[kiteki]

If the Hippo gumstick is 80mW, what's the S:flo2 / Teclast T51??

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

If the Hippo gumstick is 80mW, what's the S:flo2 / Teclast T51??

Hippo never did list the spec fully, so 80mW is a guess based on Rocco-A, since both player are designed by the same company and feature a class A amp. S:flo2 has a theoretical max output of 80mW as well, which is the max output of the TDA1308 inside the amp section. However, if you were to compare the max loudness between the two, Gumstick is actually a tad louder. By A/B'ing, I will say s:flo2's max is about 27~28/31 on Gumstick.
 
[EDIT] Thinking further about S:flo2 volume reminds me that the new firmware (v2.3, the one I am currently using) actually does lower the volume just a little bit to achieve a better harmonic distortion, which could be why S:flo2 sounds just a little lower in max volume compared to Gumstick, assuming they have the same max output.

 

[kiteki]

 
Quote:

I won't be treating the Gumstick to a proper review listen for another week, but it is impressive - more so than the Clip or Fuze at least in some metrics. For overall use, however, it is walked all over by either of them and that is saying a lot because I really really hate the Fuze.
 
No dedicated volume buttons unlike the Clip puts this way back.
No RB, so no gapless
backward backward navigation system
strange reset of EQ settings at almost every sync
No real ID3 Tag support - you have to make folders to really use your music - forget simple drag and drop from Finder or your favourite software
cannot see the screen at all outside in the day time - this is amazing - horrible to a TTTTTTT 

 
Why do you hate the fuze.. ? just curious.
 
Navigating with folders is standard, isn't it?  I thought browse by album/year/artist was a just a useless extra in daps', Lol.
 
 
 


 
 

 

[kiteki]

ClieOS ->
 
Do you know where I can get the S:Flo 2, Cube C30 or Rocoo-A in Singapore?
 
I'll be there later this week, buying the best DAP and IEM I can possibly afford.

 

[ClieOS]

AFAIK, s:flo2 can only be bought from MP4Nation. There were bulk ordering on different local forums from time to time, but I don't know of any store that carries s:flo2 / Teclast T51. Same goes for Cube C30. But for Rocoo-A and Gumstick, it will be Jaben.net @ Adelphi mall in the city center. Try to visit the 'Farle' store over at Funan Digital mall (over the other side of road from Adelphi), sometime they carry different brand of DAP. If you can, visit Stereo Electronic (Plaza Singapura or Causeway Point shopping mall) as well for headphone in general. There is a Sennheiser store over at Marina Square, next to a Creative store.

 

[shigzeo]

I bought the Fuze expecting too much, I'll admit. Firstly, I expected it to sound as good as the clip, but it doesn't. It measures similarly, but it hisses more and has a grainier midrange. Couple that with its squirrelly click wheel, nipple, and lack of dedicated buttons, it is a laughable player in comparison to a strong Clip.
 
But the thing that really gets me about it is that Sansa simply grew up. They abandoned their somewhat noble ideals: dropped USB in favour of proprietary cabling, enabled video, added colour, made the thing look like an iPod nano, and in the same and products, closed their firmware so that RB couldn't figure it out. Sansa sold out.
 
They iSheeped themselves. The Fuze could have been a better player than the nano or the Clip. Instead it has worse controls than either (and a dizzying control scheme), a muddier midrange, more hiss, fallacious video support, and of all things, holds onto the proprietary cable. Again, Sansa dropped features from the Clip: USB cable, hard-wired volume controls and size. Size is a feature for the Clip as there is no fallacy: it plays music and reads itsy bitsy text. The Fuze 'plays video' but at a paralysis-inducing 15-20fps. It's got a sheet of 'features' to advertise it, but none work as they should. With Rockbox, navigation is quite a bit better, but the nipple and swivelling circle can't be fixed. Neither can the lack of dedicated volume buttons, nor the USB cable. 
 
I bought the Sansa excitedly and gave it away just as excitedly; someone, anyone has to have it as surely I expected more from a company who idolised the absence of superfluous features, who publicly thrashed Apple in the iSheep campaign; instead, I got a sub-par MP3 player from a hypocritical company. 
 
Sansa broke their own rules, bought into Apple's marketing, and did everything worse than them, than their former self, than Sony, et all - they boggled it up. I own a LOT of players and the Fuze ranks in the bottom 10% for overall ease of use, for usable features, for good music playback. I love the clip for what it costs and its size, but the Fuze is a dirty mark on what has otherwise been a great genre: thumbable MP3 players.
Quote:

 
 
Why do you hate the fuze.. ? just curious.
 
Navigating with folders is standard, isn't it?  I thought browse by album/year/artist was a just a useless extra in daps', Lol.
 
 
 


 
 

 

[Bennyboy71]

Listen to the hedgehog / porcupine - it is very wise indeed.
 
Quote:

I bought the Fuze expecting too much, I'll admit. Firstly, I expected it to sound as good as the clip, but it doesn't. It measures similarly, but it hisses more and has a grainier midrange. Couple that with its squirrelly click wheel, nipple, and lack of dedicated buttons, it is a laughable player in comparison to a strong Clip.
 
But the thing that really gets me about it is that Sansa simply grew up. They abandoned their somewhat noble ideals: dropped USB in favour of proprietary cabling, enabled video, added colour, made the thing look like an iPod nano, and in the same and products, closed their firmware so that RB couldn't figure it out. Sansa sold out.
 
They iSheeped themselves. The Fuze could have been a better player than the nano or the Clip. Instead it has worse controls than either (and a dizzying control scheme), a muddier midrange, more hiss, fallacious video support, and of all things, holds onto the proprietary cable. Again, Sansa dropped features from the Clip: USB cable, hard-wired volume controls and size. Size is a feature for the Clip as there is no fallacy: it plays music and reads itsy bitsy text. The Fuze 'plays video' but at a paralysis-inducing 15-20fps. It's got a sheet of 'features' to advertise it, but none work as they should. With Rockbox, navigation is quite a bit better, but the nipple and swivelling circle can't be fixed. Neither can the lack of dedicated volume buttons, nor the USB cable. 
 
I bought the Sansa excitedly and gave it away just as excitedly; someone, anyone has to have it as surely I expected more from a company who idolised the absence of superfluous features, who publicly thrashed Apple in the iSheep campaign; instead, I got a sub-par MP3 player from a hypocritical company. 
 
Sansa broke their own rules, bought into Apple's marketing, and did everything worse than them, than their former self, than Sony, et all - they boggled it up. I own a LOT of players and the Fuze ranks in the bottom 10% for overall ease of use, for usable features, for good music playback. I love the clip for what it costs and its size, but the Fuze is a dirty mark on what has otherwise been a great genre: thumbable MP3 players.

 

 

[Bennyboy71]

p.s. is the Gumstick named after it's similarity to a stick of gum? In that case, it loses my vote automatically.  Why would anyone want to associate themselves with a company that think chewing gum is a cool thing?

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

p.s. is the Gumstick named after it's similarity to a stick of gum? In that case, it loses my vote automatically.  Why would anyone want to associate themselves with a company that think chewing gum is a cool thing?

Bet you don't know you can't just buy chewing gum in Singapore?

 

[Bennyboy71]

I do remember reading it was illegal, but I just googled it and wow, I actually think I may go live in Singapore now.  Chewing gum is so prevalent here in the UK, its like some government conspiracy to turn everyone into moronic ruminating sheep.
Quote:

Bet you don't know you can't just buy chewing gum in Singapore?

 

[shigzeo]

You guessed right! I am happy because I spent about 5 hours drawing and fixing that design back in 2006. It is a short-nosed hedgehog with disproportionate hands for cartoon effect. Listening, however, is optional.
 
Quote:

Listen to the hedgehog / porcupine - it is very wise indeed.
 

 

 

[kiteki]

Shigzeo ->  That was a great negative review of the Sansas, thanks, I thought they were good (considering the hype here) and didn't know that story.
I need to upgrade my portable solution (using a sony gumstick or sanyo PCDP right now), looks like I am ruling out sansa then, and going for the chinese gumstick trio or S:flo2.
 
Bennyboy71 ->  gumstick is a shape-designating term, like clamshell and candybar mobile phones, though I agree audio devices should have sexy or mystical sounding names, like "Pharaoh X1" or something, "Hippo Gumstick" just sounds plain weird.
 
ClieOS ->  Thanks, that was best direct advice I've had on head-fi.  I already know about Jaben, I'm pretty sure I'll be purchasing my IEM's from them, and I guess I'll look at that other store across the road out of curiosity.  Btw does treeo have a physical store? I noticed they are official Fischer Audio retailers in Singapore (however the DBA-02 and silver bullets are out of stock).

 

[Bennyboy71]

Well, to me it's obviously a hedgehog, but I didn't realise anyone outside of the UK even knew what one of those looked like so I hedged (geddit?) my bets.....
 
If you drew that yourself, thats brilliant - I thought it was a professional image.  Kudos to you my spiky friend.
 
As Elvis sang, "You aint nothing but a hedgehog...."
 
Quote:

You guessed right! I am happy because I spent about 5 hours drawing and fixing that design back in 2006. It is a short-nosed hedgehog with disproportionate hands for cartoon effect. Listening, however, is optional.
 

 

 

[kiteki]

p.s. As far as mW output is concerned, the Cube C30 is stated having a MAX9722 Amp with up to 130mW output.
 
Admittedly I don't understand mW ouput very well, almost every sony DAP I've seen simply states "5mW+5mW" and I doubt the Cube C30 has 13 times the power of a 6 times more expensive Sony.
For the record, S:Flo2 states "L(10mw) +R(10mw)(32Ω)"
 
My Sanyo PCDP which is my primary DAP at the moment states "5mW+5mW at 32 ohms"
it then continues to state "1Vp-p at 75 ohms, recommended load impedance 75 ohms" in the video output jack.
All I can say is this PCDP is loud, using A-Jays Three (97dB @ 1kHz, 16Ω) listening to a CD I usually select 7 / 32, 15 / 32 is deafening loud.
I listen at loud volumes, for comparison, on my sony gumstick DAP, I can listen at max volume for half an hour or so (30 / 30).
 
I'm almost scared if I get the CK10's in Singapore I'll just break them with one of these powerful DAP's and my high volume listening habits. =p

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

p.s. As far as mW output is concerned, the Cube C30 is stated having a MAX9722 Amp with up to 130mW output.
 
Admittedly I don't understand mW ouput very well, almost every sony DAP I've seen simply states "5mW+5mW" and I doubt the Cube C30 has 13 times the power of a 6 times more expensive Sony.
For the record, S:Flo2 states "L(10mw) +R(10mw)(32Ω)"
....

I don't really like Maxim chip in general. My LDM+ has a Maxim (MAX9724 IIRC) in it and it is no where near decent sounding. Hopefully C30's MAX9722 is much better. BTW, you mistook the first gen. s:flo's (Teclast T50) output spec (10mW each channel) to that of s:flo2 (T51)