[HiWire]

There is a group of new iRiver players coming down the pipe... the 900 looks to be in the same class, but has a not-so-cool shape round on most sides, flat on one. But it's thin and light... wonder how it sounds. Check out the iRiver Europe site... nordic something or other. Don't know when they'll get here (North America).

 

[AnalyticChick]

Just took a look at that new IMP 900 and was highly impressed. If it is just an upgrade on the 550 with the same or better sound quality and sleeker lines, I am so there. I was also briefly considering the IMP 1000 as well, but as it has tons of features I'm not looking for in a cd player, I quickly lost interest.

In any case, I will probably hold off on getting a player until the 900 comes out and people around here/the Internet at large see how they like it. This way, I can have two "Wow" moments. Once when I switch from my Koss UR-20 to the Shure E5c (

) and the other when I upgrade my DEJ100 for either the IMP 550 or 900.

Besides, the 900 is coming out in May/June, right? Thus a month of two shouldn't be that bad...

 

[Welly Wu]

I too am curious about the new iRiver IMP family of offerings. I would like to know more detailed specifications regarding their IMP-1000 / 1100 multi-codec CD players. I want to know how long is the battery life, whether it will take an external battery pod, and MPEG4 format. I find that Ahead NERO's implementation of the AAC+ format to be tuneful to my ears and acceptable for portable usage. I posted a thread about building a portable audio system but nobody is giving me any solid information as of yet.

 

[HiWire]

I'm out of the game until they build an SACD player of the same dimensions. Right now, I just don't see the point of spending the $$$. I'll listen to a cassette walkman on the subway, if need be. Now to find a decent cassette recorder

I've decided to keep my portable Panasonic CD player at home to prolong it's life... leaving me with a tape "walkman" and a crappy LG MP3 player (free from my company - I scavenged 2 16MB MMC cards from it for my Palm

 

[fenk]

imp-900?Its external battery pack is too big,containing 4 AA batteries.....I've bought it in Beijing Iriver zone.You can also buy it online.So far there is just these ways you can get it in china.....There is only a little progress in the battery lifes.And the sound is more clearly than before....No more.I think.

 

[Xoton]

I've got the red imp-400...it is awesome...don't know if you can still find them or not. I did as much research as I could, and went with the 400 over the 550, because I was under the impression the laser was getting "weaker" with each upgrade -- perhaps to preserve battery life.

I will say that I had an old Panasonic or Philips, it sounded nice...but upgrading to the IMP was way, way, way worth it. I was really surprised it was as significant as it was. MUCH cleaner...neutral...just much higher res.

I went with the IMP basically because it had a clean, dedicated LINE-OUT, so I could invest in an amp down the line. But I got much more...such an upgrade!! I too was holding out for something like a DVD-A that did HDCD and all the works...but to no avail...the ones I did find were getting up around $500. Ouch. It's just too new of a technology...so the $150 Iriver won-out and I couldn't be happier!

So now I've got IMP400-->SR-71 amp-->ER-4S headphones. It is absolutely incredible. I don't mess around with compressed files neither...give me CD fidelity or give me death. Actually I'm ready for DVD-A fidelity but you know...soon...

 

[Stoney]

I use the SlimX iMP-550 when I want a disk player. I find that it drives my Grado SR-125s pretty well for not using an external amplifier. I like to play CDs sometimes because my collection is huge and will never all be imported into iTunes. I recently got an iPod Mini, mostly motivated by need for something light and small at the gym. It has taken over most but not all of my listening, just because the random access to tracks is so easy.

One caveat: there are different firmwares available for the unit. Here is what I wrote about a problem I found with later firmwares. Not sure if it applies to the very latest, but check it out:

Head-Fi - iMP-550: Beware of firmware v1.20. Use 1.10 instead....

 

[fenk]

The new fireware of imp550 is V1.80(Korean)
I suggest you to use V1.70.
http://www.iriver.com/html/support/d...pSearchString=

 

[fenk]

Oh.The sound of imp400 is too bright....I think.But why not let imp900 drive HD600 directly(Sorry for my poor English.I'm not sure whether my sentence is right.)?It seem that its output is really powerful!!Although you don't use the amplifier.It can also bring you the large sound field and more detail...I don't mind the weak bass and low intermediate frequency performence in this HD600's system because it's all the walkman's undoing...

 

[450]

Get the iMP-450 (yes, I have that).

I tried the 50, 350, 400, and 550. The 450 uses the inards of the 550 minus the optical out and extreme eq.

I personally liked the sound of both but the 450 seemed better in contruction and the sound was somewhat fuller. The iMP's are generally warm sounding players so if you came from an HD based MP3 player and liked the sound...you may not like the change (some do though).