[notyourtree]

Just received mine after creating a missing shipment ticket with USPS due to the snafu with the shipper not including the second address line. Definitely hearing an improvement over my XB10, although battery life doesn't seem that much better. I charged the Ear Studio around 10 am this morning, and even though i haven't been playing music the entire time my battery 5 hours later mostly on the 2.5mm balanced connection (more on this later) is at 57%. I also saw the warning about disconnecting the cable while media is playing potentially damaging the equipment, and my cable was pulled out while in the middle of a phone conversation. It apparently caused the right channel on my 2.5mm balanced port to stop working. I've contacted Radsone for options, but it is disappointing (and a word of caution to other buyers) that something that could happen so easily could also so easily damage the unit. Fortunately the 3.5mm single ended output still works fine, although it doesn't sound as detailed. I'm also having trouble updating the firmware, and noticed some bugs with the app (namely the DSP filter option).

 

[zolom]

Quote (notyourtree): I also saw the warning about disconnecting the cable while media is playing potentially damaging the equipment

What? are they serious?

 

[m4rkw]

Wow that's pretty shocking. Of all the things you can expect are almost certain to happen at some point, pulling the cable out while it's playing is pretty high up there.

 

[wslee]

@notyourtree:

Hello, I'm WS, Technical Director of Radsone.
At first, sorry for the inconvenience.

As you pointed out, the warning message is popped up, when you plug/unplug 3.5mm jack while listening any music.

Every 2.5/3.5 dual output device has switching IC between Amplifier out and 2.5/3.5 connector.
But, Semiconductor switching IC is not ideal and degrades signal quality.

But, ES100 has NO switching IC between Amplifier out and 2.5/3.5 connector. Amplifier output signal goes to the connector directly without any loss.
Furthermore, +/- differential output is bridged together by inverting polarity +/+ to 3.5mm output.
In that way, ES100 can provide better sound quality than XB10, as you agreed.

For your information, XB10 use those switching IC for routing to 2.5/3.5 output connector.
And For 3.5mm output, XB10 uses only the half of the amplifier resource, while ES100 uses full of them.

For more information, please refer the technical documentation on our Dual Drive Technology:
http://radsone.com/radsone-home/whitepapers/EarStudio_DualDrive.pdf

Anyway, this is the reason why we add the warning message just in case.

Also when you go to Audio Output Mode and lock the audio output, then it's 100% safe, and you can plug/unplug at any time.

It's tricky but is the design choice for the better audio quality.

Hope this helps you.

Regards
WS

 

[wslee]

@notyourtree:

BTW,
you mentioned only the right channel of 2.5mm output is dead, but it's quite strange I think.

ES100 has two DAC, one for the left, one for the right. If the DAC/AMP for the R-ch is dead
and no signal out from 2.5mm R-ch, then
3.5mm R-ch should also be gone. But you mentioned 3.5mm output still works fine.
I'd like to help you figure out the issue.
Please feel free to contact us.
support@radsone.com

Thanks a lot.
WS

 

[wslee]

@PiSkyHiFi:

Hello, I'm WS, Technical Director of Radsone.
Appreciate your kind posting on ES100.

The corrections made for most of the issues you pointed out, with F/W version 1.1.3 available at
https://www.ear-studio.com/

And we highly recommend using the analog volume control of ES100, keeping your V20 volume at the maximum for the best quality.

For more information, please refer:
http://radsone.com/radsone-home/whitepapers/EarStudio_Analog Volume Control.pdf

Thanks and Regards,
WS

 

[wslee]

FYI.

http://radsone.com/radsone-home/miscellaneous/EarStudio_Perofrmance_Evaluation.pdf

 

[shrisha]

Great to have you here WS. Thank you for clarifying thing for us. I have a question regarding LDAC. Is there any chance to get it through firmware update? Because it’s just a codec and not required hardware support and there is no license issue involved as I understood. Thank you guys. You did a great job.

 

[zolom]

Thanks WS

Additional question:
Is there or is it planned to activate viice commands for Google Now via the unit's keys?

Thanks

 

[PiSkyHiFi]

Radsone... The "Ambient" feature would be great if it were possible to activate it directly from the device... maybe long press something... it's just such a useful feature if it can be switched on and off instantly while wearing it so you don't need to open your phone to hear something external for a second.

Maybe it can, I haven't updated firmware yet... I think this is a must, even more important than Google Now, which would also be good.

If you do Google Now support, can you have it toggle on and off so that it can stay on for a period of time in the background and be like a google home.

Do these things and the Radsone EarStudio will go down in history as the best bluetooth companion ever made.

 

[wslee]

@shrisha:

For your information,
SBC codec (mandate) is free to use for any Bluetooth device. (No license fee)

aptX, aptX-HD belong to Qualcomm CSR.
Qualcomm, formerly CSR, has been releasing the aptX encoder for FREE. NO license fee.
That means every mobile phone as a Bluetooth source device needs to pay nothing for aptX encoder.
(In my opinion, that's the primary reason why every Android device supports aptX.)

In the meantime, Qualcomm CSR makes the revenue in Bluetooth sink device.
Every Bluetooth sink device, receiver, headphone, speaker, need to use Qualcomm CSR chipset solution, to support aptX or aptX-HD decoder.
Broadcom, Texas Instruments, and other Bluetooth chipset makers can't support aptX because it belongs to CSR.
Plus, we need to pay the license fee for aptX decoder per every unit.

Per every ES100 unit, we need to pay CSR8675 chipset + aptX/aptX-HD license fee to Qualcomm CSR.
(+AAC license fee to MPEG)

It seems that Sony has the same policy.
LDAC encoder is free for any source device, but LDAC decoder isn't free.
Technically, we're ready to support LDAC by F/W update based on current ES100 H/W.
But, we need to pay the additional license fee to SONY.

At the beginning of ES100 development, we've seriously considered supporting LDAC,
but we've ended up the decision that we hardly can afford the license fee assuming the current retail price of ES100.

Your kind understanding would be appreciated.

Hope this answers you.

Regard,
WS

 

[shrisha]

I see, encoder is free, decoder is not. Those smart pants knows how to make money. I was hoping after Android 8 update my phone Moto Z Play will get apx-hd and LDAC (only aptX curently) and we flying high. Not relevant but weird actually, OnePlus 3T after latest update to Orio (Android 8) only got LDAC support but not aptX and aptX-HD. 3T based on Qualcomm chipset SD821 and still no aptx support, weird.

 

[meinname123]

@ws:
After reading some info about DCT i think i understand what it does:
Add calculated values (dither) and remove unusual Values to smoothen the original Waveform without changing the form.

But what influences the Level of DCT in the ES100?
Does it add more "datapoints" or does it change the tolerance for unusual values?

 

[wslee]

@zolom, @PiSkyHiFi:

Appreciate your kind inputs.
We'll consider adding those feature for future F/W update sooner or later.
However, compiling every input from the users,
we've got to know that many other users are not familiar with this tiny little gadget, being not like us audio and tech geeks.
Anyway, we've been still compiling every input from the users and will release the next update with the most wanted features.
Thanks,
WS

 

[subtec]

Does (or will) the EarStudio support AptX-LL?