[yepyep_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tj2220 /img/forum/go_quote.gif damn easter...

Aaargh, I totally forgot about that cr*p. I was given a small hint just a few minutes ago though. Doorbell rang, it was "the j people".

 

[Eqvil]

Ouch, seems like I'll get my Compass a week later then I first thought.
I thought the email was the actual order and not the day of the payment. Or maybe I wasn't being clear enough in my email that I wanted to order now.

Quote from an email from Cherry on 26th of March
Quote:

I will give you a detail quotation below.You just pay before shipping (pay now or 2-3 days before shipping)[.Then you will become one of compass order.

So I waited a few extra days for the dollar to go down and made the payment on April 4th (April 6th first businessday.) And thought I would make the batch shipped on Thursday, 9th April. But Cherry told me It would ship out in the middle of the month today...Guess my HD650 will spend another week in it's box.

Either way I might be able to do a small comparison to the Asus Essence STX sometime in the future. Or maybe not, cause it's so hard to describe sound properly.

 

[WallyPower]

Sound the horns, my compass has arrived!

pictures and first immpression will follow soon..

 

[darkkai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eqvil /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ouch, seems like I'll get my Compass a week later then I first thought. I thought the email was the actual order and not the day of the payment. Or maybe I wasn't being clear enough in my email that I wanted to order now. Quote from an email from Cherry on 26th of March So I waited a few extra days for the dollar to go down and made the payment on April 4th (April 6th first businessday.) And thought I would make the batch shipped on Thursday, 9th April. But Cherry told me It would ship out in the middle of the month today...Guess my HD650 will spend another week in it's box. Either way I might be able to do a small comparison to the Asus Essence STX sometime in the future. Or maybe not, cause it's so hard to describe sound properly.

Same here! Purchased about the same time and Cherry mentioned that it would be sent out by the 10th, but received word that it would be at least another week (earliest). Bah!

 

[Drosera]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WallyPower /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sound the horns, my compass has arrived! pictures and first immpression will follow soon..

Congratulations! You must be the first in this batch.

To all others, it did occur to me that Audio-gd shipped both 120V and 220V versions in one batch this time (usually they go in separate shipments). I don't think one will have accidentally shipped to the wrong destination, but we're all human, so it might be good to check the voltage label above the IEC socket before plugging it in. Wouldn't want the Compass to go BOOM.

(Actually, it won't, there's a rather sturdy fuse-system in there, but still...)

 

[Omega17TheTrue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WallyPower /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sound the horns, my compass has arrived! pictures and first immpression will follow soon..

Congratulations, i await your first impressions.

I'm gonna order the compass very soon, i just need a little piece of paper to finally been shipped to my bank.

Do anyone have a idea of how it will sound versus a 340a Cambridge audio ?

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eqvil /img/forum/go_quote.gif Either way I might be able to do a small comparison to the Asus Essence STX sometime in the future. Or maybe not, cause it's so hard to describe sound properly.

Do give it a shot. Pick some songs you're very familiar with and write your main impressions I reckon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omega17TheTrue /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do anyone have a idea of how it will sound versus a 340a Cambridge audio ?

I've put all the impressions and comparisons I've seen people write in the FAQ as I come across them. (The link in my signature for it is broken at the moment as somehow the SEO software got disabled on the Head-fi blog system.) There isn't one with the 340a at the moment.

 

[WallyPower]

I’ve got my compass in this afternoon and here am I, posting the pictures and first impressions.
When I first handled the package, it felt pretty heavy, so that was a good start. Next thing I noticed was that my package was pretty much undamaged, it was a little bit dirty, but undamaged.
Here we have it on the kitchentable:

The declared value was 54 USD, it still cost me 38 Euros in tax. Thank you government……..

So I started unpacking. Pretty hard task, since literally everything had been taped up. So after some struggling I got it open and it looked like this:

Good clearance between the Compass and the box, no dents in the cardboard on the inside.

And then I had to flip the compass upside-down, where the cables where taped up against its belly:

After getting rid of the bubble wrap I noticed something strange, in the middle of the lid, the paint was much deeper black than on de sides, was this also in the prototype versions?

And then we have here the final pictures, I really dig the gold plated connections on the back, truly a piece of art.

And then it was time to pump some sound trough it, I hooked it up to my computer. But when I tried the optical link, I couldn’t get any sound trough it, same applies for Coax… I will have to give that an another look. So I opted for USB, the driver where installed automatically by Vista. So I started up ITunes and started to listen.

All my listening has been pretty random so far, so there is no system is it..

I used Sennheiser HD 595's

AC/DC, Hells Bells – Earth in Bright mode.
Didn’t sound too shabby, the base was very pushed back, but is was vey controlled, I really think it needs at least 100 hours of burn-in before it starts to open up. A very promising start for what is to come.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dani California - Earth in Bright mode.
Sounded again very promising, but I still have that feeling that it could do so much better. The bas is still in the back ground, but the guitar solo at the end does sounds very alive. Yet again I feel that it needs more burn-in.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dani California - Earth in Normal mode.
Much better than bright mode, the bass is more there, this is something I like!

Motörhead ,When The Eagle Screams – Moon in Bright mode.
The music suddenly feels more separated, you can distinguish the base of this song a lot better than with onboard audio. Also Lemmy’s voice sound much more raw and vibrating. Much more Motörheadish

This are my first impressions hope you enjoyed them, I shall post in the future some more about my findings.

 

[jzkpr]

I'm in Boston, MA and it looks like my Compass which was shipped on Monday is already on a DHL truck out for delivery to me. Pretty fast. For the record, I ordered mine March 10th.

 

[Dat_Dude]

Holy crap that was fast. Mine should be sitting on my doorstep by 5:00 PM Central Time!

 

[Drosera]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WallyPower /img/forum/go_quote.gif And then it was time to pump some sound trough it, I hooked it up to my computer. But when I tried the optical link, I couldn’t get any sound trough it, same applies for Coax… I will have to give that an another look. So I opted for USB, the driver where installed automatically by Vista. So I started up ITunes and started to listen.

Very nice pictures (nice camera too).

I have to admit, although I wasn't a huge fan of all the cosmetic redesign, the endresult does look really handsome.

I guess the reason why coax or optical doesn't work would have something to do with the Vista settings. Not a clue how this works in Vista (using XP myself), so maybe another Vista user can help out here.

I haven't seen that discolouration of the lid before, but I think it has to do with the way it was packaged, as it seems to run along the areas that were covered by the foam in the box. I might disappear of its own accord, otherwise a little bit of soap and water (very little water

) should do the trick.

 

[haloxt]

Wallypower, make sure you aren't outputting 192khz only 92khz and lower for optical/coax. I think customs did a free paintjob on your compass.

Dat_Dude, did you request DHL leave it at your doorstep? Normally they will need you to sign for it.

 

[yepyep_]

Thanks for the pics/first impressions.

 

[Dat_Dude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haloxt /img/forum/go_quote.gif Dat_Dude, did you request DHL leave it at your doorstep? Normally they will need you to sign for it.

Oh noooo! I didn't request that. Do you think if I called DHL that they could relay that information to the courier before delivery today?

 

[Currawong]

WallyPower: Thanks for the pics. It's the first time for everyone AFAIK to see the final version. It will have 100 hours of burn-in from Audio-gd and needs at least another 250, during which the tonality will fluctuate somewhat before settling down.