Como Audio: Amico - Portable Wireless Music System with Internet Radio, Spotify Connect, Wi-Fi, FM, Bluetooth and One Touch Streaming

The build quality and sound quality of the Amico are outstanding. My disappointment stems from the Amico's user interface and network issues; I don't keep it plugged in, so I have to charge it every few days. The battery life is mediocre at best. Actually, it's pretty bad, but the deal-breaker is that if I leave it set to Internet radio, it seems to lose the network about 4 out of 5 times. I mostly listen to Internet radio, and it almost never finds my network when I turn it on. I need to go to my modem, press the WPA button, and wait for it to reconnect (again and again and again). This irritates me greatly. I noticed that Como Audio recently changed the Internet radio preset method, and I'm hoping that this will help. Let's see how things turn out. br>br>It took a long time for me to figure out how to use a USB fob in the right way. I couldn't get a USB 3 to work. I only received one fob, but it was a USB 3. 0 one. Only after reformatting it to FAT (rather than exFAT or NTFS) will 0 fob work. I can play flac files and they sound great, but "USB Playback" is not a preset button. Only the top menu's "Music player" option is available. When this happens, a pop-up window appears, asking if I want to use the USB port (yes, stupid, it was there the last time), and I must press "Yes" to access the USB player. However, the Amico returns to the top of the Music Player list, and I must scroll down to USB Player to return to my flac files. A firmware update, it appears to me, would allow me to set the USB Player in one of the presets, the Amico would remember the USB from the last time it was turned on, AND I would be able to return to the last file I was listening to when I turned it off. Every USB-playing device I own remembers where it was when I turn it off. Amico is the only one who doesn't have this problem. When I turn on the Amico while it is on battery, it takes a full 35 seconds to play Internet radio. When not plugged in, it takes 25 seconds for the radio to start playing after being turned on. It takes 5 seconds to listen to FM radio and 7 seconds to listen to Internet radio when the device is plugged in. Why is it taking so long to figure out that it's running on battery power? br>br>The remote is useless; the Android app is better; however, using the three knobs to navigate is a disaster. When the first knob is turned, it controls the volume and the third knob toggles between FM, Bluetooth, Aux, and other options. The second button is a complete flop. It's used to navigate through submenus (e. g. , Shared media, USB playback, Internet radio station, and so on), but if you get into a sub menu, there is no "up," "back," or "top menu" option, so you're stuck in the sub menu, and the only way out is to use the third knob to exit and restart. When trying to find Internet radio stations, the limitations on using the front knobs are a bummer. There isn't even an option to search for Internet radio stations in the Android app. br>br>I'm sure many of these issues will be addressed by firmware updates in the future, but for now, navigation is clumsy, battery operations are slow, and network settings don't seem to stick. br>br>I'd go with the Amica for true stereo, even if it's a bit pricey at $129. But what about a 15-foot cord that can't be untangled? This is the deciding factor. A rear RCA jack would be useful on the Amica so that I could use a short RCA cable instead of the 14' of cord that comes with it. Is it possible to describe the design as unfriendly to the user?.

Jazlyn HEWITT

| Jun 26, 2021

I bought my Amico in November 2018 after doing my usual research into reviews, specifications, and other information available. Living in the mountainous South, this was a major selling point for me. Our excellent local NPR stations (Jefferson Public Radio) could be streamed via Internet Radio in the Oregon/Northern California border country. In our challenging terrain with rural auto-transport, JPR does an excellent job. To maintain FM coverage across a large and remote rural area, transmitter relays in the mountains, etc. are used. The Amico was a pain to set up, with a clumsy interface ported from a 20-year-old unix box or something, but that's probably a one-time job, so - There is nothing to be concerned about. The ability to stream internet radio over the web was the deciding factor in our purchase decision; however, in May 2019, Como abruptly dropped their 3rd party internet streaming radio service due to major outage issues, and apprently signed up with a less comprehensive service provider with an entirely different interface, leaving me (and many others) without access to all of my local stations. The main issue was that there was no public notice of the problem, so you had to dig through their website's "Blog" to figure out what was going on. That provided instructions for resetting your device, which did not work unless you forced a factory reset, which obviously erases all of your configuration data and forces you to start over. Ugh. But then there are no JPR stations on the menu (which makes navigation even more difficult). On their website, there is a "support request" form where users can request that a "missing" station be added to the menus. That has been completed. We haven't been able to access the JPR stations as of yet. Now, it's possible that this was all unavoidable; we don't know. But, for the time being, the features I paid extra for over the competition are essentially bricked, and Como's support is a negative ten out of ten in my opinion. If the situation improves, I will provide an update. Sad.

Jefferson Galloway

| Mar 24, 2021

When I got my Como Audio, I was really happy with it. I attempted to use the Amico portable radio with batteries, but the batteries failed to power the radio. I contacted Como Audio support and told them I had a problem with the rechargeable battery, and they helped me troubleshoot the problem. After troubleshooting, I informed the agent that I had received a defective battery set and requested that a replacement be sent. The agent told me I needed to contact Amazon to do so, and when I did, Amazon told me I needed to contact Como Audio to have the replacement part shipped out. The Amazon representative was able to work with me and reached out to Como Audio, who told the Amazon representative that Como Audio would contact me to resolve the issue. I haven't heard anything from Como Audio in regards to resolving my problem after a few days. To begin with, for the price I paid for this portable radio, I shouldn't have had any problems with the rechargeable battery and should be able to use it as a portable radio. Second, the customer service was woefully lacking. The Como Audio representative refused to collaborate with me to resolve my problem. I understand that parts break, but for the price of the product and the poor customer service, I did not expect to have problems like this.

Kabir Decker

| Feb 25, 2021