In Focus Kangaroo - $99 Pocket PC

I only learned about the Kangaroo two days ago and promptly ordered one to use as a music streamer in my office. I am totally wowed by this little device after getting it up and running... In summary, for $99, you get a full featured pocket pc, in an SSD sized aluminum enclosure, including a reasonably fast quad core atom chip, 2gb ram, 32 gig solid state storage + microsd slot, fingerprint reader, intel ac wireless and bluetooth, hdmi, 1 x usb 2, 1 x usb 3, a 4 hour battery, a dock, and a bundled Win10 license. Yes, you read that correctly. It is basically like buying a Win10 license and getting an attractive and portable computer along with it for free... An app will also let you pair it with your ipad to serve as a monitor on the go. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883722001



Granted, the Kangaroo is not going to substitute for a high end gaming rig, but Win10 still loads in < 8 seconds, and it is perfect for streaming, browsing and general productivity tasks. I am sitting here listening to Louis Armstrong Plays WC Handy via Foobar WASAPI from the Kangaroo -> Blue Circle USB -> Keces 131 -> Schiit Sys -> First Watt F3 clone -> Omega Super 7 mkII monitors. Life is grand.

Has anyone else tried one of these yet? Frankly, I'm tempted to buy several more and hook one up to every TV in the house for streaming/casual computer use.

 

This looks great and like it would be a great streamer or HTPC. More powerful than an Asus tablet that I was using, and that did everything I needed it to. This is a better form factor. Thanks for sharing.

 

Very cool! How is the SQ out of it?

 

This looks awesome.. I can stack this with the GOv2+ and RDP to it and use it as a wireless media streamer. Win10 and a real, fully powered USB port = win! Thanks dubiousmike!

 

Does the motherboard have SPDIF header support ?

 

Yum!

 

I wonder if you could attach usb storage via the usb 3 port and the dac via usb2 and have the dac off the storage bus (much quieter). And then ,can anyone tell it the sd slot is using the usb bus as well?

 

Wow. Pity it can't be used for phone calls! Or is it not that small?*

Anyway, I like it very much. No fan noises from that, eh?

Just one thing... Can I have a free Linux licence with mine!


*EDIT: Good grief, it is that small! It's smaller than my phone
And yes, I can get my "free" Linux with it!

 

Thank you all for the responses! To provide a brief follow up report and in answer to various queries above, the kangaroo can output audio via usb, hdmi or bluetooth only. It is an interesting question as to whether there might be possible internal spdif headers, but I haven't come across anything suggesting that and don't personally plan to attempt to crack open the enclosure. My anecdotal experience has been that on-board spdif sounds worse than the average cheap usb-spdif converter so it is a moot point for me.

Audio quality via the usb 2 port (with flacs loaded on a class 10 microsd card and also from 320k spotify) seems consistently good/on par with my two higher powered pc's and better than the quirky usb on the old hp laptop I was previously using in this rig. In all candor though, I have only done limited testing and have yet to bring it home to try it in my main Yggdrasil rig.

I also have yet to try the ipad as monitor feature but plan to do so over the weekend and let you all know how it goes. If the performance doesn't impress (I've read a few comments to this effect elsewhere), the upside is that it will free me up to install Linx Mint in place of Win10, which I generally prefer these days. That said, the Kangaroo provides a surprisingly smooth UX in Win10 and is very well suited to serving as a streaming box. Here's hoping it continue to surpass expectations.

I can also confirm that the bluetooth works very well with keyboard/trackpad combos like the rii k12bt, which is a nice device but a little on the small side for my hands.

 

For that price one could get a decent USB->SPDIF converter and still come out paying less than many streamers/servers/computers.

 

Yesterday, I connected the GO450 to my phone. I didn't intend to have a music session, just to check that OTG USB Audio out still worked after a few hours of techie messing around with said phone. I don't think there was any difference, and if at first I noticed any, I can attribute it to the EQ settings on the computer player. I thumped myself on the forehead and demanded of myself Why would it sound different, eh?... and went on enjoying the music.

 

Looks like a new dock is out adding a bunch more connectivity. This could end up being a complete server now instead of just the streamer.
http://venturebeat.com/2016/04/14/k...h-a-little-less-portability-a-lot-more-ports/

 

Looks more and more like the 2008 macbook chained to my listening station can finally experience the sweet release of death after an unnaturally long life.