There isn't a playlist function that i've seen, just 'my favourite tracks'.. unless X1-01 has firmware tweaks 101 doesn't. it's best left in shuffle mode. Probably does struggle with harder to drive earphones, my Sennheiser MX880s are fine for it.
the songs i really love listening to through this player:
Leftfield - Phat Planet
Rammstein - Roter Sand, Seeman, Zwitter
Pop Looks Bach (ski sunday theme)
Booker T & The MGs - Soul Limbo
Caravan Palace - Le Caravane Tu Emmene
Fleetwood Mac - The Albatross
Psysex - LSD
Maxx - No More
Naglfar - 12th Rising
Amon Amarth - Destroyer Of The Universe
Lube - Sestrenka
Jeff Buckley - Satisfied Minds
The 101 I've got excels at electronic music like Maxx, The Shamen, Aphex Twin. Really shows up low bitrate mp3s. I'm having to get my cds out and re-rip a lot of my collection - 192kbps was enough back in the day but a lot of my heavier songs need more now on these excellent players. I am now using 320kbps CBR. never got on with VBR although by setting it high i suppose i could probably keep the quality and save maybe 1mb a track
It does sound laid back. Not as forceful as other players and my senns really accentuate that. Seems very detailed though. Could do with an EQ for me. I find cheaper players that are not laid back distort easily and show up lower bitrate mp3s even more than the 101 does. The first few hours i listened to this player, with my not yet fully burned in senns, i didn't like the sound. It was accurate and well defined, but too restrained.. not enough power in the lows, but if you turned it up to where the bass was acceptable, the treble was so high it made my ears crackle. Got about 200 hours on the senns and about 20 on the 101 now, and the sound has filled out. Sounds great. This is definitely a phone to amplify though, I've not got an earphone amp (although i really want a FiiO micro amp or a cmoybb to play with on this phone) but i am into my speakers a lot and i've played it via 3.5mm - 2x RCA Phono on a couple of different amplified systems now and it is the best phone I have ever heard set up like this. Achieves way more with the amplifier's volume lower, sounds clearer, whoops my old creative muvo, etc
EDIT: The difference, as far as i can tell, between X1-01 and 101 are: X1-01 has a different (not as good) keypad and sidekeys which lock with the keypad so are kinda pointless. X1-01 is slightly larger and more 'blingy' - the case isn't as tasteful as 101. X1-01 speaker is louder. X1-01 has a bigger battery and is more expensive.
I like the cheaper 101 - i think it looks better, but i can't recommend it if an X1-01 is an alternative, purely for its bigger battery and resultant crazy runtime numbers go for an x1-01. I got the 101 because of the above keypad, cheaper, size considerations, and have regretted it because the call time of 6.5 hours (on the 800ma battery) I am finding is only enough for about 3-4 days for me and that isn't enough. I like to charge once a week, tops. I've ordered a replacement 1200ma BL-6C but being as it's a 3rd party battery i'm not 100% sure it will work as it should. If it does, this will be enough runtime for me. If not, it does look like there is enough space inside the phone to chop out the back of the battery tray to make it the 6mm longer needed to fit the BL-5J from the X1-01.
(a few hours later...)
Couldnt resist it. Cracked the case on my 101 open.. it's tight but it can be opened and put back as it was. Doesn't look like the keypad or the screen are easy to change - soldered to the main PCB, or at least clipped in place... but in 14 years of owning mobile phones i've never had to change a screen or a keypad - i guess i'm careful with my stuff or something - so that shouldn't be a problem - they're dirt cheap phones anyway so i'd expect these are a bit more throwaway than phones of old when such components plugged in.
There is space for the BL-5J battery from X1-01 to fit by chopping the battery tray. It's bloody close to the speaker, but it will fit and i dont think it will damage the structural integrity of the phone too much as long as you put the divider back in its new position with some really strong glue like zap-a-gap thick formula. This should allow the scud 'hero' battery 1445ma to fit for slightly more capacity than genuine nokia BL-5J. Up to you how you connect it - the pins are in a different order on BL-5J to BL-5C so you can't just change the connector.. i'm thinking some kind of inline PCB header pin & socket + wires and heatshrink... but that's for the future.. a possible future in which my BL-6C doesn't work
