Zen 2.0 vs Xtra casual review

I received a Zen Xtra 60GB from Creative a few days ago and have been running it through the sonic wringer since. I already own a Zen 2.0 60GB and was primarily interested in the Xtra's larger screen and user-replaceable battery; I had heard the sound was the same. But given the dearth of reviews I thought I would plunk down the $20 in return shipping to find out for myself. I wrote some random thoughts down as I auditioned: maybe someone here can derive some useful information from them. I apologize for its length.

Here goes!

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Sound quality: there are clear and well-defined differences. The Xtra may have the same output electronics as the 2.0 -- according to Creative PR man Harvey Fong on the Creative newsgroup -- but this did not result in the same sound. Specifically, the Xtra is brighter (treble) and more forward (upper mids). The bass is correspondingly somewhat less present. The overall impression is that the Xtra is tilted up compared to the 2.0, which by comparison sounds fatter and more laid-back.

Actually, the Xtra's sound brings to mind my experience with the NJB3: a more dynamic sound but with strangely present high-mids/low-treble allied to a very powerful low bass. In fact, the Xtra is so reminiscent of the NJB3 that I wonder if what Mr. Fong meant was that the Xtra shared electronics with that elder player rather than the 2.0. However, the Xtra's sound is flatter overall, with a tighter bass and less of the glare I remembered from the NJB3. If in fact Creative's team tweaked the Xtra's sound over the 2.0's, I wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to aim for some middle ground between the 2.0 and the NJB3 (if this were the case, they ended up making the Xtra sound more like the NJB3 than the 2.0).

Note: the Xtra has less total output than the 2.0. I don't have a voltmeter with me, but judging from the volume meter the Xtra has 1.5-2 "notches" less volume across the board. Maybe someone can determine exactly how many decibels that is (maybe 3-4dB?).

Unfortunately, this time around I don't have a nice source for comparison purposes. I do still have my Panasonic SL-CT570 and a 2nd-gen iPod, through which I ran some WAV files. The Panasonic still wins for overall neutrality and especially "air." The 2.0 retains more of that ambience while losing a bit of top-end detail, while the Xtra shoots off on the brighter side without a corresponding increase in resolution. One thing is for sure, though: the two Zen's are much more dynamic. Next to them, the Panasonic sounds almost delicate.

Once again, the iPod sounds both punchier (meatier midbass) and brighter (high treble) next to either Zen player. It also resolves less well. Still, very nice overall, being the closest to neutral among the three MP3 players. Sigh, when will Apple come out with a 60GB+ player with decent battery life?

Now, for some unrelated issues:

Ergonomics: the Xtra's screen is actually of slightly lower contrast than that of the 2.0; the color and contrast is more on par with the NJB3's (the 2.0 has a blue-green EL light; the Xtra's is more bluish). However, the size of the Xtra's screen, oh the size! It is obviously much more readable. Every time I navigate my 2.0, I am conscious of my focusing on the tiny fonts and of leaning slightly forward to bring the screen closer. Using the Xtra is noteable in how you don't notice you're using it.

Jog dial: I actually prefer the philosophy of a jog dial on a large-capacity portable player. To me, it satisfies the greater of the iPod's trackpad's two main benefits: the ability to continue scrolling without picking up the finger (the other advantage is fine control, at which the 2.0's scroll wheel excels). Unfortunately, the implementation of the Xtra's jog dial could be better. The jog dial is inaccurate in both twisting and "clicking" actions, in stark contrast with the precision of the 2.0's scroll wheel. Moreover, the firmware needs to be tweaked: when trying to stop during a scroll at maximum speed, the Xtra will fly through a dozen or so screens before the cursor actually stops. Extremely annoying, but hopefully something that a future firmware update will fix.

Also, with the 2.0's scroll wheel, you can continue to turn the wheel after "clicking," for example if you make a mistake and select the wrong item. This is completely impossible with the Xtra's jog dial. A click with the jog dial is final.

The case: the Xtra's case is definitely cooler-looking, but has no window for the screen. It has a tight belt clip, which is a plus for me. The strap leaves the headphone jack and USB port open (yay!), but covers the power jack.

General use: the Xtra is noticeably faster to operate than the 2.0. Particularly noteable is the speed at which it jumps within and between tracks. Also, with the Xtra Creative has completely forgone the ability to stop the player. It used to be you could press pause and hit the rewind/forward button once to stop a 2.0; now that process rewinds/forwards the player and starts play immediately. IMHO, this is a much better design choice.

One more thing: the Now Playing/Selected Music button above the volume in the 2.0 is now a Back button. I love this change! It also makes up somewhat for the inaccuracies of the Xtra's jog dial.

Software: Creative's Nomad Explorer (NOT "N-o-t-m-a-d Explorer!") is on course to seriously interfere with Red Chair's sales. It allows one to open a Creative player as a "normal-looking" Explorer window and drag-n-drop music onto it. Nomad Explorer's only major error is not having a "No to All" button when overwriting duplicate files. With this change, I think most people will find Nomad Explorer completely satisfactory for their needs. It's such a simple program but so superior to Playcenter.

I have not looked at MediaSource in depth, but I did use it to sync my music collection from my computer to the Xtra (don't yet have an NX Xtra activation with my copy of Notmad Explorer). It does appear to be easier to use and more informative than Notmad's SpeedSync.

Conclusion (for now): on pure sound issues, it's really a toss-up. It's definitely a matter of taste: neither is perfect. I firmly decided against the NJB3 in direct comparison with the Zen, and the Xtra shares so many qualities with the big daddy it's scary. As for the package as a whole, well, you'll have to decide for yourselves. I tried the 2.0's remote and found it more of a physical annoyance than an advantage (although virtually unlimited voice recording for $60 is a nice touch). Otherwise, you'd have to really hate the jog dial to return an Xtra based on that alone, since the screen makes up for it, and then some.

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Well, that's all, folks! I'll write a followup when I've settled on a player, if y'all don't mind.

Thank you for your kind comments. Let me try to address them as best I can:

austonia: The marked difference in sound surprised me as well. It frustrated me as well: I was hoping that they would sound the same in which case I would have immediately sold my 2.0 since the Xtra is so much easier to use. But the fact remains: the Xtra is clearly more forward with less bass and somewhat crystalline low-treble in the NJB3 vein. The 2.0 may have a laid-back, slightly sucked-out midrange, but it's easier to listen to at length. I'm leaning against the Xtra right now, to my chagrin.

This said with the understanding that many, many people have happily gone with the NJB3, such as yourself! It's just not my cup of tea.

blessingx: Actually, I must admit that I've never been able to access the Creative newsgroup; my info comes from other places such as nomadness.net. Did you mean a Harvey Fong quote such as (paraphrasing) "I have been given no information concerning a Zen Xtra player" a couple weeks before the Xtra was announced? Yes, that was pretty self-defeating of him.

GSTom1: Always strangely thrilling to see all these people from nomadness.net here (and vice versa)! Anyway, I judge the build quality of the Xtra to be virtually the equal to the 2.0. I know of the flimsy top cover design on the NXs, but such is definitely not the case with the Xtra. I would be more willing to drop a 2.0 than an Xtra just on the off-chance I brutally pop that top cover off, but I feel both would sustain an equal amount of internal damage. Or maybe the Xtra would feel it less if it transferred some of its momentum into sending the top cover off like a bullet. Who knows.

The menu structure and features (other than the 2.0's ability to record voice and FM) are the same between both Zens, however as I have mentioned there are fundamental differences in the navigation within and between tracks. I like the Xtra's method better and hope a future 2.0 firmware update (when hell freezes over, I'm sure) will replicate it.

As far as I can see, the Xtra retains some leftover charge to keeps the time going after you remove the battery. I'm assuming that most people will be replacing a discharged battery with a fresh one immediately. In that case, the date and time not only are retained but continue to progress. That is, if you take fifteen seconds to replace the battery, the clock will show fifteen seconds has passed. However, this charge is quickly lost; you will lose the clock settings if you wait longer than a couple dozen seconds to replace the battery.

For all my MP3's, I use EAC offset-corrected rips to LAME 3.93.1/3.90.3 --alt-preset extreme. WAVs come from EAC as well. I decided against using --alt-preset insane because I wanted to be able to fit an average-sized album on a 128MB flash player (my Muvo, for example). Besides, insane is so close to lossless compression schemes it kind of defeated the purpose of MP3 compression to me.

I forgot to mention in my original review that the Xtra displays one more line on its screen than the 2.0 does. The difference in visibility is much greater than this might imply, given the size of the fonts. However, the boldness of the fonts causes less horizontal information to be displayed. It is now on par with an iPod's display, although the Zens still have the advantage in that text is scrolled when it doesn't fit in one screen width.

(Wiping tears from eyes) sygyzy,

1. The 2.0's remote does not have a battery.
2. The 2.0 can recharge, albeit very slowly, through its USB port.
3. The NX and Xtra cannot do so.
4. All Nomad Jukeboxes keep track of time.

Hi,

I just wanted to let everyone know my final decision: after over 100 hours of break-in, the Xtra's going back to Creative. It's just slightly too forward for long-term listening for me. The audition process amazed me, in retrospect. I had thought I was going to decide between the two players based on ergonomic issues (jog dial vs jog wheel, for example) and ended up being swayed by the sound quality. Anyway, no need to rehash my reservations about the Xtra: just read my posts above. All I can add is that I really REALLY wanted to keep the Xtra and sell the 2.0. It's really that much nicer to use.

Now I think I'll have to buy a Terratec DMX 6Fire sound card to placate my wallet . Or piss it off by buying a Total Bithead. One of the two, definitely .

The difference in sound only matters if you don't like the sound of the Xtra . Seriously, try the Xtra out: you might end up liking it more. After all, many people are very satisfied with their NJB3s whereas I was suspicious of its sound (but not its dynamics and resolution: the NJB3's line-out is very good at both!), so whatever floats your boat I say.