[CrawlingEye]

I just got my Karma today from Wal-mart's site. It came quite quickly. I was told on my online receipt that it wouldn't be here until between the 11th and the 18th. Despite this, it came on the 9th, to my delight.

After charging it for 5 hours and anxiously waiting to tinker, I flashed the firmware to the latest 1.25 version, as I've heard the random crash and lockup problems with the initial firmware. So far, I've experienced none of these such problems.

The weight of the Karma itself is very light, it feels comparable to holding an empty soda can, you can feel the mass (which isn't big at all) but there's next to no weight to go with it.

Just something I'd like to comment on is this: I do see the points that have been raised with the bag it comes with, it seems rather useless, but I do see a purpose in it. It seems it would make for a very good companion to the Karma to prevent scratches from finding their way on the screen. I don't exactly intend on dropping my Karma, so I'll be content with that much protection for now.

The mx300 headphones sounded quite nice to my ears, but simply wouldn't stay in them. I have this problem all too often with earbuds, so I'm using my HD 212 Pro's for them, until I can get a better set of cans, which I'm still deciding on.

The layout is very user-friendly. Hell, I figured it out with just the knowledge of where the menu button was. Flashing the firmware was a breeze as well.

So far, I'm very pleased with the sound quality but am waiting to get a better set of cans to give a full-fledged opinion committed.

The included software, 'Rio Music Manager' works very well and is easy to use. Between screens I've found no real lag, the most lag I've found is either when clicking a song on, which I'd assume can be accredited to the hard drive spinning up to load the song into the buffer or when first starting it up, which again I'd assume would be the hard drive spinning up.

Just some of my personal opinions on it, after receiving it a day ago and getting to tinker for a night. (7:30pm until 2:30am)

I'd like to thank a lot of the people who've posted their thoughts on this player, I'm very happy with it. I doubt that without any of the reviews I've read here, I'd be this happy with an mp3 player.

 

[Edvard_Grieg]

Glad to hear you like it, if you want to keep upto date on all the latest info come join us at riovolution.com (geez I feel like i'm pimping a cult

)

Anyway, the screen does scratch easily, so look into a PDA screen protector etc as that is a cheap easy way to protect it. Also, most of the Gameboy Advance SP cases work VERY well for holding the Karma and protecting it.

 

[gsferrari]

Good going there!!!

Im VERY pleased with my Karma too...gonna be taking it to India on two 10 hour flights...lets see if it holds up with maybe a little charging in London...

I'm used to the pouch now, keep the karma in the pouch and then in my pocket and i can control it just by feel...not bad at all...

I would love to have a remote control though. In a $300.00 player you should include a remote control

however minimal its functionality...


But thats ok - I can live with it...

 

[Leland]

Do you need an ipod babysitter while you're gone?

Glad you like the purchase - I have $100 to spend at amazon by the end of the year and I think (part of) an mp3 player should be high on my list...

At least it seems that I can't really go wrong, but I can always spend more money.

 

[Jodiuh]

I'm playing with the Karma right now too. The ui's just wondeful, it seems to be much more intuitive than the zen xtra I had. Just a couple of bummers for me tho. You can't view music by artist-->all tracks, you have to view them by album. Also the rio software just bugs me. I want to be able to highlight the artist in one pane and see the titles in the other...booo! These are fairly lame tho, as the player just rocks.

*hops on the riovolution bus*

 

[CrawlingEye]

Thanks for the tip with the gameboy case. I think I'm going to get one of them, as they're only $9 at BestBuy. It seems that not only should it hold the Karma, but it should be able to hold a pair of headphones, too.

gs: I think the remote isn't very useful, as I'm quite fine with just using the Karma. For the price though, I think it has many other useful features that most other DAP's don't have, like the fully parametric EQ and the network capability.

 

[gsferrari]

True...im lovin it!!

Im trying to figure out the perfect settings for the param EQ - some googling seems to be helping in this respect because the "Width" functions seems to be an error in nomenclature IMHO...

check it out and if you find a sweetspot please post the details (numbers for band, frequency, channel width)

THANKS!! I'll work on the same and post about it...

 

[paddler57]

Quote:

Originally posted by CrawlingEye Thanks for the tip with the gameboy case. I think I'm going to get one of them, as they're only $9 at BestBuy. It seems that not only should it hold the Karma, but it should be able to hold a pair of headphones, too.

If you're looking at the game boy cases, try this one from compusa. It's a bodyglove/fellowes case. It's only $5 and I found it more roomy but just as compact as the gameboy models (i have about 5 different cases I've tried with the karma) The gameboy case is very stiff and the little extra pouch barely fit the senns that came with it. The fellowes outside pouch easily stores Shures or Ety's without being squished in there. It also has a belt clip, not the greatest but better than the loops on the game boy case.

 

[mdmania]

I used Sony Armband with my Karma when I go for a run.
I know I'm not supposed to run with HD base player but so far I had been fortunate. I'm glad you like the Karma. I still love mine up to this days since I had it for a month and a half ago.

 

[paddler57]

do you like the sony armband? I played around with it at best buy and just thought it was stiff and bulky compared to the tunebelt armband. it's all neoprene. very stretchy and form fitting.