wolfen68
Headphoneus Supremus
After hearing about the ihp-140 for several months, I had basically written the unit off due to other's complaints about sound quality.
Recently, a friend who is beginning some college coursework stated that a prerequisite for a class was to own a usb pen or some equivalent mass storage device to shuttle files to and from class. I joked that usb pens were old school...and that portable hard drives with plug and play compatibility and other functions such as music playback were the way to go (and I mentioned the Iriver).
Several days later my friend proudly displays his ihp-140 that he had ordered from Buydig (apparently the cheapest price at the time). I was stunned....but quickly took advantage of the opportunity to audition the ihp-140.
After hearing/reading so much conflicting information on the unit, I didn't know what to expect. We dropped some files from my Archos Jukebox Recorder 20 onto the ihp and I listened for about half an hour with my Ue5c's. Upon blind testing, I repetitively chose the Iriver as the preferred sound. In actuality, the sound is very close between the two units. The archos is slightly flatter while the Iriver has a slight extra punch. I did notice the boost in trebles and bass that others have commented on, however that sound signature did not bother me. I've also heard a 1G ipod, and by memory, the Iriver matches or almost matches it's quality of output.
We also tried the analog lineout into the line-in on my car stereo and this sounded dramatically better than the archos headphone out in this application. Clearer and much more energetic. I never tried the lineout with my headphones for comparison with the headphone out....
The EQ settings somewhat baffled me as they were not what I expected. "Bass Boost" and "Treble Boost" made me nervous so I set those at 0. I'm assuming this is the same as a normal or flat EQ.
What's the best setting to create the least altered output?...I couldn't figure that out during my short trial. Anybody aware of this, please chime in.
The controls are a little futzy, but workable. My friend spent two hours with the manual and seemed to have a lot of it down already (after one day). With his tutelage, I was doing basic stuff in 5 minutes.
The radio feature was less than impressive. It worked but provided weak reception to several stations that normally come in clear to the area.
Ultimately, I was impressed and ordered one for myself from Newegg (w/$20 rebate). Even though the Archos Recorder has lots of stuff going for it, mine is almost full and this unit has the makings of a worthy upgrade.
Recently, a friend who is beginning some college coursework stated that a prerequisite for a class was to own a usb pen or some equivalent mass storage device to shuttle files to and from class. I joked that usb pens were old school...and that portable hard drives with plug and play compatibility and other functions such as music playback were the way to go (and I mentioned the Iriver).
Several days later my friend proudly displays his ihp-140 that he had ordered from Buydig (apparently the cheapest price at the time). I was stunned....but quickly took advantage of the opportunity to audition the ihp-140.
After hearing/reading so much conflicting information on the unit, I didn't know what to expect. We dropped some files from my Archos Jukebox Recorder 20 onto the ihp and I listened for about half an hour with my Ue5c's. Upon blind testing, I repetitively chose the Iriver as the preferred sound. In actuality, the sound is very close between the two units. The archos is slightly flatter while the Iriver has a slight extra punch. I did notice the boost in trebles and bass that others have commented on, however that sound signature did not bother me. I've also heard a 1G ipod, and by memory, the Iriver matches or almost matches it's quality of output.
We also tried the analog lineout into the line-in on my car stereo and this sounded dramatically better than the archos headphone out in this application. Clearer and much more energetic. I never tried the lineout with my headphones for comparison with the headphone out....
The EQ settings somewhat baffled me as they were not what I expected. "Bass Boost" and "Treble Boost" made me nervous so I set those at 0. I'm assuming this is the same as a normal or flat EQ.
What's the best setting to create the least altered output?...I couldn't figure that out during my short trial. Anybody aware of this, please chime in.
The controls are a little futzy, but workable. My friend spent two hours with the manual and seemed to have a lot of it down already (after one day). With his tutelage, I was doing basic stuff in 5 minutes.
The radio feature was less than impressive. It worked but provided weak reception to several stations that normally come in clear to the area.
Ultimately, I was impressed and ordered one for myself from Newegg (w/$20 rebate). Even though the Archos Recorder has lots of stuff going for it, mine is almost full and this unit has the makings of a worthy upgrade.
