Mr Iriver
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2004
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[size=large]Review of the Philips HDD6330 vs Apple ipod vs iRiver H320[/size]
Before joining Headfi.org I had used various popular CD, and Mp3 players. The first MP3 that I really liked was the iRiver IFP 395t. Great Sound, Features, and decent interface. After owning the 395t for a long time I decided to upgrade to a 20GB player, and so I tried various MP3 players, and yet again what I liked most was from iRiver. The two players were the H120, and H320; I chose H320 as it is newer. They are still in my opinion some of the best sounding players, with a very smooth, neutral sound from highs to lows, and with good dynamicity to the sound. It was until a few days ago that my H320 battery became unnacceptable due to lot's of recharging (around 2 hour life with Q10 OGG however).
Based on my past experience, one would think the best choice would then be to go for another iRiver. I had tried the H10 from a friend and it was nothing like what other iRiver players used to be. The X5 would have been nice as it should be similar, however I decided to try something different. The two players that really attracted me, and that I had never tried were the toshiba Gigabeat, and the Philips HDD6330. Philips is better recognized for sound so I went with it.
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[size=small]Equipment Used:[/size]
Philips HDD6330
iRiver H320
Apple iPod 4g (non photo)
Apple iPod (Photo)
Etymotic ER6i
Etymotic ER4p
Shure E3
[size=medium]Beginning of the Actual Review/Comparison[/size] .
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Design :
The Beauty:
Design-wize the Philips HDD6330 is by really far the most beautiful MP3 ever created. The other devices while still good looking are nowhere close in my opinion.
The Ports:
The philips has the headphone port on top, and a proprietary port on the bottom just like the ipod, and on the front a touch sensitive interface. The H320 on the other hand comes much more packed with a normal true line out port, a headphone port, a normal power adapter port, and even an input port. The H320 is obviously at first sight the most feature packed of the bunch. Unlike the other two the buttons/interface are not as well designed as the other two, from an ease of use perspective.
The Screen/GUI:
When it comes to the screen, the H320 has the best screen without a doubt. Compared to other two it looks simply more detailed when picture viewing, though the other two are still decent enough, and have some features for picture viewing the iRiver does not have.
The GUI is also nicer looking on the iRiver with a more bright and colorful background; however navigation through it can be confusing at first use in comparison to the other three. The philips also has an awesome looking GUI, that matches with the rest of the player, and in my opinion is the easiest to use. Unlike the ipods GUI, in the philips' you don't need to go all the way to the main/root menu to change stuff like the EQ, or play mode, but instead you can just press the menu button and changes those features in the menu that pops up.
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Navigation:
Once used to the H320s operating system, it is IMO the best for changing options, as the buttons are like shotcuts. For example to change the equalizer, instead of going to an Equalizer menu, you can just hold the AB button which will change the EQ preset. If the music is Organized in folders the iRiver is also really nice at navigating through music. However if that is not the case, and the music is all in one folder, and dis-organized, the H320 is really tedious to use. With the H320, organization is a must, other wize the player is simply too annoying to use.
The H320 also supports ID3 tag navigation by artist, album, genre, and file name, but like I said navigating through long lists is very tedious.
Navigation Wize, the Philips and the iPod are very similar. The Philips is slightly easier to use, however the click wheel of the ipod is also nice as it provides you with a slighlty faster way of browsing. The menus in this three players are very similar, yet the philips' menu button gives you faster access to change such settings as the EQ, and play mode.
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Features/and their performance:
The iRiver has the most features out of the four players, but it also lacks some features many people like to have. The Philips comse in second place features wize having all of the ipod's features, and a few more.
IRIVER:
-Video: (This requires giving up DRM support) The only out of the 4. Video quality is good enough for cartoon based stuff.
-Photo viewing: Best image of the four, but unlike the other two, it has no album art support, and you can't watch pictures while listening to music.
-Equalizer: Bass and Treble boost, and a few presets. The equalizer is very good, but not customizable enough.
-FM radio: Good reception, up to 20 presets.
-Recording: It can record through line in, Voice, and radio at up to 320 kbps. Quality of recordings is good.
-USBOTG: Non US versions have an USB in to store data from other devices directly to the player (USB 1.1 only though).
-Codec Support: WAV, OGG, WMA, MP3, (US version supports DRM WMA).
IPOD PHOTO
-Picture Viewing: Though without the same detail of the iRiver's screen, this player offers album art, and also allow the user to view photos while listening to music.
-Playlists on the GO: Allows the user to make playlists on the go
-EQ: Only presets, and they cause distortion to the sound.
-Lots of accesories to add features.
-Games.
-Codec Support: MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, WAV.
NON PHOTO ipod:
-Is basically a Photo without the color screen and picture viewing features.
PHILIPS.
-Playlists on the go: Allows the user to make playlists on the go
-EQ: Equalizer presets, and also a 5 band customizable equalizer.
-USBOTG: Requires an especial adapter. Should work the same as the H320, however being a newer device it is 2.0 and should support more devices.
-FM Radio: Good Reception; up to 20 presets.
-Recording: Like the iRiver can record from the radio, can voice record, and can line in record (line in record requires remote control dock however).
-Codec Support: WMA, MP3, WAV, and DRM WMA.
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What You All Have Been Waiting For:
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Sound (On the headphone out)
The iRiver has in my opinion the best all around sound, yet still in the same league as the other three. The sound is smoother, yet dynamic, and neutral. The ipods and the philips on the other hand sound thinner, and less dynamic, though with better soundstage. Using both the shure and the ety however, the H320 headphone out has a slight hissing problem that may be bothersome to many. It is obvious when listening to it in a quiet place, though not noticeable enough to bother ME. The Philips and the ipod on the other hand while still suffer from hissing suffer less from it.
Out of the 4 players I would say that through the headphone out the iRiver sounds the best, and the photo the worst. The non photo and philips both in a tie for second. Even then however all three are in my opinion in the same league.
Outputwize, from the specs, both ipods have the best output followed by the iRiver. I can't find any documentaion on the Philips output, but it seems to be the weakest output, yet still very loud for IEMs. The philip's headphone output is around that of the sony NW-HD1.
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Conclusion:
All players are are in the same league and so the choice depends on the user. Is it sound, is it features, is it design, just the way the player looks, or is it the best balance of all three what you are looking for.
If you are interested in one of the following players the following categories may be helpful to chose the best player for YOU.
IF YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT SOUND. They all sound very good, therefore it depends on the sound preference of the user.
-The H320 has a very good powerfull (for a DAP) headphone out. It has the smoothest most neutral and dynamic sound of the three. The headphone out however has the liudest hiss of the three. (Best syenergy with the shures in my opinion unequalized and sounds better with the shures when EQ)
-The non photo ipod also has a great sound. It has the most powerfull output of the three. The Equalizer however is not good. It has a sound that gives an illusion of increased detail, and has a brighter more open sound which some may prefer. (Having the least bass it syenergizes the best with the etys)
-The philips has a similar signature to that of the ipod. It also has the best equalizer. The amp however is the weakest of three, yet still very good for IEMs, though not the bet choice for hard to drive headphones.
-The photo ipod is the only of the four that I would not list as being in the same league as the others. The eequalizer is bad, and the sound has an obvious distortion that is annoying and obvious for certain music.
If YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT LOOKS: This is subjective.
-The philips in my opinion looks by far the nicest of the three. The best part is that like the others it also performs great in all other areas (Sound, usability, battery).
-The two ipods are in my opinion also beautiful players. Though still not as stylish as the philips. Also a great all around performer.
-The iRiver's design is also very nice looking. Compared to the other players in the review, it is the bulkiest. It is about as thick as two 4G ipods (the other dimensions are about the same though). Still a small a good looking player however.
IF YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT FEATURES: This depends on the features you are looking for.
- The iRiver has the most features, however it lacks some features many users find to be a must have. I am sure many users will give up video playback for playlists on the go. If that is the case this is the worst choice, if not then the best.
- The ipod while lacking a lot of iRiver's features has others that many may want. These include on the go playlists, Album art, games, and symultaneous picture and music playback.
- The Philips is the best combination of the best features of both the ipods and the iriver player. It has iRiver's Recording features (FM Recording, Voice recording, and also line in when adding a dock), and FM radio. It also has the best ipod features such as Album art, playlists on the go, and symultaneous picture and music playback.
So Which Is The Best All Around Player based on the above.
It Depends on the User. For me the best all around is the Philips having the best of both the iRiver and the iPod.
Before joining Headfi.org I had used various popular CD, and Mp3 players. The first MP3 that I really liked was the iRiver IFP 395t. Great Sound, Features, and decent interface. After owning the 395t for a long time I decided to upgrade to a 20GB player, and so I tried various MP3 players, and yet again what I liked most was from iRiver. The two players were the H120, and H320; I chose H320 as it is newer. They are still in my opinion some of the best sounding players, with a very smooth, neutral sound from highs to lows, and with good dynamicity to the sound. It was until a few days ago that my H320 battery became unnacceptable due to lot's of recharging (around 2 hour life with Q10 OGG however).
Based on my past experience, one would think the best choice would then be to go for another iRiver. I had tried the H10 from a friend and it was nothing like what other iRiver players used to be. The X5 would have been nice as it should be similar, however I decided to try something different. The two players that really attracted me, and that I had never tried were the toshiba Gigabeat, and the Philips HDD6330. Philips is better recognized for sound so I went with it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[size=small]Equipment Used:[/size]
Philips HDD6330
iRiver H320
Apple iPod 4g (non photo)
Apple iPod (Photo)
Etymotic ER6i
Etymotic ER4p
Shure E3
[size=medium]Beginning of the Actual Review/Comparison[/size] .
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Design :
The Beauty:
Design-wize the Philips HDD6330 is by really far the most beautiful MP3 ever created. The other devices while still good looking are nowhere close in my opinion.
The Ports:
The philips has the headphone port on top, and a proprietary port on the bottom just like the ipod, and on the front a touch sensitive interface. The H320 on the other hand comes much more packed with a normal true line out port, a headphone port, a normal power adapter port, and even an input port. The H320 is obviously at first sight the most feature packed of the bunch. Unlike the other two the buttons/interface are not as well designed as the other two, from an ease of use perspective.
The Screen/GUI:
When it comes to the screen, the H320 has the best screen without a doubt. Compared to other two it looks simply more detailed when picture viewing, though the other two are still decent enough, and have some features for picture viewing the iRiver does not have.
The GUI is also nicer looking on the iRiver with a more bright and colorful background; however navigation through it can be confusing at first use in comparison to the other three. The philips also has an awesome looking GUI, that matches with the rest of the player, and in my opinion is the easiest to use. Unlike the ipods GUI, in the philips' you don't need to go all the way to the main/root menu to change stuff like the EQ, or play mode, but instead you can just press the menu button and changes those features in the menu that pops up.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Navigation:
Once used to the H320s operating system, it is IMO the best for changing options, as the buttons are like shotcuts. For example to change the equalizer, instead of going to an Equalizer menu, you can just hold the AB button which will change the EQ preset. If the music is Organized in folders the iRiver is also really nice at navigating through music. However if that is not the case, and the music is all in one folder, and dis-organized, the H320 is really tedious to use. With the H320, organization is a must, other wize the player is simply too annoying to use.
The H320 also supports ID3 tag navigation by artist, album, genre, and file name, but like I said navigating through long lists is very tedious.
Navigation Wize, the Philips and the iPod are very similar. The Philips is slightly easier to use, however the click wheel of the ipod is also nice as it provides you with a slighlty faster way of browsing. The menus in this three players are very similar, yet the philips' menu button gives you faster access to change such settings as the EQ, and play mode.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Features/and their performance:
The iRiver has the most features out of the four players, but it also lacks some features many people like to have. The Philips comse in second place features wize having all of the ipod's features, and a few more.
IRIVER:
-Video: (This requires giving up DRM support) The only out of the 4. Video quality is good enough for cartoon based stuff.
-Photo viewing: Best image of the four, but unlike the other two, it has no album art support, and you can't watch pictures while listening to music.
-Equalizer: Bass and Treble boost, and a few presets. The equalizer is very good, but not customizable enough.
-FM radio: Good reception, up to 20 presets.
-Recording: It can record through line in, Voice, and radio at up to 320 kbps. Quality of recordings is good.
-USBOTG: Non US versions have an USB in to store data from other devices directly to the player (USB 1.1 only though).
-Codec Support: WAV, OGG, WMA, MP3, (US version supports DRM WMA).
IPOD PHOTO
-Picture Viewing: Though without the same detail of the iRiver's screen, this player offers album art, and also allow the user to view photos while listening to music.
-Playlists on the GO: Allows the user to make playlists on the go
-EQ: Only presets, and they cause distortion to the sound.
-Lots of accesories to add features.
-Games.
-Codec Support: MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, WAV.
NON PHOTO ipod:
-Is basically a Photo without the color screen and picture viewing features.
PHILIPS.
-Playlists on the go: Allows the user to make playlists on the go
-EQ: Equalizer presets, and also a 5 band customizable equalizer.
-USBOTG: Requires an especial adapter. Should work the same as the H320, however being a newer device it is 2.0 and should support more devices.
-FM Radio: Good Reception; up to 20 presets.
-Recording: Like the iRiver can record from the radio, can voice record, and can line in record (line in record requires remote control dock however).
-Codec Support: WMA, MP3, WAV, and DRM WMA.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What You All Have Been Waiting For:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sound (On the headphone out)
The iRiver has in my opinion the best all around sound, yet still in the same league as the other three. The sound is smoother, yet dynamic, and neutral. The ipods and the philips on the other hand sound thinner, and less dynamic, though with better soundstage. Using both the shure and the ety however, the H320 headphone out has a slight hissing problem that may be bothersome to many. It is obvious when listening to it in a quiet place, though not noticeable enough to bother ME. The Philips and the ipod on the other hand while still suffer from hissing suffer less from it.
Out of the 4 players I would say that through the headphone out the iRiver sounds the best, and the photo the worst. The non photo and philips both in a tie for second. Even then however all three are in my opinion in the same league.
Outputwize, from the specs, both ipods have the best output followed by the iRiver. I can't find any documentaion on the Philips output, but it seems to be the weakest output, yet still very loud for IEMs. The philip's headphone output is around that of the sony NW-HD1.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion:
All players are are in the same league and so the choice depends on the user. Is it sound, is it features, is it design, just the way the player looks, or is it the best balance of all three what you are looking for.
If you are interested in one of the following players the following categories may be helpful to chose the best player for YOU.
IF YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT SOUND. They all sound very good, therefore it depends on the sound preference of the user.
-The H320 has a very good powerfull (for a DAP) headphone out. It has the smoothest most neutral and dynamic sound of the three. The headphone out however has the liudest hiss of the three. (Best syenergy with the shures in my opinion unequalized and sounds better with the shures when EQ)
-The non photo ipod also has a great sound. It has the most powerfull output of the three. The Equalizer however is not good. It has a sound that gives an illusion of increased detail, and has a brighter more open sound which some may prefer. (Having the least bass it syenergizes the best with the etys)
-The philips has a similar signature to that of the ipod. It also has the best equalizer. The amp however is the weakest of three, yet still very good for IEMs, though not the bet choice for hard to drive headphones.
-The photo ipod is the only of the four that I would not list as being in the same league as the others. The eequalizer is bad, and the sound has an obvious distortion that is annoying and obvious for certain music.
If YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT LOOKS: This is subjective.
-The philips in my opinion looks by far the nicest of the three. The best part is that like the others it also performs great in all other areas (Sound, usability, battery).
-The two ipods are in my opinion also beautiful players. Though still not as stylish as the philips. Also a great all around performer.
-The iRiver's design is also very nice looking. Compared to the other players in the review, it is the bulkiest. It is about as thick as two 4G ipods (the other dimensions are about the same though). Still a small a good looking player however.
IF YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT FEATURES: This depends on the features you are looking for.
- The iRiver has the most features, however it lacks some features many users find to be a must have. I am sure many users will give up video playback for playlists on the go. If that is the case this is the worst choice, if not then the best.
- The ipod while lacking a lot of iRiver's features has others that many may want. These include on the go playlists, Album art, games, and symultaneous picture and music playback.
- The Philips is the best combination of the best features of both the ipods and the iriver player. It has iRiver's Recording features (FM Recording, Voice recording, and also line in when adding a dock), and FM radio. It also has the best ipod features such as Album art, playlists on the go, and symultaneous picture and music playback.
So Which Is The Best All Around Player based on the above.
It Depends on the User. For me the best all around is the Philips having the best of both the iRiver and the iPod.
