[Ryan1524]

hi everyone. i've veen waiting for the imp550 to hit my local store and now it has. i was ready to run out and get it, until i read many psots in many different forums regarding the imp-550.
many complains about it's weak laser and other defects caused by it (skips, difficulty reading certain medias, etc etc)

i had high expectations for the 550 sicne the 350 and 400 was great players, or so i was told. now my question is, is it worth it? is the 550 a good buy? should i buy the 400 instead? or wait a few months until a firmware update fixes the problem. (althou i doubt it will becasue of the nature of the problem - weak laser - can't be repaired by a software upgrade)

i'll be using the player on the road. mostly when i'm walking to/fro places (school) or maybe in the car, but for certain it won't be a desk player. it IS a portable, right?

any comments are appreciated. thx.

 

[D-EJ915]

if you can live with the pathetic battery life, then go for it, otherwise I'd go with something else.

 

[Ryan1524]

i thought battery life was the least of the the 550's problems. more to the con list now.

i did reas something like a 7-9 hours...hm...out of the said 55 that does sound horrible.

 

[Thasp]

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=43174

It's a worthless piece of ****.

I can't let it out of the house. With MP3s, it takes long times to load sometimes, and walking with it, with audio CDs, is simply useless. It won't work for one whole song, ever.

The laser is weak as ****. Many have confirmed this. It's just too weak. I don't know if the firmware upgrades CAN fix this or if it's just a hardware problem, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's a very expensive ****, I'd recommend a Panasonic SL-CT800 in its place, I'll be reviewing it against the iMP-550 in a few days.

I've tried the other iMPs too; the 400, 350, 250, their skip protection is from above average(250), to mediocore(350, 400), to just plain **** with the 550. Panasonic is best with me. You'll hear people go "my 350 never skips", but I doubt they use it as hard as I did to mine, and my panasonic(the $50 model I had).

 

[Ryan1524]

i used to have the SL-CT780. it was the best PCDP i ever had. until i sorta lost it. (long story) but yea, it was a great player.


if the IMP-550 is unreccommended, what would best take its place? the CT800 seems like a nice player, but it doesn't supposrt playlists and there's no FM tuner in it. would the 400 be a good idea?

 

[Haoleb]

Well, i cant say for the 550 but i really like my 400. which JandR has for 150 i believe. Some complain about battery life, if you want more use the extra battery attachment. I think it lasts long enough just charge it up every night if ya hafta. It doesnt last as long with redbook cds as it does with mp3 cds but i ripped all my fave cds and made mp3 cds out of them anyway for conveninence.

 

[zeplin]

hello ryan,
i love my imp 350 because it is among the best that is out there right now. i am comparing it to equally priced pcdp sony's and the older vintage sony's (D-350), which is the best portable sound quality you can get. of course you'll have people who don't like it, but there are A LOT more people around here that do like it. and of course it's not going to be audiophile quality, but it is worth the price. also, it's going to have its slight shortcomings (every single pcdp does and probably always will), but until someone shows me the absolute PERFECT pcdp, the iRiver is perfectly fine. if you can charge it every day...which i do because i use it for home use too, by this i mean i simply charge it while listening at home because you can do both at the same time. i guess if you need it for 80 hrs and beyond without the resources to be able to charge it, go for something else, but there is nothing wrong with the player and you should have zero problems with it, especially if you're just going to be walking at most. plus, if you end up not liking it, then sell it here in the FS forums...it will sell pretty fast! i think you should go for it, but that's just me and i know other people will get "mad" at me for saying it is a great player.

good luck ryan in your search

 

[Ryan1524]

hi Zeplin. thx for the advice.

a question. were you talking about your 350 or were you commenting on the 550? you mentioned your 350, but then you said you can charge it WHILE listening, which is only available in the 550. so...which one??

thx.

 

[bangraman]

The 550 is an improvement (although not sonically where it's the same) on the 400 which I had for a while and the 350 which I tried for a bit. It is as slow (and as excellently compatible with various MP3's and disc formats) as the 400 in reading CD's at first when you power it on. I was expecting a smaller 400 and that's exactly what I got. I'm not unhappy.


There is one odd thing I have noticed which must be buffer related: I had it burning in for a long time (MP3 CD-RW, shuffle) and I could hear the sound escaping from the phones, and I noticed breaks in the sound. I noticed it a couple of times during the 2 or so hours I spent near the 550.

 

[Jens123]

question:
I looked at the Pana SL-CT 700 and 800 at my local store and decided not to buy one of those as they looked so fragile to me; in europe you can get those players at very good prices but I have the feeling the CT 700 or 800 won´t last, but I might be wrong as things aren´s allways as they seem...
so you think I should prefer that pana mp3 cd players over that iriver 550 - I never saw a 550 but I allways thought that this was the best unit to get

what about the new sony ej-1 MP3 CD-player - this should have better sound than the 1000, 2000 series?
many thanx

 

[Ryan1524]

Pana Cd players that i've tried before, the CT 780 was quite good in sound quality and skip protection. i tried shaking it as hard and as long as i could until i gave up and still no skip. and this was playing audio CDs. the built quality is quite excellent. the unit was built with the usual hard plastic bottom and magnesium alloy top. which reenforces the unit greatly. i expect similar quality from new units. can i?

@bangraman - do you mean the player was sitting still and there were skips and stutters in the audio??

some people have mentioned that they exchanged their units who used to skip a lot with newer ones (iriver support forum - can't remember which thread exactly). the new units are superb and doesn't skip once in a blue moon. could this mean manufacturing improvements?


so what do we know so far about the 550?

-antishock good enough for walking - some people even jogging or biking
-batt life up to 9 hours wihtout external
-sound quality pretty much the same with 400 and 350

sound right?



the more i read up about the problem the more confused i get. for the number of peopel who says that it's crap, same number or more say that it's a great player. if it's just bad luck for those peopel who got 'defective' units...how come there are so many? or does the usual theory of the happy people will never chime in applies here?

 

[Jens123]

I know that Pana SL-CT 780 and as far as I remember it is much more heavier built that the CL-CT 800 but ask the profs here - they will know it better than me

 

[hlopato]

I have had the 550 for several weeks now. I have found it to be an excellent player for both sonics and convenience. I walk with it a lot and it seems to be fine for moderate activity. I use the line out with a headphone amp and it sounds great. I certainly like all of the features and the ability to upgrade the software.

Overall I would be it a grade of A-.

 

[Thasp]

I'll speak with for bursts in the sound.

1) Only with Audio CDs.

2) It'd have little bursts of static, as if it was about to skip. Rarely, only when it was sitting down, but sometimes when I was walking with it.

3) It's impossible to walk long lengths with this thing with Audio CDs. You'll hear the static bursts, then skipping, then you'll just have to put it down on a flat surface for 30 seconds 'til it decides to start up again.

4) My "defective" unit was replaced twice. That's three, you heard it, THREE "defective" units.

5) For me, they all got worse as I burned them in. They were ok when I got them(just ok), less than ok after two weeks, and unusable by three weeks. I use mine almost every second of the day 'cept when I'm sleeping, so I expect a lot from it...

 

[blr]

Mine has a similar problem with audio CDRs and even with some pressed discs.
I'm still waiting to hear fro iRiver on this but I'll be bringing my unit back for a repair/exchange.