Review on 🎧 EarStudio ES100 MK2 - 24bit Portable High-Resolution Bluetooth Receiver/USB DAC/Headphone Amp - LDAC, aptX HD, aptX, AAC (3.5mm Unbalanced & 2.5mm Balanced Output) by Jessica Johnson

Updates at the bottom I just wanted to give a quick review because I think this little device is great and it's a shame that more people don't know about it. I give it 5 stars for first impressions but will keep updating this review as I spend more time testing it. I've been looking for a similar Bluetooth solution for a while and have never heard of this company or product. Before. Even after finding it at Revain and seeing the impressive specs, I was very skeptical about its legitimacy. What eventually convinced me to give it a try was finding the forums and seeing people's experiences with it, as well as seeing the company's strong presence in the form of a company representative answering questions in detail. Although I saw lots of pictures and a promotional video about it, I wasn't prepared for how small and light it would be. The device looks very nice and has a simple but functional layout. One button to power on/off, pair, play and pause. It also has a volume rocker and a skip/next track rocker, which is also used to turn on the ambient sound mode. It was very easy to connect to my iPhone and have it up and running in a minute. I don't want to talk too much about sound, battery life or the app because I didn't have enough time. experience one of them very much. I'll say it sounds great with the 3.5mm jack and AAC codec and I've recorded a wide range of music in it. V-Moda Bluetooth used to be one of the best I've heard, but I'd say it's noticeably better for me at the moment. The device battery was at 75% and although I haven't checked if firmware updates fix the problem. Battery issue, the app seems to show battery life while the battery notification always shows 100% on my iPhone. I used it for an hour with 3.5mm high power and it got me up to 70%. I don't think this is a true measure of battery life, but I'll try to test it in an update to this review. At the moment the app is fully functional and I have added app images to this review. Having limited time on the app I will say that I really like the equalizer and the fact that it has a large number of presets as well as what looks like customizable and saved presets, but I will later check over. I also briefly tried Ambient Mode and thought it was a very handy feature with a surprising amount of functionality. I don't know how often I would use it personally, but I enjoyed playing with it and thought it was well executed. . While I expected it to drive the IE80S with no issues, I didn't expect it to drive the HD800S so well. To think that I got this kind of Bluetooth sound quality from my iPhone is amazing and I see a lot of potential for using my headphones with the ES100. It's too early to make any recommendations other than that people should take note. small device because so far it is very impressive. I will continue to test the ES100 and update my rating after much more use, but if it lasts I can definitely say it will be a $100 deal. [UPDATE] I've only been using it for a few days but I'm very impressed with the sound it makes. Right now I'm using a balanced output and it's hard to believe it's bluetooth. I've also tried checking the battery and although the battery indicator seems erratic if it is anything to be precise the estimated 14 hour battery life can be very accurate and that's with the EQ on, volume at 50% and use from 2.5 balanced output. [UPDATE 2} There was a firmware update that seems to have fixed the battery indicator issue. surprising yet impressive how good the sound quality is. If there was one thing I needed to change in the ES100, it was the layout and style of the controls. They work well, but could be found and clicked on without looking a little better. All in all this is a great device and a must have for anyone looking for something like this.