[esimms86]

I just posted this comment on the Kickstarter link for the YARRA 3DX

"
Great News for US backers.

I am in the Los Angeles area and I got a text from Fedex that my YARRA will arrive tomorrow - Tuesday. I am registered with Fedex to receive texts as shipping status changes. YARRA tracking had been listed as PENDING since 6/12/2019.

I have not yet received any tracking information directly from Comhear

"

Thanks!

 

[L8MDL]

Sounds like the crate arrived!

 

[mikemav]

I am in DC area and just got a notice from my FedEx account to expect a shipment from Comhear this Friday....

 

[sahmen]

Also got notification that my two Yarra packages are due for delivery by Fedex here in Massachusetts on Monday.

 

[esimms86]

Also got notification that my two Yarra packages are due for delivery by Fedex here in Massachusetts on Monday.

Am also in Massachusetts, also with Fedex delivery expected on Monday.

 

[L8MDL]

Notice received for Friday, 8/2 delivery. Good things come to those who wait.

 

[mikemg]

What are the general thoughts of those who got the Yarra?

Is the unit what you were hoping or a bit underwhelming?

I am going to be as honest as I can as I have now spent over 6 hours testing every aspect of the Yarra , and I am sorry to say the Yarra is not a finished product , and I am astonished it was released in this unfinished form without checking so many fundamental issues


1: HDMi dropouts random but continuous


2: Volume Distortion from so many sources

3: Subwoofer providing minimal bass support and going to sleep

4: Bass Management / CrossoverFrequency in the Yarra won’t supply loud enough signal to kick start Sub

5: As a TV Soundbar it doesn’t stack up as sound quality is thin and metallic with no warmth
6: Headphone socket wouldn’t drive my headphones to anything other than very low sound volume


I seriously hope these issues can be resolved with firmware updates but I am not sure if fw updates will sort so many issues


I was so concerned I sought an independent home cinema test from a hi if expert company I have known for years so I took the Yarra over to them and they setup a number of demos


The background to this U.K. high end company is they sell Arcam and many other quality products and strangely enough they had been asked to evaluate the Senheisser Ambeo Soundbar the previous week so they knew a huge amount about Dolby Atmos and surround sound DTS etc


First they connected the Yarra to my sub and within a minute said why is the sound so thin and within a few minutes even though my sub showed it was active we swapped it for a mid range REL and new sub cable


Unfortunately it made no difference to the overall sound


After many other tests they agreed that this was far from a finished product with many issues that I had identified and as a comparison to the Sennheiser it didn’t come close as the sound this bar produces is without midrange or bass producing a thin metallic sound


They also agreed the Bass Management signal from the Yarra sound bar is so low that it is very rare the sub provides any bass or lfe support


These are the most positive comments made by them and concur with my findings


They also couldn’t understand why the equaliser needed to be anything but flat


I hope these issues can be solved as I am very unhappy with this situation


Anybody else agree with my comments

 

[SierraMadre]

I am going to be as honest as I can as I have now spent over 6 hours testing every aspect of the Yarra , and I am sorry to say the Yarra is not a finished product , and I am astonished it was released in this unfinished form without checking so many fundamental issues


1: HDMi dropouts random but continuous


2: Volume Distortion from so many sources

3: Subwoofer providing minimal bass support and going to sleep

4: Bass Management / CrossoverFrequency in the Yarra won’t supply loud enough signal to kick start Sub

5: As a TV Soundbar it doesn’t stack up as sound quality is thin and metallic with no warmth
6: Headphone socket wouldn’t drive my headphones to anything other than very low sound volume


I seriously hope these issues can be resolved with firmware updates but I am not sure if fw updates will sort so many issues


I was so concerned I sought an independent home cinema test from a hi if expert company I have known for years so I took the Yarra over to them and they setup a number of demos


The background to this U.K. high end company is they sell Arcam and many other quality products and strangely enough they had been asked to evaluate the Senheisser Ambeo Soundbar the previous week so they knew a huge amount about Dolby Atmos and surround sound DTS etc


First they connected the Yarra to my sub and within a minute said why is the sound so thin and within a few minutes even though my sub showed it was active we swapped it for a mid range REL and new sub cable


Unfortunately it made no difference to the overall sound


After many other tests they agreed that this was far from a finished product with many issues that I had identified and as a comparison to the Sennheiser it didn’t come close as the sound this bar produces is without midrange or bass producing a thin metallic sound


They also agreed the Bass Management signal from the Yarra sound bar is so low that it is very rare the sub provides any bass or lfe support


These are the most positive comments made by them and concur with my findings


They also couldn’t understand why the equaliser needed to be anything but flat


I hope these issues can be solved as I am very unhappy with this situation


Anybody else agree with my comments

I agree with most of what you say but with some qualification and dependent on source and mode.


1. Audio quality based on content:

The sub won’t win any awards and has obvious issues as to remaining consistently engaged, but, *if* it is engaged and not withstanding intermittent glitches / artefacting, I have found the quality to be decent (not spectacular but with sufficient warmth and richness not to be too “thin and metallic”), *provided* the feed is set to Dolby Digital with the Yarra doing the decoding natively set to either stereo or surround. That being said, all virtual surround sound solutions tend to introduce at least some degree of reverb which may come across as metallic to some to different degrees. This shouldn’t apply in stereo mode though.


2. Audio quality based on Inputs:

Haven’t bothered much with USB due to robotic / metallic distortion. I should try another USB cable just to be sure though (have only tried 2 thus far). HDMI and optical have been good (within the context of point number 1) not withstanding aforementioned intermittent glitching / artefacting.


3.Equaliser and presets:

Doesn’t need to not be flat. More likely your testers ran afoul of the various problems with the UI. It’s hard to get settings to stick, particularly on the iOS app, (I have found the Android app to be the most reliable) and there is no way to change between stereo and surround mode using just the remote other than to change between near and far field modes which appears to automatically engage surround and often also reset the equaliser, content presets and HRTF to the profile default. Basically, using the remote, you can change to surround mode by changing fields but you can’t change to stereo mode.

Also, particularly with the iOS app, if you change the EQ or the preset, then back out of that option screen back into the main Yarra home menu then the EQ settings and content preset often won’t stick.

In summary, unless you’ve spent a lot of time getting used to the idiosyncratic errors the UI and apps are susceptibile to, it’s quite easy to think you’re testing one configuration of modes/settings (EQ, content preset, HRTF preset, stereo vs surround mode) only to be in actual fact testing another because the last adjustment you made reverted everything to a different configuration. Only if you’ve been testing and using it for a while do you start to learn and instinctively know when and where it fails to stick and how to get round it so that you are testing the settings / modes that you think you are testing. Of course, none of that should be necessary and it all goes to show how much more polish is required to bring the Yarra up to speed. But at least for now they still appear to be working on it.

If you want to bail now though, I shouldn’t think you’d have that much difficulty finding a buyer on the classifieds here.

 

[Dixter]

anyone besides comhear plug your yarra into the Smyth A8 yet... I bet it changes how the yarra sounds by quite a bit...

 

[mikemg]

I have just found these published Comhear settings won't have time try for few days
Would be interesting to get feedback from anyone trying them
Could someone pass these settings to the Kickstarter and Indiegogo sites so we get as much feedback on whether this makes a significant difference to the sound
Has anyone tried the headphone input as tried with Sennheiser HD600 and Denon AHD 2000 it won't drive either to acceptable sound levels

 

[SierraMadre]

I have just found these published Comhear settings won't have time try for few days
Would be interesting to get feedback from anyone trying them
Could someone pass these settings to the Kickstarter and Indiegogo sites so we get as much feedback on whether this makes a significant difference to the sound
Has anyone tried the headphone input as tried with Sennheiser HD600 and Denon AHD 2000 it won't drive either to acceptable sound levels

Is there any indication that those settings are indeed recommended by Comhear, though? I’d have thought there would be some description for intended usage scenarios otherwise. . .

The headphone amp is indeed weak. I had to max out the volume to get an acceptable experience on AKG K7XX.

 

[Dixter]

I think those pics of the App are just showing examples of the App itself.... here is the source on the Google Store

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.comhear.yarra.qa

 

[Dixter]

I do wonder on the first example of the App where it has 3 listeners and the two on the left and right are at 90 degrees.... wonder if that would cause the stage to expand with that setting...

 

[Erik Garci]

anyone besides comhear plug your yarra into the Smyth A8 yet... I bet it changes how the yarra sounds by quite a bit...

It turns out that the Yarra lacks a crosstalk-free mode, so I have not bothered to try my Yarra with my A8. The Yarra has just two modes, Surround and Stereo, and both have crosstalk. I updated the firmware today, and it still lacks a crosstalk-free mode. I hope that Comhear will add a crosstalk-free mode as originally advertised.

 

[Dixter]

thanks for the reply.... I was asking for two reasons... I noticed when comhear was demonstrating the yarra they used the A8 feeding it... I have both a yarra and A8 in bound next week... I am assuming Mark was using the
AIX setup on the A8 for the demo... would be nice to find out a good setup from the A8 into the yarra...