[mangamonster]

Hmm, I may have got my numbers wrong. If that's so, then it's actually not too bad at all, considering what's stuffed inside of the player.

 

[pxl1500]

I did a battery test today, i left my S:Flo2 to charge overnight and then i used it all day (well not always in my ear, but left playing when i was at my desk at work), i got more than 8 hours, it did stop at about 11 hours. All my music were mp3 320kbps and the volume was set to about 3/4.

 

[ZUNDarkmon]

I've been reading the posts about this player and after some more research, I bought one on new years eve. I just got it yesterday the 21st. So it took some time to get here, at least to me.
After fully charging and tweaking the UI to my tastes I loaded up some Direct to Disk CD's I had ripped to FLAC. These are recordings from the early 80's that are of audiophile quality pressings. I loaded up "A Taste of DMP" and the first track by Bob Mintzer called '8th Ave. March' starts out with a nice brass section then a thumping bass line. Very clean. I'm playing through my new iBasso D4 and my AKG K601's off the battery. The ibasso really kicks up the output from the line out of the player. I know that they both use the Wolfson DAC's, but the player doesn't push the volume out to the AKG's like the D4 does.
From my initial listening I must say this player does a great job. Now to be fair my Zune HD plays pretty darn close. I've gotten used to the sound from the Zune, so I know how it sounds. Playing both through the D4 the s:flo is more open and tighter. Just has more space in the sound.
I'm very impressed with the output. The UI is a whole other matter. Its not intuitive as noted elsewhere and you do not have a lot of flexibility to customize. I can't even set the date. But for detailed, critical listening on the go, it's the best so far that I've come across.
Here is a shot in my office after a quick setup.

 

[swanlee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZUNDarkmon /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've been reading the posts about this player and after some more research, I bought one on new years eve. I just got it yesterday the 21st. So it took some time to get here, at least to me. After fully charging and tweaking the UI to my tastes I loaded up some Direct to Disk CD's I had ripped to FLAC. These are recordings from the early 80's that are of audiophile quality pressings. I loaded up "A Taste of DMP" and the first track by Bob Mintzer called '8th Ave. March' starts out with a nice brass section then a thumping bass line. Very clean. I'm playing through my new iBasso D4 and my AKG K601's off the battery. The ibasso really kicks up the output from the line out of the player. I know that they both use the Wolfson DAC's, but the player doesn't push the volume out to the AKG's like the D4 does. From my initial listening I must say this player does a great job. Now to be fair my Zune HD plays pretty darn close. I've gotten used to the sound from the Zune, so I know how it sounds. Playing both through the D4 the s:flo is more open and tighter. Just has more space in the sound. I'm very impressed with the output. The UI is a whole other matter. Its not intuitive as noted elsewhere and you do not have a lot of flexibility to customize. I can't even set the date. But for detailed, critical listening on the go, it's the best so far that I've come across. Here is a shot in my office after a quick setup.

So is the upgrade in SQ worth the hassle of less storage space, micro SD cards and converting some of my wma lossless collection to .flac?

I'm an avid Zune user with 1TB of wma lossless audio and am looking at a better sounding portable device, (not that the Zune30 sounds bad at all but I'm always looking to improve) but so far have still stuck with my modified Zune30/100GB going on 3+ years now.

I've fully researched the sflo and the flac tagging has been an issue for some.

Wish the slfo had a larger capacity model and supported WMA Lossless.

 

[ZUNDarkmon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swanlee /img/forum/go_quote.gif So is the upgrade in SQ worth the hassle of less storage space, micro SD cards and converting some of my wma lossless collection to .flac? I'm an avid Zune user with 1TB of wma lossless audio and am looking at a better sounding portable device, (not that the Zune30 sounds bad at all but I'm always looking to improve) but so far have still stuck with my modified Zune30/100GB going on 3+ years now. I've fully researched the sflo and the flac tagging has been an issue for some. Wish the slfo had a larger capacity model and supported WMA Lossless.

I too love my Zune HD and will still use it, probably more than the s:flo. Because of the convenience and it's sound quality. It is smaller, has the full 32 gig storage, has a better more polished and easier to navigate UI. Navigating on the s:flo is an issue for me. But I can play WAV Lossless files on the s:flo and it plays them beautifully. (I can't get the Zune to play the WAV files though. Is there something I'm not doing?)

The readout doesn't show the tags right, so that is an issue. Maybe because i did not rip my CD's properly with the tags to begin with. But sonically it plays very well.
The storage is a point. Keeping micro SD cards with you is a pain. But between the on board storage and one 16 gig card, you have the same storage capacity. And really, how much music do you want to carry? I used to have the Zune 120 and I put as much as it could hold on it. I ended up not listening to a quarter of it. Yes, its nice to have the tracks just in case, but that's pretty rare, at least it was for me. So the 32 works for me right now.

So, not to answer the question, I will keep both for now and maybe down the road I will sell one of them.

By the way, how did you mod your Zune 30? The Zune HD sounds better than the 120 to me.

Here's another picture showing the Zune next to the s:flo.

 

[visia]

Hi guys,
I need some help. I tried installing V2 of Teclast firmware few times on different computers, but the installer does not seem to run. Every time I start the program it comes back with the error: "Failure to start setup.ini file" and crashes. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[visia]

Got an answer. Renaming folders to English characters does the trick.

 

[AnAnalogSpirit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by visia /img/forum/go_quote.gif Got an answer. Renaming folders to English characters does the trick.

That's exactly what I did when working with the Teclast v2.00 firmare. named the 3 folders to a, b, c, and named the tools according to the counterpart filenames in the v1.20 firmware.

Hope this helps the adventuresome.

BTW, although you lose the BEAUTIFUL s:flo2 startup and shutdown logo animations, you gain the play all list, called 'Allfile' which is an acceptable trade.

Just not as pretty.

ALSO I was UNABLE to DOWNGRADE to a previous version once I installed this firmware. Just FYI. If there is a way, please state it for the community's benefit please! :-D

 

[visia]

Presumably, the trick is to use the new upgrade tool, but load old firmware image. On mp4nation forum there is a discussion of v2 of teclast forum, on page 3 they provide instructions and link to the website.

 

[Bananiq]

FLAClord, you, >> completely << changed me(in a good way), to go for s:flo2 ... I tell you. back 1 day(yesterday), I was absolutely convinced, after spending few days researching the internet,that S9 will be my next DAP, due to its claimed SQ, but since I found this topic and made it through all the pages here, and finally heard that now most people re putting cowons like S9s, D2s and clips/fuzez away ::: ((( BECAUSE ))) ::: of the s:flo2, this really started my matrix alteration O_o . I want s:flo2 so bad !!! I prefer pure and detailed sound signature so I guess 2 wolfsons can beat Cowon's BBE+ enhancers. Just few questions:

1. is HO so 'worse than LO' that I shall buy an amp? I don't prefer travelling with lot of things and plan to use only for portable unit with my Futuresonics em3 and px100.... would it be worthy for me to buy some NOT-so-expensive FiiO E5?
2. Confessingly, the (also) the main point you really catched me with this DAP was that you claimed the s:flo2's LCD looks (actually) BETTER than S9's alomed - can you elaborate this more please? afaik alomed is REALLY top notch in terms of picture/color/response time quality (LCDs have reponse time few ms but ALOMEDs few µs with no view angles limitations)
3. Does the volume control wheel change the volume in the players' SW volume bar?

The main thing that scares me is s:flo2 has li-ion instead of li-poly battery.
I will be glad to see any forthcoming model revision with just better battery and alomed would drain battery less, making less heat due to no backlighting need. Or made another model with same HW only without touch screen and maybe clip sized?

 

[mangamonster]

Glad to hear you're excited about the sflo2! I'm loving the hell out of mine! Best audio experience I've had yet

 

[AnAnalogSpirit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bananiq /img/forum/go_quote.gif FLAClord, you, >> completely << changed me(in a good way), to go for s:flo2 ... I tell you. back 1 day(yesterday), I was absolutely convinced, after spending few days researching the internet,that S9 will be my next DAP, due to its claimed SQ, but since I found this topic and made it through all the pages here, and finally heard that now most people re putting cowons like S9s, D2s and clips/fuzez away ::: ((( BECAUSE ))) ::: of the s:flo2, this really started my matrix alteration O_o . I want s:flo2 so bad !!! I prefer pure and detailed sound signature so I guess 2 wolfsons can beat Cowon's BBE+ enhancers. Just few questions: 1. is HO so 'worse than LO' that I shall buy an amp? I don't prefer travelling with lot of things and plan to use only for portable unit with my Futuresonics em3 and px100.... would it be worthy for me to buy some NOT-so-expensive FiiO E5?

The Headphone Out is NOT BAD. The LINE OUT is however, silent (in terms of noise floor, blackness, and bass depth to My EAR, making it SO gorgeous I am using a Extension Cable with inline Volume Attenuator knob to just listen out of the LINE OUT, bypassing the Headphone Out. But that's Just Me... To Each Their OWN, and PLAY AROUND. YOU MAY LIKE THE OPAMP.

I just happen to think the LINE OUT is Special.

I have an E5, which I just listened to, and its got Fun Factor with the s:flo2. An iBasso T4, T3, or T3D imho seem a nicer ride for this player as they are tiny and uber high quality. However the E5 won't break the piggy bank, and will get you by for a while until you can afford a more pricey portable amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bananiq /img/forum/go_quote.gif 2. Confessingly, the (also) the main point you really catched me with this DAP was that you claimed the s:flo2's LCD looks (actually) BETTER than S9's alomed - can you elaborate this more please? afaik alomed is REALLY top notch in terms of picture/color/response time quality (LCDs have reponse time few ms but ALOMEDs few µs with no view angles limitations)

I'll be honest, I just returned my second AMOLED Device, an iriver E200, not because the screen looked bad per say, but because the menus were horribly laggy. The AMOLED didn't bowl me over either, AND, RE: Format capability, MP4 was advertised, yet video downloaded off YouTube for example as a test for what many folks do to acquire their music videos these days was a total bust on the E200 which boldfacedly supported MP4.

On the otherhand, the s:flo2, which has a multitude of codecs, and little info on them, handled these videos, one of which was 720p, with pure aplomb. And the quality was silky smooth, as well as sharp, defined, and well knit together. Another test I did for a pal was the rmvb type video for one of his anime samples, and boy did that look wonderful. Im telling you folks, this is one hot little video player in addition to the Stellar Audio Powerhouse that it is. It obviously does more than JUST play back that Madagascar.avi that comes with it.

I also tested with xvid, and these were normal dramas, and the fleshtones and lighting had no icky color casts, caucasian skin tone was dead on, fresh and pinky peachy, with no overblown junk. This MVA LCD screen is NICE with GOOD viewing angles. Good meaning maybe the last 30* from flat arent perfect. So its not AMOLED 100% viewing angle. But who looks at it from a REALLY skewed angle except in a test anyhow???


Quote:

Originally Posted by Bananiq /img/forum/go_quote.gif 3. Does the volume control wheel change the volume in the players' SW volume bar?

Sorry? There is no SW Volume Bar that I am aware of. In the Music Screen there is a track elapsed time bar in orange, which has nothing to do with the analog Headphone Output controlling volume wheel. Also this track elapsed time bar is NOT touch sensitive. To seek forward and back, just hold down the Forward or Back arrows at the top Right and Left corners of the Music Screen.

Same for the Video Screen interface the Analog Volume wheel doesn't affect anything onscreen.



Quote:

Originally Posted by Bananiq /img/forum/go_quote.gif The main thing that scares me is s:flo2 has li-ion instead of li-poly battery. I will be glad to see any forthcoming model revision with just better battery and alomed would drain battery less, making less heat due to no backlighting need. Or made another model with same HW only without touch screen and maybe clip sized?

Bananiq, I wouldn't let yourself be worried about the s:flo2's Li-Ion battery as opposed to a COWON device's Li-Polymer Battery. Honestly the Li-Ion battery was simpler to condition and actually provides the rated times of 10 to ~ 9 hours of audio playback with a mix of FLAC and HQ MP3 files, and some video (only a few). I am exstatic about the playback time HONESTY of the player's manufacturer and boutique reseller (Teclast/nationite) For ME, the S9 got nowhere near the advertised times with FLAC using FLAC -8 files. Phooey for me.

As for heat, its actually a rather cool running player! I haven't had a single moment of discomfort with it and I run it CONSTANTLY. I'm quite addicted to it now.

Trust me you dont need something clip sized, although Teclast does make a non-FLAC playing clip sized X-19 or X-91 with a sigmatel chip that looks hot.

But this UI is really comfortable once you get used to either the sansa way of selecting Music > External Disk > Folder > Folder Name > Album Folder > Song Title > select...

This UI does it like this: From the Main UI Screen:

Music > Directory >TF Card Memory > Music > FLAC > Album Folder > Song Title > select...

NOT THAT DIFFERENT!!!

and NOT THAT BAD

It also has the traditional UNIX folder with the ".." double dot symbol to go up a directory so you dont have to navigate back to Music and drill down completely.

Just thought I'd give everyone a few pointers.

I find it a refreshingly Utilitarian Player, with some panache, and a hole Stereo Listening Room packed into nice Aluminum Casing.

 

[Bananiq]

Thank you for very good response

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLACvest /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Headphone Out is NOT BAD. The LINE OUT is however, silent (in terms of noise floor, blackness, and bass depth to My EAR, making it SO gorgeous I am using a Extension Cable with inline Volume Attenuator knob to just listen out of the LINE OUT, bypassing the Headphone Out. But that's Just Me... To Each Their OWN, and PLAY AROUND. YOU MAY LIKE THE OPAMP. I just happen to think the LINE OUT is Special. I have an E5, which I just listened to, and its got Fun Factor with the s:flo2. An iBasso T4, T3, or T3D imho seem a nicer ride for this player as they are tiny and uber high quality. However the E5 won't break the piggy bank, and will get you by for a while until you can afford a more pricey portable amp.

Thank you. For now, till I can get some money to buy more expensive AMP, would you advice me to buy E5 or the extension volume cable like you are using? I am not kind of experienced with Amps and/or Line out usage. (ex- iPhone 3G 16GB owner, thank god it shattered

- sold for 130Euros to some geeks with broken LCD, home-button and flash-boot memory(cannot start sometimes)

, cannot believe iWill get the best sounding portable music player for LESS money then sold broken iPhone 3G

.. crazy)


Quote:

Originally Posted by FLACvest Sorry? There is no SW Volume Bar that I am aware of. In the Music Screen there is a track elapsed time bar in orange, which has nothing to do with the analog Headphone Output controlling volume wheel. Also this track elapsed time bar is NOT touch sensitive. To seek forward and back, just hold down the Forward or Back arrows at the top Right and Left corners of the Music Screen. Same for the Video Screen interface the Analog Volume wheel doesn't affect anything onscreen.

Oh, so it's just analog wheel volume controller. I thought the analog volume control is inferior to digitalized control, but appearently it's not that true.


Quote:

Originally Posted by FLACvest Bananiq, I wouldn't let yourself be worried about the s:flo2's Li-Ion battery as opposed to a COWON device's Li-Polymer Battery. Honestly the Li-Ion battery was simpler to condition and actually provides the rated times of 10 to ~ 9 hours of audio playback with a mix of FLAC and HQ MP3 files, and some video (only a few). I am exstatic about the playback time HONESTY of the player's manufacturer and boutique reseller (Teclast/nationite) For ME, the S9 got nowhere near the advertised times with FLAC using FLAC -8 files. Phooey for me.

I was reffering more to li-pol in terms of faster charing rather then mAH capacity (any1 knows?). While claims of 6 hours of charging the s:flo2 really scares me, its provided rated times around 9 hours of audio playback is satisfactory to me. But I see the long charging as frustrating

That's the only drawback I see in this player now, since the 'buglist' is not touching me significantly.


Quote:

Originally Posted by FLACvest As for heat, its actually a rather cool running player! I haven't had a single moment of discomfort with it and I run it CONSTANTLY. I'm quite addicted to it now.

It's good to hear that, because some ppl here were referring to player's heat produced above-standart. So this issue isn't so big.

Does the s:flo2 provide some playlist managing?
Sorry if this question was asked, but if I pick some song to play, will it continue playing another song in the folder according to alphabet and then continue to another folder?

I am really looking forward for this baby, yum yum.
Seems like Teclast marketing department have close connections in asian xxx industry

Teclast T51… Marketing Lesson 1… The Killer Babe « Akihabara News

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLACvest I find it a refreshingly Utilitarian Player, with some panache, and a hole Stereo Listening Room packed into nice Aluminum Casing.

'nuff said

 

[manuvajpai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClieOS /img/forum/go_quote.gif I did some reading after that post, mainly on WM8740's output stage. It turns out WM8740 outputs in balanced mode (positive and negative signal) instead of the more common left/right vs. audio ground, hence it is why you need an extra opamp to convert the balanced output to single end analog output for the line-out port.

I am very interested in this player and this comment makes it even more interesting. Now the question is that whether it is possible to tap into that balanced-out, and have an outrageously portable balanced source?

I guess it won't be a true dual-mono design in this particular case though since the battery provides a shared ground (Not an electronics student so trying my best to appear intelligent here

).

PS - A computer store in India is importing it and is priced at roughly 180$ here, including shipping. It is therefore one of the options I am considering to drive RE0s. Will it be better at amping the, demanding, RE0s to their full potential, without sounding dry and boring by virtue of a neutral combination?

 

[AnAnalogSpirit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by manuvajpai /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am very interested in this player and this comment makes it even more interesting. Now the question is that whether it is possible to tap into that balanced-out, and have an outrageously portable balanced source? I guess it won't be a true dual-mono design in this particular case though since the battery provides a shared ground (Not an electronics student so trying my best to appear intelligent here ).

I'm not an electrician, but I know this: the config is Dual Mono WM8740 (one for the L channel, one for the R channel for stereo seperation and signal purity, and then the 2 signals are "mated and buffered" inside a low distortion Burr Brown OPAMP from TI to "translate" into a single signals stream all the other onboard chips can 'play nice' with.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by manuvajpai /img/forum/go_quote.gif PS - A computer store in India is importing it and is priced at roughly 180$ here, including shipping. It is therefore one of the options I am considering to drive RE0s. Will it be better at amping the, demanding, RE0s to their full potential, without sounding dry and boring by virtue of a neutral combination?

Get yourself an E5 if you can afford nothing greater, it plays well with the s:flo2, and honestly is a fun amp, and should be in every audiophile's "grab bag" for 'fixing' audio from portable thingies like cellphone mp3 players/etc for when you dont wanna carry a big rig with you... and the like. Eventually you'll want something nicer, as the s:flo2 exudes audio purity, but the E5's very functional bass boost circuit, in your case, may be a boon (help) to the RE0's...