What to do...? (Karma vs. IHP-100)
Sep 26, 2003 at 5:00 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 28
barnaby1

barnaby1

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Man o man. I have been waiting for the Rio Karma to hit the shelves, but I just saw the price drops for the iRiver IHP-100 (down to $307!). I might just have to break down and go with the iRiver. I have been VERY happy with my iFP-390 and have heard nothing but good things about this guy. Plus, the remote is awesome (something I developed fondness for as a long-time MD user...What is a guy supposed to do...?
 
Sep 26, 2003 at 9:49 PM Post #2 of 28
I think the answer is kind of easy really. Why exactly is it, that you wanted to get the Karma over the IHP-100 in the first place? If you can justify spending the extra dough for the features you saw that made you want to buy the karma, then fine, buy it. However, if you can sacrifice those extra features, just to save a buck or 2.....

See what I'm sayin' ? If it was the Ogg support, then you may as well get the IHP-100 because It will probably support Ogg in the future (though I've sworn off Iriver due to their horrible lies). There's another thread which refers to the Ogg support..and there's a link as well.
 
Sep 27, 2003 at 12:20 AM Post #4 of 28
What Sweet Spot said. You decide what you're willing to pay for. Karma is the player to beat for features though. All the talk of Ogg, WMA, AAC, matter very little to at least me. At the lossy bitrates you're going to be using if you're browsing a headphone site, they're about the same as LAME --aps/--ape (I say that primarily as an AAC user). Besides to a user the files are all equally free and (and what's never discussed) the files content is equally not. Karma enters another world with lossless FLAC support, though. If you're interested in best sound and willing to give up the space (but not WAV space) for it... that may be your answer. As I mentioned in another thread, the Karma's FLAC support is the biggest step I feel HD players have taken since the first generation iPod was introduced a couple years back. Course if you're not willing to give up 300 megs for an album in an era of decent lossy compression at a third that size, don't pay the extra money.
 
Sep 27, 2003 at 12:22 AM Post #5 of 28
I guess FLAC would still be a reason to get the Karma. Plus, one might like its form factor better. Also, there is a 40 GB Karma on the way. The Ethernet option is nice. If you want to have the player act like a hard drive, with no extra software, the iRiver is the way to go. I guess the Karma is more capacity for the money (as it looks right now). The iRiver has Digital Out and Line Out on the player, and recording as well. I think I am going to get the Karma, but I wouldn't mind transfer without extra software, and Digital and Line Outs on the player though. It really comes down to what you want for your money, and which one comes out first. I don't want less than 20 GB, so I think I will go with the Karma...now that the iHP series will play Vorbis, I guess it is a toss up.
 
Sep 27, 2003 at 6:00 PM Post #6 of 28
Yeah, the Flac is a good thing to consider I guess, but there's something even bigger than all of what has been mentioned. And that is customer service/hardware/software support.

Now, in my personal experience, (being an iMP 350 owner) iRiver has done alot of nothing for their customers..well actually..they've lied alot. And their return policies are somewhat of a joke from what I've heard. I'm just thankful that I've had no reason to send my unit back...then again, I've never done a firmware upgrade on mine, and won't until the Ogg support. On the other hand, since Rio has been shifting its management and the likes, it's very hard to tell what they're going to be like in dealing with such matters.

If anyone would care to chime in .........
 
Sep 27, 2003 at 6:08 PM Post #7 of 28
SonicBlue (recent past owners of Rio) has had lousy support for their players and GoVideo products, but as you said they're under new management... or if I remember correctly original management. I think I read somewhere (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) there are members of the original Rio team (before SonicBlue era) at the new owner's Digital Networks NA. I'm almost positive I read that, but it could be the GoVideo line (sold to another company) and I'm confusing them. I did a quick search to try to find the info but can't.
 
Sep 27, 2003 at 9:19 PM Post #9 of 28
Don't forget that the Karma has crossfading and the dock lights up when you put it in. OOOO!
cool.gif
 
Sep 28, 2003 at 12:02 AM Post #10 of 28
That's a good price on the 20. Even more impressive is the price on the 40 which is about $430. However, I'm always leary about buying from such sites. I did a check on them through resellerratings.com
and they didn't have all that many reviews, perhaps 11 or 12, most of which were good however. So use caution...enter at your own risk. I mostly trust the big boys such as mwave or newegg, dell etc. Dell usually has really great prices, and you know that they don't have time for lawsuits or bitching customers, since their whole motto is pertaining TO customer service.
 
Sep 28, 2003 at 8:49 PM Post #13 of 28
DNNA bought Rio and ReplayTV. Go-Video was split up to a seperate company. It's basically the same people, just different ownership. The designers of the Karma are the Rio engineers in Cambridge who designed the empeg. The engineers are very good (the epmeg was a big hit, still has a strong community). Many people are not fans of Rio after trouble with some of their other players, but be aware those players were designed by completely different people.

About the extra software thing - you don't necessarily need to install extra software to load up the Karma either. Plugged in via ethernet you can launch a java applet from the Karma which is a lite version of Rio Music Manager. Can also run a lite version of Rio Taxi which allows you to store any type of file.
 
Sep 28, 2003 at 10:33 PM Post #15 of 28
Quote:

Originally posted by Sweet Spot
That's a good price on the 20. Even more impressive is the price on the 40 which is about $430. However, I'm always leary about buying from such sites. I did a check on them through resellerratings.com
and they didn't have all that many reviews, perhaps 11 or 12, most of which were good however. So use caution...enter at your own risk. I mostly trust the big boys such as mwave or newegg, dell etc. Dell usually has really great prices, and you know that they don't have time for lawsuits or bitching customers, since their whole motto is pertaining TO customer service.


For those that don't want to risk it for the Karma 40, pick it up at Amazon for $14 more at $444.

Edit: Okay, even better... get this now if you're interested. Amazon is running the $50 gift certificate with a $250 purchase again. Counting in the GC, you end up paying $394.
smily_headphones1.gif
 
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