Windows Mobile: A Viable Audiophile Solution

[Hifihedgehog]

Many people fear the Pocket PC, now called the Windows Mobile Device, due to the awful sound quality it produces. Fear not, for the excellent devices such as the iPAQ 110 and 210 and the excellent audio programs iPlay (now discontinued) and Phantasm make for a audiophile system on-the-go.

The sound of the iPAQ 110 and 210 is exceptionally clean, smooth, and delicious. It is much smoother, uncolored response than the iPod, which "tries" to make cheap-o earbuds sound good.

Finally, a live, true sound for my ears. That combined with the crossfeed and excellent reverb effects on my Windows Mobile programs iPlay and Phantasm by 40th Floor will really make me have fun.

By the way, if you have never used 40th Floor's players, they the cleanest decoders, best crossfeed, and reverb I have ever heard. They sound more accurate than any sound card or software I have listened to, which is remarkable for mobile applications. The creator must be any audiophile.

iPlay and Phantasm features direct sound device interfacing, so I get, in essense, DirectSound, instead of a crappy Wavemapper. iPlay has a 5-bar parametric EQ and Phantasm a 3-band. There is a +/-12 dB range for every frequecy region except the bass, which has a +18dB/-12dB range. The sound is more accurate than any freeware parametric EQ I have used even on PC. No sizzle when messing with the treble, no muddiness when editing the bass.

My favorite feature is a test tone generator on iPlay, allowing you to run ascending and/or descending tone with any high and low-frequencies on your choice from 20 Hz-20kHz. Oh, and you can apply the parametric EQ to it any time.

Formats supported are FLAC, WMA,WMA-Pro, WMA-Lossless, OGG, mp3, ITUNES AAC, and all other variations of AAC. All lossless formats are gapless, and Lame and iTunes encoded lossy formats, mp3 and aac respectively, as well. The decoders are quality-priority one. Zero-decoder related distorted and response is again buttery-smooth. It makes the other famous (for video, another story) CorePlayer bow in shame.

The interface is what makes iPlay (again, discontinued) and Phantasm different. iPlay lets you change literally every setting, while Phantasm intelligently does the advanced settings for you.

To comment on the echo and reverb, it is excellent. You actually get the feeling you are in a room or concert-hall when applying reverb, depending on your choice. The crossfeed is incredibly delicate and smooth, seemingly outperforming HeadRoom's crossfeed. The side channels really open-up, and the double-bass syndrome is accurately removed. For those who like speakers, there is also a nice surround-mode found on iPlay exclusively, I believe for Dolby Surround and Pro-Logic sources.

Go ahead, jump and try.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

Bump
Bump

 

[Navyblue]

Why do you need to bump a thread like this? And it's only been half a day? And this belongs to the portable section IMO.

I used to use an iPaq 3870 as my DAP years ago. IMO, it is one of the better sounding portable player I have, the headphone out is rather powerful by portable standard. Unfortunately it doesn't play MP3 beyond a certain bitrate (256 kbps?), the battery life of PPC in those days aren't impressive either.

 

[dgbiker1]

I had the misfortune of owning a Windows Mobile phone for a year and a half. I don't care if it sounds better than a $10,000 setup, nobody is ever making me use one of those things again. It was hands-down the worst electronic device of any type I've ever used. I'll take something with an interface that's been refreshed in the last decade, doesn't crash 3 times a day, and can call 911 without crashing (the last straw).

 

[Nocturnal310]

iPhone is my answer ...which is ridiculously apparent

 

[Hifihedgehog]

My iPAQ 110 never crashes. Their are plenty of off-brand Pocket PCs at the cell phone shops that never should be sold. The best models to go with are XDA, HTC, and iPAQ. Everything else is unpowered, poorly-designed garbage designed by people from China.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

If you have a Windows Mobile device, try Phantasm just once. Email the guy at 40th Floor with your device info from his demo. Once you try it, it will make you cry. As far as free players go, GSPlayer has the best mp3 decoder, better in my opinion that even Pocket Player, and many times more than CorePlayer or the built-in Windows Media Player.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

And if you think the iPhone is the answer, think again. Google "Nvidia Tegra" and you'll understand what I mean. The new 3D interface that is coming in Windows Mobile 7 is so sweet. You can play 1080P HD video with top processor, and 720P with the lower two. It also has an HD audio chip and decoder. And get this, you get over 100 hours of music playback and 30 hours of HD video playback. With full, constant usage, a mobile will have a minimum of 8.2 hours of battery life with a 1400mAh battery. Tech ARP - NVIDIA Tegra - Intel Atom's Silver Bullet? Rev. 2.0

And you think the iPhone can ever beat that? By the way, all the iPhone has is what the iPAQ 110 has: PXA310 processor. And YES, even the iPAQ 110 can do what the iPhone can and MORE.

 

[dgbiker1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonichedgehog360 /img/forum/go_quote.gif My iPAQ 110 never crashes. Their are plenty of off-brand Pocket PCs at the cell phone shops that never should be sold. The best models to go with are XDA, HTC, and iPAQ. Everything else is unpowered, poorly-designed garbage designed by people from China.

I wouldn't consider Samsung's top-of-the-line pocket pc phone off-brand or underpowered (it was the most powerful PPC available when I purchased it). My biggest problem with WinMo is that the interface hasn't changed since I bought my first PPC in 2001 or 2002. It's outdated, terribly laid out (I'm a human factors engineer, so layouts and navigation are the first thing I look at), and unstable.

I think WinMo appeals to people that are willing to spend time maintaining the OS, hacking the registry, finding/installing 3rd party apps (like yourself it sounds), etc... For customizability, it is by far the best.

But myself and some others want a PDA/phone as a tool, not a toy. I just want the thing to work, let me use it efficiently, and not lose my information. WinMo failed me on all three fronts. Sure, I could use my phone as a remote control, but I didn't care about that when I needed to call 911 and found out that Emergency Mode freezes windows and I had to wait for the police to call me back on a local line

 

[nsx_23]

I find my Samsung Blackjack to be brilliant. It can lag occasionally, but I've had no issues such as crashing so far with it.

I also have an iPaq RX1950, which again has been brilliant so far. Honestly, the interface isn't that hard to get used to.

 

[olblueyez]

Is there a player that will play FLAC?

 

[nd4speed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgbiker1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I had the misfortune of owning a Windows Mobile phone for a year and a half. I don't care if it sounds better than a $10,000 setup, nobody is ever making me use one of those things again. It was hands-down the worst electronic device of any type I've ever used. I'll take something with an interface that's been refreshed in the last decade, doesn't crash 3 times a day, and can call 911 without crashing (the last straw).

^
LOL. I have a WinMo phone and overclocked the snot out of it...and it's still slow.

 

[olblueyez]

Just wanted to interject that I got WM 6.1 and it rocks. Much Much faster and no bugs so far. Really enjoying my Q now more than ever. All the speed issues have been fixed, its very responsive now.

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonichedgehog360 /img/forum/go_quote.gif My iPAQ 110 never crashes.

If you are using windows on this device I am very skeptical of your assertions here about never crashing. Any Window's products middle name is crash.

I would also caution never putting anything you want to keep like phone numbers and other information onto a Windows handheld device and hope to keep the information long. You also have to use the Windows kluge software better known as ActiveSync to connect it to your computer.

 

[olblueyez]

Blackberry does seem to be a better all around OS.