cool tech zone zone - Hardware

Touch Wheel Behaving Oddly

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:06:59 +0000

I've been heavily using my Tangara since I got it, and today the touch wheel seems to have stopped working. It registers touches, but not well; scrolling around the wheel either direction will make the selection jump around up and down, and actual presses, either long or short, almost never registers.

I'm pretty sure this isn't a software problem, unfortunately. I updated from 1.4 to 1.5 and then 2.0 since the problem started, and it behaves the same an all versions.

Now, I'm not a hardware person. I saw that someone here made the Tangarine button plate, and I'd love to try that, but I don't have a 3D printer to make the buttons with. I'd be comfortable trying to install something like that, which was already made, but not really anything more advanced then that.

I haven't tried anything beside hard restarting it and swapping out the firmware, I think that maybe I could try disassembling it and messing with whatever connection the touch plate uses but I'm a little afraid of the possibility of making things worse.

Does anyone know of troubleshooting steps I could try, or a source I could use to get buttons for the Tangarine plate from? The Tangara is the best MP3 player I've had in years and I don't want to give up on it because of this.

Wired headphones w/ inline volume controls

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 03:09:01 +0000

I've got a set of wired headphones with volume controls on the cable, but when I press those controls they don't adjust Tangara's volume. Is that a hardware limitation of the minijack receptacle used by the Tangara hardware, or is it something that could in theory be added as a feature in firmware later on?

PCBWay-ready files

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 18:34:47 +0000

Since the only way to get a new Tangara now is to build one yourself, I'd like to get a bulk order with some friends from PCBWay. Unfortunately, neither of us is very familiar with the hardware side of things, CAD and all.

I've previously tried just using a KiCad plugin to export some files for quoting on PCBWay, but they came back saying there are issues to be resolved. Since I'd love to avoid as much of that as possible, does anyone have the required files for manufacturing AND assembly with them with the least friction available and is willing to share them?

If you have anything you are willing to share, you can send it to ydwktp5a@duck.com, thanks!

Battery status fault and only charging to 52%

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 17:19:10 +0000

Hi, I have noticed the battery is not fully charging staying around 52% and the status is showing as fault. Any suggestions why and solutions?

Bluetooth Compatibility List

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 08:55:47 +0000

Bluetooth compatibility information (issue asking for a place to put additional information: https://codeberg.org/cool-tech-zone/tang...issues/428)

Add an answer to this thread to describing your findings and it will be edited into this post.
For new entries please use the provided header format.

Producer: soundcore
Product Name: Earbuds AeroFit 2
Model: AeroFit 2
State: working
Comment: Pause/Play works, Rest untested

Producer: Teufel
Product Name: Mynd
Model: Mynd
State: working
Comment: great fun

Producer: Sennheiser
Product Name: Headset
Model: MB 660 MS
State: no connection
Comment: pairing does not work
Issue: https://codeberg.org/cool-tech-zone/tang...issues/422

Producer: Yamaha
Product Name: Receiver RX-S602
Model: RX-S602
State: partial working
Comment: looses connection every minutes
Issue: https://codeberg.org/cool-tech-zone/tang...issues/432

Producer:
Product Name:
Model:
State: < working | partial working | no connection >
Comment:
Issue:

I don't know whether I'll be able to edit the first post in this thread eternally to add information, but I guess it is worth a try until someone with more insight into MyBB says that the Post will be locked after some time.

If you'd generally see need for more fields per entry (optional or not), please discuss independently of the place we'll put the list.

Update: Entering the first devices I just thought that there might be some attributes that are accessible when connected using a computer that would help distinguish different product versions or help otherwise.

Any ideas what to look at? I just looked at the earbuds using bluetoothctl in Linux, but didn't find anythink like a usb-id for bluetooth...

Printing a new battery cage?

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 13:57:08 +0000

I had some thoughts/questions about the battery cage for Tangara:

I'm pretty sure the battery cage is 3D printed. I had a yellow battery cage (as it was from Batch 1). Also IIRC from asking around on the Fediverse, I remember it used PETG filament - is this correct?
I dropped my Tangara (indoors, somewhere between tabletop height and knee height, on the floor). Apparently the battery cage cracked, but I didn't realize until I slightly shook my Tangara later and heard what sounded like little bits of plastic rattling around. Although probably not too dangerous w.r.t. the electronics inside, I performed a partial disassembly of my Tangara from the back to remove the broken parts of the battery cage. (I didn't want those bits interfering with the other mechanical parts, such as the lock slider or the SD card slot.)
Due to this, is there a recommendation of what type of 3D printer filament to use when reprinting the battery cage? IIRC, others on the Fediverse discouraged the use of PLA (which is what I can only print at home), as it'd be too brittle. I sort of don't want to use PETG again, if another PETG-printed battery cage will break in basically the same way. A friend recommended ABS, which they can 3D print using their "facilities".

To be clear, the drop was my fault, and I have no reasonable expectation that my Tangara would get no damage. Other than the battery cage, my Tangara seems pretty durable.

For those who are interested, I do plan on posting a picture for a "postmortem" mechanical failure "analysis". However, I will have to take that photo later - maybe this could help with future revisions to the battery cage.

music quality difference

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 13:28:33 +0000

Hi all,

I received my tangara recently and I have a selection of different quality music, some mp3, some flac and some hi-res flac. My issue is that I can't hear the difference in quality between those. I know that you shouldn't listen to anything above sampling of 48Khz, but I checked and my hi-res flac is 44khz.
I'm using focal celestee headphones: Celestee - Closed hi-fi headphones | Focal as well as in ear custom fitted earsonics: EM6 | in-ear monitors | EarSonics ® with both I hear the same quality with all these different formats.
I know it is not a fair comparison but I listen to those same files on my marrantz av receiver, the difference in quality is striking, I even did a little test taking the same song in mp3 and then flac and I can hear the difference.

Am I expecting too much from that little device or is there something that can be done ? Either configuration wise, hardware wise, or something else ?

Thank you,
Tursiops.

external antenna

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 11:23:01 +0000

Hello,

I've recently received my Tangara and am very pleased with the current state of the project. One of the main downsides right now is the lack of bluetooth stability. I've tried in busy areas, city and subway, as well as country side, and the connection is often very shaky. I get audio drop-outs when the Tangara is in my pocket and am walking around. The drops are not constant, but I can reproduce them when I cover the device with my hand or when I move my head the other way.
With a few friends we opened it up to have a look inside and noticed it uses the built in antenna. Has anyone done some tests by adding an external antenna? Did it improve the reception? If so, could you link the one used?
As it stands bluetooth is usable, but not really. When I keep the Tangara in a banana bag across my chest I can listen drop-out free, but in my pocket it's very hit and miss. I think I'll try to boost the ESP_PWR_LVL_P9 to one or two higher but I'm a bit worried on how that will impact battery life.

Anyway, does anyone have tips or tricks?

Thanks in advance!

Unlock/Power Switch Sensitivity

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 18:28:07 +0000

Does anyone else have a problem with the lock switch unlocking their device with only the slightest of movement up? The Tangara will not power on unless I fully toggle the switch into the "On" position however after the device has booted and I toggle the switch to the "Lock/Off" position I can unlock the device with only the slightest upward pressure.

Any advice on this?

Can't get the SD card cover onto the card

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 06:33:48 +0000

I'm struggling to fit the SD card cover onto the card -- it's super tight. I've tried with a couple of different cards. Am I doing it wrong or should I just file it down?

more secure SD card cover

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 01:01:11 +0000

I've had my SD card pop out of my Tangara a few times when I put it in my backpack with other stuff. I'm wondering if anyone has ideas for ways to prevent that. My first thought would be a sliding cover that needs to be slid open before the SD card can be pushed to pop it out of the slot. I'm not sure there's space for such a mechanism before bumping into the up/down buttons though... any other ideas?

Please describe the proper way to charge Tangara?

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 22:12:54 +0000

1) Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I can tell my Tangara only charges when the slider button is put in the "on" position while plugged into power.

It never seems to charge when the slider is turned to sleep/off, even when plugged in. Is this the way that Tangara is supposed to charge? Or am I not being patient enough while waiting to see if Tangara charges with the slider off?

2) Also, random question: is there a way for Tangara not to offer the USB bus mode button when Tangara is not plugged into a computer/laptop? I noticed this when I used both a USB portable battery bank and also my Pixel 8a charger (official OEM from Google).

Disassembling the Tangara

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 09:08:31 +0000

I tried to disassemble and re-assemble my Tangara today (just out of curiosity, to see what that's like) but I ran into a bit of trouble on the first step.

When I try to remove the top-right screw, the corresponding screw on the back rotates along with it and neither of them moves in or out. I guess those two screws are fastened against each other (that's probably the wrong terminology, but I hope it makes sense). I didn't have this problem removing the bottom-left screw.

Anyways, has anyone else had this problem? I could probably solve it by using a second screwdriver to hold the back screw in place, but before I run out to buy that screwdriver I figured I'd ask for advice here.

Battery Mod

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 11:53:25 +0000

Hello! This looks like it's very nearly the perfect music player for me, however, I would really like to get away from dedicated internal batteries (even though they are convenient). Where it runs on a 3.7v battery, it seems like it could potentially be run on rechargeable AA/AAA batteries. They normally output 1.2v, so, 3 of those batteries gets you very close to the 3.7v internal battery.

I am very much a novice when it comes to these kinds of mods, but I am tempted to take on this project if it's possible to modify the battery charging stuff via firmware. My background is coding in python, basic soldering skills, and some experience with tinkercad. Is this a pie-in-the-sky dream, or is this in the realm of possibility?

I'll likely pick this up either way, but if it's at all possible to mod it to run on AA/AAA batteries then this is a no brainer.

It looks like it's not managed via firmware, but it looks like the controller board would accept that voltage? It looks like the low battery voltage indicator might not work correctly though
https://www.mouser.com/ds/2/268/22090a-52174.pdf

I don't think I'd trust it to charge my AA/AAA batteries, but that should theoretically be okay? I'd probably just remove the batteries when connecting to a computer.

Default Case/ Shell Plastic?

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 17:53:39 +0000

I really would like a clear case like the ones from development, and I saw somewhere that they were vapor smoothed. I really would like to avoid manually polishing and applying clear coats if possible, so I was wondering what type of plastic does the case/ shell use so I may try to vapor smooth it myself without borking it