Axiom Home Page Forums AxiomAir Discussion AxiomAir General Discussion Wish list...

There are still some things I'd like to see done better on the Air and it seems updates are moving quite slow.

1. Ability to adjust bass/treble or an eq.
2. Ability to have multi-room setup permanently. Right now the interface and volume controls to setup multiple Air's is just confusing every one in my house and I have to do it for them each time. It's creating the "I don't like this thing" attitude which is not helping me justify the high cost to the woman...for whom it was bought for. They aren't using it because they are frustrated with it. I'll admit to even fighting with the Volume controls when using multiple rooms as well. It's quirky.
3. Bluetooth. Enable it.
4. Ability for Android to stream Youtube to the Air. #3 would help.
5. Ability to startup and auto start a favorite radio station, even better, be able to schedule it. I realize there is an alarm mode but you have to leave the speaker on all the time - which I'm not doing. If I can't have both, at least have it start my fav radio station on boot.
6. Version 2 NEEDS physical volume buttons. NEEDS network connection on the back. Just say'n.
7. Ability to adjust sub output via app/web interface.
8. Ability to connect to a windows share.

You forgot Spotify.

No, I don't use it. But by all means, everyone dive in and make suggestions

Don't start using it or you'll be hooked.

Should be able to plug into a usb on back and use analog in with a chromecast audio.

Then you can run whatever you want that supports chromecast. Spotify or YouTube or whatever. They are 45$ and an instant solution. Pretty solid with Spotify. Use it all the time.

I'm onboard with some of this wish list.

Enable bluetooth. This is a must.
There are too many audio units out there that use it (and the Air was advertised as having Bluetooth in the promo video or at least that was my take away from it). My entire daughter's hockey team has two methods of connection audio in the dressing room with units that DO NOT have camera capability (e.g. no smart phones or iPads allowed). Those two connection methods are bluetooth and analog via headphone out. With newer Apple products moving to remove headphone jacks...

Secondly, with bluetooth in use, a person with a phone can then use their wireless to stream to the Air from the web. The Air is not always in a location to be hooked up via a router or local wifi system and phones cannot use the Air wifi and stream from the web at the same time.

Lastly, from a previous thread, using the analog plugin should work both ways. If you use the analog plugin, the Air should default to that without having to use the app to specifically select the analog as the input source, especially when the opposite is true (one turns on the Airplay and it auto switches over to that input source even if the analog was first jacked in and is still set to use). I know my home computer auto switches the desktop speakers on and off depending on whether a headphone set is jacked in or not.

I'm onboard with some of this wish list.

Enable bluetooth. This is a must.
There are too many audio units out there that use it (and the Air was advertised as having Bluetooth in the promo video or at least that was my take away from it). My entire daughter's hockey team has two methods of connection audio in the dressing room with units that DO NOT have camera capability (e.g. no smart phones or iPads allowed). Those two connection methods are bluetooth and analog via headphone out. With newer Apple products moving to remove headphone jacks...

Secondly, with bluetooth in use, a person with a phone can then use their wireless to stream to the Air from the web. The Air is not always in a location to be hooked up via a router or local wifi system and phones cannot use the Air wifi and stream from the web at the same time.

Lastly, from a previous thread, using the analog plugin should work both ways. If you use the analog plugin, the Air should default to that without having to use the app to specifically select the analog as the input source, especially when the opposite is true (one turns on the Airplay and it auto switches over to that input source even if the analog was first jacked in and is still set to use). I know my home computer auto switches the desktop speakers on and off depending on whether a headphone set is jacked in or not.

Hmm, not sure why my last post got double posted.
Bizarre.

Anyway, adding to the wishlist, yes i know there was an earlier thread about wanting a battery level meter for which the answer was this type of battery doesn't work well with that concept due to its fast downcurve near the end of a charge.
However, it would be nice to have SOME indication as to when it needs to be plugged in. Otherwise, can i run it at 50% for 2 days without needing a cord?
Or will it run for 3 days at 80% of 4 hours per day?
Or for that matter, how long does it take to get it a full charge? What is the rate of charging? (10% per hour or varies again because of the battery type?)
I have no idea without some kind of battery meter.

There are too many variables to get any idea whatsoever when the unit would need to be plugged in and of course, the battery will always die right when you are using it.
At least some kind of meter that might show you when the unit hits 50% charge a person could logically think to themselves, "i only have 20 minutes before i go, maybe i should plug it in before i go just to be sure it has enough charge" only to realize that after 20 minutes it only charged it 5% more and might actually need hours to get up to full.

Additionally, aside from having any kind of battery meter, how about an indicator just notifying the user that it is charging at all?
I can plug it in, now that i know the LED on the power brick should be green, but how do i know if the unit is charging or is fully charged and done?
Most chargers (such as my camera battery) has a little blinky light when charging which goes solid when it is done. Simple, but useful for every user.

One last thought, back in regards to Bluetooth. In looking at the Pi specs recently, it seems that Pi2 doesn't have bluetooth onboard. That comes onboard with Pi3. Hence, asking for bluetooth to be enabled means that everyone with a Pi2 system would need to upgrade to a Pi3 board or use a dongle such as for the wifi right now.
Would Axiom be sending out bluetooth dongles to every person who bought an Air?
I don't think so.
I'm still wondering if bluetooth is even on the menu for enabling as a feature. It was in the video stating the Air would have bluetooth, but unless anyone else has heard anything back...
It would make this unit truly universal for connectivity and that is what sold it for us and some others we know.

Any hints on the future plans?

When you are down to your last 15-30 minutes of battery life the red LED will go solid red.

How about a DSP?

Apple Airplay2 support.

I'd like to see an M5HP version of the Air. I'd like each M5HP be separable so a proper sound-stage can be formed. I'd like a clean 75W per side with 15 dB dynamic headroom (10x). The sub out should be preserved. It wouldn't be necessary to create a chassis like the current Air; a carrying case would do.

Thanks Ian.
This is good to know.
I can't say i recall seeing that note in the manual. That thing seems to need an update. I was lost with the Apple part until we finally spotted a small icon not noted in the manual that we needed to select to switch to the axiom air after having it already setup in the wireless section.
Odd that by swiping up from the bottom to bring up the apple control panel that the same option was not in that location, although everything else on the two control panels looked the same.

I hate Apple.
Have i mentioned that at all?

An updated dongle that could do 5GHz and 2.4GHz WiFi signal

the only downside with 5gig is less range. 2.4 is fine for audio

Agreed, but there are more products (garage door openers, etc..) using the 2.4GHz frequency leading to interference and dropouts, so an option to add a second Wi-Fi band would be helpful in some cases.

When using webradio, my microwave knocks out my Axiom Air WiFi (2.4 GHz) after about 30 secs.

Most of the time it restores itself, but often it doesn't...

TAM

Is the Air next to the oven?

The MW is in between the router/booster & the Air.

Unfortunately, that is the way that it has to be...

TAM

Yep.
Those darn microwaves and intense energy.
Cuts out my Sonos if run too long. It has a good buffer thankfully.

Since we were talking about battery life in this thread, i still think a meter would be useful.

We tested how long the Air could sit after a full charge before it needed recharging with the question being, if a person used the Air for an hour on day 1, would they need to charge it before use 3 days later? 5 days later? or would it still have a useful charge a few weeks later?

The Air was plugged in on a Saturday. Used for maybe 30 minutes but on high volumes.
It then sat for a week, only turned on each day to test and check the red light status.
It was then used on the following Friday night for maybe 20 minutes on average volume levels.
It was then used on Saturday night, 7 days later, for about 10 minutes at high volumes until it started cutting out and died.

Hence, if anyone wants to charge the Air, within just about a week the charge will have slowly died out, possibly a bit longer since we did at least turn it on each day and used it once before the 7 days had lapsed. I would say that you would want to charge the Air for portable use if it hasn't been charged within 4-5 days.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Do you mean: Charging AA, using it one hour, then SHUTTING IT DOWN, waiting 4 days and then turning it on? If that is the case, then I always get a good 22 hours out my dual batteries regardless of the number of times I turn it off.

HOWEVER, if you leave it on but just not playing music, the Raspberry Pi is a full blown computer. It will consume battery life quite a bit.

It would be nice if you could be a little more precise in your example so we could compare more accurately with our own observations.

I thought that was pretty clear.
I'm not sure how to state it any other way.

I think the unit we have has the 9h battery. Perhaps it is a bit different with the dual battery, but still relevant if the charge is lost over time sitting unused.
Ours can sit for about a week before it doesn't have much charge left.
If the red light goes solid red when there is 20% or less charge remaining, then great. But what if there is only 30% charge left, the unit had sat for two days and a person wants to use it the next day for only an hour.
Do they need to charge it first?
Do they have time to charge it?
How long does it take to get the charge up to 50% or 60% to be sure you can get an hour use out of it?

Anyone with a cell phone asks these questions all the time. Before you leave the house and your cell has only 20% charge left, will it die before you return home? Will you be able to get out a call for more than 2 minutes if you needed?
Do you have ten minutes to charge it before leaving the house and if so, how much will it charge the phone? (My new Google Pixel 2 fast charges like mad. Ready in less than an hour. Love it. How about the Axiom Air?)

In my case, when actually turned off, I never have to recharge in between days.

I did inadvertently drain the batteries a few times when I thought I had turned it off, but a look at my server logs showed activities for well over 20 hours before it died.

If I unplug mine with a full charge, it'll be dead within a few days. Something is sucking the battery dry even when off. Both my units are the same. I predict we will all have dead batteries sooner than we should.

Add amazon music in options