Cocktail Audio X14 All-in-One Audiophile System

Well, still no other reviews out there, but I found the guts to buy the Cocktail Audio X14 and received it about 10 days ago. I like the looks, feel and sound of it so far. Probably paid a premium price to be an early adopter. Here's a few early thoughts or observations from an audio neophyte.- Install and setup maybe not be as intuitive as it could be. Instruction manual is a bit lacking for neophytes. I am relatively good with computers in general but struggling a bit here. I guess I am spoiled by plug-n-play environments.- I did buy and install a Samsung EVO 600 500GB SDD which is plenty of storage for my 150 or so cd's. Installed myself after playing/experimenting with it for awhile because instructions were not very specific. The X14 came with a plastic adapter bracket and connection cables so no accessories needed for this installation.- First hardware weakness for me is that it doesn't come with the needed wifi dongle or fixed antenna for a wired network connection. In my opinion this should be included in the base package. I first did a wired network connection but couldn't figure out how to do access or do any transfers of music files from my computers storage to the X14. So I ordered the wifi dongle and will set up wireless in a few days. I should have realized I needed this upfront to establish control from tablet applications, which is why it should be included.- So now to try and move music files from my computer to the X14 storage and Music DB. Still struggling here in that the X14 would not recognize the first USB drive I tried. Reformatted it to NTFS, reload some files and tried again but still no go. Then I went and found another drive buried in a drawer, loaded about 4 albums and hooray, the X14 did recognize this usb drive. I'll follow the instructions on how to migrate the files from the usb to the SDD. Ordered new usb with decent storage and speed and still haven't figured out how to move my music files to the SSD. Now plan to remove the SSD and load it directly from Computer via jumper cable. Then re-install.- I was finally able to play some music from the usb on X14 just using a pair of satellite speakers from my Vizio 5.1 Soundbar. The sound was surprisingly great to me and I will probably just keep using these speakers until I get much further along in implementing.So my early observation is that I am preliminarily quite satisfied (here's hoping) with this Cocktail Audio X14 selection and it looks it "may" fulfill "my dreams" of my earlier post. With a bit if work It might be All I hope for. I'll update in a few weeks.UPDATE: To simplify and speed up things I went back and removed my SSD and just copied all my FLAC files directly from my PC using an adapter cable, then reinstalled the SSD. Went smoothly. Then moved the music into the MusicDB function in the X14.I received and installed the WIFI dongle and easily performed the wireless network setup to my home wireless network. Then I downloaded the FreeDB Download. This was quite easy as well.I then installed the NOVATRON Music X app (remote control app from Novafidelity/Cocktail audio) to my android tablet which positions me toward my end goal of operating the X14 music server from a handy tablet. Seems to be a pretty good solution with a reasonable interface.So I can now access The X14 from the tablet, view and play all of the music files.Just starting to learn how to better organize my music, build some playlists, etc. Still need to learn how to add some radio station play and streaming to the mix.The fun begins as I am accessing my favorite and perhaps nostalgic music that I have not accessed for over 5 years.I am still feeling good and quite satisfied about choosing this X14 all-in-one music solution.

Works fine as a CD transporter but for ripping CDs you have to buy an external CD reader and a hard drive (to be installed by yourself). As a streamer it's almost useless as menus and sub menus are not graphic (they look pretty much like the old MD DOS operating system - for those who don't know what it is, it's a non graphic interface of first Microsoft operating systems before they invented Windows). It doesn't have Wifi built in so you have to buy a USB adaptor separately (only the Cocktail Audio works - I have tried several ones before). The user manual is totally useless (you have to find how to use it yourself - thanks to YouTube videos). Amplifier section never worked. Returned the item.

Cannot record on the drive sofar. And can’t find an instruction to do it

Received this unit this past weekend and set it up. Initial thoughts:I have a Tidal subscription with 4 available devices that I can stream from. I purchased this unit because of its availability to play Tidal. However, there are no directions in the manual on how I can authorize the X14 to play Tidal. Tidal is one of the options on the screen (Others are Spotify and Deezer); however Tidal is grayed out. Multiple requests to Cocktail have gotten no response.I purchased the add-on WIFI dongle for wireless setup. However the USB port on the back is oriented incorrectly. Instead of the anntena pointed up, it points DOWN. I had to purchase a USB cradle to get it to work.Bottom line: 4 stars for the build; 1 star for support. 2 stars total.

after all the effort to put in a good sounding hardware, the software interface for the unit is so badly design as if it was designed by chimpanzees! the smartphone app Music x Neo is just as bad. i am now using the latest version of the app and it still has trouble searching from the database. the software will also time out after a few minutes and it takes a while to reconnect. booting up and booting down takes two minutes. for users like me with an extended music library, this is a waste of time! buying this is like buying a good looking car with crappy engine! i would stay away from this and at some point i will have to go back to my 14 year old logitech squeezebox

Es handelt sich m.E. um eines der besten Audio-Geräte für sicherheitsinteressierte Musikhörer.+ Eine Verbindung zum Internet ist nicht notwendig - es lässt sich die aktuelle MusikDB vom Hersteller (ca. 1,1 GB) herunterladen und direkt auf dem Gerät installieren+ Es kann vom Satelliten oder Kabelempfänger (Technisat) Musik direkt gestreamt werden, wenn dieses beim Technisat eingeschaltet wurde.+ Eine externe SSD wird sofort erkannt und kann mit Musik betankt werden.+ Eine Web-Oberfläche ist zugänglich - ohne Internetzugang+ Es gibt eine Fernsteuerungssoftware für das Mobiltelefon.+ Optischer Ausgang für höchste Musikqualität- Leider dauert das Booten sehr sehr lange. Man sollte erste einschalten und dann noch schnell eine Kleinigkeit (ca. 1 Minute) erledigen. Dann fällt das nicht auf.- Sehr teuer

Provato pochissimo perchè per lentezza e qualità costruttiva ha un prezzo sproporzionato. Restituito. Per il resto penso che funzioni bene.14/12/2021 aggiorno: vedo che il prezzo è lievitato a 729 euro, siamo alla follia! a questo prezzo anche 2 stelle

Smartes Produkt mit vielen Funktionen, aber leider musste das erste Exemplar wegen dauernder Abstürze zurückgeschickt werden und der dt. Support wusste keine Antworten.Das Tauschgerät funktioniert in meinem Fall mit einer 2TB ssd von SanDisk klaglos. Leider ist die Passgenauigkeit der Tasten an der Oberseite katastrophal, was den Support bisher keine Rückmeldung oder Vorschlag zur Behebung wert war.

Il cocktail audio x14 è straordinario riesce a fare tutto audio cristallino in ogni senso. Manca solo che faccia il caffè ed è completo. Complimenti al costruttore di questa fantastica macchina.

Prodotto magnifico