Howard,
Hey.......... yeah it's been FANTASTIC so far! And the more I read about it, the better I feel about buying it. One review that was posted by Jason Lim (the guy who made it) himself was by some pro critic who said that the CO (Companion One) sounds even better than the
Oppo HA-1, which is DOUBLE the price! lol Once I saw THAT review, I was done researching. lol And after reading
this review stating that the HA-1 is just as good as the equally priced Sony Walkman NWZ-ZX2, then one can only logically conclude from this review that the CO also sounds BETTER than the Walkman ZX2! (Crazy!) My only issue with the CO is that there is no snap-on case for it like with my smartphone, and b/c it's like a fat iPhone lol, you have to get used to holding it a certain way. Having gorilla glass on both sides helps though. It does however come with a really nice genuine leather travel case with magnetic locks. You can't really use the travel case though when operating the CO......not practical for that purpose.
I was also looking seriously at the
Oppo HA-2 (way way cheaper on their site than
Amazon's, I dunno why though?). So much so that I'd say it's a CLOSE second to the CO for under $1000 amp/DACs. It has quick charging capability, a much more sleek and easy to handle body design, though lacks Hi-Fi Wi-Fi/Wireless streaming. One review actually said it was better than the Walkman A17 (though I'm sure it was close lol)! I was THIS close to getting the HA-2 to actually compare it to the CO, but after seeing that review that said the CO bested the HA-1 ($1199), I decided not to. Several reviews I've seen have said that the CO outdoes the HA-2 anyway. However, the difference isn't by much it seems, and it's worth mentioning that the HA-2 uses THE SAME EXACT CHIP as the CO, but I've read over & over that it's not JUST about the chip, but also about the supporting hardware that affects your sound outcome as well. The chip they both use is just a mobile version of the one used in the HA-1 (the HA-1 is not a mobile device as you can see from its pic).
One thing, Amazon changed the policy on 12-month financing. When I bought the CO, the minimum to qualify was $499. Literally a few days later, I saw that they'd raised it to $599, and the CO costs $595. I spoke with the bank that issues the Amazon Prime Card, and since I'd made the purchase before the change, they made it 12 months. So got lucky as I really wouldn't have preferred to pay it off at one time. I probably wouldn't have bought it if I did, but the HA-2 instead. lol I'm not sure if they were gonna make it 12 months if I hadn't said anything, but just glad they didn't F me. lol But unfortunately for anyone looking to buy it, you'll have to pay for it all at one time now, and the price is the SAME on Amazon as it is on the Celsus Sound website, though with Amazon you may still get free shipping, and maybe avoid paying tax too?
Correction: The company's name that makes the CO is Celsus Sound, not just Celsus.
Yeah not sure man.......... maybe if you'd gotten another A17 it would've been fine? Mass production does always ensure some defects will occur. That's just how it is.
That's awesome that the X5ii is working out so well for ya! As long as they and your chosen Sennheisers are makin' ya happy, then it's all good!
Sure I def will. Though I prob SHOULD start a new thread? lol I will do so and then post the link here. If you're ever looking to go back to having just one player as I did, then I'd recommend the CO, but if its price is a bit high (again, I ONLY got it b/c of that Amazon Prime Card interest-free 12-month financing promo), then for sure get the HA-2 using that link I gave. I would take a look at both now (use CO link from last post or 2 posts ago) just to get an idea of what they offer. The MAIN pro of the HA-2 is although both it and CO have very premium looks, the HA-2 is sleeker and easier to handle, and also has quick charging as well. The CO's pros though are of course it's rated somewhat/slightly better for its sound quality, and of course for the Howards of the world it has
Hi-Fi Wi-Fi/Wireless streaming. lol Again, don't confuse that with bluetooth. It's hard to find Wi-Fi headphones though as most are Bluetooth, which isn't as good IMHO. It compresses the data the same way mp3s do, so you lose some quality there. There are some great Wi-Fi speakers out there though. Look up the newer ones by Sonos, and also Harman Kardon. Only headphone I found that does this is by Koss, but nobody (even Amazon and eBay) seems to have any in stock, not even Koss themselves. There may be others though.
Note: If anyone wants the CO, I highly recommend this hard to find (for some weird reason)
male to female high speed USB OTG extension cable for wired connections as the ones that come with the CO are very short. This is the 3 foot version, but other sizes are available on Amazon too. Also, if you have an Android phone, for BEST results, you want to use the full version of the Poweramp music player app to play the songs from (it TRUMPS all other players, even the Sony Walkman/Music app). If you do this, I can e-mail you my private settings as a file which you can "import" to your Poweramp using the import option under its Settings menu. I came up with my own special EQ preset that I find to be the BEST when using the CO. My preset is based on the Rock EQ preset in Poweramp, but I've modified it as Rock wasn't quite meeting my standards. lol I can explain how to do it and how to make it the default preset as well. Poweramp comes with a 10-BAND EQ (not 5 like most other players) which is part of the reason why it's so great, plus a very friendly and premium-looking UI too. Just PM me if interested, but have the full version of Poweramp ready to go before you do. (You must first download the
Trial Version of Poweramp to your Android phone, then you can get the
Full Version.) Honestly, even if you are just playing straight from your phone w/o an amp/DAC, Poweramp is still the best.