[greenleaves]

UPDATE: Just to confirm both Coby MP-C741 and Rio Forge can accept 2Gb SD cards, but not MPIO FL-100. Tried A-Data 2Gb 150X SD, it works in both players.

I posted this message on Xin's web site and thought that it will be of interest to the Head-Fi music lovers too.

I had great fun with the three little flash players during Thanksgiving, Rio Forge, MPIO FL-100 and Coby MP-C741. They all had good sound, FM tuner, and worked very well with my MINI-3, AKG-K501 and Sennheiser HD600 phones. The three players were in par with my iRiver-H120 and Rio Karma in line-out mode, while H120 and Karma had slightly better soundstage and clarity. The SQ difference was indeed very small in causal listening.

One great thing is that all three players uses one AAA battery and supports both 512MB and 1GB SD cards. I haven't tried 2GB cards though. From now on, I don't need to worry about charging up my players and the amp while I am on the road.

My favorite by far is Coby MP-C741. Coby supports continuous folder playing anywhere it starts. It supports both voice and FM recording, and has about 20-30 hours battery life. It supports drag and drop music files without using special software. MP-C741 has 256MB internal memory, and it worked well with a 1GB SD card. I had a full 1.25Gb music loaded in Coby for a hike along Forbidden Drive yesterday. It works great with Koss-KSC75.

Enjoy!

Greenleaves
Philadelphia, PA

 

[The_X]

Heyy, that Coby player is kinda sexy! Who woulda thunk Coby would be coming out with some good hardware, huh?

[edit] I looked at some Coby products, and this one caught my eye:
http://www.cobyusa.com/product/item....cat2=cd_player

Line-out? What's a 1-bit D/A converter? Sounds complicated!

 

[rab10]

Wow, I checked out the information for the Colby
MP-C941: PORTABLE MP3 PLAYER WITH 20GB HARD DISK,

And check out this picture, it displays the Colby MP-C941 with a Line-Out
output jack http://www.cobyusa.com/images/products/XL_MPC941.jpg

Interesting. (But the 12 Hours of Battery Life is not.)

EDIT: I just realized that this player does have an audio record function, thus the LINE jack is probably a LINE-INPUT JACK, and not a LINE-OUTPUT jack (I could be wrong though.)

Well to keep with the thread discussion, I haven't heard the or seen the Colby
MP-C641 or the MP-C741, but the MPIO FL-100 I read somewhere was like
the TDK Flash Mojo players and I own that one. My H120 replaced the TDK
Flash Mojo easily. Xin does make great amps!!!!

 

[digitalcat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rab10 EDIT: I just realized that this player does have an audio record function, thus the LINE jack is probably a LINE-INPUT JACK, and not a LINE-OUTPUT jack (I could be wrong though.)

I don't understand why there's need to put a line-in jack in a mp3 player. Has anybody ever used that?

 

[rab10]

Audio Line-Inputs are used for Direct Encoding of music for the portable player to playback (you can record old Cassette Tapes, or whatever audio you want.)

"Direct encoding in which you can record output from an external audio device at a 1:1 ratio. This means that you can connect the recording terminal and the output terminal of an external audio device... Using this feature, you can receive the direct input from audio devices such as a walkman, MD (mini disk), old LP phonograph, or TV and record" the output audio onto your portable player.

 

[audiomagnate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenleaves I posted this message on Xin's web site and thought that it will be of interest to the Head-Fi music lovers too. I had great fun with the three little flash players during Thanksgiving, Rio Forge, MPIO FL-100 and Coby MP-C741. They all had good sound, FM tuner, and worked very well with my MINI-3, AKG-K501 and Sennheiser HD600 phones. The three players were in par with my iRiver-H120 and Rio Karma in line-out mode, while H120 and Karma had slightly better soundstage and clarity. The SQ difference was indeed very small in causal listening. One great thing is that all three players uses one AAA battery and supports SD cards. From now on, I don't need to worry about charging up my players and the amp while I am on the road. My favorite by far is Coby MP-C741. Coby supports continuous folder playing anywhere it starts. It supports both voice and FM recording, and has about 20-30 hours battery life. I had a full 1.25Gb music loaded in Coby for a hike along Forbidden Drive yesterday. It worked great with my Koss-KSC75, and was indeed a great companion for a full afternoon hike! Enjoy! Greenleaves Philadelphia, PA

Does it take 1G SD's? If that thing did OGG I'd be stuffing stockings (mine included) with it.

 

[greenleaves]

Yes, it takes 512MB and 1GB SD cards. I haven't tried the 2GB cards though.

 

[Inkmo]

That's pretty rad! I was wanting a little somethin'-somethin' (being short of iPod cash) to use as a portable that was more portable than my PCDP. Like, pocket portable. Of course, if I got this, I doubt I'd be using an amp with it as that would defeat the super-portability. Would your good opinion of the thing remain if you were having to use the headphone jack? I'm also considering shuffles, some of the creative players, maybe an mpio or mobiblu, too...

Also, does the Coby really stand toe to toe with the MPIO? I've heard a bunch of folks raving about the MPIO players, but I always thought that Coby was supposed to be walmart crap or something...

 

[Comrade Penguin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by digitalcat I don't understand why there's need to put a line-in jack in a mp3 player. Has anybody ever used that?

Some of us still own vinyl and would quite like it on our mp3 players. Good quality line in is as important to me as the overall SQ as a good chunk of what I will be listening to will be recorded this way. It's why I'm only just moving away from the MD deck in my hifi combined with a portable player.

 

[greenleaves]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inkmo That's pretty rad! I was wanting a little somethin'-somethin' (being short of iPod cash) to use as a portable that was more portable than my PCDP. Like, pocket portable. Of course, if I got this, I doubt I'd be using an amp with it as that would defeat the super-portability. Would your good opinion of the thing remain if you were having to use the headphone jack? I'm also considering shuffles, some of the creative players, maybe an mpio or mobiblu, too... Also, does the Coby really stand toe to toe with the MPIO? I've heard a bunch of folks raving about the MPIO players, but I always thought that Coby was supposed to be walmart crap or something...

MPIO FL100 and Coby MP-C741 have favorable and comparable sound, and an excellent FM tuner for low impedance phones out of their headphone jacks. They work best with a portable amp, like Xin SuperMini-3, and a quality phone.

MPIO FL100 has lousy software. It was great pain to use. I still encountered "NO track" problems when I swapped SD cards even though I had the latest firmware. To fix it I had to re-format the internal memory and re-load the music files again. It was just too much for a general user to handle. The SD door is also very flimsy too. I would not recommend FL100 for general users. The setup effort was just unacceptable.

Consider Rio Forge or Coby MP-C741. They both have better LCD screen and build. Both uses 1 x AAA battery and supports SD cards, FM recording which iPod and many others lack. Forge was discontinued but you can get one off Ebay. Give Coby a try. It's well priced and you won't be disappointed!

 

[Inkmo]

Thanks for the headsup on the software. I was reading Dr. Xin's comments about it, and though he seemed pretty confounded by it, I guess he's just such a hands on guy that a thing like that won't even slow him down...

I think right now it's come down to either that Coby or one of iAudio's players for me

. I've had a slightly bad track record with Rio stuff, so I'm still feeling a little biased...

 

[Inkmo]

Actually, I'm now trying to decide between that Coby and the Rio Forge... It's a hard choice because I don't quite trust either company, but I want to give them a try after reading some of your posts over at Dr. Xin's...

 

[swoc77]

does the Coby support any other fonts besides English? thanks.

 

[greenleaves]

Coby's menu is English but it supports both English and Chinese ID3 Tags. Not sure it also supports other locals in ID3 Tags.

 

[Inkmo]

Hey again, greenleaves. Good to see you back. Is your Coby still workin' for you?

I dang near bought one, but chickened out. Even if it works, I'm too afraid it won't work for very long from my past experiences with their products. I ultimately decided to go iAudio. Now, I'm just trying to narrow my choices down between the U2 and the G3.