Cocktail Audio™ UK Support Forum

Let us know your opinions about the X10...

Hey Admin.
Can I ask, what the reasons are for the X10 and X30 polls?.
Is it just a bit of fun?
Are you thinking of changing the design?
Or even making a third model?

I would like to vote, but the lack of context and narrow choice of options is stopping me from doing so.

_________________
Oink Oink!...................................KEF LS50 Wireless/Partington Dreadnought Broadside.

Thanks BB,
We just want to know what is really imperative to our users' (off course all the points are relevant…)
In addition, to get a general idea of where things ought to be going & how to improve the device for our users'.
Would appreciate your input BB.

Thanks for the reply Admin.
For the record I would like to say that I love the X10, It's still the best all in one (ripper/player) for the money.
However I don't think that it can be made to do more than it does now, without adding to the already complicated operation.
The X10 has improved a great deal from when I first bought one, with lots of useful firmware updates and the web interface. If you were to do anything then please make it easier for the beginner to use, from both a ripping/editing perspective to the basic player interface.
For example concentrate on the basics like restricting access to the editing and delete functions, so your friends or family can make selections without the fear of any data being accidentally altered or deleted.

The X10's strength is its ability to do lots of things from the one compact and affordable unit. It's weakness is most of those things are too hard to work.

If you want to know where to go next then please make me an X20 (I have a feeling that this is what you are thinking of already).
Use the internals from the X30 and the rear connections, include a large screen, at least 8 inches, this will add value and make it easier to use as a stand alone unit (if you prefer to use your device by a tablet app or a web interface on your P.C. then you may as well have bought a network streamer with a dot matrix display).
I know the metal case, aluminium front and internal P.S.U. will be a large proportion of the X30's price, so to keep the price down use a plastic case (the X10 case at 150% size?) and an external P.S.U.
Charge £599.00 about twice the price of an X10 (without HDD), and you have sold one already.

No offence to the X30 as I can appreciate all the work that you have done on the new user interface and the premium quality case. The thing is, apart from the improved sound quality (pretty much a given requirement for a dearer model) it's just not what I would have wanted (a full sized unit? with a small display?). At least not at this price.
If I had known that cocktail audio were going to make a new model then I would have offered my opinion sooner.
Maybe I'm on my own here and I know that a few people are really excited about the X30, but I would have expected a lot more for the money.
I really, really like what cocktail audio has accomplished so far, and I wish them every success. The X10 was hard to beat for around £300.00 (without HDD). The X30 however is up against some serious competition at around £869.00.

_________________
Oink Oink!...................................KEF LS50 Wireless/Partington Dreadnought Broadside.

I agree with Bertie. A bit of context would make this a lot easier to respond to. Are you looking for feedback on features that need improvement?

I love my X10. One thing that I would like, though (and it seems a small thing to ask to a non-techie) is persistent memory of wireless network settings. Every morning if I want to listen to internet radio, I have to repeat network setup, even if I have only used the soft power-off. It's a complex, multi-stage process - easy enough once you have learned it, but as for explaining to my wife how to do it, forget it. My PC does it, my iPhone does it, my iPad does it, but not the X10. Why??

Another pain is the user manual. It's written by developers. You need a competent technical writer whose first language is English. I happen to be one, so maybe I'm hypersensitive about this, but at present the manual just doesn't cut it, and may end up turning people off the product.

I've had my X10 for nearly a year now and adore it. While I think the navigation and editing is pretty good, I would also like to see some features which exist on my old trusty Creative x-fi 2 mp3 player, notably ability to play a totally random selection and an album of the day function. Would also be helpful if you could edit order number of tracks using remote.
Would also love it if internet radio function had ability to show album covers when the track changed. My Logitech radio can do this on stations like Radio Paradise and Smooth FM and it's pretty cool.

HI X10

I find the Music DB display options totally useless...discography, album etc. as they rely on software to do the job and don't let the user decide...It can't display my 2700 albums ( and counting) in any kind of easily accessible format..Genre display gives 50 genres is it? Jazz is there about 4 times with randomly assigned albums- and I have 2000 plus jazz albums. Discography throws in hundreds of names of artists from compilations, with one song leading to total clutter. I want to browse the big names I know not all every artist on every album. Hence I don't bother using the Music DB at all and just store everything in 4 main folders on the HDD subdivided within those folders into subfolders leading to albums. I decide the genre- not the machine and compilations are all held together in one folder easily accessible, not scattered allover the database. Tell the truth getting rid of the Music DB is my suggestion as I've had problems with the 'metadata' screwing things up....I think the X-1- is best used in conjunction with a laptop /computer to do all the naming, folder creation and cataloging. Doing that with a remote is way too limiting. One day someone will create the machine I want....!

Cheers

@Mikehols: unlike you, I think the MusicDB is the best bit of the X10! I agree wholeheartedly that it requires some effort to clean up the tags and metadata supplied from the CD database when you rip a disc, but you do have complete freedom to classify albums or tracks into whatever genres you wish. Each to his own, I suppose.

I have owned my X10 for over two years and rely on it entirely to play my cd collection and provide i-radio. Following the firmware and MusicDB updates, I now have far fewer cds that need manual data entry! My collection currently stands at 2,323 cds, 34,328 tracks, 1,152 artists and 132 genres. I have a 2TB hard disk which I back up onto external hard drives monthly.
I can access the X10 through my laptop, so can change my playlists easily and play whatever my mood desires. Salisbury Hill at present!
A problem I can't seem to find an answer to is: How do I remove any album cover artwork that I've downloaded - to me it's just a waste of memory!!!

...funny.
Cover art works by embedding into the file (songs).
I think you could remove them, if you see the physical image file in the folders (Music DB).
However i think the image/files are very small in kb and the device uses the images for the display or other depending on the format.
Just know that WAV & AIFF files do not store tags including ART COVERS.

It is quite strange that some devices like X10 are able to read the songs and display the art work through the metadata, yet still creates the ART covers as separate files: idea: