pbirkett
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2002
- Posts
- 3,239
- Likes
- 55
Dont often contribute to the portable forum, but I have bought my first dedicated "walkman" for over a year, the Creative Stone.
My first foray into MP3 players was an ipod shuffle 1st generation. I had also heard the Creative Zen Touch and iRiver players of the time, and I felt the Shuffle was competitive with these. I have used the Shuffle, although gone now, with the same headphones I am using with the Stone (CX300).
I got rid of the shuffle because i bought a SE K750i phone and i upgraded it with large memory card and got the K800i adapter. The quality was quite good, but not quite as good as the shuffle. I then ended up getting a T-Mobile VARIO (HTC Wizard) as a replacement for that. The sound quality of that is pretty ***** to be honest.
Thats what prompted me to get the stone and return to dedicated solutions as they sound bigger.
So, for £30 ($60) from Currys in the UK highstreet, I got myself a 2Gb Stone.
Clearly much smaller, and in my opinion, much better looking than the 1G Shuffle. According to pictures, a bit bigger than the new Shuffle. Still tiny and lightweight though. Great for the gym.
Sound quality is very good for the money (my usual rig is HD650+Ant Amber+TDA1541 souped up DAC). Its not particularly refined, nor is it hugely bassy, but it is quite clean and detailed, with decent speed. Best paired with bassy headphones (which of course, the CX300 are with a good seal). The Stone + CX300 combo is lively and dynamic, with good bass. Not very refined, but certainly fun. What you want really for a portable rig. Good value too. Suspect it would work well with the Creative buds too.
Its drop proof. I dropped it on my laminate floor from a good 2 or 3 feet, no problems, not even a scratch. Should surivive accidents, possibly not outright abuse though (such as throwing it towards a hard surface).
Couple of gripes. 1: No lock function, possible for buttons to press in your pocket, skipping tracks. Not as likely to happen as the 1G shuffle though as they take a bit more of a press. 2: Quite slow transfers. Doesnt require any software, but transferring the "2 gig" capacity (more like 1.8 Gb) from the hard drive to the device via USB2 is somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes.
Otherwise, its cute, its lightweight and tiny, and its easy to use. Its cheap. It sounds pretty much just as good as an ipod shuffle 1G. I suspect the Shuffle may be a smidge better but really nothing much in it. Certainly for £30 / less than $60 it is not disappointing at all. Pretty good quality all in all, and with powerful bass with the right headphones, and a respectable amount of detail. The Creative buds and this player for less than $100 makes a very decent little portable system.
My first foray into MP3 players was an ipod shuffle 1st generation. I had also heard the Creative Zen Touch and iRiver players of the time, and I felt the Shuffle was competitive with these. I have used the Shuffle, although gone now, with the same headphones I am using with the Stone (CX300).
I got rid of the shuffle because i bought a SE K750i phone and i upgraded it with large memory card and got the K800i adapter. The quality was quite good, but not quite as good as the shuffle. I then ended up getting a T-Mobile VARIO (HTC Wizard) as a replacement for that. The sound quality of that is pretty ***** to be honest.
Thats what prompted me to get the stone and return to dedicated solutions as they sound bigger.
So, for £30 ($60) from Currys in the UK highstreet, I got myself a 2Gb Stone.
Clearly much smaller, and in my opinion, much better looking than the 1G Shuffle. According to pictures, a bit bigger than the new Shuffle. Still tiny and lightweight though. Great for the gym.
Sound quality is very good for the money (my usual rig is HD650+Ant Amber+TDA1541 souped up DAC). Its not particularly refined, nor is it hugely bassy, but it is quite clean and detailed, with decent speed. Best paired with bassy headphones (which of course, the CX300 are with a good seal). The Stone + CX300 combo is lively and dynamic, with good bass. Not very refined, but certainly fun. What you want really for a portable rig. Good value too. Suspect it would work well with the Creative buds too.
Its drop proof. I dropped it on my laminate floor from a good 2 or 3 feet, no problems, not even a scratch. Should surivive accidents, possibly not outright abuse though (such as throwing it towards a hard surface).
Couple of gripes. 1: No lock function, possible for buttons to press in your pocket, skipping tracks. Not as likely to happen as the 1G shuffle though as they take a bit more of a press. 2: Quite slow transfers. Doesnt require any software, but transferring the "2 gig" capacity (more like 1.8 Gb) from the hard drive to the device via USB2 is somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes.
Otherwise, its cute, its lightweight and tiny, and its easy to use. Its cheap. It sounds pretty much just as good as an ipod shuffle 1G. I suspect the Shuffle may be a smidge better but really nothing much in it. Certainly for £30 / less than $60 it is not disappointing at all. Pretty good quality all in all, and with powerful bass with the right headphones, and a respectable amount of detail. The Creative buds and this player for less than $100 makes a very decent little portable system.
