poorimpulsectrl
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2002
- Posts
- 199
- Likes
- 1
Background:
I had been holding out for the past few years with my IRiver IFP-180T flash player, waiting for a player that had the features I wanted at a reasonable price. IAudio's U2 came closest to what I wanted.
Retailer:
IAudio's distribution doesn't seem that extensive in North America. Several major online retailers in the US carry their products, but it seems pretty tough to find them on shelves in brick and mortars. I went with a company called Suntec after reading many recommendations for them from existing IAudio owners on several forums. Suntec's price was $10 cheaper than any competitors. After the price drops Apple's Ipod Shuffle encouraged in the flash player market, I picked up the 1 gig U2 for $189 USD + shipping.
Often it's the case that retailers who try to lead the pack on prices tend to skimp on service. Suntec definitely does not make this mistake. In all honesty, the service I experienced with Suntec is up there with the best I've encountered - the kind that might be only expected when paying a premium. Inquiries were answered honestly, quickly and politely. A representative was available not only through the typical mediums but MSN Messenger as well, which made getting quick answers that much easier.
Case in point: after placing my order, I did not receive a tracking number the same day as promised. I asked Stephanie @ Suntec on MSN why this was, and she resolved the matter in minutes. They had run out of the armbands they give for free with purchases, and their shipping department had opted to hold off on sending out players until they got the armbands back in. She immediately rectified the issue and had my player sent out, adding that she would mail out the armband as soon as it came back into stock, at Suntec's expense and not mine. I received my player exactly 24 hours later. This was much earlier than I had expected, given that I am in Canada and Suntec is in the US, and that the shipping time was slated for 1-3 days. Suntec is extremely accomodating to international buyers, which is a good thing for IAudio, since the availability of their products isn't quite what it should be.
All in all, I wholeheartedly recommend anyone looking to pick up an IAudio player to check out Suntec first.
Specs / Package:
The U2 plays MP3, Ogg, WMA, ASF and wav files. It transfers using USB 2.0. Sound wise, it has a 95 dB signal to noise ratio and 13mW + 13mW @ 16ohm headphone output. Weighs in at 34 grams including the internal battery. Tiny, about the size of a stick of gum or a lighter. I've read the U2 is based on a Sigmatel 35xx series chipset.
The box includes IAudio's headphones, a silver lanyard to tie the player around your neck, a line in cable, a USB cable, a second USB connector, carrying case and 2 transparent non-adhesive "stickers" to protect the LCD.
The second USB Connector is nifty. It has a hole in it so that it can be attached to a keychain. This connector increases the portability of the U2, in that you can connect to a PC and transfer files or recharge the battery without having to carry a USB cable around. You can keep the connector in one location and the USB cable at home without having to cart anything around.
The carrying case is made of pretty tough material. It's not much to look at it, but permits the functions of the U2 to be accessed while it is protected in the case. Case snaps shut with a metal button, so it won't open up accidentally during use. There's a loop on the back of the case to attach it to a belt or an armband. A good design feature is that the case flap closes towards the body, rather than away from it. This way contact from objects (which are going to be away from your body rather than closer to it than the player) can't open the case top easily and dislodge the player. Even if the top did pop, the fit around the player is quite snug so it won't be flying out while you're running or something.
Beyond the basic package, one has the option of purchasing an AC adapter that allows the U2 to be charged from any wall socket if a PC isn't available. The charger is inexpensive ($14).
Installation, Software, Firmware:
The U2 does not require any special drivers for use and can be used as a USB keychain drive as well as an mp3 player. So installation on WinXP is as simple as connecting the player to your computer with the USB cable. Files can be transferred and managed through Windows Explorer - no need for special software.
That being said, IAudio does have a software app called Jetshell that can be used if one so desires. I installed it to just see what it's like. I didn't find the interface particularly ergonomic. The only things the app adds over managing files through Windows is an indicator for space usage on the player and a few other small features (such as an option to reformat the player). I uninstalled the program.
The player came already loaded with the latest US firmware (v1.30a), only a few weeks old. Currently there is a v1.31j Japanese firmware floating around, but I did not install it as it's not yet clear what exactly this firmware improves on. It appears as though IAudio's firmware updates are standalone, meaning that you don't need the Jetshell application to install them.
Looks / Build Quality:
The U2 has a huge wow factor in the looks department. Of course, looks shouldn't count for more than sound quality, but we'd be kidding ourselves if we said it wasn't a salient factor. Styling is simple and classy, with a candy coated black shell on the 1 gig model, brushed metal joystick and indigo backlit LCD. The size of the player is probably what grabs one's eye the most - as aforementioned it's about the size of a lighter or stick of gum.
In terms of build quality, the unit does not feel cheap, empty or fragile. They've packed this little thing to the walls. The hold switch is solid and has a click to it when locking in place, which means it won't be moved around easily by accident.
The USB door cover has a fin on it so that it stays in place when closed. I noticed that when the U2 is plugged into the USB cable, the USB cover is bent back by this fin. I don't know what implications this may have on the longevity of the cover. A lot of people with other players have complained about the durability of these rubber USB covers, but personally in the 4-5 years that I've had my Iriver IFP-180T, there hasn't been any sign of its cover tearing off. The U2's door seems thicker than my IRiver's, so I don't feel as though this is going to be a problem.
Display:
The display shows an output meter (showing levels of both channels) as well as what EQ settings are enabled. Both the time elapsed and total time for the currently playing track are displayed underneath a bar showing track progress. The display can obviously be set to show time remaining as well. A 3 bar battery status indicator, bit rate, hold status and playback mode round out the features displayed. One other neat feature of the U2 is that it has a clock display, shown at the top of the screen and which can be turned off and on with a button the user assigns. Horizontal scrolling of filenames can be adjusted to different speeds, as expected. One nice feature IRiver had going for it is vertical "melting" of filenames as well as horizontal scrolling. The vertical melting gets you track information a little more quickly than waiting for even the fastest horizontal scroll setting to sweep by. Perhaps IAudio will consider this for a future firmware revision.
Battery/Charging:
The U2 employs an internal lithium rechargeable battery, and charges directly off the USB cable attached to your computer. No dock or charger necessary. Admittedly, I was quite used to being able to swap out a NiMH rechargeable AA battery anytime I wanted my IRiver to be ready to go. So I was somewhat reluctant to go over to an internal battery design.
However, given the capacity of the player (1 gig) and its rated battery life, I don't think there is anything lost. Most people would be able to fill up the player and listen to everything on it at least once before they'd drain the battery. As for recharging, it's just a small change in usage patterns to ensure you've got a full charge ready to go. When you're not using the player, just hook it up to your PC. No big deal really. You can always pick up the ac adapter if you see yourself needing to charge on the road and totally unable to get at a computer.
One nice thing I found out about the U2's internal battery is that when it dies in 2-4 years time, it can be replaced by IAudio for a very reasonable $30. Perhaps it will be even cheaper when this time comes, and maybe even higher capacity batteries will be available for use at that time. The point is that you're not stuck with a situation where once the battery dies out, you lose the player as well. Further, it's quite inexpensive to replace the battery.
IAudio says that expected battery life is 20 hours, with 2 hours required to charge the player to capacity. I found that it took 1.5 hours to charge the player to max after opening the box up. After draining the battery to 0 again, I found the 2 hour estimate to be accurate (again it took less time than that to recharge). The LCD icon on the player indicates charging status and when charging is complete.
I loaded the player with a pile of files varying in bit rate between 192 kbps, --alt-preset extreme encoded variable bit rate files and 320 kbps. I started playback and fooled incessantly with options, menus and different EQ settings. After 3.5 hours of that, one bar had been knocked off the meter. Assuming a linear relationship between playback time and indicators on the battery meter, this meant 10.5 hours of "constant fiddling" use.
The next day, I charged the battery to full and aimed to drain it with a usage pattern at the other end of the spectrum: just playing music instead of constantly messing with things. Actual numbers on the battery status can be found in the player information menu - full charge seems to be around 4.18v. I set volume to 22 (what I typically listen at), put on typical EQ settings (BBE, Mach3bass, MPEnhance, Normal EQ preset). Filled the player to capacity with a typical distribution of bitrates (mp3 files in the same range as described earlier), plugged in my Shure E2C headphones, put the U2 on repeat and hit play. I recorded battery status changes as I saw them happen.
+3 hours: 3 bars on the battery meter, 4.00v in player info
+4 hours: 3 bars, 3.94v
+4.5 hours: 2 bars, 3.92v
+9 hours: 1 bar, 3.76v
+12 hours: 1 bar, 3.72v
+13 hours, 37 minutes: Music was still playing back but the battery indicator was showing empty. 3.68v
So almost 14 hours of playback before the battery meter showed empty, around 4.5 hours per bar. The 890 megs worth of music that I put onto the player had been played through twice, and the U2 was still playing music despite the empty battery meter displayed.
Transfer Rate:
I recorded with a stopwatch the time in seconds that it took to transfer groups of files, differing in total size, to the player from my PC. Average transfer rate across 7 trials was found was 2.53 megabytes per second (standard deviation 0.262 mb/s).
Usage:
The menus are very intuitive and easy to navigate using the joystick. Although in fairness, coming from having an IRiver player, I am used to the joystick / tree interface. Controls are minimalist, which I like. No unessential crap. Just a couple buttons, a hold switch and the joystick to fill in the blanks. In the options, you have some flexibility over what functions are assigned to buttons.
Speaking of buttons, one of them corresponds to a feature that lets you to specify a section of music to loop. This is if you wanted to repeat a part of a song or DJ set rather than the whole thing. I can't honestly see myself using this a great deal, and don't know if most users would either. It would be nice if a future firmware update would allow the button to be reassigned to another function that is used more commonly. For example, in the current firmware, play modes (like shuffle or repeat) have to be specified by going through menus with the joystick instead of just pressing a button. These features are far more deserving of a button to access them quickly than this loop feature.
That same record button used to set a loop can be held down longer to set a bookmark in the file playing. This is an incredibly useful feature if you listen to a lot of audiobooks and want to keep your spot, or if you listen to a lot of dj sets and want to trainspot a tune in the middle of a set. The U2 also has a dynamic playlist feature that lets you create a playlist for files you've got on the player. I never use m3u playlists so didn't check to see if they work, but I've read that they are not supported.
The U2 permits users to download or create animated logo files that display during bootup. I'm sure some people like this cute feature, but I find if you delete the boot logo, boot up time is reduced significantly. Right now it takes about 4-5 seconds for my U2 to go from power off to playing music.
When fast forwarding through files, you don't hear any sound while doing so, which is a good thing I think. And speaking of fast forwarding, here comes one of the issues with the player. You can't fast forward or rewind through variable bit rate encoded files. You can play them back without a problem, just not fast forward or rewind through them. The time displayed for the file gets all screwed up and sometimes the actual point you're at in the music file doesn't change at all. I think this is an extremely important issue for IAudio to address because variable bit rate encoding (such as the Lame --alt-preset encoding standards) is becoming more and more the de facto norm in mp3. I've read that this problem with seeking in VBR files may simply be due to the way that the U2 calculates the length of files, and that this problem could be easily addressed in a future firmware update. I hope this is the case, because not being able to scan through what may files are encoded as is unacceptable. If users have already gone to the trouble of ripping their collections in variable bit rate mp3, they should not have to go through the process again.
Another issue in usage is the fact that playback is not gapless. Now, there are only a handful of players in the market that actually do offer gapless playback out of the hundreds there are in the world. I appreciate that it is difficult for hardware manufacturers to make tiny hardware players provide playback as seamless as desktop PCs with more horsepower. But it's not just that there is a small moment of silence between tracks. There is also a faint but audible "tearing" noise heard whenever a new track loads up. This is something else IAudio has gotta fix, even if it's something that some may not even hear (depending on what kind of headphones they're using) or something that people might just get used to.
Sound Quality:
If there's one thing that's clear about this player, it's that its intended for knob twiddlers. In other words, people who really like being able to fiddle with sound until it satisfies whatever it is they want that minute. The customization options for sound on the U2 are quite extensive - the label on the player "color sound" is quite appropros in this sense
Even the EQ "presets" can be readjusted from their default settings, so you actually have 7 or 8 user definable EQ settings than just one.
I threw on a pile of my favourite tracks that I've heard enough times to know what their sonic signature is like. Listening was done on the headphones that I use for portables - Shure E2C and Koss KSC-35.
Volume goes from 0-40, I found that 22 was typically what I settled on and that if certain EQ presets were used, you typically needed to use less overall volume because of the gain added from the EQ settings. Didn't try punching it up beyond 35 but didn't hear any distortion when I did.
I established a baseline sound by setting the EQ to "normal" and turning off all effects like BBE, Mach3Bass, MP3Enhance, 3D Surround. Then I played with the different settings to see what difference they made.
Overall, I'd say the one word to describe the basic presentation of the U2 is "balanced" - no particular aspect of the sound overshadows another. Mach3bass is obviously a bass boost, BBE seems to make things a bit clearer while MP3Enhance seems to make a noticeable difference in soundstaging of tracks. Couldn't really notice a meaningful effect from the 3D Surround feature, but maybe this was because I use canalphones. The group of settings that I settled on for typical use were Normal EQ, BBE set to 4, Mach3Bass set to 3, MP3Enhance turned on, 3D Surround turned off and volume set around 19-23. Soundstage seemed pretty good despite the fact that I was using canalphones, atmospheric effects in tracks perceptibly whipped around and outside channels. Kick drums have good solid impact, female vocals sounded good. The U2 can be both detailed and smooth - I noticed some details in tracks that I had forgotten about. Presentation leans more towards laid back and comfortable than analytical. I never really felt fatigued listening to music or that my ears needed a break.
More information on the BBE, Mach3Bass and MP3Enhance effects can be found at the developers site for those interested, although I'm sure simply playing around with the settings will probably appeal to more. There's also what appears to be an extensive write up on IAudio's Asian site.
Other Features:
The U2 also has an FM tuner and permits broadcasts to be recorded. It can do voice recordings as well as encode mp3's directly using the supplied line in cable. I don't really have an interest in these features, but I tested the line in recording feature for a friend who is a DJ and would like to use a flash player to record sets they perform. The U2 has an auto standby mode that automatically starts recording once an incoming signal is detected on the line in. Right now line in encoding is limited to 128 kbps - future firmware updates better allow for better bitrates. I don't think it would be unreasonable to allow for straight wave file recording on a 1GB player. I tried recording from the line out on a portable cd player, using a CD single. The resulting mp3 file sounded tinny and as though sounds were "swirling", but in all fairness this might just be a characteristic of the low bit rate. I heard some audible glitches as well, the kind you can get when ripping CD's in burst mode. I wouldn't use the U2 to encode anything mission critical or if you have picky ears. I don't think the quality of the U2's line in recorder is up to snuff with the best methods for ripping and encoding mp3s (e.g. EAC secure mode, encoding using --alt-presets). But who honestly expects a portable MP3 *player* to match up to the precision of that approach?
Summary:
Pros
- Sound: balanced, can be heavily customized
- Ease of Use: installation, file transfer, navigation, general usage
- Size: ridiculously small
- Bookmarking feature
- Superb retailer like Suntec making up for the lack of widespread distribution
Neutral
- Internal Battery: decent playback time, can be replaced inexpensively, charges quickly, but some users may prefer an AAA or AA based design
Cons
- Gaps during playback: both silence and faintly audible tearing is heard between tracks
- Variable Bit Rate files: play fine but can't fast forward or rewind through them, time calculated incorrectly
- Line-In Recording: currently limited to 128kbps
Future
- Absolutely necessary: Fix gaps during playback and VBR file issues!
- Strongly advised: allow Rec button to be remapped so it can be used for more oft-used functions (e.g. repeat, shuffle) than the current Loop feature
- Wishful thinking: FLAC and Cue file support. Admittedly, FLAC doesn't make much sense for the smaller capacity flash players, but the 1GB player could let users listen to a CD or two in lossless goodness. Other IAudio players (such as the M3) support FLAC, but perhaps this is a characteristic to the chipset used in that player. As for Cue files, they would give users true gapless playback if the pauses between files are an unavoidable evil with loading files on small flash devices ultimately limited in horsepower.
I had been holding out for the past few years with my IRiver IFP-180T flash player, waiting for a player that had the features I wanted at a reasonable price. IAudio's U2 came closest to what I wanted.
Retailer:
IAudio's distribution doesn't seem that extensive in North America. Several major online retailers in the US carry their products, but it seems pretty tough to find them on shelves in brick and mortars. I went with a company called Suntec after reading many recommendations for them from existing IAudio owners on several forums. Suntec's price was $10 cheaper than any competitors. After the price drops Apple's Ipod Shuffle encouraged in the flash player market, I picked up the 1 gig U2 for $189 USD + shipping.
Often it's the case that retailers who try to lead the pack on prices tend to skimp on service. Suntec definitely does not make this mistake. In all honesty, the service I experienced with Suntec is up there with the best I've encountered - the kind that might be only expected when paying a premium. Inquiries were answered honestly, quickly and politely. A representative was available not only through the typical mediums but MSN Messenger as well, which made getting quick answers that much easier.
Case in point: after placing my order, I did not receive a tracking number the same day as promised. I asked Stephanie @ Suntec on MSN why this was, and she resolved the matter in minutes. They had run out of the armbands they give for free with purchases, and their shipping department had opted to hold off on sending out players until they got the armbands back in. She immediately rectified the issue and had my player sent out, adding that she would mail out the armband as soon as it came back into stock, at Suntec's expense and not mine. I received my player exactly 24 hours later. This was much earlier than I had expected, given that I am in Canada and Suntec is in the US, and that the shipping time was slated for 1-3 days. Suntec is extremely accomodating to international buyers, which is a good thing for IAudio, since the availability of their products isn't quite what it should be.
All in all, I wholeheartedly recommend anyone looking to pick up an IAudio player to check out Suntec first.
Specs / Package:
The U2 plays MP3, Ogg, WMA, ASF and wav files. It transfers using USB 2.0. Sound wise, it has a 95 dB signal to noise ratio and 13mW + 13mW @ 16ohm headphone output. Weighs in at 34 grams including the internal battery. Tiny, about the size of a stick of gum or a lighter. I've read the U2 is based on a Sigmatel 35xx series chipset.
The box includes IAudio's headphones, a silver lanyard to tie the player around your neck, a line in cable, a USB cable, a second USB connector, carrying case and 2 transparent non-adhesive "stickers" to protect the LCD.
The second USB Connector is nifty. It has a hole in it so that it can be attached to a keychain. This connector increases the portability of the U2, in that you can connect to a PC and transfer files or recharge the battery without having to carry a USB cable around. You can keep the connector in one location and the USB cable at home without having to cart anything around.
The carrying case is made of pretty tough material. It's not much to look at it, but permits the functions of the U2 to be accessed while it is protected in the case. Case snaps shut with a metal button, so it won't open up accidentally during use. There's a loop on the back of the case to attach it to a belt or an armband. A good design feature is that the case flap closes towards the body, rather than away from it. This way contact from objects (which are going to be away from your body rather than closer to it than the player) can't open the case top easily and dislodge the player. Even if the top did pop, the fit around the player is quite snug so it won't be flying out while you're running or something.
Beyond the basic package, one has the option of purchasing an AC adapter that allows the U2 to be charged from any wall socket if a PC isn't available. The charger is inexpensive ($14).
Installation, Software, Firmware:
The U2 does not require any special drivers for use and can be used as a USB keychain drive as well as an mp3 player. So installation on WinXP is as simple as connecting the player to your computer with the USB cable. Files can be transferred and managed through Windows Explorer - no need for special software.
That being said, IAudio does have a software app called Jetshell that can be used if one so desires. I installed it to just see what it's like. I didn't find the interface particularly ergonomic. The only things the app adds over managing files through Windows is an indicator for space usage on the player and a few other small features (such as an option to reformat the player). I uninstalled the program.
The player came already loaded with the latest US firmware (v1.30a), only a few weeks old. Currently there is a v1.31j Japanese firmware floating around, but I did not install it as it's not yet clear what exactly this firmware improves on. It appears as though IAudio's firmware updates are standalone, meaning that you don't need the Jetshell application to install them.
Looks / Build Quality:
The U2 has a huge wow factor in the looks department. Of course, looks shouldn't count for more than sound quality, but we'd be kidding ourselves if we said it wasn't a salient factor. Styling is simple and classy, with a candy coated black shell on the 1 gig model, brushed metal joystick and indigo backlit LCD. The size of the player is probably what grabs one's eye the most - as aforementioned it's about the size of a lighter or stick of gum.
In terms of build quality, the unit does not feel cheap, empty or fragile. They've packed this little thing to the walls. The hold switch is solid and has a click to it when locking in place, which means it won't be moved around easily by accident.
The USB door cover has a fin on it so that it stays in place when closed. I noticed that when the U2 is plugged into the USB cable, the USB cover is bent back by this fin. I don't know what implications this may have on the longevity of the cover. A lot of people with other players have complained about the durability of these rubber USB covers, but personally in the 4-5 years that I've had my Iriver IFP-180T, there hasn't been any sign of its cover tearing off. The U2's door seems thicker than my IRiver's, so I don't feel as though this is going to be a problem.
Display:
The display shows an output meter (showing levels of both channels) as well as what EQ settings are enabled. Both the time elapsed and total time for the currently playing track are displayed underneath a bar showing track progress. The display can obviously be set to show time remaining as well. A 3 bar battery status indicator, bit rate, hold status and playback mode round out the features displayed. One other neat feature of the U2 is that it has a clock display, shown at the top of the screen and which can be turned off and on with a button the user assigns. Horizontal scrolling of filenames can be adjusted to different speeds, as expected. One nice feature IRiver had going for it is vertical "melting" of filenames as well as horizontal scrolling. The vertical melting gets you track information a little more quickly than waiting for even the fastest horizontal scroll setting to sweep by. Perhaps IAudio will consider this for a future firmware revision.
Battery/Charging:
The U2 employs an internal lithium rechargeable battery, and charges directly off the USB cable attached to your computer. No dock or charger necessary. Admittedly, I was quite used to being able to swap out a NiMH rechargeable AA battery anytime I wanted my IRiver to be ready to go. So I was somewhat reluctant to go over to an internal battery design.
However, given the capacity of the player (1 gig) and its rated battery life, I don't think there is anything lost. Most people would be able to fill up the player and listen to everything on it at least once before they'd drain the battery. As for recharging, it's just a small change in usage patterns to ensure you've got a full charge ready to go. When you're not using the player, just hook it up to your PC. No big deal really. You can always pick up the ac adapter if you see yourself needing to charge on the road and totally unable to get at a computer.
One nice thing I found out about the U2's internal battery is that when it dies in 2-4 years time, it can be replaced by IAudio for a very reasonable $30. Perhaps it will be even cheaper when this time comes, and maybe even higher capacity batteries will be available for use at that time. The point is that you're not stuck with a situation where once the battery dies out, you lose the player as well. Further, it's quite inexpensive to replace the battery.
IAudio says that expected battery life is 20 hours, with 2 hours required to charge the player to capacity. I found that it took 1.5 hours to charge the player to max after opening the box up. After draining the battery to 0 again, I found the 2 hour estimate to be accurate (again it took less time than that to recharge). The LCD icon on the player indicates charging status and when charging is complete.
I loaded the player with a pile of files varying in bit rate between 192 kbps, --alt-preset extreme encoded variable bit rate files and 320 kbps. I started playback and fooled incessantly with options, menus and different EQ settings. After 3.5 hours of that, one bar had been knocked off the meter. Assuming a linear relationship between playback time and indicators on the battery meter, this meant 10.5 hours of "constant fiddling" use.
The next day, I charged the battery to full and aimed to drain it with a usage pattern at the other end of the spectrum: just playing music instead of constantly messing with things. Actual numbers on the battery status can be found in the player information menu - full charge seems to be around 4.18v. I set volume to 22 (what I typically listen at), put on typical EQ settings (BBE, Mach3bass, MPEnhance, Normal EQ preset). Filled the player to capacity with a typical distribution of bitrates (mp3 files in the same range as described earlier), plugged in my Shure E2C headphones, put the U2 on repeat and hit play. I recorded battery status changes as I saw them happen.
+3 hours: 3 bars on the battery meter, 4.00v in player info
+4 hours: 3 bars, 3.94v
+4.5 hours: 2 bars, 3.92v
+9 hours: 1 bar, 3.76v
+12 hours: 1 bar, 3.72v
+13 hours, 37 minutes: Music was still playing back but the battery indicator was showing empty. 3.68v
So almost 14 hours of playback before the battery meter showed empty, around 4.5 hours per bar. The 890 megs worth of music that I put onto the player had been played through twice, and the U2 was still playing music despite the empty battery meter displayed.
Transfer Rate:
I recorded with a stopwatch the time in seconds that it took to transfer groups of files, differing in total size, to the player from my PC. Average transfer rate across 7 trials was found was 2.53 megabytes per second (standard deviation 0.262 mb/s).
Usage:
The menus are very intuitive and easy to navigate using the joystick. Although in fairness, coming from having an IRiver player, I am used to the joystick / tree interface. Controls are minimalist, which I like. No unessential crap. Just a couple buttons, a hold switch and the joystick to fill in the blanks. In the options, you have some flexibility over what functions are assigned to buttons.
Speaking of buttons, one of them corresponds to a feature that lets you to specify a section of music to loop. This is if you wanted to repeat a part of a song or DJ set rather than the whole thing. I can't honestly see myself using this a great deal, and don't know if most users would either. It would be nice if a future firmware update would allow the button to be reassigned to another function that is used more commonly. For example, in the current firmware, play modes (like shuffle or repeat) have to be specified by going through menus with the joystick instead of just pressing a button. These features are far more deserving of a button to access them quickly than this loop feature.
That same record button used to set a loop can be held down longer to set a bookmark in the file playing. This is an incredibly useful feature if you listen to a lot of audiobooks and want to keep your spot, or if you listen to a lot of dj sets and want to trainspot a tune in the middle of a set. The U2 also has a dynamic playlist feature that lets you create a playlist for files you've got on the player. I never use m3u playlists so didn't check to see if they work, but I've read that they are not supported.
The U2 permits users to download or create animated logo files that display during bootup. I'm sure some people like this cute feature, but I find if you delete the boot logo, boot up time is reduced significantly. Right now it takes about 4-5 seconds for my U2 to go from power off to playing music.
When fast forwarding through files, you don't hear any sound while doing so, which is a good thing I think. And speaking of fast forwarding, here comes one of the issues with the player. You can't fast forward or rewind through variable bit rate encoded files. You can play them back without a problem, just not fast forward or rewind through them. The time displayed for the file gets all screwed up and sometimes the actual point you're at in the music file doesn't change at all. I think this is an extremely important issue for IAudio to address because variable bit rate encoding (such as the Lame --alt-preset encoding standards) is becoming more and more the de facto norm in mp3. I've read that this problem with seeking in VBR files may simply be due to the way that the U2 calculates the length of files, and that this problem could be easily addressed in a future firmware update. I hope this is the case, because not being able to scan through what may files are encoded as is unacceptable. If users have already gone to the trouble of ripping their collections in variable bit rate mp3, they should not have to go through the process again.
Another issue in usage is the fact that playback is not gapless. Now, there are only a handful of players in the market that actually do offer gapless playback out of the hundreds there are in the world. I appreciate that it is difficult for hardware manufacturers to make tiny hardware players provide playback as seamless as desktop PCs with more horsepower. But it's not just that there is a small moment of silence between tracks. There is also a faint but audible "tearing" noise heard whenever a new track loads up. This is something else IAudio has gotta fix, even if it's something that some may not even hear (depending on what kind of headphones they're using) or something that people might just get used to.
Sound Quality:
If there's one thing that's clear about this player, it's that its intended for knob twiddlers. In other words, people who really like being able to fiddle with sound until it satisfies whatever it is they want that minute. The customization options for sound on the U2 are quite extensive - the label on the player "color sound" is quite appropros in this sense
I threw on a pile of my favourite tracks that I've heard enough times to know what their sonic signature is like. Listening was done on the headphones that I use for portables - Shure E2C and Koss KSC-35.
Volume goes from 0-40, I found that 22 was typically what I settled on and that if certain EQ presets were used, you typically needed to use less overall volume because of the gain added from the EQ settings. Didn't try punching it up beyond 35 but didn't hear any distortion when I did.
I established a baseline sound by setting the EQ to "normal" and turning off all effects like BBE, Mach3Bass, MP3Enhance, 3D Surround. Then I played with the different settings to see what difference they made.
Overall, I'd say the one word to describe the basic presentation of the U2 is "balanced" - no particular aspect of the sound overshadows another. Mach3bass is obviously a bass boost, BBE seems to make things a bit clearer while MP3Enhance seems to make a noticeable difference in soundstaging of tracks. Couldn't really notice a meaningful effect from the 3D Surround feature, but maybe this was because I use canalphones. The group of settings that I settled on for typical use were Normal EQ, BBE set to 4, Mach3Bass set to 3, MP3Enhance turned on, 3D Surround turned off and volume set around 19-23. Soundstage seemed pretty good despite the fact that I was using canalphones, atmospheric effects in tracks perceptibly whipped around and outside channels. Kick drums have good solid impact, female vocals sounded good. The U2 can be both detailed and smooth - I noticed some details in tracks that I had forgotten about. Presentation leans more towards laid back and comfortable than analytical. I never really felt fatigued listening to music or that my ears needed a break.
More information on the BBE, Mach3Bass and MP3Enhance effects can be found at the developers site for those interested, although I'm sure simply playing around with the settings will probably appeal to more. There's also what appears to be an extensive write up on IAudio's Asian site.
Other Features:
The U2 also has an FM tuner and permits broadcasts to be recorded. It can do voice recordings as well as encode mp3's directly using the supplied line in cable. I don't really have an interest in these features, but I tested the line in recording feature for a friend who is a DJ and would like to use a flash player to record sets they perform. The U2 has an auto standby mode that automatically starts recording once an incoming signal is detected on the line in. Right now line in encoding is limited to 128 kbps - future firmware updates better allow for better bitrates. I don't think it would be unreasonable to allow for straight wave file recording on a 1GB player. I tried recording from the line out on a portable cd player, using a CD single. The resulting mp3 file sounded tinny and as though sounds were "swirling", but in all fairness this might just be a characteristic of the low bit rate. I heard some audible glitches as well, the kind you can get when ripping CD's in burst mode. I wouldn't use the U2 to encode anything mission critical or if you have picky ears. I don't think the quality of the U2's line in recorder is up to snuff with the best methods for ripping and encoding mp3s (e.g. EAC secure mode, encoding using --alt-presets). But who honestly expects a portable MP3 *player* to match up to the precision of that approach?
Summary:
Pros
- Sound: balanced, can be heavily customized
- Ease of Use: installation, file transfer, navigation, general usage
- Size: ridiculously small
- Bookmarking feature
- Superb retailer like Suntec making up for the lack of widespread distribution
Neutral
- Internal Battery: decent playback time, can be replaced inexpensively, charges quickly, but some users may prefer an AAA or AA based design
Cons
- Gaps during playback: both silence and faintly audible tearing is heard between tracks
- Variable Bit Rate files: play fine but can't fast forward or rewind through them, time calculated incorrectly
- Line-In Recording: currently limited to 128kbps
Future
- Absolutely necessary: Fix gaps during playback and VBR file issues!
- Strongly advised: allow Rec button to be remapped so it can be used for more oft-used functions (e.g. repeat, shuffle) than the current Loop feature
- Wishful thinking: FLAC and Cue file support. Admittedly, FLAC doesn't make much sense for the smaller capacity flash players, but the 1GB player could let users listen to a CD or two in lossless goodness. Other IAudio players (such as the M3) support FLAC, but perhaps this is a characteristic to the chipset used in that player. As for Cue files, they would give users true gapless playback if the pauses between files are an unavoidable evil with loading files on small flash devices ultimately limited in horsepower.
