[peter123]

Mine was delivered to my hotel in NYC today. Too bad it's a whole week before I get there

 

[m4rkw]

Got mine this morning, i absolutely love it! Amazing sound. I'm using the Shure headphone cable until my balanced one arrives but wow. Amazing step up from the BT1 cable.

 

[m4rkw]

Is there a way to pair a second device? Can't see how to do it..

 

[chinmie]

Is there a way to pair a second device? Can't see how to do it..

Do the pairing procedure to each of the two device you want to connect. The next time both devices have their bluetooth on, the ES100 will automatically connect to both of them (or tap the Earstudio on the list in the bluetooth setting

 

[SubMash]

So I am finally convinced that aptx is broken. Can't test aptx hd or ldac, but I don't believe any of them would be comparable to 256kbit AAC. I use developer options in Android Oreo to push it to use AAC. But every time it reconnects - it goes back to aptx.

@wslee is it possible to fix battery in Android/iPhone (it really shows it wrong through standard BT and also algorithm of %left calculation wrong - its not proportional to remaining time, but instead to voltage on some crude approximation) AND make checkboxes in the app about which codecs to advertise upon connection (or priorities of them). I can live with AAC, but I can't fix it and on a simple transmitter I can't even choose it.

 

[peter123]

From my limited experience in here, when only one person has an issue with a device that a lot of people own it's always almost either user error or the device is a lemon.

Regarding the battery status I'm pretty sure they've already answered that they're working on it.

 

[antdroid]

So I am finally convinced that aptx is broken. Can't test aptx hd or ldac, but I don't believe any of them would be comparable to 256kbit AAC. I use developer options in Android Oreo to push it to use AAC. But every time it reconnects - it goes back to aptx.

Using Android 8.1 on Essential PH-1 phone:



Switching to AAC worked for me, but you are right, if you disconnect and reconnect, ANDROID defaults back to apt-x which is the system default for me. I dont think this is a Radsone issue, its Android that resets back to System Default (apt-x) after disconnect. There have been countless threads on internet about this for all Oreo devices including Google's own Pixels.

 

[PiSkyHiFi]

So I am finally convinced that aptx is broken. Can't test aptx hd or ldac, but I don't believe any of them would be comparable to 256kbit AAC.

Your take on this device is quite intriguing but when you make statements like this, it leaves me wondering about the accuracy of your methods and conclusions. You've done a lot of work on it so far and it appears there maybe issues with this particular implementation of AptX that I was unaware of, I didn't want to get involved because my primary reason for buying this device was it's support for AptX HD, which in theory, must be a cut above AptX and AAC, mainly because the bitrates are a factor of 2 out! Perhaps 576Kbps AAC is better than AptX HD, but I'll never know.

This device is still one of the few 24 bit resolution Bluetooth adapters out there and it's got the some of the best features. I found the sound and functionality speaks for itself.

The only thing I've been dissapointed with so far is it's inability to drive 600 OHM Beyerdynamic T1 1st. gen. headphones.

I use it as a portable device for hiking with Audio Technica MSR7 headphones - cable free! and a reliable Bluetooth adapter for the car.

The balanced mode is a nice touch too.

I believe the HD jitter cleaner does a great job of maintaining the stream, which many cheaper devices completely fail on, so it's a thumbs up from me.

I completely skipped AptX... I have no interest in going back either.

 

[SubMash]

From my limited experience in here, when only one person has an issue with a device that a lot of people own it's always almost either user error or the device is a lemon.

Well, again, it's not "device is lemon case" since I have few. And I'm using SE846 plugs that go as low as 5Ohm on some frequencies, so an issue is there. But, I can hear hi-pitch noise in all apt-x devices now, so I'm not into apt-x anymore by any means - aac 256 I can't distinguish from uncompressed hd signal in blind tests, so I'm fine forever sticking to 16bit 44.1 aac. So I already found that significant part of an issue is from the "slow roll off" filter + aptx. Proper filter + AAC fixes all issues permanently. I can enforce OSX to output only AAC, but I can't do it on the phone.

Using Android 8.1 on Essential PH-1 phone: Switching to AAC worked for me, but you are right, if you disconnect and reconnect, ANDROID defaults back to apt-x which is the system default for me. I dont think this is a Radsone issue, its Android that resets back to System Default (apt-x) after disconnect. There have been countless threads on internet about this for all Oreo devices including Google's own Pixels.

This is NOT Radsone issue by any means - priorities of codec defined by source and codec selection also done by source. And many sources you can't really lock into any codecs. BUT, receiver can choose not to declare specific codecs availability and by this force the source to choose another codec. So I'm just asking Woo-Suk if he can see a possibility to disable some codecs through the software.

Your take on this device is quite intriguing but when you make statements like this, it leaves me wondering about the accuracy of your methods and conclusions. You've done a lot of work on it so far and it appears there maybe issues with this particular implementation of AptX that I was unaware of, I didn't want to get involved because my primary reason for buying this device was it's support for AptX HD, which in theory, must be a cut above AptX and AAC, mainly because the bitrates are a factor of 2 out! Perhaps 576Kbps AAC is better than AptX HD, but I'll never know.

This device is still one of the few 24 bit resolution Bluetooth adapters out there and it's got the some of the best features. I found the sound and functionality speaks for itself.

The only thing I've been dissapointed with so far is it's inability to drive 600 OHM Beyerdynamic T1 1st. gen. headphones.

I use it as a portable device for hiking with Audio Technica MSR7 headphones - cable free! and a reliable Bluetooth adapter for the car.

The balanced mode is a nice touch too.

I believe the HD jitter cleaner does a great job of maintaining the stream, which many cheaper devices completely fail on, so it's a thumbs up from me.

I completely skipped AptX... I have no interest in going back either.

I can't test Apt-x HD. It's possible that it's superior to AAC. Aptx is sub-band ADPCM low complexity codec that basically cuts bits based on a frequency. Unfortunately, that leads to clearly audible high-frequency noise and in ES100 case it sometimes leads to amplification of aptx harmonics and brings sand noise. I'm completely confident that I do not hear 24vs16 bit difference at all (as well as above 44.1 sample rate). In fact, I don't believe anyone can pass blind test of properly dithered 16bit 44.1 vs anything above. But aptx is not even true 16 bit, so aptx-hd maybe solves that issue. But I don't have sources for it - there is no aptx-hd in S8 or Windows or OSX. And there are no USB BT that has it. And Radsone decided to save cost of LDAC certification (which is fine) which I at least can use in Android 8.

At the same time, AAC is vastly superior codec to aptx for music and it works on most sources now. Yes, it has a latency issue, which I couldn't care less for music. Plus it cuts >18kHz sound (I don't hear anything there doesn't matter volume). Plus it generates a lot of harmonics which human ear can't hear anyway at such bitrate. Maybe it drains a battery somewhat faster. While aptx generates stupid noise that anyone can hear and somebody might even like that since it bumps high frequencies up.

Somehow there are no real test studies published on Aptx HD (Qualcomm signs hush agreement with partners?), but I would assume AAC could still be superior just because it's smarter and I have a feeling that large bandwidth of Aptx-HD only used for high sample rate and not for preserving even first 16 bits. Anyway, it's just my speculations and I could be wrong.

I still insist something is wrong with the implementation of aptx in ES100 (or with combination with my sources), but it's easily could be a fault of CSR itself, I don't know - need more tests and therefore more time.
But AAC with sharp filter is good enough for me. And in such form, I like this device a lot - if only AAC can be fixed.

I can drive HD650 in balanced mode, but I wouldn't say it's loud enough for going outside. 600Ohm, I guess should be not enough volume even for home use.

Jitter Cleaner is a complete gimmick by CSR, IMHO - AKM is jitter resistant already and whatever happens there is so much below rest of noise that I wouldn't bother - if it works, fine, if not - turn it off and don't look back.

P.S. I'm reading DCT patent details https://patents.google.com/patent/US20130216059A1/en + http://radsone.com/radsone-home/doc/Radsone DCT.pdf and it sounds like some spatial reverberation technology to make slight room effect + clarity filter afterwards. It could potentially improve psychoacoustic data restore like AAC. So since there are many tests made by Radsone - @wslee, that would be great to hear about results in laynman terms. Since LG, Astell&Kern and Audio Technica decided to license this from Radsone - there should be clear benefits.

 

[m4rkw]

Do inline remotes work with the 2.5mm balanced port?

 

[SubMash]

Do inline remotes work with the 2.5mm balanced port?

No and it would be dangerous to even try that.

It doesn't work with 3.5 either (as far as I remember) - you have buttons on the device already, don't use remotes.

 

[Bubblejuice]

So I tried connecting my earstudio to my LG V20 directly with a USB C to Micro USB.

The music does play, and the buttons work, but the Earstudio app doesnt seem to recognize the device without bluetooth.

Does anyone know if this can be done?

 

[SubMash]

So I tried connecting my earstudio to my LG V20 directly with a USB C to Micro USB.

The music does play, and the buttons work, but the Earstudio app doesnt seem to recognize the device without bluetooth.

Does anyone know if this can be done?

Connect by BT to recognize, but don't send music over it by turning it off in BT device settings.

 

[SubMash]

Btw, it would be also useful to see bitrate that is coming from the source in the app. Is that possible?

Mac OSX allows to use VBR AAC and to adjust the bit rate of it. Default is 320kbps over BT, but that doesn't mean ES will able to use it.
Technically A2DP has 768kbps bandwidth, so AAC potentially can be set to bitrates where it won't have any difference from the original.
I also don't have sniffer board to see what bitrate is in use...

 

[PiSkyHiFi]

Whoops. Please ignore.