Taphil
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2002
- Posts
- 742
- Likes
- 10
It took less than 2 hours to fully charge the shuffle, probably because the battery was already full out of the box. I managed to get 251 songs on there. The acutal size of the "1G" is like 992MB, which is very close.
As for sound quality....."good enough" pretty much sums it up. The volume is fine, can go loud enough to damage your hearing. It doesn't match up to the iPod Photo, but it's more than acceptable for use as a workout mp3 player, for riding on the bus/subway, or even as Joe Schmoe's only mp3 player.
I think the main problem I'm having is transcoding, since the shuffle uses the SigmaTel chip found in several other mp3 players. I thought that with cheap Senn MX400 there wouldn't be much of a difference between AAC 128kbps and LAME APE/Nero AAC 192kbps (both of which sound the same as WAV to me when testing with iPod line out, META42, HD600), but that's not true. Well to be more precise, I don't think transcoding is the problem, but rather 128kbps AAC. I think there's a big loss in quality using 128, whether it's transcoding from 256 or from the original WAV. Bass is noticably muddy, and trebble is missing at 128kbps AAC.
I'm leery of pursuing the matter further because it took like 2 hours for iTunes to transcode and transfer everything to the shuffle on my 3.0GHz P4 with HT PC. Also, I don't want to manage two sets of files (one for the shuffle, the other for my iPods/computer) if I were to go from WAV to 160kbps LAME (I would choose Nero AAC 160kbps but apparently Nero AAC doesn't work on the shuffle???).
Now here's the interesting part. If I compare iTMS tracks I bought on the iPod Photo and shuffle (in other words, I'm actually comparing the same exact file), the shuffle seems to have better bass at times, in terms of both being refined and feeling "powerful". Maybe that's why 128kbps AAC sounds muddy to me. Dare I say it sounds more like a Creative player
?
Bottom line: audio quality shouldn't at all be an issue when considering this mp3 player and others in its class because (1) they should all sound the same without EQ sine they use the same chip and (2) the quality is very good.
Now....onto the AUDIO DEFECT! This one doesn't actually affect music while it's playing though, which is a relief. When FF or RW a song and in between songs, you can here a very quiet but audible "weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee bllllllippppppppp" before the song starts playing. And of course, just like the infamous 4G iPod audio defect, I can't hear it using Apple's earbuds. And screw anyone who says they can fix the problem with tape around the audio jack - the shuffle has no metal to touch the headphone jack. My guess is that they know about these problems but dismiss it because they test with the Apple earbuds and because most people won't notice it. I was pissed off at the 4G defect because I could hear it while music was playing. But this problem doesn't affect the music at all, so I have no issues with it.
OTHER COMMENTS:
- The $99 USB cap was a joke, since the only place as of this moment to get a cap is off another shuffle.
- If Apple made the shuffle twice as thick, allowing them to add a 2 line white backlit LCD and 24 hour battery life, I would have certainly bought it for an extra $20.
- When FF and RW through a track by pressing down either button, you hear clips of the song to guide you.
- If you read about people saying the shuffle sounds as good as or better than the iPod, don't be doubtful, it's quite possible.
- If Apple allowed transcoding to 160kbps AAC, my post would have been much shorter with less complaining, damn it.
- Don't bother with high-end headphones like the Senn HD600 - it's very shrill.
- Since I have yet to see any pics comparing it to an actual Bic (well Scripto, but same thing) lighter...
Oh, and that lighter is about 1mm thicker than the shuffle!
As for sound quality....."good enough" pretty much sums it up. The volume is fine, can go loud enough to damage your hearing. It doesn't match up to the iPod Photo, but it's more than acceptable for use as a workout mp3 player, for riding on the bus/subway, or even as Joe Schmoe's only mp3 player.
I think the main problem I'm having is transcoding, since the shuffle uses the SigmaTel chip found in several other mp3 players. I thought that with cheap Senn MX400 there wouldn't be much of a difference between AAC 128kbps and LAME APE/Nero AAC 192kbps (both of which sound the same as WAV to me when testing with iPod line out, META42, HD600), but that's not true. Well to be more precise, I don't think transcoding is the problem, but rather 128kbps AAC. I think there's a big loss in quality using 128, whether it's transcoding from 256 or from the original WAV. Bass is noticably muddy, and trebble is missing at 128kbps AAC.
I'm leery of pursuing the matter further because it took like 2 hours for iTunes to transcode and transfer everything to the shuffle on my 3.0GHz P4 with HT PC. Also, I don't want to manage two sets of files (one for the shuffle, the other for my iPods/computer) if I were to go from WAV to 160kbps LAME (I would choose Nero AAC 160kbps but apparently Nero AAC doesn't work on the shuffle???).
Now here's the interesting part. If I compare iTMS tracks I bought on the iPod Photo and shuffle (in other words, I'm actually comparing the same exact file), the shuffle seems to have better bass at times, in terms of both being refined and feeling "powerful". Maybe that's why 128kbps AAC sounds muddy to me. Dare I say it sounds more like a Creative player
Bottom line: audio quality shouldn't at all be an issue when considering this mp3 player and others in its class because (1) they should all sound the same without EQ sine they use the same chip and (2) the quality is very good.
Now....onto the AUDIO DEFECT! This one doesn't actually affect music while it's playing though, which is a relief. When FF or RW a song and in between songs, you can here a very quiet but audible "weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee bllllllippppppppp" before the song starts playing. And of course, just like the infamous 4G iPod audio defect, I can't hear it using Apple's earbuds. And screw anyone who says they can fix the problem with tape around the audio jack - the shuffle has no metal to touch the headphone jack. My guess is that they know about these problems but dismiss it because they test with the Apple earbuds and because most people won't notice it. I was pissed off at the 4G defect because I could hear it while music was playing. But this problem doesn't affect the music at all, so I have no issues with it.
OTHER COMMENTS:
- The $99 USB cap was a joke, since the only place as of this moment to get a cap is off another shuffle.
- If Apple made the shuffle twice as thick, allowing them to add a 2 line white backlit LCD and 24 hour battery life, I would have certainly bought it for an extra $20.
- When FF and RW through a track by pressing down either button, you hear clips of the song to guide you.
- If you read about people saying the shuffle sounds as good as or better than the iPod, don't be doubtful, it's quite possible.
- If Apple allowed transcoding to 160kbps AAC, my post would have been much shorter with less complaining, damn it.
- Don't bother with high-end headphones like the Senn HD600 - it's very shrill.
- Since I have yet to see any pics comparing it to an actual Bic (well Scripto, but same thing) lighter...
Oh, and that lighter is about 1mm thicker than the shuffle!
