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Product Description
Pocket-sized and engineered for performance, the second-generation Radsone Earstudio ES100 MK2 Bluetooth DAC/amp delivers impressive digital-to-audio conversion for Bluetooth devices. It's built with two high-quality AK4375a DACs and has both a 3.5-millimeter unbalanced output and a 2.5-millimeter balanced output Read More
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msanchezOver bluetooth? Unfortunately not. In fact, to my knowledge, currently you can't ALAC losslessly via BT. You'll want a dongle DAC/AMP paired with a decent pair of wired in-ear monitors for that.
While the ES100 can be used as a USB DAC, I'd just go with a dongle to avoid the jank.
msanchezIt does LDAC, which is as close as you are going to get to full CD quality over Bluetooth 5.0, the spec does not have enough bandwidth to do a full 16bit stream verbatim. It's a trade off honestly. Given the excellent software and the balanced connection, and one I'm willing to make even as I walk around with USB DAC's in my pocket simply because of the convenience factor.
What is Radsone’s warranty like for this product? If defective after 30 days, do they replace with new or replace with refurbished? Looked at Amazon site for this and answers to this ? about Radsone warranty weren’t great; however, I ask here because I don’t trust answers given on Amazon much anymore. Thanks, in advance.
peaceful_distance
Jun 16, 2021
susa6267Would like to know this as well. It is important that I can ship the product to radsone for repair or replacement regardless of who I purchase it from.
I am here once again to speak up on the quality of this product - quite plainly, it's shit.
When it works, it sounds great, especially with my Etymotic ER3's, however that's *when* it works. The first one which was given to me as a gift eventually died; the battery wouldn't charge after about 6 mos of light use (https://drop.com/buy/radsone-earstudio-es100/talk/2447299). After a whole lot of back and forth with the company I managed to get a replacement around July 2019 (https://drop.com/buy/radsone-earstudio-es100-mk2-dac-amp/talk/2588586) - it saw a little use during some travel in late '19 and early '20 but covid hit and I parked it.
Just last week I had to make an unplanned trip and grabbed this for the plane ride - took a charge fine, turned it on once I got through security at the airport and about 30 minutes later it dropped the bluetooth connection to my phone and started making a horrible screeching sound. All I could do was turn it off. It wouldn't turn back on.
Plugged it in, won't charge, won't light up, nothing.
I'm 0 for 2 with these; I'm just glad I didn't spend my own money.
njgphotographyMake sure you're using the correct cable, some cables are not wired up correctly. I have the exact same issues with certain cables, not with others.
If you've had trouble figuring out how to use the ES100 MK2 (and you aren't prudish about Zeos ;-) I recommend watching his YouTube of EarStudio's software. Not a verbatim quote but he basically said, "The ES100 is free and you're getting $120.00 software" and that's a great way of looking at this item.
Truly, most of you are smarter and faster learners with tech. I'm a plodder and had a bit of trouble initially. The learning curve takes some patience. (The settings and user interface on your tablet or phone isn't initially intuitive. For e.g., selecting the 2.5mm balanced toggles is kind of odd.)
Using the 2.5mm balanced connection is a gamechanger in Bluetooth audio imo. (I'm not a fan of Bluetooth audio in general, but this changed my mind.) I've A - B tested with two IEMs and two open back headphones.
The wow factor for me was my Shure SE846 with a balanced (Shure's stock "Kevlar" cables are not balanced) cable 2.5mm termination and I was truly impressed.
The 3.5mm connection has no real value imo and I'd not recommend unless you use 2.5mm balanced.
The idea of such an item - to me - is not to drive my Focal or Sennheiser HD6XX but the convenience to listen to music when moving around (cooking, doing "admin" kind of work, moving around the home...) where I don't want to wear the openback headphones but want good to great audio. Additionally, for travel, this is a sweet piece of tech. I also remind myself, it's not the several hundred or several thousand dollar headphone system you / I may have at home or office. It's a less than $100 DAC/AMP mainly for IEMs and it's the bomb. Sure, the battery may die, the unit may fail (as one of mine did) but it's $89.00. I love it. If you want to survey through Zeos' explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjWxgoE9Ih8&t=375s Happy Listening!
Drop? What? These are $89.00 & free shipping from EarStudio https://earstudio.store/products/es100 (and if you subscribe to their newsletter, an additional $3.00 discount). Amazon Prime, $89.99. Now if you sold them for $65 or so, that'd be a deal. Not to mention dealing w/ Amazon return is a lot easier. BTW, I've purchased 3 of these for friends and myself. 1 unit failed and fortunately it was quick and easy (and instant) to refund via Amazon.
I'm going to get slaughtered for this but how is the latency on this? I do some gaming on the phone (like CoD Mobile) and while I know this is for serious music, headphones do help in games!
LmvrtinezSome of us prefer not give a cent of our hard earned to an ordinary company who rips off its employees and suppliers let alone click on others affiliate links ...also the warranty’s the same so thats not an issue.
If people really want to order elsewhere they should do so here -
https://earstudio.store/products/es100
BEWARE. QUALITY ISSUES!!! DROP IS NOT HONORING THE WARRANTY, DO NOT BUY!
One of my es100, not even 3 months old, and without any use at all except for the initial test, doesn´t turn on. To make this even worse, this was the unit i just send to my girlfriend as a gift. My other es100 is working. Will Drop help me about this?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JIZbm2Ro41c2gDRMsptU4RNViSo4h4Ri/view?usp=sharing
UPDATE
DROP response, 16/12/20:
"It looks like there is no inventory to send out as a replacement. That being said, we do have a couple other options for you to choose from:
A.) You can keep your order as-is and we can issue a Drop credit for $25.00.
B.) You can keep your order as-is and we can issue a partial refund for $20.00.
C.) You can return your entire unit for a refund at no additional cost to you."
My reply:
"I am not satisfied with the options you give me. The unit has not been used, and failed within the first 3 months. The only option of the ones you mentioned, not available right now, would be the replacement. So, i could wait for that replacement if Drop is planning to buy some more es100. "
This was not accepted... and now they are selling this again, not even a month later. this is unfair.
EDIT: I am an international buyer. Sending that back will be very expensive from here. It will cost more than the price of the product...
luis_tapiaIn general terms, "dealing with Drop" seems to be a common negative.
If you like the item you buy, if it works, that's great. But if you have issues, need to return, need to get a refund, it seems you have to be prepared to wait. I view it as, if they've have a great product and a great price (for e.g., Sennheiser HD6XX) then it's worth the wait for the savings. But if the item is a few bucks cheaper, you may benefit by purchasing from a more reliable "service after the sale" company.
The time you wait for a Drop item is equivalate to the time you'll wait for a customer service reply.
All in all I like Drop, but I'm reticent to "save" a few bucks here and there knowing if I have an issue, it won't be easy to resolve.
If there's one thing Drop could do is take a good look at their customer service process and make it fast, fair, and "customer first". I think they'd grow even more if their negative reviews went away. ;-)