Revisited: Neumi BS5P Powered Bookshelf Speaker

[somebodyelse]

I wonder what they are using to do this DSP in such a cheap speaker. Anyone know? Is it built-in to whatever amp they are using?

I haven't seen any internals of this one, but the pic of the board from the similarly priced Edifier R1280DB shows a TAS5713 dsp/dac/amp chip.

 

[Ericglo]

I spent a ton of time the other night in order to reflash the firmware since I don't have any PC's so I had to run boot camp on my old non-M1 MacBook since the firmware cannot be flashed using a virtual machine running Windows (flash fails.)

I haven't released my original review because I've been busy moving, so I will end up amending my original review with a bit of my findings post-fix, but I will also keep my original review intact. Also, Neumi had not asked me once to revise my review.

They've just been very good about responding to our critiques. I think it's a win-win for the consumer and the company. The company gets to put out a better product into the market, the consumers have better products in their hands.

I believe that all future shipments will have the updated firmware, but any that have shipped with the initial EQ will be sold at a discounted rate. Might be good for someone with a PC, a screwdriver, and who doesn't mind some minor tinkering.

More companies should respond like this! This is the right way imo.

I always tell companies that negative feedback can be good if they're willing to respond properly by taking appropriate actions to fix issues.

I think the response has been above and beyond. Most companies would run and hide or go in defensive mode after the first review. Their desire to take the feedback and improve their product should pay real dividends.

As I said in an earlier post, if Neumi brings out a new EQ to go along with port foam then they could have a remarkable value oriented product. Right now, that would put it in the top tier of all speakers if the EQ comes in at 5.6 or above. I realize other speakers can be EQed higher as is noted in the reviews, but most regular people don't want to go to those lengths to achieve better sound. I wonder how many people play with the switches on speakers like Kali.

 

[dorirod]

Nice work @hardisj and Neumi! They probably got quite a few more sales and some good input as a result of just engaging. They should just make the port plugs available for free for old customers (just pay shipping or something).

BTW, if anyone is interested in these they're actually on sale now on Amazon for $130.

I'm wondering if the Kali Audio LP-6 would be a better option in this price range though. Any way to tell which one would have higher max SPL? Erin, do you have an opinion on which set would be better?

Thanks

 

[Ericglo]

Nice work @hardisj and Neumi! They probably got quite a few more sales and some good input as a result of just engaging. They should just make the port plugs available for free for old customers (just pay shipping or something).

BTW, if anyone is interested in these they're actually on sale now on Amazon for $130.

I'm wondering if the Kali Audio LP-6 would be a better option in this price range though. Any way to tell which one would have higher max SPL? Erin, do you have an opinion on which set would be better?

Thanks

The Kalis are $150 a piece not per pair like the Neumis. I don't believe I have see the Kalis used for less than the retail price. I have seen the JBL 305s for good prices on the used market.

While I don't consider the price difference to be that big of a deal, there are a lot of people that do.

 

[dorirod]

The Kalis are $150 a piece not per pair like the Neumis.

Oops, that always gets me.

 

[hardisj]

I just got an update from Neumi:

Erin,

We've just posted a couple of new firmware files on our website:


How to update NEUMI BS5P firmware | NEUMITECH


The 05-26-2021 EQ setting incorporates the additional recommended adjustments posted in your review - it's not exact, but similar. There is an additional firmware that has an 80Hz highpass crossover applied so that these speakers can be used with a subwoofer - the user would have to use an upstream volume control device and use the AUX input along with a Y-splitter to dual feed the speaker and subwoofer at the same time.

If I have time, I'm going to incorporate the latest update and do a re-spin because I want to see just what the performance is now. Could be a total game changer. And I don't use that term lightly.

 

[pozz]

I just got an update from Neumi:



If I have time, I'm going to incorporate the latest update and do a re-spin. I want to see just what the performance is now. Could be a total game changer. And I don't use that term lightly.

Wow. I guess they don't have a way to do high resolution measurements themselves.

 

[dfuller]

Wow. I guess they don't have a way to do high resolution measurements themselves.

Eh, ya gotta sell a lot of $99/pr speakers to pay for a $100,000+ measurement device.

 

[hardisj]

To be clear, they didn’t ask me to measure anything. They were just letting me know. I’m curious enough to apply the change and test it. I’ll update this thread. But I won’t be doing another review.

 

[jtwrace]

To be clear, they didn’t ask me to measure anything. They were just letting me know. I’m curious enough to apply the change and test it. I’ll update this thread. But I won’t be doing another review.

So they've come up with another firmware update (DSP) to even make them better they think?

 

[hardisj]

So they've come up with another firmware update (DSP) to even make them better they think?

Looks that way. I'm curious how much better it is.

 

[jtwrace]

Looks that way. I'm curious how much better it is.

Damn, that's impressive for sure. I know someone who will keep 'em honest.

 

[richard12511]

I just got an update from Neumi:



If I have time, I'm going to incorporate the latest update and do a re-spin because I want to see just what the performance is now. Could be a total game changer. And I don't use that term lightly.

Damn! That's really amazing to see a manufacturer using the feedback of you and your machine to improve the speaker like that. They're super cheap, so I may buy them just because of that! Always great to have more speakers around for future blind tests , and I think it would be a fun blind test to pit the original config up against the updated one(and don't tell participants that it's actually the same speaker).

 

[hardisj]

I know someone who will keep 'em honest.

Andrew Robinson?

 

[jtwrace]

Andrew Robinson?

I'll actually keep my mouth shut now so I don't piss anyone off for a change.

 

[hardisj]

I'll actually keep my mouth shut now so I don't piss anyone off for a change.

All I know is his girlfriend tried to gaslight me on JoeNTell's YT channel in a reply to one of his videos. She got flipped over when I posted screenshots of what I actually replied to AR with vs what she said I replied with. They picked the wrong one...

 

[edechamps]

Wow. I guess they don't have a way to do high resolution measurements themselves.

What are the chances they literally took @hardisj's raw data export, and computed their new EQ to inverse it? That would certainly be an interesting concept - "reviewer-assisted design" It would certainly make more sense for them to buy an NFS for themselves. $100k doesn't seem like a huge expense for a speaker manufacturing company. Their approach is certainly better than doing nothing though…

By the way @hardisj: if this is indeed what they did - i.e. they literally inverted your measurements - then I suspect measuring their new EQ in the same speaker might not give the correct results, because it would give you a response that is "mathematically perfect" but would not be valid for any other speaker sample (even a typical one) due to manufacturing tolerances. Ideally the new EQ should be measured on a different speaker sample than the one used to generate said EQ (if this is indeed how they generated it). I understand that might be too much hassle though.

On another note, it's a shame the Neumi BS5P seems to be impossible to find in Europe…

 

[MZKM]

It would certainly make more sense for them to buy an NFS for themselves. $100k doesn't seem like a huge expense for a speaker manufacturing company

For a brand like KEF it wouldn’t be. But I doubt the Neumi brand has even made a profit of $100k. Margins in the ~$100 market are slim.

If Erin has a pair of the speakers, then he can use the other pair to test the new EQ. But I highly doubt the EQ they use give such fine and extensive controls that it is a huge issue.

 

[Destination: Moon]

I bought a pair to ferry around the house, yard and glamp. I'll be adding handles and Velcro to make them more portable.

Hopefully they live up to the hype . I also bought a micro USB extension cable to make any future updating easier.

Thanks Erin for your efforts and follow-up on these!

 

[YSC]

They are considering it. This is the email I received from them a couple hours ago after they saw the updated review.

View attachment 130697

I was thinking, if they go the focal shape route and use passive radiator, would that make the cost a lot more expensive? since those seems to have a lot less resonance issue and yet provide the bass extension needed