[PJABBER]

  The sound has its issues, maybe just with the supplied 1.01 firmware, if you turn the volume right down to 0, you can hear the noise floor which toggles when you play/pause. This sounds more like a hardware/Amp stage issue to me.
The unit pops every time you change track, irrespective of the gapless setting. The S5 has a quick fade-in fade-out which I prefer.
The battery is much poorer, I get around 18 hours from the S5 and about 8 from the T6 with a range of MP3s, mostly 320kbps.
 

 
I mentioned the possibility that the T6/Rocker has a noise floor in my first post write-up but I personally could not hear it, while a teenager that has one of the units I bought does. We did what you describe, played a file and brought the volume to 0. Seems most apparent to him in ear buds so it might also mean that very low impedence devices are most subject to it. But, he does hear noise on a number of the devices I have been testing, with the notable exception of the Sansa Clip+. Sansa did a great job with that device, still hard for other manufacturers to match it for quality and value. 
 
Someone suggested using an added in-line volume control - to bring that control to low volume and then raise and lower the volume of the device to adjust the sound for listening. I guess that adds an element of impedence and eliminates or minimizes the noise. I haven't tried this myself.
 
I have been tracking worldwide reviews and the slight pop in switching songs was mentioned in a very few reviews. Those listeners don't find it obtrusive but it might annoy some, like yourself, that can hear it.
 
Both the perceived noise floor and the file transition soft "plop" that you describe have been referred to both Benjie and AGPtek for review. Might be a fix forthcoming but who knows when it might be addressed.

 

[DavaLad]

Hi,
 
I do do play with IEDs, the KZ-ED9s, so that could be the reason if they are particularly sensitive?? I do have some other IEDs with a built in volume but the unit has already been boxed up for return so I cannot confirm if this works, but I suspect you are right.
 
My main gripe with the T6 is probably down to how good the S5 is, which is what I am comparing it to, and what I was expecting an upgrade from.
 
I suspect that the track change POP can be eliminated in future firmware by using the same routine as the S5, a quick fade out and in.
 
It may also be that the noise floor can be removed in firmware as, if the unit is at 0 volume and paused, it goes and only returns when playing. However it may be that the amp stage it turned off when paused so the device will always exhibit this with the internal amp on, and therfore be apparent to some during quiet passages.
 
I kind of expected these types of issues with the S5, a £16 device but they just wern't there so I was confident that I would be happy with the same manufacturers newer £50 device. Unfortunately, my confidence was misplaced which is why I was so disappointed.

 

[EmPathWalker]

An AGPTEK Rocker arrived here today, from Amazon UK ( 49.99 ).
 
I've hardly started assessing it but my very first trial with a FLAC track is underwhelming. Dare I even say it sounds a little veiled ? Something lacking, for sure. I swapped the card out to an XDuoo X3 and even using the rockbox mode the track is more vivid and dynamic. Then I put the card in an AGPTEK B03 and it sounds better in that too !
 
I'll give it a proper check out over the next few days but my current inclination is to send it back to Amazon next week. I've never returned anything to them before but this Rocker could be the first, the way my ears are feeling about it. Honestly, I get a better audio smile from the B03. That was £19   6 months or so ago. I also have an IMP and I expected it to sound at least as good as that. It doesn't.
 
....... After more listening to the Rocker, I think the bass is muddy and the sound stage seems unstable.
 
I've decided to leave it playing a folder full of files all night tonight to see if it will sort itself out with some use. If it doesn't make me smile tomorrow night, it's off back to amazon.

 

[PJABBER]

  Hi,
 
I do do play with IEDs, the KZ-ED9s, so that could be the reason if they are particularly sensitive?? I do have some other IEDs with a built in volume but the unit has already been boxed up for return so I cannot confirm if this works, but I suspect you are right.
 
My main gripe with the T6 is probably down to how good the S5 is, which is what I am comparing it to, and what I was expecting an upgrade from.
 
I suspect that the track change POP can be eliminated in future firmware by using the same routine as the S5, a quick fade out and in.
 
It may also be that the noise floor can be removed in firmware as, if the unit is at 0 volume and paused, it goes and only returns when playing. However it may be that the amp stage it turned off when paused so the device will always exhibit this with the internal amp on, and therfore be apparent to some during quiet passages.
 
I kind of expected these types of issues with the S5, a £16 device but they just wern't there so I was confident that I would be happy with the same manufacturers newer £50 device. Unfortunately, my confidence was misplaced which is why I was so disappointed.

I have some high frequency roll off in my hearing so I don't trust that my own auditioning will be enough to make a recommendation to others. I concentrate on describing hardware, software and feature sets and let others with better ears than mine make sound quality pronouncements. In this case I would say that of the 20 or so people that I know have listened to the T6/Rocker, 3-4 have noticed both a noise floor and the "plopping/switching" sound. As the T6/Rocker can play gapless, it might be a way around the "plopping" sound, at least between songs.
 
I suspect that you might be right about the amp turning off to preserve battery life when the unit is not actually playing a file. The amping might be insufficiently isolated in the signal chain and when active it introduces noise. After I got the comment from my first teen auditioner that he was hearing an audible static/rumble I forwarded this suspicion to Benjie and I know AGPtek has also received a comment or two on this from one or two other auditioners.
 
I don't own the KZ-ED9, but the specs that I see from the HeadFi reviews is that they have a sensitivity of 108dB and an input impedance of 18Ω, so they are quite efficient. Most of my listening is on ~16-30Ω headphones with sensitivity ~105dB, so not that much different. 
 
I don't think we should excuse DAPs that don't pair well with headphones of different electronic specs, so long as the amping in the DAP/DAC has sufficient output to drive the selected cans or IEMs. Almost all DAPs have a variable gain of some sort which should take care of output power matching with reasonably efficient headphones/IEMs.
 
The value of the S5 is so high for the asked price that it is somewhat of an anomaly. When I read all of the reviews on this site describing and criticizing portable source gear that costs 2-100X that of an S5, I can see there is a long way to go to find a perfect DAP at anything close to a reasonable cost! 

 

[DavaLad]

  I have some high frequency roll off in my hearing so I don't trust that my own auditioning will be enough to make a recommendation to others. I concentrate on describing hardware, software and feature sets and let others with better ears than mine make sound quality pronouncements. In this case I would say that of the 20 or so people that I know have listened to the T6/Rocker, 3-4 have noticed both a noise floor and the "plopping/switching" sound. As the T6/Rocker can play gapless, it might be a way around the "plopping" sound, at least between songs.
 

Please don't think that I blame your review in way way for my decision to purchase, most of the points that irk me were in your original review but I decided that I could possibly overlook or live with them.
 
Quote:

The value of the S5 is so high for the asked price that it is somewhat of an anomaly. When I read all of the reviews on this site describing and criticizing portable source gear that costs 2-100X that of an S5, I can see there is a long way to go to find a perfect DAP at anything close to a reasonable cost!

 
I agree, and as you seem to have some means of contacting Benjie, I wonder whether some sort of poll or user input on the forums has ever been tried to create the "perfect" spec for a reasonably priced player that could be fed into their R&D?
 
 
The T6 has now gone back to Amazon and I have ordered the K9 direct from China. The corners are rounded, has a reportedly low noise floor, similar battery life, larger colour screen which should make selection due to lack of playlist support more acceptable and most importantly, is below the price threshold where I should care too much about its shortcomings.
 
We will see!
 
I also wanted to add that the UHS3 Toshiba Exceria 64GB microSD seems to be particularly good value at the moment at under £17 delivered from a couple of places and it works fine in the S5 so far, and writes FAST from my PC's SD slot.

 

[PJABBER]

   
I agree, and as you seem to have some means of contacting Benjie, I wonder whether some sort of poll or user input on the forums has ever been tried to create the "perfect" spec for a reasonably priced player that could be fed into their R&D?
 

 
AGPtek did solicit requests for user preferred specifications for a new DAP configuration last year on the Rockbox forum and they remain actively engaged with Rockbox developers as they work on "Rockbox as an app" for this device. I have a link in the first post for anyone interested in the technical detail of the work in progress.
 
I remain in touch intermittently with both Shenzhen Benjie and AGPtek, this thread covers all of the information and feedback that I have to offer them at the moment. 
 
Both firms do have a link to this thread and are probably still monitoring it for user comments, so you can always post and have a decent chance that it will be read by executives at both firms.
 
I am bringing Benjie BJ-T6s and AGPtek Rockers, as well as a number of other DAPs and earphones that AGPtek sent to me, to the Washington, DC Head-Fi Meet on March 12. Attendees can try them out at the meet and I will then give these DAPs and earphones to some of the participating Head-Fi members to take home to test at leisure and, hopefully, to post their independent reviews and comments here as well!
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/836042/announcement-dc-area-head-fi-meet-march-12-2017-gaithersburg-maryland
 
By the way, if you do a web search for either the Benjie BJ-T6 or the AGPtek Rocker you will find that there are now a number of "review" sites just copying and pasting the information I have posted here. Unfortunately, they are not crediting me or Head-Fi! With the device now in global distribution, it would be nice to see someone bench test the T6/Rocker!

 

[tenentegre]

Hi everyone! I just want to inform everyone that Agptek has just uploaded a new firmware (v 1.1) on his blog: http://www.agptek.com/blog/?p=1246
 
They improved few things, like the system font, that was really horrible. I think the UI still sucks and I'm really unconfortable in navigating through folders (why should you display all those unuseful identical icons in such a small space??)... but still, if they keep on working on it, I think this DAP has a lot of potential. I'm not an expert audiophile, but I really like how this player is made and designed. With a full implementation with Rockbox it would be the best one under 100 $. Jesus if only I could use Rockbox on this [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]ugly duckling![/color]

 

[funkymartyn]

Assume you mean this new software is for the new rocker... but may still make double copies of all the folders, which i have on my. Imp ,... i have say, 500 folders of cds, which then goes into say 500 other folders , which when pressed , say empty....... not great when hunting for a cd, etc...
Yet the Imp copy i have from acoustic solutions, which is the imp shell, but with 128gb built in memory. . Where i have about 1500 cds on , and this only shows one folder for each cd... not two.

 

[PJABBER]

  Hi everyone! I just want to inform everyone that Agptek has just uploaded a new firmware (v 1.1) on his blog: http://www.agptek.com/blog/?p=1246
 

Thanks, I will add this link to the lead post in the thread!
 
The AGPtek Support download page for manuals and firmware updates is the go-to location for any AGPtek device updates -
 
http://www.agptek.com/support/download.html 

 

[yorchuk]

Is it possible to install the firmware from AGPtek Rocker to Benjie BJ-T6?

 

[PJABBER]

  Is it possible to install the firmware from AGPtek Rocker to Benjie BJ-T6?

Yes, the hardware is the same. I prefer the AGPtek firmware at this point.

 

[SambalOelek]

Hello everyone,
I just got the AGptek rocker from Amazon....really nice player so far.
 
I have two questions:
 
1) For updating the firmware, it is stated use a 'formated' micro sd card and put the firmware on it and then flash.... but does it mean the micro sd card should be totally empty or can i just add the firmware to my sdcard where i have putted all the songs? Just don't want to mess up... And if it should be formated and totally empty, what format should it be formated? FAT? NTFS? I m running Netrunner OS (ubuntu linux), so how should i format it so it is not ext2 format or something...
 
2) Is there a real DAC inside the Agptek player, i just wonder.....as it doesn"t seem to be 'marketed' as such , just high quality audio...but does it mean it uses a DAC?
 
Thanks!

 

[crabdog]

  Hello everyone,
I just got the AGptek rocker from Amazon....really nice player so far.
 
I have two questions:
 
1) For updating the firmware, it is stated use a 'formated' micro sd card and put the firmware on it and then flash.... but does it mean the micro sd card should be totally empty or can i just add the firmware to my sdcard where i have putted all the songs? Just don't want to mess up... And if it should be formated and totally empty, what format should it be formated? FAT? NTFS? I m running Netrunner OS (ubuntu linux), so how should i format it so it is not ext2 format or something...
 
2) Is there a real DAC inside the Agptek player, i just wonder.....as it doesn"t seem to be 'marketed' as such , just high quality audio...but does it mean it uses a DAC?
 
Thanks!

It usually doesn't matter if there are other files on the sd card but you might want to format it first just to be on the safe side. Netrunner should have Partition software pre-installed or you can install GParted. Alternatively you should be able to format the card directly from the Rocker (look for an option in the settings).
 
Yes there is a real DAC inside the player as well.

 

[PJABBER]

  It usually doesn't matter if there are other files on the sd card but you might want to format it first just to be on the safe side. Netrunner should have Partition software pre-installed or you can install GParted. Alternatively you should be able to format the card directly from the Rocker (look for an option in the settings).
 
Yes there is a real DAC inside the player as well.

I can confirm that it doesn't matter that you have any other files on the microSD card, I just use the same card that I keep music on.
 
The T6/Rocker "Firmware Update" function looks for whatever "update.upt" file that you have on the card to do the update. The "update.upt" file name is generic for ALL updates, be sure to have only the one you want to use on the card when you do the update.
 
I formatted my microSD card using the T6/Rocker's own "Format the Card" function in Settings. If you opt to format your microSD card with anything else, choose exFAT for best compatibility.

 

[actorlife]

Any pricing for the T8 yet? http://www.head-fi.org/t/805115/benjie-s5-offical-thread/1155#post_13228116