Fosi Audio VOL 20

[joqueval]

At first glance it may seem like the functions are limited, but it integrates perfectly and naturally.
Now to control the volume and songs the hand always looks for the location of VOL.20.
Humans function better with simple things. XD

 

[VintageFlanker]

Kickstarter just launched :

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fositechnology/fosi-audio-vol20-multimedia-control-knob-with-rgb-light?ref=4t7v41

 

[Old_School_Brad]

Can this be used with a Wiim Pro Plus?

 

[RandomEar]

The dial isn't a button itself / can't be pressed down? Man, that seems like a missed opportunity. I've got a cheap cable-bound dial with a rotate-and-click encoder. It only offers "press to mute" in additionto controlling the volume, but using an encoder with an integrated button offers many intuitive ways to control:

• Press dial to mute/unmute
• Long press dial to pause/play
• Press and hold dial and rotate at the same time skip to next/previous track
• Press + press and hold dial ("double click and hold") and rotate at the same time to wind/rewind within a track
• ...

On the V20, some of this is done with the additional side button, but that seems much less intuitive and - in case of skip to next/previous - also limited as it can only skip one track at a time. Hope @Fosi Audio will integrate a click-and-press encoder into the next iteration of this device. It looks pretty good apart from this.

 

[FERCSA]

After watching the kickstarter video there are a few things to note:
-the upper body of the knob is wobbly
-the knob is not a buttton as RandomEar mentioned. huuuge missing out.

I've the feel that this VOL20 knob was rushed a little bit.

Also I already mentioned QMK integration on page 1 but at least a simple BLE-MIDI implementation would be a nice touch. Just like the TE Ortho Remote!

 

[mags65]

Anyone who has the VOL20 and the ZD3? Got both today as early backer prize, but can’t for the life of me get them to pair…the manuals are a bit lacking in terms of describing pairing of non-menu driven devices.

 

[mags65]

Anyone who has the VOL20 and the ZD3? Got both today as early backer prize, but can’t for the life of me get them to pair…the manuals are a bit lacking in terms of describing pairing of non-menu driven devices.

Just got this answer from Fosi. So no dice on using the VOL20 as a remote for the ZD3, then.

Hi. The VOL20 device does not support connection to ZD3. Its connection protocol only supports Bluetooth audio devices. Volume adjustment must be done through the controlling Bluetooth audio device.

 

[EddNog]

Has anyone had a chance to try this thing with a WiiM yet?

-Ed

 

[mags65]

Tried it out this morning. It will not pair as a remote, only Wiim remotes can do this. As I understand and through mucking about, this only works in practice when

1) turning off Fixed volume on your Wiim device (obviously) and
2) VOL20 is synced to your controlling device (phone/tablet) and
3) the Wiim app is open on your controlling device and
4) the controlling device is «live», i.e. not in screensaver mode

Edit: added point 2 to clarify how VOL20 is connected

 

[mags65]

My youtube debut:

 

[EddNog]

Tried it out this morning. It will not pair as a remote, only Wiim remotes can do this. As I understand and through mucking about, this only works in practice when

1) turning off Fixed volume on your Wiim device (obviously) and
2) the Wiim app is open on your controlling device (phone/tablet) and
3) the controlling device is «live», i.e. not in screensaver mode

View attachment 408834

Okay, so you’re saying that instead of syncing it to the WiiM, you sync it to the device that the WiiM Home app is installed on, such as one’s smartphone or tablet. Got it.

-Ed

 

[mags65]

Okay, so you’re saying that instead of syncing it to the WiiM, you sync it to the device that the WiiM Home app is installed on, such as one’s smartphone or tablet. Got it.

-Ed

Yep, no way to sync it directly to the Wiim unfortunately.

 

[mags65]

Windows: It's essentially a generic "USB keyboard" device, just not one with 104 keys, but volume +/-, mute, play, skip, pause etc. only. In other words, a heavily constricted "multimedia keyboard".
Windows device manager consequentially lists devices like that as additional USB keyboard devices in the "keyboard" section.

..To be honest, that's nothing new and nothing special.... Devices like that exist for quite some time, just e/g on Aliexpress search for "USB volume control" and it will list plenty of no-name devices like that.
I do have some older and newer ones here with me. Just USB connector changed over time, once from Mini USB jack to Micro USB and later USB-C jack. Some are quite "heavy duty" built, weighty and stable, full aluminum made.

Yes, but the whole point here being that it’s a Bluetooth connection/device, not USB.

 

[somebodyelse]

Yes, but the whole point here being that it’s a Bluetooth connection/device, not USB.

There are others like the Nobsound DV-01 or much more capable XPPen ACK05, but they're still not going to work with the Wiim directly unless Wiim can make generic BLE human interface devices work via a firmware update.

Edit: On closer inspection the ACK05 seems not to be generic HID, and doesn't play well with linux even with its own dongle.

 

[EddNog]

Testing it now since mine came in. With the iPhone 16 Pro, it controls volume when I have the WiiM Home app up, but when I tried to use the button to skip tracks (double-press), it didn't work, and then when I hit it just once to try and pause playback, it suddenly launched Apple Music (which was not open, even in the background) and start playing music over the phone's speaker. I will test it later with my Android-based Lenovo tablet.

-Ed

 

[EddNog]

Just tried it with my Lenovo tablet. Same issue, where Play/Pause/Skip button doesn't work. It doesn't even launch any other app, just doesn't work. Volume control works but the lag/responsiveness is quite bad compared to on the iPhone which had minimal lag/good responsiveness. I suppose I could also try it on my M4 iPad Pro later but that seems pointless as it will likely just launch Apple Music when I hit Play/Pause just like the iPhone. Actually, I will test it on my M1 MacBook Air to see how that goes (using iPadOS version of the WiiM Home app)...

-Ed

 

[EddNog]

It was least useful on the MacBook. It controlled system sound volume instead of the WiiM's playback. Not surprising considering it's not running a native app, but an iOS app in a sandbox.

-Ed

 

[FERCSA]

In case someone wants to write an open source firmware for this it's uses a CH573 Risc-V microcontroller https://www.wch-ic.com/products/CH573.html
This one has the same core as the CH32V103 and platformIO already support it.

I remember some chinese multimedia keypads uses WCH based chips may be one of them's firmware is open source and usable to cook smt up..
Tbh I'm more interested to convert it to a ble midi controller.

Anyways the wobbliness is due to the cheap rotary encoder and I still can't believe they don't used an encoder with a push button function.
The alu body is nice and heavy. As a volume controller it works for me without any lag.

After all as an UX stand point I still prefer my ortho remote.

 

[VintageFlanker]

 

[jeffaegrim]

Fosi has been coming out with great products lately. Can’t wait to get my hands on one of these, fits my use case perfectly

I take that back btw as the device is completely unusable at a distance of 4m, unlike other BT devices I use. Additionally, the unstable connection leads to interesting issues - like your windows volume turning itself up to 100% and refusing to go down (as its apparently receiving a continuous vol up signal from the Fosi), even though the volume knob isn’t being touched by anyone. I could have easily blown my speakers right now if they weren’t a high efficiency horn + CD combo. Suffice to say I won’t be using the Fosi vol20 and I really don’t recommend anyone else use it either

Edit: a friend ordered one as well & has latency / stability issues too, so I have no reason to assume mine is a faulty unit.