Dream MP3 player
Reply #64 – 2005-09-02 06:37:35
I just bought one of these, so I'll let you guys know what I think of it once it arrives. Don't think I'll be using ATRAC3plus @ 48kbps like the package suggests, though [{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a] Yay! I did not know this thread actually influenced people to consider what has become my ultimate choice. Let us know your experiences and let the HA Sony family grow... I've never tried ATRAC3 maybe because I am scared without admitting to myself: What if I really like it? What if Sony fanboys are right and ATRAC3plus@64 > MP3@320 ? Only 2 things keeping me from buying one of these. 1) UMD capabilities[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=324366"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a] Oh please. Why would a UMD be desirable? It'd simply add moving parts. A DAP with UMD support has no more appeal than the once-introduced-now-total-failure iRiver iDP-100. No one wants another proprietary media. Just get a hard drive player if you're not opposed to moving parts.Also, I could mention that I'm not entirely used to that left-shorter-right-longer structure of the cable itself, I'm more into the old-fashioned form. I think all high quality Sony earbuds are asymmetrical, which IMHO are far more comfortable to wear actually. MDR-EX71 is very widely available here. I am sure you can mail order if you want to. It's not expensive either (~$30). If they have the newer Sony MP3 players (which are very recently released here and considered fancy) where you live, I am sure they are likely to carry these earbuds.One last thing I'm curious about, what unit color does Sony sell in your area/country?. Here in Venezuela, you can choose between blue, pink and silver ones. I believe E507 comes only in silver because I don't remember seeing other options as I was looking for one. The other models like E405, E505 have more color options but I think they come in the same colors everywhere. I came across [a href="http://products.sony.co.uk/uploads/nw-e400.jpg]this image[/url] which shows black and green as well as pink and blue. I assume silver is different from black.Another option is to raise the level of the music before encoding (but not so much to avoid clipping). This sound interesting but can you point out some "convenient" ways of doing that?. Haven't figured out a good way to go myself. I have my music in MPC + lossless. So I always do a conversion before I transfer the music to the DAP. I use foobar2000 to do the conversion. If you use the same software you can run the music through the DSP plugins you choose during conversion. For instance if you add a preamp to your DSP chain the volume level will increase. Actually there is a way to achieve the same effect through mp3gain software. I just looked into this, this actually looks like an overall better solution, especially if your music is in mp3 originally. In terms of power consumption, a solid state CF card is no worse than an SD card. You can also purchase 12GB solid state CF cards, whereas SD is limited to 4GB.[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=324383"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a] Even so I don't think I'll ever buy a CF card again and consider them outdated. They might be faster, cheaper, larger in capacity but they sure are very large in dimensions. This renders them quite useless to be employed in any gadget where size is a concern. SD might not be most extreme card format out there in terms of dimensions or the newest (there is xD, miniSD,...) but once you own an SD device you know you are not buying another CF card anymore. So much for the memory card wars...