[Kestrel]

Yes - battery life drops as fidelity increases on the ipod...

D;

 

[HeadKase]

[size=small]Disaster has struck![/size]

Working out at the gym today and I noticed the HD5 kept turning itself off (the hold button was engaged so it wasn't me). The last time this happened the unit didn't turn off but just froze. No button could bring it back to life. I guess i'll have to wait for the battery to die and see what happens after recharging. But it looks like the dreaded hard disk crash.

Maybe B&H will take it back, but I honestly don't know what to trade it for. I loved the sound quality, battery life, navigation, etc. Nooooooooooo!

 

[Andresin]

HeadKase, you are so rich. I'm so impressed.

 

[PodMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadKase I tend to get closer to 16 hours with my 256K files. Does the IPOD work this way also on uncompressed or less compressed files? And unfortunately yes I can tell the different between 192K and 256K. 192K is pretty darned good, but 256K is better. Drats.

what, only 16 hours? that is like 2/5 the rated 40hours. The ipod takes a hit when using higher bitrate files but I dont think it takes _that_ much of a hit playing 256kbps. Pretty ridiculous that sony rates the max songs and battery life of their hard drive players based on 48kbps files.

 

[Emmanuel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PodMan what, only 16 hours? that is like 2/5 the rated 40hours. The ipod takes a hit when using higher bitrate files but I dont think it takes _that_ much of a hit playing 256kbps. Pretty ridiculous that sony rates the max songs and battery life of their hard drive players based on 48kbps files.

Hmmm...

My mate's 20GB iPod Colour battery life drops to 8 hours (from the quoted 15) when playing MP3 at 192KHz. He got it new.

My HD5 lasts around 30 hours with ATRAC3+ @ 256 driving a set of B&O A8s at mid volume (EU limit unlocked).

Edit: And let's not forget what happened last year with Apple's misleading quotations (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3477497.stm)

 

[Sparky191]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadKase Hmm, no replies - are the Sony's out of favor on this board? One bit of update, I've played some with the EQ and various settings. The bass can be copius and the sound easily changed rather dramatically. Overall I still prefer the flat setting, but also other EQ settings for pop/electronic etc music or thin recordings. Been listening constantly and still love this thing. Any other HD5 users out there?

Thanks for the review, appreciate the time and effort. Not to detract from that, but its hard to comment on a review which is based on an experience of one player only. You've simply nothing to compare it against. I think to evaluate a player you need back to back listening tests, and usability test between a couple of players. Thats my 2 cents anyway.

Most people who have the Sony HD players seem to be resonably happy with the sound and Sonic Stage isn't the bugfest it used to be. 3.2 seems to be greatly improved. But it doesn't have the advanced playlists of the iTunes + iPod combo. The form factor of Sonys device is great, the HD5 seems a little cheaper built than the HD3 IMO, but it is smaller. I still can't understand why theres no FM radio on it though. But Sony have also no radios on their latest HiMD players either, or on most of their flash players. If the HD5 had the recording ability of the HiMD and a radio then it would be perfect, but it would kill the sales of the HiMD units, and probably their flash units too.

I assume your listening to stock ear buds so it seems unbelievable that a ATRAC Plus 64K is going to sound better than all the MP3's you've heard unless you've only ever heard very poor quality encoded MP3's. If you its very surprising you're happy with the sound, when you are used to a $25K system.

 

[PodMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Hmmm... My mate's 20GB iPod Colour battery life drops to 8 hours (from the quoted 15) when playing MP3 at 192KHz. He got it new. My HD5 lasts around 30 hours with ATRAC3+ @ 256 driving a set of B&O A8s at mid volume (EU limit unlocked). Edit: And let's not forget what happened last year with Apple's misleading quotations (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3477497.stm)

I guess we'll chalk it up to differences in units and usage methods then. My 3G ipod played for 7 hours and 58 minutes 192kbps files on shuffle mode over a year after I bought it. I did a battery test before I sold it. 8 hours sounds kinda low for a photo but then again maybe your friend uses the backlight a lot, my 4G non-photo ipod exceeds 8 hrs running 192mp3 and 224aac files and its rated at 12 hours.

 

[HeadKase]

Well I guess this is a moot point anyway since my HD5 DIED about 2 weeks after receiving it. But at least I got alot of use for the 2 weeks.

I did drop the HD5 a number of times, but noticed that the supposed hard disc protection was never there - it never shut off. One of the reasons it was dropped so often was because of the units small size and weight. The wrong wave of an arm would pull on the chord and pull the unit right out of my pocket or wherever else it was laying.

I really did like everything else about the unit, but I'm not going to risk it again. What's up next? The X5?

 

[jant71]

It doesn't have to shut off(or stop playing). The protection is just supposed to lift the head off the platter if a drop is sensed while the drive is being accessed. If you drop it, you can toast the drive just like any other player. Either you get lucky or you don't.

 

[HeadKase]

OK weird. My HD5 froze up with a full charge and couldn't turn back on. Obvious HD crash I thought. So I called Sony to get an RMA, but they ran me through a bunch of tests first. One was removing and reinserting the battery with the AC plugged in. That did it! So it was a software crash instead of a hard disk crash - so much better.

A good thing too, since the usually reliable B&H customer support wouldn't refund my money or even exchange my HD5 after less than 2 weeks after purchase. Been listening to it all day - man I love the sound quality of this thing.

 

[calvinhobs]

Can this player accept LAME??? It sounds like a good player but if it's limited to the ATRAC transfers I'm not sure if I'd want to get it. LAME seems to be the best out there for MP3.

 

[DigDub]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs Can this player accept LAME??? It sounds like a good player but if it's limited to the ATRAC transfers I'm not sure if I'd want to get it. LAME seems to be the best out there for MP3.

yes it accepts LAME mp3. no problems with vbr mp3 too.

 

[calvinhobs]

I've read there's a lot of concern of the buttons cracking...don't know if I'd want to take that chance with this player...