If you are having trouble with an EXOGAL Product, please send us an email at , or call us at 651-964-0698. You should note that our phone system is automated and it may take us 24 - 72 hours to return a phone call! If you send us an email it will hit our devices immediately, and we try to respond within an hour.

The current Comet Firmware level is 2.25. 
The current Ion Firmware level is 1.83.

If your EXOGAL Product is already at this level, please do not perform an upgrade to it! It's likely to work fine, but don't risk "bricking" it for no reason!

For upgrading the Comet, please contact your nearest dealer.

EXOGAL was started in 2013 by veterans of the Audio Industry. With experience in many different market segments, including audiophile systems, custom installation systems, and dedicated high-performance audio, these individuals are able to bring a broad perspective to the most important niche in the audio industry. By taking what they've learned over the last 20+ years and starting from a completely fresh perspective, they have been able to deliver the best-looking, highest-performance audio with none of the legacy "baggage" that burdens other audio companies. As we went further along, we've had a few other brilliant engineers join us. Here are our stories:

Jim Kinne

Chief Technology Officer

Jim Kinne is the technological Heart and Soul of EXOGAL. He has been responsible for many of the innovations which made many of the products on the market today possible.

Mr. Kinne began his career at Applied Spectrum Technologies, a company founded by Don Moses. At AST he worked on pre-DSL telecommunication systems that combined data with voice on a single telephone line. At AST Jim co-developed the technology that led to the founding of Wadia Digital Corp. After AST's investors sold the company's products Jim moved to Wadia Digital to take over product development. During his time at Wadia Digital Jim was responsible for many of the company's award winning products including the Wadia 27 decoding computer, Wadia 270 CD transport and the Wadia 790 PowerDAC. Jim is a co-patent holder on patents related to data communications and audio reproduction.

After leaving Wadia Digital in 1999 he founded Digimeister Design Group, which provides Engineering Design Services to the audio industry. Jim has worked with many audio companies to produce award winning audiophile products, as well as leading edge communication systems. In 2011 Jim was convinced to return to Wadia Digital to once again run the Engineering group. After leaving Wadia Digital/Finesounds in 2012 Jim has become a founding partner in EXOGAL.

Jeff Haagenstad

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Haagenstad began his career as a Software Engineer for 3M Company where he was instrumental in developing products and technologies used for automated vehicle guidance and received four US Patents for this work.  He later became the Chief Technology Officer for Novar North America where he integrated and restructured several acquired companies into the global company Novar PLC. He then led a global effort to unify Novar’s global building controls products.

In 2005, he joined Niles Audio where his team delivered the highly successful IntelliControl ICS.

He later joined Sonance where he was responsible for leading all Engineering and Operations functions and completely overhauled the Speaker and Electronics product line over a two-year period including the delivery of the industry-changing Invisible Series and Visual Performance lines.

After leaving Sonance, Mr. Haagenstad created a successful private practice working with Private Equity companies performing Due Diligence on potential acquisitions.

In 2011 he was asked to integrate Wadia Digital into Audio Research and the Fine Sounds organization. After leaving Fine Sounds, he and his partners started EXOGAL to deliver their new vision in digital audio reproduction.

Larry Jacoby

Vice President of Manufacturing Engineering

Mr. Jacoby has over thirty years of experience at all levels of mechanical design and electronic technology. He has expertise in system development, cost-analysis, distribution, creative material application and other issues prevalent in start-up companies.

His career has included working at Bell Labs, IBM, and AEG USA. He co-founded the Wadia Digital Corporation in 1988. He stayed with Wadia Digital until the company was sold and relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2000.

He then co-founded Music Sciences LLC as VP of Manufacturing along with co-founding Stillpoints LLC as a principal owner. Over his career he was involved in several patents including a patent on a precision vibration damper (2003).

In 2012 he was asked to return to the Wadia Digital design team as it was being integrated into the Italian company Fine Sounds. At the end of this project he left Fine Sounds to co-found EXOGAL.

Jan Larsen

Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Larsen has worked in several development fields spanning over thirty years as a hardware and software engineer and a scientist. He has had multi-discipline training in process & instrumentation controls, software GUI, device driver level development, extensive experience in embedded controllers and has worked on FPGA and custom ASIC designs.

His professional career has included working for Kellogg's, GM, 3M, Lawson Imaging Research, Microsoft, Apple Computer, Adaptec, M-Audio (AVID) and Calypso Control Systems,

Mr Larsen has held Senior Hardware & Software Engineer Positions and transitioned into Senior mixed-team management with Adaptec Desktop Solutions Division in the Consumer Computer and Audio markets. He has been a VP of Engineering with Professional Music company M-Audio. He also co-founded a world-wide Audio Infrastructure and A/V Integration company called Calypso Control Systems (William Demant Holdings, DE).

When not working in the Engineering Lab, you can find him either one hundred feet down scuba diving, or looking up flying one of his many scratch built world war I & II replica remote control aircraft

Brian Walsh

US Sales Representative

Following over twenty years experience as a mechanical design engineer, Mr. Walsh's career in high performance consumer audio began as a retailer in the Chicago area for high end products and systems for 14 years, including being one of the first EXOGAL dealers. His success continued later as Showroom Manager for Music Direct, followed by being invited to join EXOGAL to acquire and support dealers in the US. Having been in the position of being a dealer, he serves as a resource for retailers and demonstrates his commitment to high speed response and technical support.

Mr. Walsh did a complete redesign of the EXOGAL website, incorporating features such as embedded videos and social media links. He also created mailing lists and authors and sends mailings to the public, dealers and distributors, and the press.

Exogal founders at the 2014 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver, CO. Left to Right: Larry Jacoby (Vice President of Manufacturing Engineering), Jeff Haagenstad (Chief Executive Officer) and Jim Kinne (Chief Technology Officer). Not shown: Jan Larsen (Chief Operating Officer)

Our Company

Exo (out of...) + gal (galaxy)

Exogal was founded in 2013 by audio industry veterans who have worked for some of the biggest names in the industry. The founders, Jim Kinne, Larry Jacoby, Jeff Haagenstad, and Jan Larsen have taken their collective learning from their 20+ years and have set out to create products that are truly "out of this galaxy." By taking a completely new look at product engineering, Exogal delivers products that are aesthetically beautiful while producing extraordinary sound at a fraction of the cost of most high-end systems.

Jim Kinne is the technical heart and soul of EXOGAL. He's a legendary audio engineer who's produced countless award-winning products in his career, including the Wadia 27 decoding computer, Wadia 270 CD transport and the Wadia 790 Power DAC, to name a few (a list of many of his past products can be viewed here). Jim’s philosophy is to design products for optimal listening, not just to test well in a lab. If it’s optimized for listening, inevitably it will test well. The reverse is not always true.

Philosophy

"You can't create the future while clinging to the past."
                                                     - Joshua Neal Hartry

Product Design

We have the luxury of having learned our lessons from the industry and have designed our electronics from the ground up using state of the art technology. We've brought in the latest technology from adjacent industries such as the mobile phone business, various operating systems, and signal processing technology not currently deployed in the audio industry. This has allowed us to build a platform that is state of the art, as well as high-performance and provides a solid foundation for the future technologies that will be used in future Exogal products.

Designed, sourced and manufactured in the USA
Keeping our manufacturing close to home (Minnesota, to be exact) shortens design-to-manufacturing times and allows us to get to market more quickly with bold new products.

Open Architecture

All Exogal audio products use open protocols and interfaces which allow you to play your music no matter where you bought it or where the music stream originates. Also, our products can be easily controlled over a network by any home automation system without expensive drivers.

Products that last a lifetime

EXOGAL offers what we believe to be the most advanced and demanding high-fidelity digital audio components in the world. Using the best materials and parts available, our EXOGAL team designed the equipment from the ground up with a simple goal: QUALITY. The quality of the sound is able to excite dedicated audiophiles and is repeatedly praised by our customers and reviewers around the world. Besides easy digital upgrades for hardware and software EXOGAL products are warranted to their original purchaser for a 5-year period.

Is High-Resolution Digital Audio for You?

Frankly, that's not for us to say. We support all of the high-resolution formats currently available and our hardware and firmware is extensible enough to accommodate even greater resolutions, protecting your investment in our audio gear. But even if you use more "low-quality" formats such as CD resolution (44.1 kHz sampling rate with 16-bit depth) our processing algorithms will make your music sound as good as it can possibly sound. And making your experience the best for you while protecting your investment is what this is really all about. To help you better understand how higher resolution relates to the size of a music file, check out this handy chart from the good people at Audio Mountain.

I know what “Customer Service” is...

Exogal CEO Jeff Haagenstad posted on LinkedIn about what it means to provide genuine customer service. We've all been there. In his no nonsense yet considerate style, Jeff articulates what the right approach should be. Article link

Exogal founders at the 2014 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver, CO. Left to Right: Larry Jacoby (Vice President of Manufacturing Engineering), Jeff Haagenstad (Chief Executive Officer) and Jim Kinne (Chief Technology Officer). Not shown: Jan Larsen (Chief Operating Officer)