the drivers are sent to their partner in China.

Have a read of Schiit Happened if you haven't already. It goes into quite a bit of detail about manufacturing hell.

 

[Midgetguy]

My main thought is: How fast can you go from an empty building to stable manufacturing? It's one thing to turn out a few samples, quite another to be producing a consistent product. Then that consistent product has to be tested and sent to China for assembly. Then there is packaging, supply chain and a whole bunch of things that we don't think about. The factory isn't just about installing a bunch of machines and running them, but there will be a whole bunch of planning involved, ranging from regulatory, staffing, security, utilities, basically a heap of work before even issues that arise after the drivers are sent to their partner in China.

Have a read of Schiit Happened if you haven't already. It goes into quite a bit of detail about manufacturing hell.

The Schiit Happened storyline is fantastic, a great read. End to end, design, tooling, manufacturing, and shipping are incredibly complex processes to undertake.

I've put my money into the campaign certainly hoping for a great outcome, but I'm fully aware of the risk involved. Many others who have already put their money in should also know the risks, or so I like to think. I'd advise for anyone interested to take an appropriate amount of time gathering their own thoughts: how much confidence they have in delivery, how much they can afford, how much they're willing to risk. Put thresholds on that sort of thing, which I understand is difficult to do because they're not all numbers; there's a lot of variables to consider with different levels of detail. If, in all categories, you're accepting of the possible outcomes, then sure, go for it, but if in even one category you're feeling unsure, I can't see any harm in waiting things out to see the final result.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Really, Shenzhen is a physical startup MACHINE. They have a history of taking products to production rather quickly and are the “ghost writer” to many products westerners know and love.

IMHO, since this is quite the conventional design(compared to OSSIC, Bragi, Taction or NURA), the main thing is scaling the process for GrapheneQ, which is a “drop in driver replacement.” I guess those of us who backed the product have to hope and trust that ORA is true to their word that they can build their drivers and send them to Shenzhen.

I’m generally not a kickstarter guy. I usually call it “scamstarter.” What impressed me was the science behind the product. The researchers. I’m thoroughly impressed with their resumes and the IP the product is based on. It’s kind of my instinct to seek out top research stuff. I’ve been recruiting the world’s best researchers and product engineers to extremely elite organizations for quite a while. That’s what I do for a living. Also, I’m very deep in Silicon Valley. I’m not bragging and have not intentions of “proving” anything in a headphone forum. My point is:

I backed it because though I am a skeptic, they “smelled” right from every angle. I’ve never backed a Kickstarter prior to this and don’t really plan to again. Most of them are garbage run by Charlestons. Some are successful, most are not.

Kickstarter is a fundraising tool and should be treated as such. A successful ROI/exit is a product. A failure is a failure. It’s certainly not a place to “buy products.” I invested in the ORA team and GrapheneQ technology, albeit without equity at stake.

I’d absolutely purchase ORA shares on startengine because they have massive potential to license the tech and make manufacturing-cost-free revenue that scales instantly.

OSSIC is like Bose ANC: it’s a DSP algorithm + the right hardware which took Bose over 10 years to take from inception to release and has now been copied by everyone without violating their patents. Bose never Lisenced it but maybe they could have. Perhaps that’s what OSSIC should do.

Either way, comparing this to that is like comparing any random startup to another, regardless of funding platform. You have to use you heard to evaluate the people, IP, feasibility etc.

Imagine people saying they were skeptical of joining/backing companies funded by particular sources like Greylock or maybe more aptly, Y-Combinator. Now both of those are non-sequitors because they vet the living daylights out of their investments but most of the time, they fail to see a payoff.

Anytime you back a Kickstarter, you have to assume that the chances are, it will fail. Especially if the people behind it are “hopefuls” to make it rather than having built winning habits already.

Ultimately, ORA has not delivered a product yet. I believe they will, which is why I felt it was low risk for me. But whenever you invest, you must do your own due diligence and a funding platform is a data point which should not be used in a vacuum.

If ORA is successful, they could drive a revolution in anything with a speaker. Which can’t be said for any other Kickstarter mentioned above.


/rant over

 

[AlwaysForward]

Well the point in my rant where I called out OSSIC as a copyable DSP algorithm might just have qualified as a timely prediction: Audeze just announced the Mobius which has a very similar feature set but only 1 Driver per side. Will be interested to see how that pans out.

Yes I backed it. $200 for a wireless Audeze was a no brained to me.