[DeadTrying]

Tried the Nex ia? Post your Reviews/opinions here.
Think you know of a better flash card based player? Say what it is and why!

Thank you!

 

[whistler]

more or less a bump.

I have the Nex IIe and find it quite good. Nice sound output using the headphones I have(Sony V6, Sony NDR-Q55, Koss KSC-50's, and Sennheiser PXC-250 though they would benefit from a amp).

Yahoo! has two groups devoted to the Nex(NexMP3Players and nexiimp3).

 

[Publius]

I've hard a NEXia for several months now, and can list a few things it does right, and many things it does wrong. First the good bits:

1. Uses CompactFlash cards. Yaaaay.
2. Uses 2xAA batteries. Yaaaay.
3. Comes with a surprisingly rugged carrying case (with a belt loop!)
4. Half-decent VBR support (seeking is problematic)
5. Sound quality is actually pretty decent, with barely audible noise on ER-4Ss and a reasonably clear and deep sound. The headphones suck, but that's par for the course.
6. The complaints about teh flimsy CF door are somewhat exaggerated IMHO. Mine hasn't broken yet, and the CF cards fit too snugly for an accidental removal to be an issue.

Now the bad bits:

1. Crashes very often (even with latest firmware)
2. User interface seems very amateurish. Admittedly, when I saw the Windows animated hourglass cursor on bootup I was forever prejudiced, but still... different executable overlays for FM, MP3 and formatting functions; haphazard ID3 handling/sorting.
3. The control stick eventually came loose and I needed to disassemble the unit to put it back where it should be so that I can actually use the thing.
4. FM reception is very poor. Out of 8+ stations I regularly listen to in the car, the NEXia can only cleanly receive the 2 strongest, and even then with considerable noise.
5. Internal MP3 recording limited to 64kbps
6. MP3 playback essentially dies after 100 minutes into the MP3
7. Hold setting was designed very poorly, as a third slider setting on the power switch - OFF/ON/HOLD. So if you are too loose with your finger when turning it on, it goes to HOLD instead and it won't boot, but if you're already on HOLD and want to disable it, you run a very high risk of turning the unit off outright.
8. Frontier Labs' alleged attempts at supporting Vorbis are by now such an old and tired joke that people have grown sick of it. IMHO, vaguely claiming that you'll try to support something for 2+ years doesn't necessarily reflect poorly on the product itself, but it does reflect greatly on the company's professionalism.

And, finally, The Last Straw: A few weeks ago I eBayed for a NIB SanDisk 512MB CF card. It worked well hooked up to my system and I successfully transferred music to it through Windows Explorer. Not only did the NEXia fail to read the card, when I attempted to format it using the internal format utility, it broke the card outright so that neither the NEXia or any CF card reader I've found so far can read it!

Assuming the chances of the SanDisk card dying right after a file transfer on its own are not high, and the chances of SanDisk replacing a CF card that's been killed by 3rd party gear also not high, I've gone searching for greener pastures in the MP3 player market. I haven't tried FL support yet, I admit, and it may be quite good - their new North America web site is a very good sign. The NEXia is strictly OK as a flash player, and it does hit a really good price point for removable storage and FM player support, and overall I would really like to recommend this player, because once I got used to its quirks I really did enjoy using it, being my first MP3 player purchase. But I can't, so I won't.

 

[DeadTrying]

Ok, Thanks for that.

I really liked the look of the Nex because of it's support for flash, but you're right, it seems to have so many little problems that all the good points (sound, ease of transfer of music) are really overshadowed.

This really leaves me hanging. It seems like my only choice is going to have to be one of those non-expandable flash based mini-mp3-players, but they are also the ones with the lowest output (generally 5mW/channel, and worst sound (high SNR)). My budget means an I-pod or similar is out of the question (anyway...they're so...common ).

AH well.. whatever... more research i guess

 

[whistler]

Quote:

Originally posted by DeadTrying Ok, Thanks for that. I really liked the look of the Nex because of it's support for flash, but you're right, it seems to have so many little problems that all the good points (sound, ease of transfer of music) are really overshadowed. This really leaves me hanging. It seems like my only choice is going to have to be one of those non-expandable flash based mini-mp3-players, but they are also the ones with the lowest output (generally 5mW/channel, and worst sound (high SNR)). My budget means an I-pod or similar is out of the question (anyway...they're so...common ). AH well.. whatever... more research i guess

Take a look at the Nex IIe. Unless you need FM reception the Nex IIe has as much as the ia. I won't even try and fumble finger a review, there are a few on this site and http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews5682.html

Likes -

1 - Size.
2 - Can use the same cards as my camera.
2 - good sound

I has locked up on various occassions but removing the batteries fixes the problem and I think 3/4 of the lockups where my fault.


Side note -

Publius, if you have W2k or XP have you tried viewing the CF card in Disk Adminstrator?

 

[cannedheat]

I purchased the Nex IIe Feb 2003. The are a few things I like, and many others I do not. For me, 2 GB capacity is not enough - so I purchased a 30GB iPod and my Nex IIe is rarely used. The Nex ia is a different model, but may have many of the same limitations and strengths:

Strengths: price, size, ability to use Compact Flash (Types 1 and 2), uses 2 AA batteries, approximately 14 hours playback time, and MP3 and WMA playback.

Weaknesses: battery cover is poorly designed, batteries are very hard to remove, infamous "g"s appearing in display - despite valid tags, 2 GB limit (only supports FAT16 formatted cards, not FAT 32), slight audible hiss which may be a defect in my player (or may be an inherent problem, but is only noticable in quiet portions of music).

As soon as I loaded my iPod with tracks, the Nex IIe was shelved.

 

[whistler]

Quote:

Originally posted by cannedheat 2 GB limit (only supports FAT16 formatted cards, not FAT 32),

I have done some experiments and created partitions, using 7tools Partition Manager, on two different 512mb Kingston cards formatting with Fat32(using a card reader not the Nex IIe). According to 7tools Partition Manager, Properties in My Computer, and Disk Management in W2K. Both cards read fine in the Nex IIe. Not conclusive but until I get a larger card it is about all I can do.

 

[Publius]

Quote:

originally posted by whistler Publius, if you have W2k or XP have you tried viewing the CF card in Disk Adminstrator?

No.. but I did try mounting it on linux, and I got low-level disk read errors out the wazoo on the mount attempt. It's been suggested to me to locate an IDE-CF adapter and try running fdisk on it, but right now I've pretty much given up. (as in, I just bought a Karma.)

Incidentally, I have a friend who absolutely loves his IIe and has had no problems with it.

Quote:

originally posted by DeadTrying This really leaves me hanging. It seems like my only choice is going to have to be one of those non-expandable flash based mini-mp3-players, but they are also the ones with the lowest output (generally 5mW/channel, and worst sound (high SNR)). My budget means an I-pod or similar is out of the question (anyway...they're so...common ).

If you can handle an unorthodox interface, considerably reduced battery life, and a rather large size for a flash player.. take a look at used PDAs with CompactFlash or SD adapters, like the iPAQ, Axim or maybe an older Tungsten. You should be able to find one in the $150-$200 range which takes SD and has a headphone jack. Fire up an MP3 player on it and you're good to go. I've heard that the headphone outs on some PDAs (the iPAQ in particular) is extremely good...

 

[Dster]

I had a NEX IIE which has been long shelved. One of the killers for me was that it couldn't handle nested folders. Out of curiosity, did they ever fix this?

 

[Dster]

I just went to the frontier labs website. They are still advertising the IIe, and in the blurb they say 'supports infinite firmware upgradeability'. Wow - they're still at version 1.1! I guess sometime around the heat death of the universe they may reach 2.0. To infinity - and beyond!

From now on, 'infinite firmware upgradeability' is either a ridiculous, offensive lie, or it means 'open source'.

 

[whistler]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dster I had a NEX IIE which has been long shelved. One of the killers for me was that it couldn't handle nested folders. Out of curiosity, did they ever fix this?

No, it still only goes 1 deep.