Major EXOGAL Comet/Ion problems


Five years ago I bought an Exogal Comet to use as a DAC with my Rogue Medusa amplifier. It proved itself an excellent unit in all respects and I was positively impressed with the company's support and helpfulness. A year ago I bought the matching Exogal Ion amplifier (at considerable expense) to go with the Comet and was delighted. (The Medusa was wonderful but I wanted something with a smaller footprint). 

Reviewers have invariably criticized the Comet's diminutive window for being extremely difficult to read and the cheapness of the remote control. Noting these deficiencies, the TAS reviewer Vade Forrester (June 24, 2015) wrote, "I learned the Comet is really intended to be operated remotely from an iPhone or iTouch." My experience was that the window and remote were exercises in frustration, but that the Apple application I downloaded from the Exogal site for my iPad was ideal; I had total control over the unit and the app was a delight to use--very Space Age. For the record, I liked the Comet so much I unloaded my Rogue RP 1 and used it as a preamp. 

All was well until I got a new iPad and couldn't download the application. When I called Exogal I received a somewhat garbled account that Apple was no longer permitting them to use the application. Ditto with Android. After a while they announced a remote control module was being developed and in the pipeline. They sent me an experimental prototype that in my opinion wasn't much of an improvement over the original. On the few occasions I can reach them they say it will be ready in a week but weeks have passed. This is tantamount to having a fancy TV where it is a major struggle to perform a simple action like change the channels! 

Exogal is singularly uncommunicative about this problem. Their website is scarcely used and they seem to have moved over to Facebook. The strangest thing is that on the website they list under "Products" a series of four Vortex streamers, described in detail, that apparently were never manufactured! They don't answer their emails. They say their site has been hacked and various other things. In a rare new posting on their website and Facebook they claim the they have just opened a distributorship in Europe. This raises the question how are the European purchasers going to operate their units? None of this inspires consumer confidence.  

My point here is that when someone spends 7k and above on supposedly elite components they deserve responses and explanations. It is Exogal's responsibility to ascertain that these units are operable as designed. I have to question the business sense of relying on an outside entity like Apple that is notorious for being proprietary. It is totally unbusinesslike not to make a public explanation of these issues with a timetable to correct them. Customers should not have to go foraging around Audigon forums to learn what is, or isn't, happening. 

Now the window on the Comet periodically goes blank (it was never even illuminated). Having 7k worth of Exogal equipment that is extremely difficult to operate, I went and bought a Wyred 4 Sound integrated and a Black Ice DAC so I can actually listen to something without a struggle. The Exogal stuff is in a box waiting for who knows what. I am beginning to think that Exogal is indeed out of this galaxy, but for all the wrong reasons. This is very surprising because a couple of years ago they were exemplary in all respects. I would like to hear from other frustrated owners to see what solutions they have devised. 
128x128rtorchia

@michrt : What good quality universal compatible remote would you recommend for the Exogal Comet? I too use a Comet DAC and am concerned about the flimsy remote that comes with it. Jeff

I believe that very late on Exogal made a superior remote that cost around $100  because the original one was bad. You should probably try to get one of those. I took part in a program to use the prototypes for these so they sent all participants a free remote. Truth be told, it was an improvement but not that great. Even a good company like RME supplies an awful remote. 

@ciszyn11 This application doesn't work in Android, however the official APK is out there. Works on older Android handsets, before Android 9. The one I wrote is primarily for Windows. @yoby It's not possible to program a universal remote without some interface to the DAC, since it only has hardware for a specific set of calls over BT.

What @rtorchia is referring to is probably the Pulsar. I have one, it's a BT repeater that works with any IR remote and interfaces with Comet. It does work very well, but is tricky to find. The physical remote it came with looks the same as the proprietary BT remote, but at least with the Pulsar add-on you can use most any NEC IR remote. My hardware solution seeks to do something similar with more features. I need to start working on it again. Life happens lol but hopefully some have been helped so far