Zen Touch vs. Archos XS200

[Serville]

I have read a lot about Zen Touch, which is supposed to be one of the best sounding players on the market, but it is soooo big, and it can not be used as an external mass storage device.

I'm more interested with Archos XS200, but does it have a good bass response ? Reviews say good things about it, but they mostly don't explain the details.

Which is better between the 2 soundwise ?

 

[XP_98]

Quote:

one of the best sounding players on the market

Among the Karma, M3, VAIO pocket, I think..?

 

[mushu]

I was in the same position and I got the karma. The archos looked great, was very small, but battery life, navigation, lack of accessories and unkown SQ put me off. The touch is just a brick really!

 

[The Smokester]

The Zen Touch is big? Not really. It's comparable to (only slightly bigger than) the iPod and iRiver players.

 

[GSTom1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mushu I was in the same position and I got the karma. The archos looked great, was very small, but battery life, navigation, lack of accessories and unkown SQ put me off. The touch is just a brick really!

The Karma is not as tall as the Zen Touch, but it's also a bit thicker than many other players. Plus, the Karma doesn't have Universal Mass Storage (UMS) capabilities either.

 

[titaniumx3]

Zen Touch is probably around 20% bigger than the ipod, simliar dimensions but quite a bit thicker and fairly heavy. The non-EQ sound quality is great and it can drive my earphones/headphones to painful levels, but unfortunately the custom equaliser plus most of the presets are poorly implemented and don't sound very good. For example the 4-band equaliser just mangles up the sound if you play around with it too much. That said, its good enough if you just want to add a tad bit more bass. Also theres no mass storage (drive letter) support, you need drivers and software to transfer music and data files. There is though confirmation of windows MTP support in the near future via firmware update, which supposedly allows driverless access via WMP10 or Windows Explorer, given that you have WinXP-SP1/2 and WMP10 installed.

Best things about the zen touch:

1. Very simple, efficient user interface and music libary design.
2. Almost gapless mp3 playback (tiny gap thats barely noticble).
3. Excellent battery life. Mine can last easily for 20hrs even with high-bitrate mp3s and constant tinkering.
4. Good solid build quality.
5. Low price!

 

[DigDub]

so you want small, good bass and portable hardisk capbaility? i guess the sony hd3 could fit you. i have read good things about the archos, but have never tried one myself.

 

[JETninja]

I have a new 20Gb Touch and I love it. The sound quality (have found no reason to mess with the EQ so far) with my Panny HJE50's is incredible! I sync it with both my Desktop and new Laptop. I only loaded the Driver (not the Creative software) and use WMP10 to sync all music to it. (I only play lossless WMA's) I have no real use for a drive (have an Ipaq that I carry data on when I need too) Sound quality was my primary concern. the battery life is unreal too....makes the heft worth it IMO. So far I have 40 albums on it and only 25% of the space is used. Sweet!

 

[Supersonica]

1 vote for Zen Touch, I love mine!

 

[Serville]

ha ha this is ironic. The more I'm reading , the more I get confused.
Now, after I analyze iRiver H320, and see it myself, I began to change my mind from Archos to iRiver.

The price difference between Archos XS200 and iRiver H320 is $75.
But I see how iRiver becomes more expensive.
- Better earphone
- Beautiful Colour display
- Line-Out (semi according to some)
- ASF & OGG support (Don't know what the hell they are or whether I need it, but OGG sounds interesting when I read)
- Pouch included , no need to buy separate.
- Photo JPG capable
- MIC recording
- FM & FM recording.

Sounds worth the $75 for me. The only thing I hate and doubtfull is the SIZE. Hell it is quick thick, and much larger than Archos XS200 which is very basic in feature, and the ugly look. The only thing I like in Archos is the size. I hate Archos's lack of FM & FM recording. IRIVER HAS IT !!!!

I'm falling in love with iRiver H320, and about to buy it at the store, but then I become doubtful again when I consider the size. Geezzzzz, should I really pick up iRiver ?

Anybody help !!! How many people support me choosing iRiver ?
Will iRiver be the wise choice ?
The sizeeeeee....anybody with iRiver H320, tell me how you feel about the size after you use it. Any regreet ?

 

[Jimothy]

The H320 is the same size as an iPod but a bit thicker. It's comparable to an iPod in an iSkin or something.

MisticRiver can help you with anything iRiver.

 

[oraclexview]

I compared the Archos XS200 to the Apple iPod 20GB (regular or photo version), the Creative Nomad Zen Touch 20GB, and the iRiver H320.

I'm not going to go into some long drawn out comparison, but I will state what both Archos players give you and you will see that none of the other players listed can match it!

Archos XS200
20GB Hard Disk
USB 2.0 high-speed, compatible USB 1.1, PC & Mac
Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 kb/s CBR & VBR, WMA and WAV (PCM)
2" level gray scale LCD, 128x128 pixels. 9 lines of characters Intuitive menu with icons
Stereo analog Earphone/ Line Out jack
Smaller than the iPod mini
Create playlists on the go
Virtual keyboard to rename music files and folders
Windows Explorer like organizer
Player is instantly recognized as USB portable hard drive with drag-and-drop capability (no need for software - best feature over all other players)
Stores all data files
Included USB 2.0 cable
Included AC power charger adaptor
Included headphones
Can be found for as little as $205 on the internet

Archos Gmini 400
20GB Hard Disk
USB 2.0 high-speed, compatible USB 1.1, PC & Mac . Built-in CompactFlash™ Type I slot to accept CompactFlash™ memory cards or optional 4-in-1 CF adapter
Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 kb/s CBR & VBR, WMA (Including copy protected files with Microsoft PD DRM), WAV (PCM & ADPCM)
Music recording stereo sound in WAV (PCM & ADPCM) format
Mophun™ game engine - Playback on TV
JPEG (except progressives) or BMP - Download JPEG images through CompactFlash™ slot
MPEG-4 SP with MP3 or ADPCM stereo sound, up to 640x400 @ 30 f/s, AVI file format. Reads XviD and DivX® 4.0 & 5.0. Play Music Video in MPEG-4
2.2" LCD 220x176 pixels, 262 000 colours and TV output
Stereo analog Line In (via adapter included). Composite Video/ Earphone / Analog Line Out jack, SCART for European version. Built-in microphone
Smaller than the iPod
Create playlists on the go
Virtual keyboard to rename music files and folders
Windows Explorer like organizer
Player is instantly recognized as USB portable hard drive with drag-and-drop capability (no need for software - best feature over all other players)
Stores all data files
Included USB 2.0 cable
Included mini-plug to RCA audio/video adapter cable
Included AC power charger adaptor
Included headphones
Can be found for as little as $320 on the internet


Now with stats like that for prices like that, either Archos player gives you way more features and convenice than any other player currently out today. Personally, I was going to get the Gmini XS200, but then decided to switch to the Gmini 400 because for an extra $125, I got color display which also shows the the album cover os the song you are listening to on the LCD as long as it is stored in the files ID3 data. I got video play back (great for music videos, short films, movie trailers, or just plain old odd, funny clips), JPEG file display with slideshow feature, ability to watch video clips or music file info on TV, and no need for software to transfer files back and forth (great for use on home and work computers). All that and it's still cheaper than the iPod Photo 20GB player by at least $10 depending on where you find it.

All I can say is 'Nuff Said!

 

[Jimothy]

Nice

FYI, with a firmware upgrade the H320 can play video too. But if I had a larger budget I think I certainly would have gone for the Archos. But that $250 Best Buy sale was too hard to resist.

 

[carsten2501]

Oraclexview: "(archos gminixs 200)Smaller than the iPod mini".
Nope: itank Mini is 60,3 cm3, 103 g. Archos is 85 cm3 and 120 g
Still very [size=xx-small]small[/size]

 

[Old Dave]

dapreview.com has a link to a new, fairly comprehensive review of the archos xs200. I own one and think the review is dead on. If you want extremely small size 20 gig player that has simple navigation and no bells and whistles, it is a great purchase. Biggest negative is mediocre battery life. I love mine.