Radsone EarStudio

[Melvin]

I'm not sure how much interest this product will have around these parts but the EarStudio is a Bluetooth receiver/amp which got its start on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. I backed the project in early July. My interest in this little device came about while anticipating a mobile phone upgrade in the fall. I was leaning toward several phones which lacked a headphone jack and I had little interest in purchasing yet another pair headphones. Several months later I ended up with a Pixel 2 .. no jack. Fortunately, the Pixel 2 is aptX HD capable. I was using the "dongle" which shipped with the phone until the EarStudio finally arrived a week ago. It was worth the wait.

 

Here's a few links for those who may be curious about the extensive technology built into this device and companion app:

 

Kickstarter

Major HiFi

Tech Hive

 

While it's not yet available to order, it should be sometime in January 2018.

 

[jcbenten]

Thanks for posting...I also picked up a Pixel 2 and the dongle does not work with my Westones (heavy static/crackling) which are my preferred earphone.  Definitely something to research.

 

Any issues with the BT connection?  I find Android BT is not nearly as robust as iOS.

[Melvin]

@jcbenten .. no connection trouble at all. The Pixel 2 auto-selected aptX HD and has been very stable. I've wandered around the 1st floor of my house without even a hiccup, thankfully. I'm using it primarily with Deezer HiFi and the sound quality is everything I hoped for. There's been a couple of positive comments on the Head Fi thread if you're interested. Of course, it's so new there isn't much chatter yet. I think Radsone has a winner here.

 

BTW, I've tried the EarStudio with my Audio Technica ATH-R70x and Bowers & Wilkins P5 .. no problems with either.

[dalethorn]

6 hours ago, jcbenten said:

Any issues with the BT connection?  I find Android BT is not nearly as robust as iOS.

 

Is it because iOS sits on a hardware standard and Android isn't standardized for hardware across all brands?

[Melvin]

12 hours ago, dalethorn said:

 

Is it because iOS sits on a hardware standard and Android isn't standardized for hardware across all brands?

 

Hey Dale .. if I remember correctly Google's been playing catch-up with BT. They added some features (including aptX HD) and improved it quite a bit with Oreo 8.0 and 8.1. Not sure if hardware had much to do with it.

[jcbenten]

13 hours ago, dalethorn said:

 

Is it because iOS sits on a hardware standard and Android isn't standardized for hardware across all brands?

 

Beats me.  I always thought it was a software issue.  All I know is I have a hard time connecting to my Pixel 2 (and previous android phones) and my laptop while my iPad is no problem.  The only things my phones easily connected with are my vehicles.

 

Thinking about this while I type I always thought that BT was a separate chip.  Somewhere along the timeline it was integrated with WiFi chip.  Now isn't all wireless integrated with the CPU/GPU SoC for mobile devices?

[dalethorn]

3 hours ago, Melvin said:

 

Hey Dale .. if I remember correctly Google's been playing catch-up with BT. They added some features (including aptX HD) and improved it quite a bit with Oreo 8.0 and 8.1. Not sure if hardware had much to do with it.

 

I do believe google has it nailed.  Not sure about the others.  One thing that's really bugging me lately is there seems to be a trend among headphones (not sure if this is germane to the topic) to not have a true passive mode, for headphones that have ANC and Bluetooth.  That kills the ability to use a DAC in wired mode.  I don't see a DAC attached to a phone as important for car use, but using any small media player at home as a digital transport to a decent DAC is important.  Having AptX HD on both ends gets you a good (44 khz?) bandwidth, but then again I've run into Bluetooth issues that aren't related to bandwidth afaik.

[Melvin]

@dalethorn .. lack of a true passive mode is surprising. Perhaps only audiophiles care about such things.

 

Apparently aptX HD is capable of 24/48 kHz but still uses 4:1 compression. When streaming Deezer HiFi from my Pixel 2 the EarStudio app does in fact report 24/48 (Radsone's upsampling I believe) and I must say, it sounds terrific. For the money spent ($54 pledge + $6 shipping) this turned out to be a great solution for my mobile use. 

[dalethorn]

2 hours ago, Melvin said:

@dalethorn .. lack of a true passive mode is surprising. Perhaps only audiophiles care about such things.

 

Apparently aptX HD is capable of 24/48 kHz but still uses 4:1 compression. When streaming Deezer HiFi from my Pixel 2 the EarStudio app does in fact report 24/48 (Radsone's upsampling I believe) and I must say, it sounds terrific. For the money spent ($54 pledge + $6 shipping) this turned out to be a great solution for my mobile use. 

 

FLACs can be lossless and compressed - same with Microsoft's WMA files, and some of Apple's.  So the only thing is, the player would have to be able to restore the signal correctly, and presumably it's doing that for you.  But, none of the lossless codecs I'm familiar with can compress more than 35-40 percent and still be lossless, so I wonder what's going on.

[buonassi]

good post. 

 looks like the ear studio isnt the only kid on the block - but this isn't HD:

http://www.fiio.net/en/products/77

 

 

[Melvin]

4 hours ago, buonassi said:

good post. 

 looks like the ear studio isnt the only kid on the block - but this isn't HD:

http://www.fiio.net/en/products/77

 

 

 

I'm not surprised another company decided there's a market for this type of product. Fiio certainly knows their market (and their stuff!). Perhaps we'll see a comparison soon.

[Melvin]

Early reviews are starting to come in. Here is a link to Steven Stone's (Audiophile Review) if you're interested: http://audiophilereview.com/cd-dac-digital/in-july-2017-i-took.html

 

BTW, I found this via Radsone's Facebook page which, surprisingly, also lists my blog post among others. 

[RichardSF]

On 1/2/2018 at 10:40 PM, buonassi said:

 looks like the ear studio isnt the only kid on the block - but this isn't HD:

http://www.fiio.net/en/products/77

 

The Fiio BTR1 has no aptX HD, no balanced output, and doesn't even support AAC for Apple devices. It is not in the same league as the Ear Studio.

 

The Technical Director of Radsone has joined the conversation in the Ear Studio thread on Head-Fi and answering technical questions.

[Melvin]

Here's another on Indiegogo claiming lossless: Poppins

[dalethorn]

On 1/8/2018 at 5:48 AM, Melvin said:

Here's another on Indiegogo claiming lossless: Poppins

 

"Bluetooth 2.1 plus EDR" it says, if you can find it in that lengthy page.

[Melvin]

24 minutes ago, dalethorn said:

 

"Bluetooth 2.1 plus EDR" it says, if you can find it in that lengthy page.

 

Yeah, I saw that .. speaks for itself, no? It's cheap & colorful at least .

[Melvin]

I decided to zombie this thread because Radsone has been busy tweaking and adding features to the EarStudio ES100 via app and firmware updates. Of note, DFU support for macOS was added in May with version 1.2.0 and the LDAC codec landed in early July with version 1.3.0. The current firmware, version 1.3.2, is the 6th update this year.

 

I skipped the 1.3.0 update but recently applied 1.3.2 and am now using LDAC, which was selected automatically. In case you've missed the excitement surrounding LDAC, it supports 24/96. I never dreamed Bluetooth could sound this good. 

 

Interest in the ES100 seems to have increased quite a bit over the past 6 months. For example, the Head-Fi thread mentioned by @RichardSF is now 130 pages long and Gizmodo AU did a nice review recently which you can find here.

 

Anyway, a great little gadget I've been very happy with.