[puercaeli]

I have recently received a sample Rocoo A player.
They are still quite buggy in terms of firmware but they sound really great for such a tiny package. Sure, design may be little bit reminiscent of 2004 but it's tiny!( And surprisingly it does not look like Sony S700 in reallife...)

Just giving a brief impression of the sound, bass is very powerful and impactful. High is clear. And all the sound is well spaced out. I will try to give more detailed impression at later dates. For now please enjoy the pictures.

 

[a_tumiwa]

before that, welcome to head-fi

 

[shigzeo]

Hey mate, hope all is well in aussy land. I got a chance to listen to the Rocoo a week or two ago and yes, it is buggy - very buggy, but the size is good and the Rocoo does drive earphones a bit better than the AMP3 before it. Problems rise when asking the Rocoo to perform well for sensitive earphones: hiss, bad clicks and pops in the background, and the strangest of all things: swapped left and right channels - in other words, HiSound really really rushed even this beta unit.

Welcome to HF!

 

[anadin]

Anyone have a firm date on when this will be available to purchase.

 

[david1978jp]

Here is another review. Unless hardware is changed, one can assume the sound will be basically the same.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/my...-rocoo-473737/

 

[puercaeli]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey mate, hope all is well in aussy land. I got a chance to listen to the Rocoo a week or two ago and yes, it is buggy - very buggy, but the size is good and the Rocoo does drive earphones a bit better than the AMP3 before it. Problems rise when asking the Rocoo to perform well for sensitive earphones: hiss, bad clicks and pops in the background, and the strangest of all things: swapped left and right channels - in other words, HiSound really really rushed even this beta unit. Welcome to HF!

I am good thanx, Shigzeo.

They did bring out a new firmware and appears to have fixed the button click at minimum. White noise is still there as well but could not really notice while music is playing unless it is a quite one. Generally speaking though, stability has improved by many fold I must say. This new firmware is still on beta so I am going to keep my eye on it cause it sounds extremely good for its size. Hope they do not rush the things out too fast as you said...

 

[shigzeo]

My other issue (other than the EQ problem and stupidly swapped L/R channels) is that at the lowest volume, it is way too loud for me with my FitEar 333. Anyone with a sensitive earphone such as UM2 or SE530, or ES3X, UM3x, etc., will probably be screaming with the volume of this thing.

It sounds good (again only with big headphones). Sensitive ones are way too hissy with this thing, at least for me, but then again, I am extremely sensitive and annoyed by bad marketing pitches such as audiophile for products which divert from... realistic audio standards.

Again, HiSound need to come clean in this forums about their employees; then they need to think about opening up their hardware spec to Rockbox (but I'd imagine that would prove that the Rocoo and other players are overpriced); and finally get rid of the horrid background noises such as hiss and... clicking sounds.

Rockbox would fix the terrible controls and L/R problems/EQproblems/etc.; the devs at Rockbox are real audiophiles who want a device to work and work with extremely good parametres.

I've taken RMAA measurements and done Squarewave driving measures as well and been somewhat impressed that the Rocoo is at least a bit better at driving earphones, but it still isn't up to real 'audiophile' standards set by the much cheaper Sansa Fuze.

You can read my observations about the Rocoo here.

 

[anadin]

Wow thats quite a damming review, thank-you for being so honest I think i'll pass on this player.

 

[shigzeo]

I'd not say damning - it is more like: HiSound have released review units to reviewers - that should be enough information to plug the fact that they are almost ready. But the fact is that the unit is pretty poor. They don't take enough time to do something right: there are 4 production units which have passed in the last 8 months or so... what is going on?

Who else does that?

No one and the reasons are clear: if you want to do something right, you have to take time; you have to make a product, not promises. HiSound have been promising after every unit that the next will be perfect or be better and they drop the last unit - that isn't fair.

I want them to make a good product. They need to fix the problems of the AMP3 pro 1 and 2 before they make a new product. Users have resorted to using their expensive AMP3 players as pre-amps or amps, and even then, they are not good for driving earphones as they perform worse than most out of the box players.

Things need to be done right the first time, not the next or the next.

 

[mp3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by puercaeli /img/forum/go_quote.gif They did bring out a new firmware and appears to have fixed the button click at minimum. White noise is still there as well but could not really notice while music is playing unless it is a quite one. Generally speaking though, stability has improved by many fold I must say. This new firmware is still on beta so I am going to keep my eye on it cause it sounds extremely good for its size. Hope they do not rush the things out too fast as you said...

What version FW is this new one?
My version is 01.00.0000

 

[puercaeli]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mp3 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What version FW is this new one? My version is 01.00.0000

01.00.0001

 

[mp3]

Was it preloaded or did you download it from somewhere? I haven't seen any links anywhere in their homepage.

 

[newfier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif My other issue (other than the EQ problem and stupidly swapped L/R channels) is that at the lowest volume, it is way too loud for me with my FitEar 333. Anyone with a sensitive earphone such as UM2 or SE530, or ES3X, UM3x, etc., will probably be screaming with the volume of this thing. It sounds good (again only with big headphones). Sensitive ones are way too hissy with this thing, at least for me, but then again, I am extremely sensitive and annoyed by bad marketing pitches such as audiophile for products which divert from... realistic audio standards. Again, HiSound need to come clean in this forums about their employees; then they need to think about opening up their hardware spec to Rockbox (but I'd imagine that would prove that the Rocoo and other players are overpriced); and finally get rid of the horrid background noises such as hiss and... clicking sounds. Rockbox would fix the terrible controls and L/R problems/EQproblems/etc.; the devs at Rockbox are real audiophiles who want a device to work and work with extremely good parametres. I've taken RMAA measurements and done Squarewave driving measures as well and been somewhat impressed that the Rocoo is at least a bit better at driving earphones, but it still isn't up to real 'audiophile' standards set by the much cheaper Sansa Fuze. You can read my observations about the Rocoo here.

In fact you don't need to have too much of grumbles. There are two versions of ROCOO, I have tested ROCOO-B which has no any hiss with the high sensitive phones to my ear.

Why make a wrong paring?

 

[swanlee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newfier /img/forum/go_quote.gif In fact you don't need to have too much of grumbles. There are two versions of ROCOO, I have tested ROCOO-B which has no any hiss with the high sensitive phones to my ear. Why make a wrong paring?

does the -B version still have the L+R channels reversed?

 

[shigzeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newfier /img/forum/go_quote.gif In fact you don't need to have too much of grumbles. There are two versions of ROCOO, I have tested ROCOO-B which has no any hiss with the high sensitive phones to my ear. Why make a wrong paring?

Newfier, tell me why a portable player has to be 'paired' with earphones so it doesn't hiss? That makes no sense. People shouldn't have to go out and buy new earphones just so their player doesn't hiss - that is poor.

People should be able to enjoy their earphones - all of them. Naturally some will sound better than others, but dear me, I have never used such fussy players from any company, ever.