Issues with imp450

[noddypate]

Hello all,
I am new to this group, though I have been lurking around for a while. Anyway I bought I recently bought the imp-450 and I have been playing around with it for a few days and here are some things annoying things I notice. I will appreciate it if someone can confirm this with me so that if there is a problem I can return it. I am using this with Grado SR-60 headphones (with the SR-80 etc thicker pads) .

1)
At times there is slight static while rapidly turning the volume up or down rapidly.

2)
There is slight static every once in a while ( about every minute or so) when playing audio CDs , this is especially audible when playing soft music such as classical piano music .

3) The motor noise is quite loud compared to my older ( 6 year sony portable CD player) and is audible of soft music

4) The equalizer settings ( only 2 bass & treble ) don't seem to show much difference even when I crank the bass up 18 db. Although the sound is quite good it seems a little lacking in midbass. I wonder if can/will be fixed inthe firmware by providing more equalizer settings with upto 18 db gain ??

Any opinions on whether using a headphone amp will improve the sound with the Grado 60's ??

I wonder if anyone else is experiencing similar issues or am I simply being a little too nitpicky ? I am still unsure whether I should keep this player and get another one in their series ??

 

[Scorpio(DDMF)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by noddypate I am new to this group, though I have been lurking around for a while. Anyway I bought I recently bought the imp-450 and I have been playing around with it for a few days and here are some things annoying things I notice. I will appreciate it if someone can confirm this with me so that if there is a problem I can return it. I am using this with Grado SR-60 headphones (with the SR-80 etc thicker pads) . 1) At times there is slight static while rapidly turning the volume up or down rapidly. 2) There is slight static every once in a while ( about every minute or so) when playing audio CDs , this is especially audible when playing soft music such as classical piano music . 3) The motor noise is quite loud compared to my older ( 6 year sony portable CD player) and is audible of soft music 4) The equalizer settings ( only 2 bass & treble ) don't seem to show much difference even when I crank the bass up 18 db. Although the sound is quite good it seems a little lacking in midbass. I wonder if can/will be fixed inthe firmware by providing more equalizer settings with upto 18 db gain ?? Any opinions on whether using a headphone amp will improve the sound with the Grado 60's ?? I wonder if anyone else is experiencing similar issues or am I simply being a little too nitpicky ? I am still unsure whether I should keep this player and get another one in their series ??

1) yes. that is normal... The static ocures everytime something moves on the LCD (like time changing, scrolling etc.)

2) yes. You can get rid of the static in two ways: either unplug the remote and plug your headphones directly to the unit, or set the lcd backlight to always on...

3) the motor is loud as hell... you'll get used to it...

4) the bass EQ-ing doesn't help much... imp IMHO lacks deep bass and lower midbass (compered to other players) but it's iRiver's sound signature...
Setting the bass boost to +3db with the bass cornering frequency at 200Hz can help a little...

Adding an amp can help a little with bass, and overall sound clarity, but it can't change the sound signature (I've tried)

Theese issues are characteristic for the iRiver players... (don't know about imp-900 dough)

Cheers...

P.S. I have the imp-400 (older brother of your player), but after hearing the rest of the bunch, I can safely say the above...

 

[noddypate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scorpio(DDMF) 1) yes. that is normal... The static ocures everytime something moves on the LCD (like time changing, scrolling etc.) 4) the bass EQ-ing doesn't help much... imp IMHO lacks deep bass and lower midbass (compered to other players) but it's iRiver's sound signature... Setting the bass boost to +3db with the bass cornering frequency at 200Hz can help a little...

Hi! Scorpio,
Thanks for your response. The imp -450 has only 2 eq settings, viz. bass which goes from 0 to 18 db & treble 0 to 6 db. Is there another setting that you are mentioning ? I already have the bass boost set to 18 db by the way. From what I hear the other players have more EQ settings ?

I like the sound iriver sound except that I would like more bass & mid bass.

Do you know of any other player which I should try out as well, which has as good or better sound quality ?

noddypate

 

[Lisa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scorpio(DDMF) 1) yes. that is normal... The static ocures everytime something moves on the LCD (like time changing, scrolling etc.) 2) yes. You can get rid of the static in two ways: either unplug the remote and plug your headphones directly to the unit, or set the lcd backlight to always on... 3) the motor is loud as hell... you'll get used to it... 4) the bass EQ-ing doesn't help much... imp IMHO lacks deep bass and lower midbass (compered to other players) but it's iRiver's sound signature... Setting the bass boost to +3db with the bass cornering frequency at 200Hz can help a little... Adding an amp can help a little with bass, and overall sound clarity, but it can't change the sound signature (I've tried) Theese issues are characteristic for the iRiver players... (don't know about imp-900 dough) Cheers... P.S. I have the imp-400 (older brother of your player), but after hearing the rest of the bunch, I can safely say the above...

I have the imp-150
And from my experiance with it i would say:

1) No, never noticed such a thing

2) No problem with that either

3) I would hardly call it loud. You can hear it in a quiet room with the music paused when you're quite close to it. 2 maybe 3 feet away with your ears and you have to listen for it.

4) I suspect that the imp-450 doen't have the corner freq. settings which the imp-150 does have and I suspect that that makes a difference. Imp-150's bass can be boosted nicely though, maybe not insanely so.

So I wouldn't say all iRiver player have these problems.

I wouldn't go and get an amp to solve these problems though. The line out of the imp-150 has less bass than the headphone out.

 

[Scorpio(DDMF)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa I have the imp-150 And from my experiance with it i would say: 1) No, never noticed such a thing 2) No problem with that either 3) I would hardly call it loud. You can hear it in a quiet room with the music paused when you're quite close to it. 2 maybe 3 feet away with your ears and you have to listen for it. 4) I suspect that the imp-450 doen't have the corner freq. settings which the imp-150 does have and I suspect that that makes a difference. Imp-150's bass can be boosted nicely though, maybe not insanely so. So I wouldn't say all iRiver player have these problems. I wouldn't go and get an amp to solve these problems though. The line out of the imp-150 has less bass than the headphone out.

Hi, I'll try to explain...

1), 2) you don't have a LCD on your remote, hence you won't expirience these problems...

3) Maybe I got a little over the top when I said "loud as hell" but it IS very loud...
I compered it to my old Philips Discman and Sony D-ne511, and Sony and Philips sounded like they were off next to iRiver...

I'll refrase my impressinons: These issues are characteristic for all imp's (don't know about imp-900 and imp's with LCD on the unit don't have problems 1) and 2))

Cheers

 

[Scorpio(DDMF)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by noddypate Hi! Scorpio, Thanks for your response. The imp -450 has only 2 eq settings, viz. bass which goes from 0 to 18 db & treble 0 to 6 db. Is there another setting that you are mentioning ? I already have the bass boost set to 18 db by the way. From what I hear the other players have more EQ settings ? I like the sound iriver sound except that I would like more bass & mid bass. Do you know of any other player which I should try out as well, which has as good or better sound quality ? noddypate

You shouldn't boost your bass to +18db, you'll get nothing more then a muddy bass (wich you don't wan't, do you

), +3-6db is a max to my ears (all after that is muddy)

If your player doesn't have "bass cornering frequency" under "User EQ"
I'm afraid that there isn't much you can do...

I don't know how hard (or easy) are Grados to drive, but if headphone out can't drive them well, maybe you should consider an amp...

As for other players, maybe you should listen to new Sony line, they've got a lot of praize around here...

I auditioned an last year model (don't remember the number), and it had a balanced, neutral sound (unlike iRiver's wich has slite coloration), but it's navigation is much worse than iRiver's...

Hope this helps ...

Cheers

 

[noddypate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scorpio(DDMF) You shouldn't boost your bass to +18db, you'll get nothing more then a muddy bass (wich you don't wan't, do you ), +3-6db is a max to my ears (all after that is muddy) If your player doesn't have "bass cornering frequency" under "User EQ" I'm afraid that there isn't much you can do... I don't know how hard (or easy) are Grados to drive, but if headphone out can't drive them well, maybe you should consider an amp... As for other players, maybe you should listen to new Sony line, they've got a lot of praize around here... I auditioned an last year model (don't remember the number), and it had a balanced, neutral sound (unlike iRiver's wich has slite coloration), but it's navigation is much worse than iRiver's... Hope this helps ... Cheers

Hello Scorpio et al.,
Once again thanks for your response. I tried unplugging the remote and using the headphones directly but the static is still there, it also doesn't change with keeping the LCD always ON or always OFF.

As far as the bass boost goes there isn't much of a difference with bass boost set all the way to 18db. In fact setting it to 18 db feels more like a 3db improvement at most. Also there are no adjustments for corner frequencies in the user EQ section. Maybe someone who has the imp 450 can please verify this as well. I think this could be fixed in firmware as I believe the EQ is done digitally.

The Grado SR-60 are 32 Ohm cans and aren't that hard to drive though at higher volumes there can be some distortion but I understand that considering the meagre power output.

Anyway at this point I am not sure if I should keep this player or not. But there just dont seem to be that many better alternatieves either. I am going go out and try the Sony Ne300 & nf400 to see if anything improves.

Thanks.
noddypate

 

[Big D]

Try the new firmware which was released today and see if that helps with any of the problems.

 

[noddypate]

Hi! I can't seem to find it iriveramerica website in the support section for imp-450. Where should I look ? Appreciate it.


noddypate

 

[noddypate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by noddypate Hi! I can't seem to find it iriveramerica website in the support section for imp-450. Where should I look ? Appreciate it. noddypate

Nevermind I found it

http://www.iriver.com/support/downlo...&p_name=&word=

I will try it out but form the description it doesn't look like they fixed any sound issues.

noddypate.

 

[450]

holy crap....

iRiver got 1.1 firmware to us!!!

I've been waiting FOREVER!!!
I wonder if it supports OGG and new eq...

 

[450]

pfft... I upgraded...

no biggie..

iRiver gives the 450 a firmware update AND IT STILL DOESNT HAVE A DECENT EQ OR OGG!!!

O well..

 

[bwoay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450 pfft... I upgraded... no biggie.. iRiver gives the 450 a firmware update AND IT STILL DOESNT HAVE A DECENT EQ OR OGG!!! O well..

but honestly, would you really be happy with the strongly limited ogg vorbis support the other iMP's have?
Have you ever tried vorbis playback on any of the iMP's?
believe me, it' no big deal.
it's limited in the bitrate, it's really far from being gapless,
and vorbis files are played back with much lower volume compared to mp3's.
So even though I have an iMP-550,
I'm waiting for REAL vorbis support almost just like you.