Patrick
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2001
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This report is my initial impression of the iRiver SlimX iMP-350. It is just that - a brief initial reaction. It is not intended to be an attack on the iRiver product nor on the iRiver people in CA who are working to create a brand name and high quality products - much like the Japanese 35 years ago. In my view, they will get there. The may not be there yet but I am not the market.
In any case, unfortunately, I am not knowledgeable enough to give a comprehensive report because I have not previously owned a portable CD player nor owned a headset. I am just getting into this - a set of headphones has been ordered from Jan Meier (Beyerdynamic DT831) and an amp has been ordered from JMT. My initial intended use (for the iRiver SlimX iMP-350) is on a coming trip to Asia that involves 30 hours of flight and layovers in each direction. My background includes an early period of professional music - woodwinds for me - and I have over 6,000 MP3 items.
The 2 iRiver SlimX iMP-350s that were ordered from iRiver last week arrived yesterday. They were ordered with overnight delivery and came in 2 days because someone placed the wrong ZIP code on the label - in Washington, DC at this time, screwed up letter and package labels are not a good idea.
THE PACKAGE:The CD player is thin. Also, it has the appearance and feel of cheap plastic although the case seems to be some kind of light tin. It does not radiate quality. It does include a lot of pieces. The many pieces that must be attached (keep in mind I have no experience with this stuff) make me desire an all-in-one piece. That is, here we have the AA battery holder in a case that must be plugged into the port where the external AC/DC charger goes. The control piece (with a very small LCD screen) is plugged into another port. The earphones are plugged into the end of the remote.
THE MANUAL AND THE OPERATION:The manual reminds me of the early Japanese manuals, i.e., an obviously translated piece with odd use of symbols and English. More troubling is the fact that a good number of the operations described in the manual do not work on the CD player in the same manner. For example, there are six buttons on the remote that push and slide in every combination you can imagine. The problem is that the sequence of pushing and sliding is not the same as what is indicated in the manual. Obviously, many of the operations are still a mystery. The player itself has a total of seven buttons that must be manipulated. Another example is I have not found any mention in the manual of how you actually turn this thing on - and you do need to discover how to turn it on or it goes back to the vendor with a “it does not work” message. I accidentally got it to turn on with a push of an unknown button on the CD player. The LCD screen is simply too small and for me, it should be on the CD player. The FM radio suffers from a weak signal received from the antenna that is in the remote - if you move it around you may receive stereo from the NPR station that is 3 miles from our home. There is a mono mod that helps. The presets are still a mystery - manual of no help.
PERFORMANCE: The thing actually works. The sound on the included earphones seems great to me but remember, I am not knowledgeable enough to evaluate the sound in comparison to any other CD player. It does play the MP3s. It is my guess that all the functions are here but the manual is not completely forthcoming.
CONCLUSION: This will work for me, at least on the trip to Asia. It will be interesting to see the reaction of my 17 year old daughter when she opens the 2nd iRiver SlimX iMP-350 on Christmas morning will she say “what junk” or will she find it neat?
QUESTION: Does anyone have another MP3 playing, FM, AA battery CD Player idea that has most all of the controls built into the main unit? What is the best - yes, I know that is subjective!
Thanks for any comments
In any case, unfortunately, I am not knowledgeable enough to give a comprehensive report because I have not previously owned a portable CD player nor owned a headset. I am just getting into this - a set of headphones has been ordered from Jan Meier (Beyerdynamic DT831) and an amp has been ordered from JMT. My initial intended use (for the iRiver SlimX iMP-350) is on a coming trip to Asia that involves 30 hours of flight and layovers in each direction. My background includes an early period of professional music - woodwinds for me - and I have over 6,000 MP3 items.
The 2 iRiver SlimX iMP-350s that were ordered from iRiver last week arrived yesterday. They were ordered with overnight delivery and came in 2 days because someone placed the wrong ZIP code on the label - in Washington, DC at this time, screwed up letter and package labels are not a good idea.
THE PACKAGE:The CD player is thin. Also, it has the appearance and feel of cheap plastic although the case seems to be some kind of light tin. It does not radiate quality. It does include a lot of pieces. The many pieces that must be attached (keep in mind I have no experience with this stuff) make me desire an all-in-one piece. That is, here we have the AA battery holder in a case that must be plugged into the port where the external AC/DC charger goes. The control piece (with a very small LCD screen) is plugged into another port. The earphones are plugged into the end of the remote.
THE MANUAL AND THE OPERATION:The manual reminds me of the early Japanese manuals, i.e., an obviously translated piece with odd use of symbols and English. More troubling is the fact that a good number of the operations described in the manual do not work on the CD player in the same manner. For example, there are six buttons on the remote that push and slide in every combination you can imagine. The problem is that the sequence of pushing and sliding is not the same as what is indicated in the manual. Obviously, many of the operations are still a mystery. The player itself has a total of seven buttons that must be manipulated. Another example is I have not found any mention in the manual of how you actually turn this thing on - and you do need to discover how to turn it on or it goes back to the vendor with a “it does not work” message. I accidentally got it to turn on with a push of an unknown button on the CD player. The LCD screen is simply too small and for me, it should be on the CD player. The FM radio suffers from a weak signal received from the antenna that is in the remote - if you move it around you may receive stereo from the NPR station that is 3 miles from our home. There is a mono mod that helps. The presets are still a mystery - manual of no help.
PERFORMANCE: The thing actually works. The sound on the included earphones seems great to me but remember, I am not knowledgeable enough to evaluate the sound in comparison to any other CD player. It does play the MP3s. It is my guess that all the functions are here but the manual is not completely forthcoming.
CONCLUSION: This will work for me, at least on the trip to Asia. It will be interesting to see the reaction of my 17 year old daughter when she opens the 2nd iRiver SlimX iMP-350 on Christmas morning will she say “what junk” or will she find it neat?
QUESTION: Does anyone have another MP3 playing, FM, AA battery CD Player idea that has most all of the controls built into the main unit? What is the best - yes, I know that is subjective!
Thanks for any comments
