[scottiebabie]

 
Holyyy Good Tunes Batman...my new acquired Nokia E73 has a built in Lineout off its 3.5mm headout or...am i just dreamin!?

 

i signed up for a new mobile carrier cos they were sporting a father's day special of $40 total for unlimited all canada all US talk, unlimited local&global mms texting, unlimited data + a few other not so important unlimiteds without any contract to boot. anyways they use the AWS 3G+ band (same as T-mobile if im correct) so i had to get a new compatible cell.

 

to make the story even sweeter, i snagged a 5day old used AWS compatible Nokia E73 (cos it was cheap!!@$80 plus more importantly i can make it into a wifi hotspot with joikuspot) & was dinkin around with it tonight. loaded some tunes into in (need to use oviplayer though which is a draggggg) & plug'd some headphones into it.

 

up pops a menu asking me to choose 1.headphones 2.lineout 3. music stand. chosed lineout, plug in my trusty cmoybb & pressed play & its was pretty darn good...for a cellphone that is. ofcos my diy mod ipod 5g beats it but the E73 didnt embarress itself & acquitted itself with alot of pride to my ears that is.

 

the headout is also quite good. as a comparo, the sony S616 is slightly clearer with more mid bass but it seems the E73 is slightly more balanced (with less mid bass emphasis) & mite just be a hair grainer & less detailed up top but still overall, it can be argued that the E73 is more of a different flavor instead of being outright inferior. all this with 320mp3s & using my livewire customs. FWIW the included mic'd earbuds arent totally shiaaat & reminds me of senn cx300s.

 

anyone else with a E73 care to chime in on my 'discovery'?

 

psn the con, symbian is the poops! terrible terrible interface IMO.

 

[Very Legal]

The Nokia 5800xm also have line-out via HO, and personally i prefear symbian, and im using the buildt in player with the Westone um3x and like it very mutch

 

[scottiebabie]

just discovery the included mp3player has an 8band eq to customize as many preset as needed & wanted. the eq's quite subtle & doesnt affect the sound detrimentally either. perhaps not quite as good as rockbox but pretty darn nice for a fon. output power's right up there with fuze's so its got plenty of juice to drive most iems.
 
just so happen my 2yr fuze right channel conked out on me last week & i've been looking to replace it but after this playing with the E73, i think im a gonna get a 16gb microsd card & use the fon instead. radios not bad either. & i havent looked at other alternative symbian players yet!
 
battery life seems to be excellent as well - just what the doc ordered

. dickin round all lastnite learning its features, surfing, downloading & music listening & the batterys only down 1bar (outta 8 or 10-cant be sure cos its too small).
 
on the black, there doesnt seem to be too much of a diff btwn lineout & headout - perhaps just a tinnie winsie cleaner. volume still works on lineout although all other effects & eq dont. volume attenuation are too spread per step so it mite be a tad of a biaaatch to find the exact precise vol level esp for the anal oriented. O & did i mention symbian suxs? yaaa symbian suxs...the big one!

 
some of yous mite wanna demo this fon as an alternative to getting a new (&expensive) DAP. its def in the running & as far as my ears remember, its not inferior to my ex ipod touch 3g.
 

 

[Very Legal]

Haha... i have had nokia since the 7110 and cant get used to other UI`s, have tried but allways been happy when i have sold them and got my hands on a nokia again

I can agree the volumesteps are a little rouge but thats the only negative thing i can think of, really. The 5800xm have its own tread here on Head-Fi btw.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/410066/nokia-5800-xpressmusic-sound-quality

 

[scottiebabie]

i had nokias way back when & had forgotton how ancient & bad (IMO) symbian is. in this day & age of apple os, android or even meebo, theres no reason for nokia to keep pumping dynasauric symbian - IMO ofcos. i so miss apple os & multi touch screens

 
on the good, this E73 sure sounds alot like the 5800 alluded in the thread u linked. i've never really been a big fan of using cellphones as DAPs as i always prefered letting dedicated players be players & fon be fons. i must say this nokia E73 sure is changing my mind. as is its very close to the sound of my now lamented sansa fuze with the fuze having a slight larger open soundstage, & perhaps just a hair more bottom end & clarity. but sound memory being what it is, i could be wrong. 
 
alls i can say is that the E73>lineout>amp sounds quite nice with a little less bottom, slightly grainier & a hair less detailed than my diy imod. headout for headout, the sony S616 is seemingly smoother in mids & treble & is definitively stronger (&boomier) in the mid bass. the E73 presents a more balanced sound & is just as musical. however with the 8band customizeable eq settings, the E73 mite be argueably, superior.
 
as a fon, its above ave for its low end price but is totally pawned by the new android froyo & gingerbreads not to mention the stellar apple os. i thinks its decent as a camera fon as well but is darn right exceptional as a music fon. IMO ofcos.
 
btw RSP on the E73 is $150 with a 4gb microsd expendable to 16gb or perhaps even higher. so its more than a decent value however one chooses to look at it. YMMV ofcos

 

[Navyblue]

My feeling is that, by selecting line out, you are just telling the software to max out its volume. Not to say that it will sound bad, if your player is half decent you won't be able to tell the difference between the line out and the headphones out.

 

[Albedo]

I'm just guessing concerning the line out, but the PDF about the amp do mention: "The HiZ state puts the outputs into a state of tri-state high impedance mode. Use this configuration when the outputs of the TPA6130A2 share traces with other devices whose outputs may be active". When I use LO on my phone the mic is disabled, so I have to pull the plug (going out of HiZ state?) when someone calls me up. The amp is actually not so shabby (same as what FiiO E7 utilize).
 
A funny detail about those Nokia S60 are their DAC -> http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/TLV320AIC23B

 

[scottiebabie]

had a chance to play with a Nokia N8 & compare it to the E73. music player only & tunes to tunes, i do feel the E73 is slightly better esp in the treble department. seems just a hair more extended & open. plus the included 8band eq with unlimited presets makes it a winner in my books. so much so im not gonna replace the broken fuze. FWIW the N8 does not have eq nor customizable presets.
 
however after spending more time with both, its was a bit of headscratcher deciding either the N8 (which is a greatGREAT digicam + more than decent vidcam) or the E73 (much better at being a fon & music player too). hard choice & i was gonna pass on the N8 when i discovered a hack that allows a full functioning 8band eq with unltd presets. now with similar customizable eq music players, both fons sound mitey fine with the E73 still a hair better (i think but waddaikno - it could be all in my head) but its basically 6oz or 1/2lb.
 
no lineout function on the N8 though but with its very similar music playing performance + touch screen + awesommmme digi/vidcam + bonus built-in 16gb (+32gb microsd compatible), its a cinch to guess which fon i finally settled for. btw which?mobile rates the N8 amongst the top 5 music fons along with Iphone4, HTC Desire HD, Nokia X2 & ofcos Sony's X8. not a bad snag for $150.
 
anyone else shares my experiences on either the E73 & N8? O btw the N8 has an FM transmitter that lets anyone (or anything for that matter) with a radio receiver share music. niceeeee

 

[Sparky191]

 
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The E73 seems to a variation of the Euro E72. You could compare the audio tests on GSM Arena for both phones. 
 
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e72-review-422p5.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n8-review-523p5.php
 
I know figures aren't everything. But still....
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[i_djoel2000]

Quote:

The Nokia 5800xm also have line-out via HO, and personally i prefear symbian, and im using the buildt in player with the Westone um3x and like it very mutch

i'm not sure whether 5800xm has a true line out or not. it does have line out feature, but the volume control is still useable when it's in line out mode