Having this unit for two days now, i would like to share my thoughts. Got the unit in great condition, unpacked, plugged in, working.

Installed emplode, connected to USB - PC crashed. My problem not empegs. Got a laptop, connected the empgeg and all is fine. Emplode is very beta. Lots of bugs and strange things are happening. In the end it does what i needed it for, getting the files to the empgeg.

Let the transfer going over night, next day, emplode tells me that the sync fails and such. The empeg was dead hanging in a loop, rebooting contineously. The console said there is a 'memory violation' in the player. Sent a mail to empeg support, 30 minutes later, got an email back with a fix. Applied the fix and all is OK - very impressive.

So now since the music is there, i could start. Hooked it up to my home stereo and started. The usual stuff, great graphics, nice toy. Sound quality is great. What is not great is the background noise when listen to silent stuff. I used a very high quality Sennheiser headphone, and when the payer jumps from one track to another, it makes those noises, quiet annoying after a while. But i can live with that.

The menu operation is nothing you want to use while driving, so think about arranging your playlists in a senseful way, so while you are driving you don't need to pay much attention operating the unit.

Other features - there is not much there (yet - hopefully). The stuff which is thought will be with the unit, isn't there, like some kind of equalizing or DSP functionality. If i will put it in my car - don't know yet. For me, it will be a step back. Since 5 years, i have a Pioneer KEX900RDS radio which is excellent. It has graphic and parametic equalizer, a DSP for doing all sorts of funny things, i can store 6 presets for sound for quick access, and and and. Some of that functionality would make sense in the empeg. I mean, this empeg is a 'computer', so i expected way more things to store and/or automate on the empgeg. Like, store a equalizing preset with an individual song or so. That might be rooted by the beta software running on it, but i don't think there will be anything like EQ implemented. Does that unit has a programmable DSP ?

The design of the unit - mixed feeling here as well. To me, it looks very 'homemade'. The front is just a pice of blue plastic filter with the 4 buttons. When the sun is shining on the display, it's invisible. Therefor you see little PCB's and wires. I would prefer to have the front blacked out so you just can see the display through it.

Summary: Very mixed impressions. I think the potential of the unit is great, and i hope empeg designed the unit with the necessary hardware in place to really do cool (and helpful) things with it. To me, the biggest benifit is the large storage. But this was not what i was after. I was more after things like 'intelligent EQ and DSP'. I was more after using the computing power to make my life easier and give me better listening results - not fancy visuals in the first place. I could live without the visuals. I think that is something which i will use to show people, but in the end it will be turned off most of the time. Compared the the five year old pioneer (which has a graphics display as well - not as nice as the empeg, but enough to set the EQ graphically) the empgeg has lots of things to catch up with.

What urges me - Empeg lacks some very basic features: The wire to mute the unit for the cell phone. The real-time clock. The wire to connect to switched power, so i don't have to manually turn the thing on and off. The missing EQ. The missing SPDIF in/out (hey there are guys with digital in AMP's out there...)

So i will hold on to see what future releases of the software will include. Is there anyone out in Germany who has a unit already (or wants one) ?

Thanks for the time, and sorry if this sounds not so excited. I think the empeg is a great box, but it's real potential still has to be discovered (IF the hardware design is providing what is needed). Jo

The DSP is in there, just the software to drive it isn't in the beta releases. There's a lot more coming in software updates - the hardware is very capable. EQ settings stored per track are coming, along with lots of other toys.

There is some background noise present on the home line-outs, as these are grounded to the case (which can get some digital noise). The in-car outputs have floating grounds and a differential drive to remove noise for power amp drive.

The front filter isn't just a bit of blue plastic, it's got an EMC sheild laminated inside it :)

The visuals are not written by the team working on the player software, we havn't been diverting effort from the main features to the pretty ones :)

Hugo

Not one of the people I've showed the empeg to thought it looked homemade..
The quality of the case finish is much better than any other stereo I've had. The attention to detail is good, even down to the de-burring of the vent holes, and no sharp edges on the mounting cage.
I agree the front is very minimalist, and I prefer it this way.

Jazz
(List 112, S/N 00030, 4 gig blue)

There is no power-on lead? The unit continues to run (once the vehicle is switched off) if you fail to turn it off manually? Does it have a AMP remote turn-on lead?

Much thanks for your "honest" review.

Thanks very much for this reply - it sounds very promising! I thought there must be some DSP in there...so i will wait for the goodies to come.
The background actually is there in the car as well. But thats OK, since the unit got 4V out's, i can lower the input of the amp's very low which reduces the noise so it almost not there anymore..

The blue front: Yes, i know that this is 'special' plastic :-) What i was more after is having the whole front blue. I think it would be better if the front was black, just where the display/irda sits it's transparent.

Most of the cars got a black dash, so the blue looks strange to me - if there only would be a blue 'window' i think it would be better.

Other than that - i installed the unit in the car today, and i have to admit, the visuals looks great there.

Thanks a lot, AO

There is the red wire, that goes to +. The + can be switched or constant. I attached the unit to constant +, so it is always under power. I know i could have done different, but this hangs up the empeg more often. When the car is started, the switched + is disconnected as long as you use the starter, like 1 second or so. This seems to be to short for the unit to go into a defined mode, so when the power comes back, the unit is hung, the LED ist constantly on and nothing happens. I have to put the unit out and back in to get it back working.

So what is the right connection ? Constant or switched + ?

Thanks - AO