Seidhepriest
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2007
- Posts
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There's a bit of a trouble with portable players. Most are built to preserve battery power, so they don't cover the whole frequency range correctly. There always are sagging harmonics. Most portable players can't make headphones play as full or accurate as, say, a notebook PC. Portable headphone amplifiers help with this, but most are expensive, and many people are shy of buying one - it's an extra expense.
Enter Rocoo. A player with a dedicated headphone amplifier built-in. It's not a perfect replacement for a headphone amplifier and player combination, but it is a player that can drive most headphones more accurately than a regular player can. And, it plays FLAC files (author's main requirement for a player).
The player sent by Hisoundaudio for review is a pre-production Rocoo-A.
[size=medium]Build & Layout[/size]
The player's body is made of metal and high-quality plastic. It feels solid, and has a pleasant weight. There's a MicroSD slot at one end, and a standard mini-USB socket and headphone socket on the other end.
One side has a repeat toggle/record rocker button (the Rocoo has no record function, so the "record" button instead invokes the file manager).
The other side has the pinhole reset button and the on/off switch (which prevents the player from accidentally turning on). On top of the player are the menu & play/pause buttons and the seek/volume rocker pad.
Rocoo's display is monochrome, displaying three lines of text, and neatly buried underneath the mirrored plastic.
There's a little necklace holder, so Rocoo can hang on a necklace tie. Or wire.
[size=medium]Interface & Operation[/size]
Rocoo can be turned on/off by holding the play button during four seconds.
The player is built on Rokchip, a fairly common DAP chipset/firmware. There're three lines of text (two in file browser mode). In Menu mode, there're only four categories - Music, Text, File Manager, Settings.
Rocoo supports the standard Rokchip repeat modes (play once, play all files once, stop on playback; repeat all; directory once, directory repeat, intro), shuffle/ordered playback. There're settings for text autoscroll, display poweroff and luminance, language switch (Rokchip supports a lot of languages - Japanese, Turkish, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, etc. etc.), and a basic system settings menu (about/upgrade/reset to defaults). Language has to be set to display text files in that language, but filenames are recognised regardless of the language setting.
Rocoo has several EQ presets: "normal" (which isn't flat), "MS Play effects" (engages MS effects, either "3D headphones" or "pure bass"), "rock", "pop", "classic", "bass", "jazz", and "user" (which has to be chosen for a flat EQ). The user EQ is +/-9 dB, 5-band (62, 250, 1K, 4K, 16KHz).
In file browser mode, everything's straightforward - filenames shown (navigation's with the rocker pad +/- keys). In "music" mode, there're the time counters (total/elapsed), repeat mode indicator, filename counters (current/total), EQ mode indicator, volume indicator, playback icon, and the (scrolling) filename.
Rocoo charges in about an hour from an almost empty charge. Battery life is ~10 hours; it was 8+ hours with modified Denon AH-D1000 (at maximum volume, and an EQ boost of +3 dB for each band, +6 for 250 Hz). Connection is as a standard USB removable drive.
Rocoo will play the music files that're copied onto it. There's no management interface like ITunes - it's just a straight file copy.
[size=medium]Formats[/size]
Rocoo can play MP3, FLAC, WMA, wave files. In text mode, it can display .kar (karaoke), text files, and .lct lyrics files. There is no Ogg support (which is weird, as baseline Rokchip has support for it).
Rocoo's MP3 decoder is custom-coded, it's different from basic Rokchip MP3 decoder. It does play much cleaner than another Rokchip player's MP3 decoder - on a 160 kbps MP3 file, there were no audible artifacts, which the generic Rokchip player had. The same should apply for WMA files (WMA is based on MP3).
For FLAC and wave files, maximum resolution is 44 KHz/16-bit. Rocoo will play 48-KHz files, but there will be interpolation noise.
Rocoo has support for MicroSDHC cards - a MicroSD card appears as an additional drive in the file manager.
[size=medium]Sound[/size]
Rocoo is unlike any common Rokchip player in that it has a dedicated headphone amplifier stage. The amp isn't that powerful (it won't drive AKG K-240 Studio to the same loudness a cheap CMoy amp will), but it is accurate. And it makes Rocoo playback quality stunning for something this small. Soundstage has depth and direction, an instrument in the background sounds like an instrument in the stage background, not an instrument with a muted volume as in other players. Pans are very accurate and the soundstage is wide and it has lively space. Fade-ins are fade-ins - instruments slowly appear out of distance, not just switching volume as with other players (and some soundcards). Playback is very lively, too - it's probably as good as 44/16 gets. Music is believable and it takes hold of one's attention. Rocoo isn't perfectly realistic (there's a slight rolloff/edginess in the high frequencies, apparently to improve battery life), but music sounds like music. Which is the best compliment a hi-fi device can have.
Overall, playback quality is superior to many notebook soundcards, and to some motherboard built-in audio. But it's not superior to resampling cards like Creative Audigy series, of course. Mated with a headphone amplifier, Rocoo will produce the most realistic sound there can be from a DAP in this price range. Strummed guitars have to be listened to.
Rocoo isn't the loudest player out there. At volume 32 (maximum) it can drive Denon AH-D1001 to isolate underground train noise, but it won't drive them overly loud, like an Apple IPod Touch can.
With earphones, acceptable loudness is 14-16 (out of 32) with AKG K-12P earbuds, 12-14 with VSonic R-02 Pro canalphones. Bundled canalphones need volume 20-22.
Bundled canalphones aren't anything special. Maybe by earphone standards they are pretty good (that's what Head-Fi forum members say), but they've a tinny sound and fall out of author's ears: they came with single-flange tips only. The canalphones have a sagging 2nd/3rd octave, so, as an example, guitars in a metal song sound like crackle with little body. Boosting the 250 Hz slider on the equaliser helps, though guitars still lack "meat". Maybe it's just the poor fit.
There's also a nasty treble resonance that makes "glassy" synthesised pads (in Jarre's "Rendez-vous 5") and bells flutter and screech. With the 250 Hz band boost, they start sounding more or less natural, though they're still earphones. Frankly, Hisoundaudio should've bundled simple efficient supra-aural headphones, not earphones. Something like Sennheiser PX100 (or OVC HC1000). Earphones just don't do justice to Rocoo's resolution.
[size=medium]Problems[/size]
Most problems were addressed in the last firmware update, but, there still are a couple. Both have to do with the Rokchip firmware. First is a nasty fade-in which cuts off the first second or two of each track. Second isn't much of a problem, but it can be an annoyance for some. The Rokchip firmware has no file sorting. It just sorts files in the order they were copied. This means that adding track 01 after having copied track 10 first will play track 01 after track 10. On the other hand, this means that file manager's sorting will be preserved on copy - so, say, sorting by extension is preserved.
[size=medium]Summary[/size]
So in summary, Rocoo is a pretty good player which does everything right: it plays FLAC files, it has a clean and realistic sound (pretty impressive for a little player), it has a long battery life driving headphones at maximum volume (8-10 hours, depending on efficiency). It works as a removable flash drive (no cumbersome management interface - just straight file copy). And it's shiny. It's not a player with a full colour display that can play video, but it's not designed to do that - it's designed to play music as well as a small player can. Which it does. The price ($100) might seem a bit too high, but the player delivers what it intends (it's been going outside everywhere this last month), so it's worth it.
The amp could've been more powerful, and drive AKG Studio headphones properly, but it works fine with efficient 32-ohm headphones like Denon AH-D1001, AH-P372, Sennheiser PX100, so it's not such a big drawback. And of course it's got a lot of power for any earphones (battery life ought to be over 10 hours with earphones; the author wouldn't stand earbuds in his ears for that long though).
Enter Rocoo. A player with a dedicated headphone amplifier built-in. It's not a perfect replacement for a headphone amplifier and player combination, but it is a player that can drive most headphones more accurately than a regular player can. And, it plays FLAC files (author's main requirement for a player).
The player sent by Hisoundaudio for review is a pre-production Rocoo-A.
[size=medium]Build & Layout[/size]
The player's body is made of metal and high-quality plastic. It feels solid, and has a pleasant weight. There's a MicroSD slot at one end, and a standard mini-USB socket and headphone socket on the other end.
One side has a repeat toggle/record rocker button (the Rocoo has no record function, so the "record" button instead invokes the file manager).
The other side has the pinhole reset button and the on/off switch (which prevents the player from accidentally turning on). On top of the player are the menu & play/pause buttons and the seek/volume rocker pad.
Rocoo's display is monochrome, displaying three lines of text, and neatly buried underneath the mirrored plastic.
There's a little necklace holder, so Rocoo can hang on a necklace tie. Or wire.
[size=medium]Interface & Operation[/size]
Rocoo can be turned on/off by holding the play button during four seconds.
The player is built on Rokchip, a fairly common DAP chipset/firmware. There're three lines of text (two in file browser mode). In Menu mode, there're only four categories - Music, Text, File Manager, Settings.
Rocoo supports the standard Rokchip repeat modes (play once, play all files once, stop on playback; repeat all; directory once, directory repeat, intro), shuffle/ordered playback. There're settings for text autoscroll, display poweroff and luminance, language switch (Rokchip supports a lot of languages - Japanese, Turkish, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, etc. etc.), and a basic system settings menu (about/upgrade/reset to defaults). Language has to be set to display text files in that language, but filenames are recognised regardless of the language setting.
Rocoo has several EQ presets: "normal" (which isn't flat), "MS Play effects" (engages MS effects, either "3D headphones" or "pure bass"), "rock", "pop", "classic", "bass", "jazz", and "user" (which has to be chosen for a flat EQ). The user EQ is +/-9 dB, 5-band (62, 250, 1K, 4K, 16KHz).
In file browser mode, everything's straightforward - filenames shown (navigation's with the rocker pad +/- keys). In "music" mode, there're the time counters (total/elapsed), repeat mode indicator, filename counters (current/total), EQ mode indicator, volume indicator, playback icon, and the (scrolling) filename.
Rocoo charges in about an hour from an almost empty charge. Battery life is ~10 hours; it was 8+ hours with modified Denon AH-D1000 (at maximum volume, and an EQ boost of +3 dB for each band, +6 for 250 Hz). Connection is as a standard USB removable drive.
Rocoo will play the music files that're copied onto it. There's no management interface like ITunes - it's just a straight file copy.
[size=medium]Formats[/size]
Rocoo can play MP3, FLAC, WMA, wave files. In text mode, it can display .kar (karaoke), text files, and .lct lyrics files. There is no Ogg support (which is weird, as baseline Rokchip has support for it).
Rocoo's MP3 decoder is custom-coded, it's different from basic Rokchip MP3 decoder. It does play much cleaner than another Rokchip player's MP3 decoder - on a 160 kbps MP3 file, there were no audible artifacts, which the generic Rokchip player had. The same should apply for WMA files (WMA is based on MP3).
For FLAC and wave files, maximum resolution is 44 KHz/16-bit. Rocoo will play 48-KHz files, but there will be interpolation noise.
Rocoo has support for MicroSDHC cards - a MicroSD card appears as an additional drive in the file manager.
[size=medium]Sound[/size]
Rocoo is unlike any common Rokchip player in that it has a dedicated headphone amplifier stage. The amp isn't that powerful (it won't drive AKG K-240 Studio to the same loudness a cheap CMoy amp will), but it is accurate. And it makes Rocoo playback quality stunning for something this small. Soundstage has depth and direction, an instrument in the background sounds like an instrument in the stage background, not an instrument with a muted volume as in other players. Pans are very accurate and the soundstage is wide and it has lively space. Fade-ins are fade-ins - instruments slowly appear out of distance, not just switching volume as with other players (and some soundcards). Playback is very lively, too - it's probably as good as 44/16 gets. Music is believable and it takes hold of one's attention. Rocoo isn't perfectly realistic (there's a slight rolloff/edginess in the high frequencies, apparently to improve battery life), but music sounds like music. Which is the best compliment a hi-fi device can have.
Overall, playback quality is superior to many notebook soundcards, and to some motherboard built-in audio. But it's not superior to resampling cards like Creative Audigy series, of course. Mated with a headphone amplifier, Rocoo will produce the most realistic sound there can be from a DAP in this price range. Strummed guitars have to be listened to.
Rocoo isn't the loudest player out there. At volume 32 (maximum) it can drive Denon AH-D1001 to isolate underground train noise, but it won't drive them overly loud, like an Apple IPod Touch can.
With earphones, acceptable loudness is 14-16 (out of 32) with AKG K-12P earbuds, 12-14 with VSonic R-02 Pro canalphones. Bundled canalphones need volume 20-22.
Bundled canalphones aren't anything special. Maybe by earphone standards they are pretty good (that's what Head-Fi forum members say), but they've a tinny sound and fall out of author's ears: they came with single-flange tips only. The canalphones have a sagging 2nd/3rd octave, so, as an example, guitars in a metal song sound like crackle with little body. Boosting the 250 Hz slider on the equaliser helps, though guitars still lack "meat". Maybe it's just the poor fit.
There's also a nasty treble resonance that makes "glassy" synthesised pads (in Jarre's "Rendez-vous 5") and bells flutter and screech. With the 250 Hz band boost, they start sounding more or less natural, though they're still earphones. Frankly, Hisoundaudio should've bundled simple efficient supra-aural headphones, not earphones. Something like Sennheiser PX100 (or OVC HC1000). Earphones just don't do justice to Rocoo's resolution.
[size=medium]Problems[/size]
Most problems were addressed in the last firmware update, but, there still are a couple. Both have to do with the Rokchip firmware. First is a nasty fade-in which cuts off the first second or two of each track. Second isn't much of a problem, but it can be an annoyance for some. The Rokchip firmware has no file sorting. It just sorts files in the order they were copied. This means that adding track 01 after having copied track 10 first will play track 01 after track 10. On the other hand, this means that file manager's sorting will be preserved on copy - so, say, sorting by extension is preserved.
[size=medium]Summary[/size]
So in summary, Rocoo is a pretty good player which does everything right: it plays FLAC files, it has a clean and realistic sound (pretty impressive for a little player), it has a long battery life driving headphones at maximum volume (8-10 hours, depending on efficiency). It works as a removable flash drive (no cumbersome management interface - just straight file copy). And it's shiny. It's not a player with a full colour display that can play video, but it's not designed to do that - it's designed to play music as well as a small player can. Which it does. The price ($100) might seem a bit too high, but the player delivers what it intends (it's been going outside everywhere this last month), so it's worth it.
The amp could've been more powerful, and drive AKG Studio headphones properly, but it works fine with efficient 32-ohm headphones like Denon AH-D1001, AH-P372, Sennheiser PX100, so it's not such a big drawback. And of course it's got a lot of power for any earphones (battery life ought to be over 10 hours with earphones; the author wouldn't stand earbuds in his ears for that long though).
