[vorbis] Rio Karma mini review

[Michiel Toneman]

Hi Alex,

First of all, the iRiver international site has a community forum with
many pros and cons of the iHP-120. I personally think the little player
is the best thing since sliced bread, but there are of course some cons.

I posted these "coolness" items to slashdot.org the other day:

-----------------------
Great sound quality. This player is one of the best sounding out there;
very low distortion, flat frequency response, high signal-to-noise ratio
and a good amplifier for enough output volume to drive more demanding
(large) headphones.

      * Ogg Vorbis support
      * Optical, and line in and outputs. External Mic in. Built in
        microphone
      * Comes standard with clip-on microphone and Sennheiser earbuds.
      * Did I mention Ogg Vorbis support? ;-)
      * Great battery life, about 15hrs
      * Upgradable firmware
      * A standard external USB2.0 20Gb drive, no special software
        required
      * OpenSource (3rd party) Linux version available of the software
        to create the indexed DB (not required)
      * FM radio
      * Remote control with backlit LCD display
-----------------------

The cons for me so far are: 

      * Price. It is a tad expensive, even though I think with the
        feature-set it's still a bargain
      * Because it contains a harddisk, I tend to be a lot more careful
        with it than I would be with a Flash based player.
      * Relatively slow to start up (about 10 seconds)
      * No gapless playback, there is about .5 seconds between the
        tracks.
      * No recording directly to Ogg format 

No big problems, and maybe some will be fixed in a new firmware release.
I haven't tested Vorbis comments, but the basic Vorbis tags work fine
(although I don't think it handles UTF-8 gracefully). It is very
configurable! I don't think I will use the text-reading function of the
player much, it isn't that practical as the font is too big. I haven't
had the player's software crash on me yet :)

I like the optical out / optical in a lot and often have it hooked up to
my Denon Home Cinema receiver. Never experienced any skipping under any
conditions. The DB function is nice, and I'm glad I can update the DB on
Linux. Of course, not having to use the DB and having the player show up
as a 20Gb drive on your desktop leaves makes all other players in the
dust. 

At home, I usually listen with a pair of Beyerdynamic DT311 headphones
with a flat EQ setting, which is an absolute joy to listen to. With the
supplied Sennheiser buds, I boost the bass a little. I don't think the
buds fit snugly enough which lessens the bass, so I increase it somewhat
to compensate. I hate all the fancy "3D" SRS sound processing, I think
it just screws up the music, so I won't comment on that aspect of the
player.

I haven't had a Karma to play with, but it seems like a nice player
also. If you want the ability to record, of course the Karma is not for
you. I believe it also doesn't allow itself to be used as a generic
harddrive.

Cheers,

Michiel

<p>On Mon, 2003-11-10 at 23:04, Alex Iribarren wrote:
> Hello Michiel,
> 
> Monday, November 10, 2003, 2:48:27 PM, you wrote:
> Wow, I just can't believe my luck! I spent all day yesterday
> researching both of these players, and I found out few really useful
> opinions. I'm thinking of getting one of them, and de iHP was my first
> choice, but since it's also the most expensive I wanted to be totally
> sure.
> 
> Michiel, if you have the time, I'd really appreciate some more info on
> your experience with the iHP-120. Have you had any problems? What
> don't you like about it? How well does it handle Vorbis comments? How
> configurable is it? Have you ever come across a Rio Karma, and if so,
> how does it compare?
> 
> Sorry for asking so many questions, I'm just really interested. :) If
> anyone else has any info on either of these players (or others with
> Vorbis support), I'd appreciate it also.

<p>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 190 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
Url : http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/vorbis/attachments/20031111/1708f2e4/signature-0001.pgp