NightWoundsTime
A nice hunk of young man
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2004
- Posts
- 2,551
- Likes
- 12
Sold some gear recently and got the itch for a portable rig. I didn't want an amp this time around since it will be going in a truck with me justabout every day. Don't worry, not using it while driving, just for downtimes during the day where all I can do is wait. Also for deliveries where I park in one spot and pull cases for a few hours at a time, a few tunes to propel the heavy labor will hit the spot.
I also decided that since video is the hot new thing I might as well get something capable of it. So my choices? Well for something I could buy locally I pretty much had iPod, Zune, and the Creative Zen Vision:M. Owned an iPod once already. Nothing particularly wrong with it but I wanted to try something different. As far as Microsoft's player I think I'll give them a few generations to mature. So the Creative looked like my choice. Of course the downside to any of these choices is that they don't play FLAC's, my file format of choice for the hundreds of gigs already on my machine. Oh well, conversion in Foobar isn't hard, just set it up overnight and I can fit a lot more on the player anyway.
I also wanted some IEM's without breaking the bank, so what better than the much talked about JVC Marshmallows?
So what do I think of the Zen? I think it's awesome, that's what. Other than the standard complaints that I pretty much already knew about going in (touch pad sensitivity is through the roof), I'm really happy with my choice. Sound quality right now is truly great. So glad it has a customizable EQ so I can pretty much tune any music to sound good with the JVC's. The video quality is superb. I loaded on some 24 and Ali G, and the contrast and motion are far better than I expected. I love that it takes pretty much any crazy file type and runs with it (my Ali G downloaded episodes were pretty old school, I can only run them on VLC on my machine with every imaginable codec installed, so it's really saying something that the Zen can decode them perfectly).
Sound quality unamped to the JVC's is just a tiny bit hollow but very satisfying. It has a thump factor (with a bit of EQ'ing) that is exactly what I wanted. Thinking back to my iPod Mini, SR-71, and E4C's I really don't miss the slight performance upgrade, especially when you consider the bulkiness of the DAP and amp strapped together. That combo was a bit more analytical anyway, I rarely ever hit a "groove" while walking around with them. These easily put a bounce in my step, and I've cleaned my whole house this afternoon since I brought this stuff home.
That said the downside of the combo is that I find a narrow range of volume where it sounds really good. I usually turn up a song in the beginning before things get fired up, because of a perceived weakness in the sound, only to find that it's blowing me out halfway through. With the volume being so hard to adjust when it's on my hip and locked it's a royal pain. I'll learn soon enough where to leave it for a song that "builds" and that will settle that.
Closing arguments? I like it, and I'm glad to be back among the portaphiles.
I also decided that since video is the hot new thing I might as well get something capable of it. So my choices? Well for something I could buy locally I pretty much had iPod, Zune, and the Creative Zen Vision:M. Owned an iPod once already. Nothing particularly wrong with it but I wanted to try something different. As far as Microsoft's player I think I'll give them a few generations to mature. So the Creative looked like my choice. Of course the downside to any of these choices is that they don't play FLAC's, my file format of choice for the hundreds of gigs already on my machine. Oh well, conversion in Foobar isn't hard, just set it up overnight and I can fit a lot more on the player anyway.
I also wanted some IEM's without breaking the bank, so what better than the much talked about JVC Marshmallows?
So what do I think of the Zen? I think it's awesome, that's what. Other than the standard complaints that I pretty much already knew about going in (touch pad sensitivity is through the roof), I'm really happy with my choice. Sound quality right now is truly great. So glad it has a customizable EQ so I can pretty much tune any music to sound good with the JVC's. The video quality is superb. I loaded on some 24 and Ali G, and the contrast and motion are far better than I expected. I love that it takes pretty much any crazy file type and runs with it (my Ali G downloaded episodes were pretty old school, I can only run them on VLC on my machine with every imaginable codec installed, so it's really saying something that the Zen can decode them perfectly).
Sound quality unamped to the JVC's is just a tiny bit hollow but very satisfying. It has a thump factor (with a bit of EQ'ing) that is exactly what I wanted. Thinking back to my iPod Mini, SR-71, and E4C's I really don't miss the slight performance upgrade, especially when you consider the bulkiness of the DAP and amp strapped together. That combo was a bit more analytical anyway, I rarely ever hit a "groove" while walking around with them. These easily put a bounce in my step, and I've cleaned my whole house this afternoon since I brought this stuff home.
That said the downside of the combo is that I find a narrow range of volume where it sounds really good. I usually turn up a song in the beginning before things get fired up, because of a perceived weakness in the sound, only to find that it's blowing me out halfway through. With the volume being so hard to adjust when it's on my hip and locked it's a royal pain. I'll learn soon enough where to leave it for a song that "builds" and that will settle that.
Closing arguments? I like it, and I'm glad to be back among the portaphiles.
