I thought I'd follow up on a few of your points..

I'm glad you like the design. If your rotary knob is annoyingly sticky then it might be that the fascia hasn't been well aligned (we're working out these QA issues with the manufacturer, but one or two annoying little things may have slipped through this time). If you want, try undoing the hex bolts a few turns, tweak the position of the fascia, and then VERY GENTLY tighten the bolts. Thread lock has been applied to them, and they don't need to be much more than finger tight, otherwise buttons will start to stick.

There are likely to be a lot of rapid software updates over the next few weeks, solving any glitches and providing new features. We deliberately went out with a rather feature-light initial release to ensure that there was basic reliability before running up each of the new Mk.2 features in turn.

The "spare" connector on the car mount is for the tuner module. Don't try to plug anything else into this.

The display is at least 25% darker than it should be, maybe even more so - the Mark 2 VFD actually runs slightly brighter (on full brightness) than the Mark 1 display. I'm going to the plastic injection factory on Wednesday to finalise the tint and saturation of each of the four colours - hopefully we'll be able to supply new panels (in the colour of your choice) to all early Mark 2 owners in about a week.

I hope that when you've had time to tweak the EQ you won't consider the Mark 2 sound to be dissapointing. I've found it to be significantly improved over the Mark 1 - and check out the noise floor!

The Mark 2 should be a lot easier to run in and out of the car mount, as we've set the side locators on tabs, just like those on the top. I believe someone on the BBS originally came up with the idea - thanks, whoever you are! I've found that the player slides effortlessly now, and I'm surprised that you haven't had the same experience. The cosmetic scratching of the case won't be improved, but serious scratching at the sides should nolonger occur.

I hope you enjoy using your new player, and I'm sure that you'll find the software will evolve very quickly to take full advantage of the Mark 2 hardware.

Rob