[mhpsd]

The sad thing for me is, that now , I would rather they put me out of misery and admit this device is never going to arrive.

At least that will give us closure..

I, like you, will then put it down to a bad investment...

I think any review or article published about them now will be full of negative and accusatory comments... from disgruntled backers who have been royally mugged..

Agreed. It bothers me to lose the money, but it would bother me more to buy a new DAP and then have the explorer arrive shortly thereafter. If it's not going to happen, just put us out of our collective discomfort/misery.

 

[henriks]

Irony on instagram
"echoboxaudioOff to a good start here at the #LAAS2017! If you are here, don't be a stranger, come say hi! We are showcasing our full line of #IEMs as well as FINISHED #ExplorerDAP units! ❤❤❤❤"

 

[dlayman]

Irony on instagram
"echoboxaudioOff to a good start here at the #LAAS2017! If you are here, don't be a stranger, come say hi! We are showcasing our full line of #IEMs as well as FINISHED #ExplorerDAP units! ❤❤❤❤"

Unbelievable. Their other batch of "finished" Explorers was anything but. Promotion always seems to trump reality and delivery and customer service with EB. Anyway at this point I'm extremely happy with my Shanling and doubt the Explorer will ever be of use to me.

 

[-Kenny-]

Maybe i'm naive but i'm still hoping for it's arrival. I would hate for all this miserie to have been for nothing.
I'm frustrated with them, as everyone must be to some degree at this point, but i still look forward to FINALLY hearing the explorer.

 

[thefunkygibbon]

Agreed. It bothers me to lose the money, but it would bother me more to buy a new DAP and then have the explorer arrive shortly thereafter. If it's not going to happen, just put us out of our collective discomfort/misery.

I already purchased a different player months back, as I think quite a few others have done the same. There comes a point where you just have to say "expletive" it...

 

[dlayman]

Maybe i'm naive but i'm still hoping for it's arrival. I would hate for all this miserie to have been for nothing.
I'm frustrated with them, as everyone must be to some degree at this point, but i still look forward to FINALLY hearing the explorer.

I don't. I'm glad I bought a better, less expensive player months ago. I hope it works out for you though.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

Irony on instagram
"echoboxaudioOff to a good start here at the #LAAS2017! If you are here, don't be a stranger, come say hi! We are showcasing our full line of #IEMs as well as FINISHED #ExplorerDAP units! ❤❤❤❤"

https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/disturbin-tha-peace-pt2.850441/#post-13519241


You folks should not be getting this from a banner having sponsor.
This is Fraud by it's very definition.
Expect more brothers. From the companies and the site that allows them to spend money to be a sponsor before fulfilling it's backers investments.

This happened with LH Labs and other companies before. You folks need to contact the BBB in the state Echobox is located and file consumer complaints. The lack of response here and the activity on other platforms is something that has no viable excuse.

This company doesn't like me much so maybe me telling you to file consumer complaints with the local better business bureau will elicit a reaction.....i bet it does

 

[swannie007]

https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/disturbin-tha-peace-pt2.850441/#post-13519241


You folks should not be getting this from a banner having sponsor.
This is Fraud by it's very definition.
Expect more brothers. From the companies and the site that allows them to spend money to be a sponsor before fulfilling it's backers investments.

This happened with LH Labs and other companies before. You folks need to contact the BBB in the state Echobox is located and file consumer complaints. The lack of response here and the activity on other platforms is something that has no viable excuse.

This company doesn't like me much so maybe me telling you to file consumer complaints with the local better business bureau will elicit a reaction.....i bet it does

 

[swannie007]

I feel for the folks who haven't received their Explorers yet but I must say, in all fairness and with emotions and preconceptions aside, that I really enjoy the sound of my Explorer, admittedly not without faults but it definitely has promise. I am listening to it as I type this while streaming Spotify and I really enjoy the Bluetooth function that eliminates the cable as I listen. It definitely has a "mature" sound to it. Please excuse my terminology as I am not an audio reviewer but I have several DAPs and I like this one for it's laid back and musical presentation. I can listen to it for many hours without any ear fatigue, which is important to me as some players tend to set off my tinnitus. The few problems it has I can live with until a replacement unit is sent to me as I have learned to live with its idiosyncrasies as the sound is worth it to me. Right now it is my most used player and gets use almost every day. I am glad I didn't ask for a refund and see light at the end of the tunnel.
I know this is not what some want to read but it is my situation and I felt that I should put this out there to perhaps offer a reason to others to hang in there for, hopefully, a good outcome. Please understand that this does not forgive the questionable business practices exhibited by Echobox but it does show that the eventual outcome may well be a very nice DAP for quite a few folks. Cheers.
P.S. I have no affiliation with Echobox at all and have not received any incentive to post my thoughts.

 

[HiFiChris]

I do think that we, as Indiegogo backers, will receive our Explorers (eventually), however the thing that really is somewhat frustrating about it, for me, is that due to the delays (that could and should have been handled and communicated differently), there are now other interesting streaming audio players below $500 that did not exist at the time of the Explorer's originally planned delivery date a year ago...

 

[swannie007]

I do think that we, as Indiegogo backers, will receive our Explorers (eventually), however the thing that really is somewhat frustrating about it, for me, is that due to the delays (that could and should have been handled and communicated differently), there are now other interesting streaming audio players below $500 that did not exist at the time of the Explorer's originally planned delivery date a year ago...

The technology and feature set are definitely not on the cutting edge at this time but at least the sound is good, to my ears at least. Had I known that I would be waiting as long as I did, I would have cancelled my order and purchased something else long ago. That being said however, I am still happy that I actually received something for my money, unlike some other campaigns where the companies took the money and have, as yet, not provided any product to investors some years later. Seuin, I'm looking at you and at LH Labs as well. These companies that do business like this should be ashamed of themselves and we should not reward them with any future business. Cheers.

 

[-Kenny-]

I do think that we, as Indiegogo backers, will receive our Explorers (eventually), however the thing that really is somewhat frustrating about it, for me, is that due to the delays (that could and should have been handled and communicated differently), there are now other interesting streaming audio players below $500 that did not exist at the time of the Explorer's originally planned delivery date a year ago...

Hey Chris,

Could you tell me which players that are? It should be able to offline tidal for me. That's my only request

That was the only reason I bought into the explorer anyway. It looked so promising back when i first saw it on indiegogo. Now all the magic around it is long gone and all that's left is frustration, with the ongoing lies and false promises made by echobox. I just feel like we' re being laughed at by sitting here and just taking it. While in the meantime, EVERY time i open Facebook or Instagram i see a new post by them as if everything is going fine. I came here because i read that they are much more active and responsive over on head-fi. Guess that time is long gone too. You could think they are abandoning the sinking ship, but then why keep posting on social media as if everything's peachy?
I guess time will tell if the explorers ever arrive, because it doesn't seem as if echobox is going to tell us...

 

[HiFiChris]

Hey Chris,

Could you tell me which players that are? It should be able to offline tidal for me. That's my only request

That was the only reason I bought into the explorer anyway. It looked so promising back when i first saw it on indiegogo. Now all the magic around it is long gone and all that's left is frustration, with the ongoing lies and false promises made by echobox. I just feel like we' re being laughed at by sitting here and just taking it. While in the meantime, EVERY time i open Facebook or Instagram i see a new post by them as if everything is going fine. I came here because i read that they are much more active and responsive over on head-fi. Guess that time is long gone too. You could think they are abandoning the sinking ship, but then why keep posting on social media as if everything's peachy?
I guess time will tell if the explorers ever arrive, because it doesn't seem as if echobox is going to tell us...

Cayin i5, FiiO X5 III, several models from Onkyo and Pioneer, and the Hidizs AP200 doesn't seem to be too far away either (I'm not counting the iPod Touch due to the lack of expandable memory). Those are the current sub-$500 streaming DAPs I know of (I don't know if they all support offline Tidal though).
While, besides the streaming, it was mainly the Explorer's nice design and wood that made me place the crowdfunding pre-order, I think I might put my money on something else if they were to announce the exactly same Explorer today.

 

[Audio Addict]

Personally Indiegogo should take some responsibility. It seems a lot of the more questionable projects are now done on Indiegogo rather than Kickstarter. We just need to say no to Indiegogo as they have no interest in following up on the compaigns.

 

[Q Mass]

FWIW I got a reply (e-mail) from Echobox in a couple of hours today.
I asked if it was still the case that our Explorers would be shipping in the next few days:
"Thank you for reaching out. We are looking to resume shipping this week, and are very excited "

This does at least help me feel slightly less like I've backed the Marie Celeste.

As for Kickstarter being better than Indiegogo as regards investor risk, I will never back another Kickstarter since they utterly failed to investigate or take ANY action on the Aequus headphone scam that I and 80 others backed.
K.S. has ZERO interest in pursuing 'C J Hughes' or returning our investment despite 'C.J.' taking the money and running.
Kickstarter is NOT a safe place to invest.

Even if the Explorer turns out to be everything we hope it will be, it will likely be the last crowd-funder I ever back.

And before anyone says 'but you should know the risks of crowd funding', the Explorer certainly seemed a low risk solid design with some serious ground work already completed when the IGG campaign started.
I even got to handle and hear a couple at the first London Can-Jam way back in August 2015!
I was led to believe even then that only minor tweaks were required before launch!
Also enthusiasm was high for the finders too.

I've been listening to music on my cell phone since then (we don't all have the spare funds to simply give up waiting for the Explorer and buy an alternative) and REALLY look forward to decent sound on the go.
I am REALLY tired of the sound from my cell'