Dateline: July 13, 2004 H340 Exclusive Photos!!

[jeff]

With the assistance of iRiver Korea, MisticRiver was able to obtain an H340! In the coming weeks look for a complete review and additional photos.

[profingersk8er]

damn....you're getting all the hottest players for free?

cant wait to read your review

[piggie]

Does the dock come as standard equipment?

[profingersk8er]

dock comes standard with H340

[jeff]

Does the dock come as standard equipment?

Yes...

[mspec]

did you recieve this for free or do you have to give it back.


Or did you (gasps) actually pay for it?

[jeff]

did you recieve this for free or do you have to give it back.

Yes it was free... however the marketing provided to iRiver by MisticRiver more than makes up for any items they send me.

[cynic]

i could look at the specs, i know, but i'm just too lazy right now.. and i want a better status as my newbie status, so i keep posting nonsense ;o) just kidding

question: the h320 look quite fat, is it fatter than the ihp120?

@ jeff : i envy you! ;o)

[jeff]

Here's a couple more photos to wet your appetites.


This photo shows how the unit connects inside the dock. You'll notice the 3 pins inside the dock that are used to lineup and hold the unit in place.


This photo shows the thickness of the H340 vs. H120. It really is a beast! I don't have an H140 for comparison so I'm not sure how much bigger it really is.

Jeff

[y0da]

nice pics so far

that think is kinda big jeez


still can't wait to see if it can play WAV

heheh

[SolidGun]

You know, I make some good coffee. If you need additional staff members to unburden yourselves from those H340's, I would love to volunteer. I can also read/write/understand Korean.

[jeff]

still can't wait to see if it can play WAV

No, it cannot

[cynic]

@ jeff : thanks for the pics to show the thickness.. jeez, this is huuuge ;o)

@ solidgun : did you ever try to email iriver korean? maybe the guys over there just dont speak english or any other language? because sometimes i just have the feelings they're ignoring us..

[Fluidity]

Yey Jeff, please give me as much info as possible. My H340 is still on order as I said the other day. I already concluded you deserve yours, as I said, this site played more than a minor role in my decision to get an iriver in the end and I'm sure I'm not the only one you've helped sway to buying an iriver. But basically you've already given me more info on the dock than I've had elsewhere, clearly only a power and USB solution and no audio connections, anyway, thats what I was expecting.

But please asap I'd like a sound comparison to the H140 as one fo the Korean mentioned some base problem which matters a lot to me since I listen to a lot of breakbeat. Anyway, at least I can finally see a pic of what I've bought and any info you get on it is welcomed asap (as already stated above!) even if its only one line as you discover new things ut would still be warmly welcomed.

Anyway, I'm glued to this forum now for the next 24 hours, well after I wake up tomorrow morning after the horrific amount of alcohol i've consumed tonight but after I get over my hangover, I'm all ears from you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yours excitedly, Fluidity.

[Fluidity]

lol @ cynic I feel your pain and am almost 2/3's of my way to the century now so I guess I'm almost towards getting my first Iriver H120 logo. I may well have my own player by then though so guess I might well subscribe soon after that. Still, I'd like to hit the century and get away from newb before then.

Disclaimer. I am absolutely wasted as I write this, so I may read this tomorrow and edit it right away in embarrasment, if I actually get up tomorrow!

Fluidity.

[EDIT]

Owww, my frikin head, owwwwwwwww. Appologies for random drunken typing.

F.

[jeff]

Patience my young Padawans.... I start my work week today for my "real" job so time will be limited but I'll drop tidbits in here and there.

- Charge via USB or AC Adapter or AC/USB Dock

[SolidGun]

Well, I have a cousin whose Fraternity brother from here works for iRiver Korea. I was trying to obtain some information and maybe be able to purchase the product early, but the company keeps a lot of things hush hush and according to him that they are not allowed to release any material that will give away a lot about their products. It sounds like every other company and that sounds like a generic answer for curious consumers.

[y0da]

well the fact that it doesn't play wav files completly eliminates it from contention

oh well i can't be completely sure but i from the looks of it its an inferior player to the h100 series


heh

[jonm]

Some first impressions would be useful, especially if you think it's a dog. There are people who still have time to cancel orders.

[jeff]

Some first impressions would be useful

Fair enough... Here goes...

- Build Quality - Terrific, feels very solid in the hand even though the body seems to be made of plastic this time round.

- Color - the unit I received is the "pin dot" black. Apparently there is another color/style available but i've only seen one photo of the other.

- Color Screen - Outstanding, I've not seen better on any device. The colors are rich and vibrant.

- Sound Quality - I loaded some songs on it that are also on my 120 and did a quick comparison via headphones and in my car via cassette adapter. I could not tell the difference between the two.

- Size - it is shorter than the 120 by a hair but much thicker. However, it comfortably sits in my shirt pocket if needed. (tested this at work this evening, I wear a suit to work and it fit in my dress shirt pocket with no problem)

- Weight - feels about the same as the 120 but I'm sure it must weigh a little more.

- Case - Lets hope that Vaja and/or iSkin make a case for it. The stock case is merely for protection and nothing more. Not play thru, although it does have the kind of belt clip that Sweet likes

- Docking Cradle - Well built, heavy with rubber dots on the bottom to keep it from sliding. In my opinion it serves it's purpose well and that is to provide a charging stand for the player with the ability to load/delete/play music.

- USB - the USB 2.0 port works as advertised allowing fast transfers and charging through the port or when docked via USB. The USB 1.1 host port i have not tested yet but should be nice for uploading photos with, etc.

- Remote - a functional albeit plain remote. Please note that the remote from my 120 worked flawlessly on the 340, allowing full functionality!

- Battery Pack - a nice feature... I don't think it's been explained in english but the batter pack actually clamps onto the outside of the player using tension and rubber grips. It's kind of a cool idea. Anyway, the extra hours of play time will be worth it for some.

- Software - the package came with a cd which had the iRiver HManager on it. The database manager we've all grown to dislike.

- Firmware - haven't really delved into it yet but I did notice two very annoying things which were addressed. 1. when the backlight goes off and you want to turn it on again you can hit any button and it brings it back on without changing any settings, etc. You can't do that with the 120. 2. The buffering on this unit seems better as the between song gaps are noticeably shorter. I've tried several different live recordings both on the 120 and 340 and it is a noticeable difference. I will however defer this opinion fully until I do more thorough testing.

- Photo Viewer - may be a novelty to some but I really like it. It allows me to put album artwork in the folder of the specific album and show it to someone should they wish to see it or if I want to view it while listening.

That's about all I can come up with for now. In just the brief period of time i've had the player I'm really enjoying it. Am I enjoying it more because it was free? Perhaps a little but I really do like the feel of the player and the color screen is just fantastic. I realize this is a player that plays music but it's nice to look at too.

Edit:
The on the fly delete is present in browser mode. You can delete individual files or entire directories. Just for kicks I also transferred a picture from my Olympus Digital Camera to the 340 and transferred a directory from my 120 to the 340. Both transfers went smoothly albeit a little slow due to the USB 1.1 connection.

[Fluidity]

Drool. :P

Thanks for the extra info Jeff that filled in a number of bits that were missing from babelfished translations of other reviews, has just served to wet my appertite even more! The company I ordered with told me to check back today for more info regarding the delivery date of my H340 so I'm keeping my fingers crossed I may have it by this weekend.

I'm amazed that the remote worked flawlessly too as everwhere else seems to claim it doesn't, good news none the less, especially if I can get my hands on one!