#169

Hey all?

I am thinking of buying this, but am concerned by anything 600+ bucks that might have proprietary batteries.

Any idea if these can swap out the battery? I was easily able to swap out my OP-1 battery and would like to do the same once I run the lithium-ion into the groud lol.

Thanks a bunch

#170

Does anyone have an idea what the “brushless dc motor with hall effect encoder” they may be using? Would love to put it in a device I am developing.

#171

I think the value question is interesting. It’s the cost of a PS5 and a couple of games. I could see a situation where I would get 600 worth of use out of it, but I would have to be much more wealthy and have a life situation where many more of my needs, and those of my family are met and a nice minimalist house, and the ability to see other human beings who can stop by and enjoy it, etc. I don’t think it’s totally unreasonable that someone who get to that point in life, but they would have to also not have a desire to buy boutique musical equipment as well so it’s hard to see who they are selling it to, other than wealthy people. I think if you are weighing it against musical equipment, it’s hard to see the gear not winning out. If you are weighing it against other consumer/art items it might make sense.

Another, probably stupid thought: I have hundreds, probably thousands of movies I have collected over the years, and nearly 1000 books. I will probably not reread/rewatch most of them, so I suppose their continuing presence among my things is probably equivalent to a $600 radio in that it is largely decorative. I don’t know, it’s sexy, it’s not particularly useful, and weighing the value of fashion items is basically impossible.

There are definitely grifters out there, but I do not doubt TE made an honest effort making whatever the OB4 is as good as it can be. I don’t fully understand the hatred.

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#172

you could look at the AS5601 sensor.

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#173

Well I ordered one,
Sold a bunch of gear and bought an OB-4 from that Swedish clothes shop “Pancho & Lefty”

Curiously the fact that it works as a radio made my partner honestly glad for this purchase,
A very different reaction compared to her usual indifference for my reoccurring gear acquisitions.

I have a hate/love relationship with TE,
But their wacky ideas always intrigue me, and I like their design aesthetic.

I think in this moment of my life I’m much more of a listener than a creator, so a magic radio seems like a not too bad idea!

Oh, I needed a good speaker too eh eh!
Curious to test OB-4 vs my IK micro monitors, they did the job right these last years for almost 1/3 of the price.

3 Likes
#174

i totally get that money has value, and i can honestly really respect anyone’s position and relationship to money. i’m not saying the OB-4 is cheap or anyone should be able to afford it or even that its good value compared to its price.

what i don’t get is if there is a conversation where the OB-4 is outrageously priced according to what else is on the market. a cursory google search for vaguely similar speakers turned up (as some of the first results):

roughly $1000:

on sale for roughly $900:

and more than $2500:
https://www.mrporter.com/en-gr/mens/product/devialet/lifestyle/speakers/gold-phantom-wireless-speaker/19971654707170278

and, yes, i can find cheaper speakers no doubt! but just wanted to point out, that if you want to be outraged about the price of speakers i can point to ones that are even more expensive than the OB-4. and again, that doesn’t mean that you can’t have an issue with the price of of TE’s speaker, and of course i would have liked the product to be cheaper… but just wanted to point out that i’ve seen way more expensive things on the market without this much “controversy” directed at them (and sure, i can speculate very easily why that is).

4 Likes
#175

Maybe there are similar price controversies about the speakers you just linked to on audiophiles / hi-fi enthusiasts forum. (although judging by the general attitude of that community, they probably complain that 2,5k means it’s cheap and useless)

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#176

If OB-4 sounds great, battery performs and build lasts, seems to me a real lovely thing to have, particularly for mobile modular. Happy with price so long as the above are met. Love/hate with TE also, opening 6 op-z’s only to return the best options after excessive retriggering, bending and encoders falling out. First new op-1 scratched from new, replacement had dead pixel and was repaired. My original op-1

#177

Does it sound great? I’m curious to hear more about how it sounds. Is anyone finding that it sounds particularly good? I do feel that a very good sounding portable radio is not that easy to find.

#178

Still waiting for my unit,
Meanwhile I saw a YouTube comment saying that now you can use ambient mode with Bluetooth audio:
Is it true @instantjuggler ?

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#179

thanks for the heads up- i didn’t check on that since getting mine though i use it every day. maybe there’s a firmware update, gonna check!

i also saw on the op-z threads that with the latest op-z update you can actually connect it to the OB-4 by bluetooth but then it drops when audio is played or something. so maybe future updates will open all this new functionality… (also audio out from OB-4 somehow).

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#180

ok so i found a firmware update! for anyone looking, it was not the most obvious- you have to get the orthoplay app on ios and connect via bluetooth to download and install the app.

since there are no firmware release notes that i could find online from TE, i don’t know what the new features are (if any). i tried to play bluetooth audio on ambient mode, but at least for now for what i was doing the speaker would just flip out of ambient mode and pick up the bluetooth audio like normal. i would love for this to work, if anyone knows if there’s a button combo to press or such?

#181

From the comment to this Reddit post it seems that you gotta hold down the play button for about 3 seconds.

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#182

Wooooaaaahhhhh, this is so much fun!!! Just ran Steve Reich 6 Marimbas through it, as well as some of my own synth ambient stuff. Works great! Now we just need an audio out option somehow… Thanks for the detective work!

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#183

So it works!
It’s a good news indeed!
Looking forward to receive mine :yum:

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#184

Excuse me for another annoying question:
So does it work with line in audio too or Bluetooth and radio only?

Thanks!

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#185

No problem! It worked on both Bluetooth and line in for me

2 Likes
#186

just got mine in today! first impression is that it feels excellent. like, arc or grid excellent, imo. i’ve only just started messing around with the tape stuff but the ability to play one of my tracks and live remix it… is super fun. instant smiles :sweat_smile:

Edit: everything sounds better at 0.7 speed

6 Likes
#187

Mine landed here yesterday.
It’s a joy using it, ambient mode is lovely!
I spent thousands on pedals and effects attempting to make drone ambient music when all I needed was a radio! :joy:

Scrubbing audio back and forth is so damn funny.
I could only imagine how fun would be having a unit like this when I was a youngster.
The speaker sounds great for its size and build quality is top notch.

First impressions are great.

6 Likes
#188

After one week of extensive use I want to share that I’m super happy with it.

This speaker is a joy, I really cannot understand all the rage against it that I saw online!
Sound is really nice for its size, and very loud too if you want.
Looping and playing (yes: playing!) with audio (line, bluetooth, radio) it’s so fun and addictive,
It’s an easily approachable interaction with audio material, and all my family loves toying with it, children and grown up.

Battery life is great, I used for several hours this week and I’m still on the first charge.

Just curious about TE’s future plans for the OB-4!

EDIT

Pro tip:
Try listen radio at +0,1 speed and enjoy the ominous soundtrack.

Another thing I like is plug my Sony Walkman into the OB-4 line input and play cassettes at half speed (+0,5)

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13 Likes