In my ongoing quest to find a better remote control option than The Plank (which is too large, ungainly, and filled with buttons that I will never use with my Rossini DAC), I recently grabbed a very nice aluminum universal learning remote from Ali Express (link). Works quite well, cost $30, accurately learned the remote codes from both the dCS remote (input select, play/pause/next/previous track, and sleep/wake) and my Soulution remote (on/off, volume up/down, “dim”).
Looks like a great alternative.
I passed your recommendation to a fellow owner whose Plank failed (it was some element of the volume control) just outside the warranty period. The cost of repair was very close to that of a new unit. He declined both. My own Plank remains in a drawer, unused. It’s great that you found a simple replacement.
In order to “train” these learning remotes, you need a working remote for it to learn from, so your friend will need to borrow a Plank to teach “volume” commands. But sounds like he has decided to go remote-less?
It looks like an elegant alternative to the plank. However the design of the latter dates from a period when a dCS system would be built around the CD/SACD transport. I can see this learning remote working for systems without optical transport but for those that use one it appears that there are insufficient buttons to enable insertion of track numbers I.e. to navigate the disc. Correct?
Yes, that’s right, this one would be best for those who don’t have the transport. There are a wide variety of options on Ali Express in different button configurations, however, so there might be options there. I assume they all use the same underlying learning remote chipset, just packaged in different configurations.