[Midgetguy]

I do not agree. Plus, complete abandonment of making objective measurements was the final nail in their coffin. I no longer give them the privilege of fractions of a penny from advertisers by visiting their site and giving them click counts.

I definitely agree regarding the measurements, but with audio being a subjective hobby, their opinions still hold some amount of weight. I personally never looked at charts anyway though, so that never mattered much to me, but I know lots of people swear by charts and data and for them, Inner Fidelity isn't the destination for reviews these days the way it once was.


Maybe have Tyll roadtrip his way up there, he clearly enjoys traveling around

 

[SureSh0t]

I definitely agree regarding the measurements, but with audio being a subjective hobby, their opinions still hold some amount of weight. I personally never looked at charts anyway though, so that never mattered much to me, but I know lots of people swear by charts and data and for them, Inner Fidelity isn't the destination for reviews these days the way it once was.

Rafe's "reviews" are useless. All of the other suggestions, including Jude, would be an improvement.

It looks like they're going to target Jude so they can deal with what is probably the most prominent source of negative attention when you google Ora headphones: this thread.

And given Jude's track record I'm sure he will give ample support.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Sometimes I get the feel I'm like the only person on planet that has this "sits back and relax"-attitude towards crowd funding campaigns and is in it mostly for the rebate (sell it onwards if you don't like at same price). I'm still getting every once a while reminder in my mail I have this headphone and the other "audiophile gaming headset" whatever its name was still waiting for delivery that was ordered sometimes way way back.

My thumb rule these days regarding schedule of crowd funding campaigns goes roughly like this: less than 1 year delay, something is definitely wrong. 2 years, pretty normal. 3 years is pushing it.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Just to be clear, getting reviews will in no way impact our delivery timeline. We have a small number of pilot run units earmarked for reviews. I thought you folks would appreciate seeing some opinions on the product while everyone waits for the shipments to arrive.

I think the general tone in the thread is one of confusion:
Where were the other review units sent? If there were hundreds made, why aren’t we already seeing reviews? Why are we seeing impressions from folks without audio influence?

Then:

Where is the update on shipping? Why are we talking about journalistic reviews when we should be talking about real user reviews and delivery of products?

 

[Midgetguy]

Sometimes I get the feel I'm like the only person on planet that has this "sits back and relax"-attitude towards crowd funding campaigns and is in it mostly for the rebate (sell it onwards if you don't like at same price). I'm still getting every once a while reminder in my mail I have this headphone and the other "audiophile gaming headset" whatever its name was still waiting for delivery that was ordered sometimes way way back.

My thumb rule these days regarding schedule of crowd funding campaigns goes roughly like this: less than 1 year delay, something is definitely wrong. 2 years, pretty normal. 3 years is pushing it.

My schedule is a bit different than yours. For me, 1 year delay feels pretty normal, 2 years (like this one) is pushing it, 3 years is concerning and at that point, best to forget about it until it shows up randomly on your doorstep....if you hadn't already forgotten about paying for whatever it is. When a campaign is fulfilled with less than 6 months delay, I consider that to be phenomenal and very few ever manage that. I had a recent campaign that only had a 2-3 month delay (I think) and I was both surprised but also not surprised. It's a KS campaign so you'll always expect a delay, but then I realized that company also is an established company, just one that's a bit small so then I understood why they did a KS campaign for a new product. But projects that come from the ground up, I generally expect up to about a year of delay to be normal.

 

[jude]

They contacted me yesterday about a review loaner unit. Here was my response:

Thanks for writing.

As a participant in your campaign, I have a pair on order.

I hope it's all going well, and I look forward to hearing it and measuring it.

I pledged on 2017-06-21.

 

[HungryPanda]

Too funny Jude, I am laughing hard

 

[DoctaCosmos]

Arrest him and you have to arrest me too. I can dig that

 

[jude]

Too funny Jude, I am laughing hard

LOL. I'm only laughing because you are!

Honestly, I didn't mean it to be funny. The gentleman's PM was very nice, but I didn't post his side because it was a PM (which I don't usually post unless I find it necessary).

I've waited this long, I can wait a little longer.

I am happy to report that I did get my Smyth Realiser A16. Now that one took a while, as I backed that on 2016-08-01. It arrived a few days ago while I was at CES, so I haven't had a chance to play with it yet. (I don't mean to change topics, so don't let me. I just thought I'd mention it.)

 

[AlwaysForward]

Ahaha this is the best!

 

[HungryPanda]

I am patiently waiting as well, I am still very interested in these headphones.

 

[jude]

As audio/headphone-related crowdfunding backings go, my track record is not particularly impressive:

• OSSIC. 2016. Initially went for the $1019 developer package. Had second thoughts, and downgraded it to a standard one ($269), thank goodness. They folded.
• Sound Band. 2013. Was there ever a working one? At least OSSIC showed functioning prototypes at one of our CanJam events, and other places, too, as I recall.
• Geek Out V2/V2+ USB DAC & Headphone Amplifier - Geek Out V2+ Infinity. February 2016 was when that order was placed -- going on four years next month.
  
• Geek Pulse. 2013. I received it, but it had issues that were not resolved.

I won't even mention (out of sheer embarrassment) some of the completely boneheaded non-audio crowdfunded things I've funded/ordered over the years -- some of which folded, some of which delivered but were super-sub-par (or just plain useless) versus the campaign promise(s), and some of which arrived but had me wondering what I was thinking when I pledged.

We no longer allow crowdfunding ad campaigns to be directly purchased on Head-Fi (though we do receive inquiries about this fairly regularly), unless it's by an established business (like Audeze with their Mobius).

So, all this considered, I'm thrilled the Smyth Realiser A16 finally arrived; and I'm feeling pretty hopeful we'll receive our ORAs. (Right, @robert-eric?)

 

[HungryPanda]

The only other thing i backed last year was the Xeric Apollo watch which I'm glad to say I got notification that mine was shipped today.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Hey @robert-eric, if you wanna overnight that unit to me, I can compare it to the Drop Panda tomorrow, along with my Audeze Mobius...

 

[Beagle]

As audio/headphone-related crowdfunding backings go, my track record is not particularly impressive:

• OSSIC. 2016. Initially went for the $1019 developer package. Had second thoughts, and downgraded it to a standard one ($269), thank goodness. They folded.
• Sound Band. 2013. Was there ever a working one? At least OSSIC showed functioning prototypes at one of our CanJam events, and other places, too, as I recall.
• Geek Out V2/V2+ USB DAC & Headphone Amplifier - Geek Out V2+ Infinity. February 2016 was when that order was placed -- going on four years next month.
  
• Geek Pulse. 2013. I received it, but it had issues that were not resolved.

I won't even mention (out of sheer embarrassment) some of the completely boneheaded non-audio things I've funded over the years -- some of which folded, some of which delivered but were super-sub-par (or just plain useless) versus the campaign promise(s), and some of which arrived but had me wondering what I was thinking when I pledged.

We no longer allow crowdfunding ad campaigns to be directly purchased on Head-Fi (though we do receive inquiries about this fairly regularly), unless by an established business (like Audeze with their Mobius).

So, all this considered, I'm thrilled the Smyth Realiser A16 finally arrived; and I'm feeling pretty hopeful we'll receive our ORAs. (Right, @robert-eric?)

I'd say this qualifies you as a candidate for the No-Bell Prize.