Hi,

Unpacked my new MK2 this Monday, 1st impressions. I was surprised to see the player & sled not wrapped, the player front panel and especially the handle had signs of abrasion by the tight cardboard packing. Not a major problem, just an observation. Grabbed the unit out of the sled, certainly a lot better then the MK1 carrier, nice-an-easy. The carry handle doesn't scrap the skin off your knuckles like the MK1. Played with all the controls, the rotary knob seemed tight and the button didn't click when depressed. The front panel seemed to be fowling the knob. This I tried to sort out later after exchanging emails with Rob. I was unable to get a good allignment with the knob and get all four buttons to click nicely, I read this will be sorted with a new release front panel. I was unsure about the knob and button colours, but I also read this will be addressed too.

Synchronising: This caused me some grief, I spend the 1st evening trying to get the player to sync. with emplode. This transprired to be a software bug that beta11D sorted. In uploading 11D the player screen corrupted at the end, emplode seemed happy with the upload and with a restart all seemed OK.
I then uploaded about a Gig of test tracks, the 1st test was to listen via the 1V stereo phonos through the lounge stereo, nice to hear all that background digital chatter gone - well done empeg. The player stuttered on a couple of tracks, I rewound to the same point and it didn't the next, odd - I'll have to keep and eye/ear on that. The rotary encoder knob seemes strange, sometimes when going clockwise, it's go backward one step even though I was going forwards - Odd. The unit boots faster and seems lighter than my MK1. I was surprised to see no cable restraint on the sled, a 'P' clip in the back would keep things secure. I was also surprised to see no wire ended ISO connector supplied, considering the value of the product sticking in an extra cable and also a twisted UTP cable as well, wouldn't have been a bad idea, I now have to source both of these (or an option on the order form), not a major problem, just mild hassle factor.

Apart from that, the unit is excellent, well made and I'm really looking forward to seeing the promised featured implimented. Should have it in the car by the weekend - more to come.


Regards,


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John, (S/No 0114, 20G).