Cocktail Audio™ UK Support Forum

I have a love-hate relationship with the X10. It is much more convenient to rip my CDs on a dedicated device instead of my PC, the remote control is good, and the sound quality is as good as my ears need it to be, but I really wish the hardware was better made and the firmware had all the bugs squashed. The X30 is vastly more expensive than I can justify spending, full of features I have no interest in (or my hearing isn't good enough to appreciate) and just too big really. I'd like a slightly improved version of the X10 in a similarly compact case, let's call it the X15, so here are my suggestions and the reasons why:

1 - Silent running metal case with no fan and a quieter CD drive. The X10 is horrendously noisy for an audio product. I have it sitting on my desk next to my monitor so I can feed CDs into it while I'm browing the internet etc. The vibration when ripping can be distressingly loud at times, the constantly running fan is extremely tiresome and I can even hear the sound of the harddrive changing tracks. I have a glass fronted cabinet behind me, and am seriously considering making some holes in the back of it and shoving the X10 in there to keep the noise down a bit, although I think it really needs to be behind sealed double glazing...

2 - 100% reliable alarm. As documented elsewhere, the alarm function was one of my main reasons for buying the X10 and its frequent failure to play the music after starting up has been a major disappointment.

3 - Sleep/wake like a proper NAS. I don't need my music server to be running at full power 24/7, and currently switch it on and off as required. It would be nice if I could access it from another part of the house (e.g. via Sonos) at any time without having to go and manually switch it on. If there's no music playing and it's not been accessed in any way for a set period of time, it should spin down the hard drive, turn off the screen and go into low power mode. When accessed remotely via an app, PC etc, it should wake up again.

If I could trade in my X10 for an X15 with these features I'd be very happy indeed.

I have a fool-proof answer to your noise problem - reach the heady age of 73 and then, like me, you won't be able to hear any operating noise from the x10 - just the music...hope this helps!

It is unlikely that you will save any real space by deleting your album artwork.
Assuming that you have ripped your CD,s in a format that embeds the artwork within each track then you will have 34,328 artwork files or 36651 if the X10 adds an extra one for each of the CD folders.
If for example each of these files were 1 MB in size, which is quite large (or very large depending on your viewpoint), then you would have 36651 MB or 35.8 GB
This is less than 2% of your 2TB HDD.
In reality I would estimate, that at the moment the space used by your album artwork is less than 1%.
So while it is possible to delete the artwork (although I found that I had to re convert the audio tracks before the embedded artwork would actually disappear) I think you will agree that it's not worth the effort for the small amount of space that you will gain.

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

-The optical is like a computer/laptop for fast ripping, also some cds aren't straight, which could cause the optical drive & the cd to produce the noise.
Something that is quite known among many optical hardwares - not an issue.
In 2013 ripping isn't something that could be done in a quiet state, it is all about the cushioning or casing of the device too.



-Has your failed yet? Check the playing file hasn't been renamed or moved -as linking via a playlist .
I think it is firmware related & missing links of songs, mine hasn't unless the radio station is down (server issue not the x10).



-There is a sleep function & you can turn off the LCD without the screen showing the ICONS too.
If you access the web-gui or an app or video (to stream) on the X10, it will awaken the device, from sleep....etc
Not to forget the auto shutdown & the sleep function too, all 3 modes.
You haven't even read the notes

ACTUALLY, it doesn't even matter, if the songs are tagged individually or has a whole.
If the ART COVER is added you can remove the tangible file, as the metadata container will be embedded with the ART COVER.
Also long as the format type ie considered, like .wav or .aiff or other types.
Most formats now embed the art within the file, hence it doesn't matter how x10 does it.
I think depending on the function used to write the code, it could do it either way depending on which method was used, such as per track, whole album, via x10 menu, web-gui, imported etc.
(i have even tagged files on my Nas & computer public folders across the network via x10 menu - using tagedit & the "help" function)

I have had my x10 only a couple of months and like many people I find the instruction manual frustrating. I thought my utility bill was overly complicated but the x10 manual takes the prize. I know that many owners have already voted on this issue and what have you done about it? Can I now download a manual that is written in layman's English?
Even your request for votes is poorly written. You ask: What is more essential to you about Cocktail Audio X10? (Thank you) Two categories are: Sound Quality and Support/Guide. Well of course these two are essential. I don't understand what you are asking. Now if you were to ask - as is usual in these customer feedback surveys - from 1 to 10 what do I think of your manual, 1 being low and 10 being high, I would say 3 at most. Sound quality 5 because the amp is a bit weak tea. It may be excellent tea but it is weak. I think it would have been better if you had built the x10 with the amp separate. This way customers could choose what power amp they require to suite their listening environment. I realize I could attach another amp but this renders useless the x10 amp that I have paid good money for. After all people are buying the x10 for its excellent software not its amp.
Fred

I have to agree - the output to my external amp is so low that the amp volume is almost at maximum to get any decent level. Also the volume of the CDs varies quite a bit, and is much lower than the iRadio which runs at about 50% level compared with 70-80% on the CDs. A method of equalising these levels would be really useful, but not likely in the future F/Ware which seems to concentrate on appearance rather than sound. As for the 'manual' the most useful stuff is what I've written on the blank back pages while sifting through the jargon.

Having stumbled across the existence of the Cocktail Audio X10 a couple of months ago, I've now had time to absorb some of the best and, er, some of the not so good .

Like others in this thread, I'm not sure the structure of the poll is particularly helpful. It *may* have been better to allow posters to award marks out of, say, 10 for EVERY aspect listed in the poll. As the invitation was to provide opinions, here goes...

Importance to me (out of 10) / Feature

7 - FreeDB/TagEdit (metadata)
2 - Web-interface
5 - Regular Firmware updates
5 - Internet Radio/Online services
10 - Noise/Fan/HDD
9 - Menu Navigation
0 or 10 - Sound Quality
7 - Ripping speed/optical drives
10 - Support/Guide

FreeDB/TagEdit (metadata)

I know the content of the database is provided by an external organisation and Cocktail Audio has no control over that content. Its inclusion is very useful when doing a first-time "virgin" rip of a complete collection. However, that diminishes thereafter because the infrequent nature of updated databases downloadable for the X10 means new CDs can't be recognised. Is there a way that the database can be updated more frequently, say monthly?


Web-interface

Not a priority for me at the moment due to an ongoing internet problem (BT) that is unlikely to be resolved before I jump to a new ISP in the new year.


Regular Firmware updates

Surely, this is fundamental to the X10 and any bugs (distinguished from other changes affecting user convenience) should be fixed as a matter of course. For updating non-bug matters, I hope CA keeps providing the updates. In the long term, it keeps users happy and avoids negative publicity.


Internet Radio/Online services

Not currently a priority (to me) due to above mentioned problem with ISP.


Noise/Fan/HDD

Fan noise is definitely an issue and it is difficult to ignore during music that is inherently quiet or is played at low volume. As well as the X10, I have a Marantz M-CR610 which is fanless. The difference is instantly noticeable.


Menu Navigation

The search facilities within the Music DB could be further improved. Would it be possible to add an option to search across ALL fields (i.e. not being limited to search one aspect (field) alone, such as album or a artist or genre etc).

Also, it would be very useful to have one further field in the Music DB; this being user-defined.


Sound Quality

I put "0 or 10" because it depends how the sound is output. Using the optical out to an external DAC, as I do, effectively reduces the X10 to the status of a transport unit (due to the internal amp & DAC being bypassed).

But, if I was using the line-out or the onboard speaker terminals, then the sound produced by the X10's own amp & DAC would plainly be VERY important.


Ripping speed/optical drives

Fundamental. Faster ripping speeds may seem appealing but, for me at least, not at the expense of accuracy.


Support/Guide

As others have noted, the manual really isn't good enough. Howabout creating a section on CA's website for an X10 (& X30) "wiki"? In essence, CA and Xxx users create the manual from scratch, with it being overseen by someone who genuinely knows the Xxx inside out. The current manual isn't useless but it could be sooooo much better.

Now, please can I have a job at Cocktail Audio?

_________________
X10 user.

Nice Post:@MusicBod
1. Database can be connected live without installing & wasting 2GB of space - that could stores 100s of flac albums
2. If fan noise is an issue, there is a trick to slightly loosing the screws or removing it but the HDD would be too HOT.
(X10 isn't for the high-end user)
2b. X30 is fanless (for the upgrade user not really high-end)
3. User defined field is a good idea, also best to search an artist, composer, title not mixed
(Searching the whole lot would cause issues because you have to distinguish btw albums, artists & tracks)!
To search all Display by TITLES & search the whole lot eg.
If you can't remember a song (by an artist), just enter a key word with a keyboard or the remote.
The jump feature is ok too & the sorting...
Another issue is that most of the sellers don't really understand the unit only AV10 (owners of cocktail audio UK), had a friend that returned his unit to another shop/retailer because he mistakenly switched the storages & installed the http scripts on a USB1

You are a bit out with your calculations here, as there is no way that you can get 100s of FLAC albums in 2GB of space.
It would be more like 5 to 10, even at the highest (FLAC, level 8) compression setting.

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