[Omar]

Ok, I've finally saved up enough to buy the iriver imp-550. (170 pounds! approx US$278)

I'm going to be buying from the iRiver UK authorised dealers because I don't want to have to worry about warranty issue, even though it's about 60% more than the US price

Anyone got any recent comments to make on this player?

Were the cd reading issues just due to a bad batch in the US ?

I don't think there are any better alternatives for a good portable player in that pricerange for me.

My reasoning:

HD MP3 players are more expensive anyway (over 200 pounds is out of my reach) plus I would be using this while exercising and I know that HD players aren't really recommended to be subjected to that sort of shock.

Flash based players are around the same price for a 256 Mb player, but I like skipping songs a lot and 256 mb won't hold that many without me having to find a computer to change the tunes.

Minidiscs - Now I seriously considered these, my last MD was an absolutley fantastic Sony MZR-55, it served me very well for 4 years. (I payed around 200 pounds for it), however it now has a serious battery/power adaptor problem and it only works with the AA battery pack and to get it fixed outside the warranty costs a bomb (Sony wanted 90 pounds just for a new remote!)

I've read a bit about NetMD, but I've heard that the quality when using LP2 or LP4 is just horrible. Most of my collection is in MP3s anyway, so a further conversion to ATRAC would probably cripple them even more. 1x recording is not an option

If anyone has any comments on the iriver player or any other suggestions, PLEASE post, because I'm going to be purchasing this in the next few days.

Thanks in advance
- Omar

 

[JiPi]

Hmm, you seem to be in about the same situation I am. Not to start another useless thread, I will use yours and add just one more question to make it a bit more useful to me (and maybe to you?

). Is the 550 really an improvement over the 400? I'm really having a hard time chosing which one I should get. I like how the 550 looks better (no more toilet seat!) and looks more sturdy, but the weak laser issues and such have me wondering.

 

[Omar]

Exactly.

I guess I didn't mention because subconciously I want to get the latest model, even if it does come at a price premium.

A few months ago I would have jumped on the red imp-400. And now the dealer has it for about 150 pounds.

The thing is that the 400 doesn't have some of the really cool new features like SRS WOW, and the battery time also isn't as long as the 550.

Plus, the 550 will be supported for slightly longer than the 400, but by the same token it seems as if the 400 has had at least *most* of the bugs worked out of the firmware.

The 550 also has a newer chip in it, and it's similar to the one used in the iriver flash players and the ihp-100, so we could yet see more features implemented in firmware.

Just adding fuel to the thread, not many responses yet

- Omar

 

[blr]

About the disc reading problems, it appears that users from all over the world have had them. My first unit, bought in Sweden didn't read Audio CDs well. It was exchanged with a unit from the same batch, which works perfectly. Looks more like a random problem to me.
The anti shock of iMP550 works well, but for exercising, depending on what you are doing (i.e gym jogging) it may not be enough. My Sony R909 MD is better in terms of skip protection. Perhaps a Sony unit with G-protection will work better. For everything else, however, the iRiver is better than the competition. It has tons of features and very respectable sound plus enough power to drive any phone usually used with portables.
To give you a recommendation, if exercising is where you'll be using the player most of the time, then go perhaps with a MD recorder, for walking iMP550 is good enough

 

[Omar]

blr, thanks a lot for your input.

I currently have an MP3 cd player (cheapo Panasonic SLMP-30)

It was bought for me last year in Canada when my sister went on vacation, even though at that time I had requested the imp-350 (SlimX 1)

The Panasonic has (I think) 40 second mp3 antishock and the sound quality is not that good (more on this below)

As far as exercising, I usually hold the actual player in my hand, which I think reduces the shock considerably. The Panasonic has yet to skip even once.

Ok, now the bit about sound quality, maybe if I clarify someone can confirm if the imp-550 would sound better:

When I got the SLMP-30 I didn't like it at first (no id3 tag info, just a track number display, and it is quite big compared to the MZR-55 with the AA battery pack)

However I soon realised that the MZR-55 was at the end of it's useable life as my primary portable player. Add to that the fact that I was getting extremely annoyed at having to record MDs in real time. (I was burning mp3s onto audio cd then using the optical out on my Aiwa hi-fi to record the MDs)

The SLMP-30's sound is nowhere near the MZR-55's which I think is superb. I didn't expect much anyway because the SLMP-30 was the lowest end MP3 cdp from Panasonic.

I'm certainly hoping that the iriver imp-550's sound is a LOT more "fuller" and deeper than the SLMP-30.

If it's even 80% as good as the sound quality of the MZR-55 then I think it's well worth the money that I'm going to spend.

Anyone who can confirm, please post

I'm just waiting for funds to clear in my bank account and then I'm going for it

(my first premium portable investment since my MZR-55 !!!)

Thanks
- Omar

 

[Omar]

Oh, and I'd also like to add that I skip songs QUITE A LOT.

I know that will affect battery life, but hopefully not too much, if I can get about 2 days of use per charge of just the sticks then that's fine (I would estimate about 4 hours of usage a day plus a lot of messing around on the remote)

Also, is the remote on the imp-550 quite sturdy?

The only thing I am afraid of is that the imp-550 doesn't have any controls on the main unit, so if the remote breaks then I will be without my main player for at least a few days if not a few weeks when sending the unit (or just the remote) back for repair or replacement.

- Omar

 

[Omar]

*bumpity bump*

I know that certainly more than one person on these boards has an imp-550.

I recall the user bhangraman was getting a replacement unit because of a few problems. I wonder how that worked out for him.

- Omar

 

[bangraman]

bhangraman has got a replacement (I realise that is the correct spelling but I originally keyed wrong).


It's fine. I've had no issues since, but I have to say I really haven't had the chance to use it for a while. It's mainly for airplane trips for me and I don't really expect to use it in other situations. I put a few discs through it after I got the replacement and I could spot no problems.


My experiences of it so far is that sonically it can be quite punchy and dynamic, if generally slightly incoherent. It's not that great a partner for the Sennheiser PXC250 or the Shure E5 compared to the other Sony CDP's I have at the moment but it'll do. Where it wins is the versatility of the unit. It'll play radio, CD and MP3. It has analog and optical line out, and a slightly ill thought out (more later) but nevertheless handy and informative remote. The analog line out, although not a true line out, is not that bad to amp.


And one thing's for sure, the superiority of the iRivers in what they'll play. All the other MP3/CD players I've tried are quite fussy about what disc types and what MP3 types they'll play. I think the iRiver will get music out of a beer mat if you wrote "MP3" on it

Getting back to the remote, it has a partially recessed headphone socket which must have looked like a very good idea at iRiver, but sadly they forgot to account for the fact that some headphones have larger plugs. Phones with small plugs (Senn PX series, Audio-Technica ATH-EM7, etc), or unimatch plugs which have a screw section about 5mm long (Sony MDR-V700DJ, etc) will just about fit.
Even fairly standard Sony-sized right angled plugs don't quite fit properly, e.g. Sennheiser MX500. Those which use chunkier plugs will not fit without an included extension cable (e.g. Shure E2, E5).
It's nice that they have included the extension, but the previous iMP-400 remote was better thought out in this regard. iRiver tells me though that the iMP-400 remotes work with the iMP-550. It's just getting hold of them that's the problem.


Few other observations:
Best case I've seen with a PCDP. Seemingly well made, and is a good balance of protection while not being huge.
Read the manual before using the player. The remote is quite cryptic at first. I had a few month's break after the iMP-400 to getting this and I had to learn the controls all over again. It also has some good hints on turning off stuff you don't need.


I think as the one and only player that you'll have, and if budgets apply, the iMP-550 is a good deal. It's not subject to the European volume restriction, it's versatile, relatively cheap and well made. iRiver's firmware upgrade policy is good and all things considered I can recommend it over European Net MD minidiscs and ATRAC CDP's for most uses.

 

[Omar]

Excellent, thanks for the reply bangraman!

Well, over here in the UK, the price is more than 60% more than the US for the imp-550, but almost all other options are similarly overpriced. (It's shocking considering that even the Value Added Tax is 17.5%)

As long as the sound quality is close to my old MZR-55 (which as I said I was recording to from MP3 sources most of the time anyway) I'll be more than happy to lay down the money.

The only thing that slightly concerns me is that some people (used to ?) mention anti-skip problems with the imp-550.

But surely if it has 900 second MP3 antishock protection as standard (compared to the 40 seconds on my el-cheapo Panasonic MP3 CDP) then it can't be any worse? (which for my uses is way more than required if I couldn't get the Pana to skip)

Thanks again for the input
- Omar