Anybody check out the Radiosophy Multistream radio yet?

They brag about good sensitivity which is the one weak point with the "Boston acoustics"

http://www.radiosophy.com/products.html

Not out yet... http://www.radiosophy.com/status/

I thought "Radio Sophie" was one of those Eastern European shortwave broadcasters ;).

Not out yet... http://www.radiosophy.com/status/


"Three teams of engineers discovered a number of factors causing the receiver sensitivity issue"

Glad they are working on the sensitivity issue....that is my only complaint with the BA
radio.

Any one seen anything on this?

Checked the status page and saw this:
Some major software objectives have been met this week and we are proceeding on schedule for an August ship date.

Orders placed today will be an additional 2 to 3 weeks from our first ship date.

Our goal to deliver the highest quality receiver with the most features at an affordable price remains unchanged. Further updates will be posted weekly or as new information becomes available.

I sent an e-mail to inquire if they'd sell the receiver without the speakers. I was looking for a am/fm tuner with toslink out, and this would do the trick, but I don't need/want those speakers.

Another exciting update has been posted on Radiosophy's site:
Our radio passed FCC testing and it is now in the certification process. We expect to hear something by the end of this month. Once certification is complete, manufacturing will begin. The manufacturing process will take several weeks. We won’t be able to give you a ship date until certification is completed.
In other news, next week will mark the first anniversary of my order. Yes, one year. Perhaps I should celebrate by dressing as a ghost.

Another exciting update has been posted on Radiosophy's site:

In other news, next week will mark the first anniversary of my order. Yes, one year. Perhaps I should celebrate by dressing as a ghost.


You have me beat by a month or two.. I even told the PR guy there I work for a major New York 50K AM station and wanted to evaluate one for possible recommendation to our listeners (True) . I was hooked by their claim of "very good sensitivity" My Boston Acoustics stinks in that department.

This radio might be real after all

10/13/2006 Update

Our radio has been certified by iBiquity! We can now begin the manufacturing process and will post a firm product ship date by October 23.

Thank you for your patience during this long process – we’re almost there!

Orders placed today will be an additional 2 to 3 weeks from our first ship date.

I'm one of the 'newbies' on this one. I only ordered it 2 months ago, and I've already lost interest. Maybe a Christmas Present for myself--In any event, it will be a complete surprise when it arrives.

anyone know if it is shipping yet?

There has been no update since October '06 on Radiosophy's site. However they're still showing a $269 selling price. That didn't sound so bad a year and a half ago when their only competition would have been the Receptor HD which was selling for 30 dollars more at the time. But with Accurian now coming in at $99, forget it.

The Radiosophy even looks cheap -- you can see the clunky styling and Chinese-grade plastic in the photos. And at this point they've missed Black Friday.

They're doomed.

11/29/2006 Update

Our radio has been certified by iBiquity! We can now begin the manufacturing process and will post a firm product ship date soon.

Thank you for your patience during this long process – we’re almost there!

Orders placed today will be an additional 2 to 3 weeks from our first ship date.

11/29/2006 Update

Our radio has been certified by iBiquity! We can now begin the manufacturing process and will post a firm product ship date soon.

Thank you for your patience during this long process – we’re almost there!

Orders placed today will be an additional 2 to 3 weeks from our first ship date.

Anybody beginning to wonder if this whole "Radiosophy" thing is a big big scam?

I hope none of you have actually paid for this order.

The Radiosophy people were started by a whole group of ex-Gateway people and are not a manufacturer. They are actually a marketing company that is simply fishing around for someone to build their radios. Aparently they don't have any more money and can't come up with enough to begin production. Oops.

I bailed last week. Just ordered the Sangean. No digital output is still better than no output at all--

Just curious Bob, did they charge your card and then refund it when you canceled, or did they tell you they'd charge it when it shipped?

I was able to get someone on the phone today, 12/28/06. He said said the first batch is getting started and a container is scheduled to leave China by ship on 1/19/07, reaching them about 2/6/07. He said they should reach consumers in February.

After 18+ months on the waiting list, I'm willing to give them until the end of March before I consider cancelling my order.

I'm probably going to return the Accurian that I bought to try in my office in the interim. It has been disappointing for all but the strongest stations in NYC. I hope the Radiosophy, if it ever arrives, can hold the HD stations better.

And tonight I'll get to try my Sangean HDT1, which I bought for home, for the first time. Based on this list, I'm feeling confident in the Sangean.

Steven

n

My wife ordered the Radiosophy receiver in June '05. It was supposed to be my birthday present in 2005, then 2006. This month I got the Sangean tuner from Amazon, figuring that was the only way I would hear HD radio before I die. To paraphrase the old song, that's really a slow boat from China.

I'm glad to have discovered this forum. It contains far more credible information about Radiosophy than the company's website. They must be as frustrated about the delays as their potential customers, but stonewalling with months'-old information doesn't cut it. (Their certification announcement was first posted on 10/13/06 and the text hasn't changed since.)

I placed my order with Radiosophy in April 2005. Since then I've purchased both BA and Accurian radios. However, I'm inclined to hang in there with Radiosophy because I think there's a chance they actually may produce a superior product with respect to "sensitivity".

I've compared the BA, Accurian, Polk and a pro DaySequerra tuner, and they all seem identical in terms of their ability to pick up weak stations and acquire a digital stream. That's not surprising when you consider that all the basic software comes from iBiquity. So I asked Radiosophy how they are able to claim a 6dB improvement in sensitivity. The answer, they told me, is that they have found a way to suppress the "computer noise" inherent in the HD process, so weaker signals are able to get through. I'm not an engineer, but the claim sounds plausible. So I'm trying to be patient for another couple of months.

Read what Master Theseus, an insider with Sangean, stated on 12/5/06. I suggest you all cancel your orders and when they actually have the product then order. Under the law they may not charge your credit card until the product is shipped. With all the delays and problems why should you look for trouble. It's simple to order when they have the product but will they really have it. Remember the credit card company is obigated to reimburse only the disputed amount that remains unpaid when you first notify the credit card company in writing. That means you should not pay the disputed amount when you get your statement.

Another "update" has finally appeared on Radiosophy's status page:

1/12/2007 Update

Our radio has been certified by iBiquity and we are putting together the production schedule! We will post a firm product ship date soon.

Thank you for your patience during this long process – we’re almost there!

Orders placed today will be an additional 2 to 3 weeks from our first ship date.



I don't want to be negative, but "putting together the production schedule" sounds less encouraging than "post a firm product ship date soon", which appeared in the 29 November "update" and in the 13 October "update" before it. Does anyone have a real "update" about what's going on?

I don't believe their claims of 6 dB better sensitivity, the design is already 2 years old, how can it be better? Also, it looks like a toy compared to the Sangean. Its only redeeming value, in my book, is the digital output, but since IBOC is only 96 Kb/s in the best case, what real value is a digital output?

Bob Smith

Ironically, the mother and father in the Radiosophy's picture on their main page are now divorced and the children are all off to college.

Still no radio!!!

Its only redeeming value, in my book, is the digital output, but since IBOC is only 96 Kb/s in the best case, what real value is a digital output?
If you have strange ground loop problems like I have, a digital output will let you use an optical cable or a cable with an isolation transformer. They don't make SPDIF cables with isolation transformers as far as I know (I had to make one myself) but decent SPDIF outputs (i.e. not the one on my computer) usually go through isolation transformers to prevent ground loops. This is the kind of thing that can drive you nuts when you hook up a new component.

I hear that they actually have a tech in China overseeing the production of the first batch of units. They might be in the US and shipping to customers by mid-February.

As far as the family on the front page, I hear that you are right, if the radio isn't out soon, they will be divorced (if she doesn't kill him first) and that they will be selling the kids :) .

And Jesus might return in March. Which seems more likely? (Sorry, couldn't resist. It's unbelievable that Radiosophy ratcheted up the product availability bs when they were so damn far from having ANYTHING to sell!)

Funny thing, a local NPR station was having a membership drive and giving one of them away as a raffle item. Pretty easy to give away stuff that doesn't exist!

It is my understanding that it has been a case of "if anything could possibly go wrong it will". Each time they make any progress, something else has come up. I think that they are tight lipped now because with their luck the ship from China will sink.

On my daily visit to Radiosophy's Update page, something new finally came up. Not to seem skeptical, but is this for real? Today's posting suggests that, contrary to speculation, the radio may not be vaporware. I placed my order in April of 2005, but since then I have acquired the Boston Acoustics, the Accurian and the Sangean HDT-1, so urgency has abated. Still, I wish Radiosophy the best and look forward to receiving their product.

2/7/2007 Update

Our first batch of Radios is in production! The process of manufacturing, testing and shipping is going to take several weeks and we may experience delays due to shipping from the factory to our warehouse but we really are getting close to shipping to customers.

Thank you for your patience during this long process – we’re almost there!

Orders placed today will be an additional 4 to 6 weeks from our first ship date.

I got a message on my answering machine from Radiosophy today telling me the radios are in and asking me to give them a call to let them know if I still want the one I ordered (a year and a half ago).

Seeing how it's after business hours I haven't called them back yet, but I think I'll decline unless they want to drop the price by a hundred bucks to be competitive with the other radios that have come out in the meantime.

Thanks for the heads-up, Carnivore. I did not receive a call from Radiosophy, but your post prompted me to phone them. (I placed my order in April of 2005.) They promised that my unit will be shipped today or tomorrow. They told me the ship sailed the day before the Chinese New Year celebration began. Maybe Radiosophy's luck is changing. I hope so.

Radiosophy remains optimistic that its improved internal shielding, which was responsible in part for the production delay, will reduce digital noise and enable better reception than some of its small competitors. A week from now, we should know.

I just canceled my order. I had a good conversation with a couple of the people there, and explained how I thought their product represented a good value two years ago when their only competition was the Boston Recepter, but that there are other, more attractive radios on the market for much less money now - specifically the Sangeans at under $200 and Radio Shack's Accurian, which has hit the $99 mark on sale a couple of times already.

Unfortunately I think Radiosophy missed their opportunity to sell radios at their current price point. At least I know they lost my business. I wish them good luck, I think they're going to need it. I look forward to reading the reviews from those of you that end up getting one though.

I placed my order over 20 months ago with this online vendor: http://www.HiDefRadio.com. They inform me that they expect to ship next week. They still offer free shipping. After all this anticipation I'll be happy to take delivery. While not exactly portable, the ability to undock from the speakers makes this the most transportable unit on the market, to date. I think I have some spare 12VDC wall warts that I can spread around the house, if the telescoping antenna can pick up the signals.

First off I do not work for Radiosophy, and have had a standing order for 129837982173823 months, LOL.

I did get the chance to play with one (of three in the world) at NAB last year. I must say that the sensitivity was better than the BA. It was a dandy little radio that was logical in its operation. I am hoping that they create a docking station for the car like Visteon has.

They have been trying to be a better radio than the BA (thank God), but they sure have really messed up on their timing. I did talk to the President of the company a year ago. He actually call me to let me know that they are running late, but to hang in there with them. They have deep pockets as the group running this came out of Gateway Computers. How deep they are is going to show in the next few months.

I also got a call and ordered one. They said I should have it next week

I have several HD radios ( the radio shack one works best).

I work in radio and like to test out the various HD radios.. hoping to find one with enough sensitivity to actually work well for the average listener.

If i don't find one soon I might lose hope for this promising new technology,

Hello,

I was thinking about getting one of these radios since December 2005! Now it looks like I will be able to do it! Check out the latest news!

3/1/2007 Update


We are now shipping the MultiStream HD Radio! It retails for $269 and offers the latest in HD Radio technology.

Thank you for your patience during this long process!

Radios can be ordered online or by calling 1.877.443.7234

Depending on demand and order quantity, orders placed now may take an additional 4 to 6 weeks from order date.


So, one day soon, there will be people here that can actually talk about this radio.

I'm convinced it's vaporware. Until it isn't. I'm SO glad I didn't order one!

By this time, I hoped to post a report on my Radiosophy Multistream. I was looking forward to writing good things about it.

Last Tuesday (Feb. 27), after reading on this forum that the radios finally arrived, I phoned Radiosophy, reminded them of the order I placed in April of 2005, and they promised that my radio would be shipped "today or tomorrow" (Feb. 28). That was a week ago, and still no radio.

So I phoned again and asked when I might expect it. Weather delays blocked shipments on Thursday and Friday, I was told.

"But if my radio went out Wednesday, as promised....?"

After checking Radiosophy informed me that MY UNIT STILL HAS NOT BEEN SHIPPED!

No explanation. Sorry. It will go out tomorrow.

(Yeah, just like last week.)

How, I asked, could Radiosophy sit for nearly two years, waiting to get the radio manufactured, and fail to have figured out how to ship it, once it arrived?

The only reason I didn't tell them to shove it was that the Radiosophy will enable me to hear HD in my car.

Maybe.

If it ever arrives.

These people are as weak in customer service as they are in manufacturing. Let's hope the design compensates for their incompetence in other areas.

I won't hold my breath.

By this time, I hoped to post a report on my Radiosophy Multistream. I was looking forward to writing good things about it.
I won't hold my breath.

Ditto.. Got much the same story...still no radio.

You all are very tolerant with Radiosophy's unethical handling of your orders. How do you think they are going to treat you after they get your money and you have a problem? Why do you think that they will give you a quality product that will last? Does their behavior warrant your trusting them? Why would you want to deal with a company which has no regard for its customers? I would not buy anything from Radiosophy since I would always be worried about the quality of their product and I would consider their warranty worthless. Why would anyone be happy and have confidence in their product? Also I'm sure some of you have gotten the feeling that somethings not right.
Richard

I work at a broadcast station and have a slightly different motive for buying
all the various HD radios. I simply want to try them out in the hope of finding ONE with enough sensitivity to be useful to the average consumer.

It is easy to impute "no regard for its customers" to Radiosophy and I, too, wonder how they will respond to warranty claims. (Much like the Keystone Cops, I would imagine.) Despite my frustration, I won't yet go so far as to call them "unethical". I think they are just a bunch of technical people who don't have a clue about the business of manufacturing radios. Radiosophy attracted a lot of interest because they were the first to promise an HD product. As consumers, we allowed our enthusiasm to blind our judgment.

True, Radiosophy promised they would ship the product and admitted, a week later, that it was still sitting in the warehouse. Are they pathological liars or just hopelessly screwed up? I suspect the latter.

By the way, today's issue of the local newspaper in Radiosophy Land contains a picture that provides a good idea of the product's scale:

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070308/BUSINESS/703080317/1003

Enjoy the picture, because it may yet be awhile before we hold the radio in our own hands!

The article says they have shipped 200 units out of 2,000 orders. Radiosophy may think it shipped 200 units. I'll wager they are still sitting in the same warehouse as mine!

The Radiosophy people are adults and know the difference between right and wrong and know what they are doing. The fact they are technical people does not preclude them from acting reasonably and dealing with people in an ethical way. On the contrary, they have continually deceived people for their own purposes. They would have been better off being up-front with people but it's too late now since they have shown their true colors. In the long run their unethical behavior will not inure to their benefit. For myself, I will never have any business dealings with them directly or indirectly.
Richard

Know what's disappointing TO ME? I keep returning to this thread when there's a new post, hoping to find one from someone who actually has one of the damn things. "doo dee doo doo" (Twilight Zone theme).

Newbie here just read through this entire thread. I'm wondering if anyone ever got the Radiosophy Multistream HD radio and how they like it? I see they just came out with the HD100 cheaper unit but I like the Multistream's portability and line out features.

I'm interested in Pros and cons but particularly, I'm interested in 3 specifics:

1. how is the headphone output? I'll be using this alot with headphones in my office.

2. Has anyone hooked this unit into their aux input in their stereo head unit in their car? If so what do you use for an antenna in the Multistream unit and how is HD reception while driving?

3. How good does it sound from the RCA output connected into a home stereo receiver?

Also, how does one search this site? I tried to find a search box on this site so I could search say all HD forum for Radiosphy but couldn't locate a search box? Maybe I'm just not looking in the right area?

Thanks in advance :)
Bruce

Newbie, the issue may be moot, since the Multistream model sold out, and there is no indication when or if they will have another production run. But to answer your questions, it sounds great on headphones or with the output connected through a stereo amplifier. I tried it in the car with the telescoping antenna sticking out the sunroof, but it didn't pick up any HD stations. The optical digital output didn't work with any of my digital inputs.

In contrast, the HD100 has an antenna that actually works. But the amplifier is lame, and the speakers are tinny. You can't use the HD100 in the car (unless you have a verrrrry long power cord).

Thanks for the info. Bummer on the sold out and no production run posted as it's weird that their site says click here to check shipping status on the multistream then all it says is HD100 is now shipping.

One could get a AC/DV inverter and use the HD100 but my guess is that you would need to hook up an external FM antenna outside your car to get it to work while driving for either unit.

For the tiny speakers in my case I probably will rarely use the speakers in any HD unit I buy as I use headphones most of the time in an office setting and if I needed good speakers I'd just hook up some powered external speakers.

Anyway, thanks again for the reply :)

Jeeez... I waited two weeks on my HD100 order and was on the edge the whole time. I became paranoid that SOMEthing was wrong - until the radio arrived without notice. After reading this thread it all makes sense now. I could not have tolerated the suspense, for TWO years!!

And finally where are the reviews? Not many - why?

Bill

I GOT MY RADIOSOPHY MULTISTREAM RADIO 7 DAYS AFTER I ORDERED IT ON THE PHONE. Yes I'm yelling as I'm very happy with it :)

Maybe I'm just lucky but after reading all the problems people were having with delays and reading all the specs on the unit I decided I would call up Radiosophy and ask if they had any in stock. They said they had two left and didn't know when they might be doing another production run. So I plunked down my ~$300 for the unit including a $9 AC/DC adapter and with regular shipping to Oregon I got it in 7 days.

Let me say I'm very happy with the unit. Here's my notes, pros and cons

The Primary reasons I bought it were:

1. It could be detached easily from the external speakers and has a headphone out jack as I use it at my office with headphones.
2. It had analog and optical out as I am using it with my home audio system
3. It has an external RF connector for external antenna connection as I use it with an am roof antenna in my attic and it pulls in stations just fine up to 30 miles away from the towers and does better than my normal FM receiver on the same external antenna.

Pros:
1. Main unit is small and very portable
2. Analog (RCA out, optical out and headphone jack out
3. AC/DC connection for out camping etc. ( I wouldn't use this in a car unless you can connect it to the car's FM antenna.)
4. Nice large display with various brightness settings from nothing to very bright.
5. Ten preset single touch buttons with one of them being bigger in the middle for my favorite station.
6. Built in antenna if you were really close to the radio tower, otherwise it's useless
7. Came with a small diopole FM antenna but I don't use it but it worked better than the built in antenna.
8. HD Radio light lights up when locked into the digital signal
9. Locks onto the HD signal that I'd say is around 3 to 4 bars in signal strength in analog then locks it in and goes to 5 full bars once locked. This is huge to me as at my house I've always listened to FM analog with some scratch in the signal since I've only been able to get about 3 out of 5 bars even with my extenal FM attic antenna.
10. Reception signal strength indicator 0 to 5 bars. I really like this feature!

Cons:
1. Built in antenna is pretty small and useless unless you live very close to the tower but I didn't care as I only use external antennas.
2. No audio input jack. No big deal for me since I use other inputs in my home system but if someone wanted to input an ipod into the stand alone system you would not be able to do it.
3. Silverish case and speaker color - I prefer black in all electronics but that's just my personal taste but it would have been nice to have the option of black.

That's about it. Way more pros than cons in my opinion and worth the $300
Unfortunately, it looks like radiosophy has taken most of the info down off of their website for the multistream radio unit so I'm unsure if they are going to sell them anymore now that they are selling the less expensive $99 unit which looks like a nice unit (for the price) but it didn't have all the features I needed. I've emailed one of their salesman to find out what's up with the multistream sales.

Overall, I'm very very very happy with this unit and the 7 day shipping to me from the time I ordered it. I love listening to HD radio b/c of the improved signal (in my location and case) and my favorite radio station 94.7FM KNRK in Portland Oregon at 947.fm (if you want to check them out) has a second stream that plays only local Portland alternative bands! Too cool!

I think that's about it. If anyone has any questions let me know.

Bruski

Our corporate people have one of them upstairs. I doubt if they've had time to test it much, yet.

Try the S/PDIF output on your sample, if you can. I never got it to work on mine. They said they'd refer the problem to engineering and get back to me, but that was the last I heard about it.