[austonia]

Recently traded my Zen for a NJB3. Had a difficult time getting it firmware-upgraded and transferring, but seems to be OK now, and I'm very happy with it! I traded after realizing I listen mostly at home or work anyway. I really wanted a high capacity home unit with line out so I could integrate it into my Grado gear. I plan on getting a new iPod for ultra-portable use.. my order with Dell standing since the 15th of last month, still no ship date. Many of the other DAP due out this year had thier release date pushed back again (Samsung, iRiver, etc) so I'll probably stick with iPod for something pocketable.

I have a 60gb notebook drive on the way to upgrade the NJB3. I will be loading NJB3 full with about 750 Uber-standard rips (EAC/LAME -APS or APX)

NJB3 line-out > Silver Dragon > Grado HPA-1 > Grado RS-1
I'm putting my Sony 25S in the closet for now. CD's are no longer going to get much airtime, not that they really have anyway.

NJB3 sounds excellent with the HPA-1, very clean and crisp, but sometimes I can hear compression artifacts now. Not too bad, still well worth the convenience of instant-access to hundreds of albums.

All I want now, is an IR remote to control NJB3 while I'm relaxing in my chair...

 

[Watchdog]

Austin, do you think you could do a full review of the NJB3? I guess we know it sounds pretty good, but I'd like to get your opinion on the user interface. How easy is it to operate? How does it compare to the Zen and iPod?

Things like, creating playlists, how easy/hard is it to transfer music to the device.

I just bought an iPod, but I've been eyeing the NJB3 as well and I'd like your impressions.

 

[austonia]

Watchdog,

The Nomad and Zen OS are identicle, but the NJB3 has a few more options under the main menu (like recording).

Zen and iPod OS are waaaay different. Funny, but the Zen OS is very PC-like and the iPod OS is very Mac-like. What i mean is that you can toss an iPod to a friend and they will have it figured quickly - its very straightforward & simple. Nomad OS has a lot more options and features, but not as easy to use or explain. Nomad OS has an on-the-fly playlist feature, onboard file management (deleting), bookmarking, time-stretching, library search functions (alphanumeric), etc.. oh

My interest the NJB3 is
a) line-out
b) upgradable hard drive
c) batteries are interchangeable, for long traveling
d) i like the big buttons on top for home use!
e) bigger screen than Zen, which has same resolution (just smaller)
f) recording... don't know when I'll ever use it, but cool!

 

[austonia]

upgraded NJB3 to 60gb today, very easy. took a few hours to fill it up, but very happy now. like 700 albums onboard.

 

[Kermy]

Austonia, have you heard the line out on the new ipods? How does the line out of the NJB3 compare with the line out of the ipods?

 

[austonia]

don't know yet. I ordered on 05/15, and Dell has yet to ship me a 30gb iPod. the NJB3 line-out sounds transparent to me.