H340 Question and Answer Topic

[jeff]

Have any of you compared sound and sound only to the iPod vs. the H3xx series?

Yuck!! my least favorite topic in reviews... I know, I know, that's why we buy these things but sound quality is soooooooo subjective it's not even funny. The human ear is like a fingerprint, everyone's is different. What might sound great to me, might sound terrible to you. What earphones do you use, do you use an amp, do you listen to rock or classical, what bitrate do you encode at, what encoder do you use, do you listen in a quiet room or outside, are your ears full of wax, when you rip your cd's do you rip at 48x or 4x... Too many variables in my opinion to comment on sound quality. To my ears the 340 sounds exactly the same as the 120. In addition, my 120 sounded exactly the same to me as my Zen NX using the same earphones and listening to the same files.

As for the size, well let me say that with the joystick figured into the thickness of the player they are almost the same!

[phedders]

I have the option to buy a black H140 remote... for use with my new H340 - but Jeff - could you confirm that the H1 series remote works ok with the H3 series?

Cheers!

[looking_forward]

Is there a trick to get WMA napster music files to play on the 340 drive?
Thanks
Kevin

[jeff]

I have the option to buy a black H140 remote... for use with my new H340 - but Jeff - could you confirm that the H1 series remote works ok with the H3 series?

It works perfectly! In fact, i've just added Video #6 to this thread showing the H1xx Series remote as it functions on the H340. Take a look at the first post in this thread for the videos.

[phedders]

[quote="jeff"]

It works perfectly! In fact, i've just added Video #6 to this thread showing the H1xx Series remote as it functions on the H340. Take a look at the first post in this thread for the videos.

Such a quick responce. Now if only they'd fix the machine so it works with my Pentax Option S4i... and the browser would allow you to click on a file and view/play it.... (why need the separate "PICTURE" function?) or PICTURE would allow you to view pictures on a usb device. And copy would copy a whole directory tree, not just one level.... Otherwise seems like an excellent little device!

[linnman]

I note from the video that you have ID3 Tags set up. I have an H340 but all wma's dragged and dropped from WMP9 so I only have the following file tree - MUSIC/ARTIST/ALBUM/song.wma

When I press the NAV button, it doesn't open the search method like in your video (showing file tree, artist, album and genre). Any advice on how to set this up, if possible with wma?

Fantastic videos, by the way. I'm very pleased with my 340...

[phedders]

Argh - your footer states that your 340 is firmware 1.04K - I wonder what is different from 1.03E (apart from the Korean/English thing :O)

[linnman]

The main difference is that with the K version you can select any of the 4 world regions for the radio. With the E version you only get Europe. Haven't noticed anything else. Jeff's is also 1.40K.

[reddshack]

Thanks for the 'comparisons' video Jeff!! It does more justice than pictures IMO.

[jedge78]

Hi,

First, thanks for taking the time to do these videos. I saw your battery test and was wondering if you have done a similar test with the H100. Do you think that the battery life significanlty better on the H100 than the H300? Also, is the voice recording on par with the H100? I know that these questions are really subjective but would appreciate any insight. Thanks in advance.

Joe

[Mr.Anderson]

I can easily answer your questions (to help out jeff) even though I don't have a H320/H340 but a H140. But please correct me if i'm wrong

EDIT: Great... I just dicovered that I answered a post from page 1 and that jeff already answered . Well, since my answers are a little bit more elaborated, I will leave it.

Originally Posted by eogmp3

Does the H-300 series therefore have optical line in/out like the H-100 series?

H320/H340 don't have digital in/out. Just feature this is an extremely good reason for choosing the H1xx instead if you have the possibility to use digital input in your stereo... else you probably will when your next time upgrade of your Hi-Fi. The digital out is much louder and fixed (which is good). It's a real shame that iRiver has removed this great feature from the H3xx.

Originally Posted by eogmp3

Am I correct in saying that the USB 1.1 is for connection to digital cameras, and that data transfer of files from a computer takes place, like the H-100 series, at USB 2.0?

Yes, you are absolutely right. SyncBox are thinking of developing a new SyncBox with USB 2.0 speed and then the slow H320/H340 USB 1.1 camera transfer isn't a great feature.... but of course you save money on buying a SyncBox.

Originally Posted by eogmp3

Is there any way in which the H-300 series has taking a step-backwards since the H-100 series, any disimprovement?

The missing *.wav recording support is schduled to be fixed (did you mean that it can't play wavs - I don't know if that's a fact). The actually battery time will probably be lower because a color display is more power consuming. In the "approx. 16" hours battery-test the backing light is not turned on. Digital input/output is, as you already know, missing. Some might say that it is a good thing that the joystick has been repaced by buttoms, but after I "fixed" my joystick I actually love it. Additionally H320/340 is bigger and heavier.


To Jeff

Originally Posted by Jeff

On the question if the H3xx also have the "Harddisk Spinning Bug": I have not detected it

What does this mean? Have you tried putting your ears to the harddisk and afterwards pressed "NAVI"... then exited without choosing a song and listened to the harddisk to check if it is still spinning (and if it keeps spinning until the buffer again has been filled).

[jeff]

What does this mean? Have you tried putting your ears to the harddisk and afterwards pressed "NAVI"... then exited without choosing a song and listened to the harddisk to check if it is still spinning (and if it keeps spinning until the buffer again has been filled).

It means that I've done tests to check for the bug which I am familiar with and no, I cannot detect it on my player.

[Mr.Anderson]

Originally Posted by jeff

It means that I've done tests to check for the bug which I am familiar with and no, I cannot detect it on my player.

Now I don't mean to be picky here . I, of course, don't know which "Harddisk Spinning Bugs" you are familiar with (I guess you know them all), but I took a look at your fine H3xx videos and noticed that the harddisk kept spinning after startup. Then you entered the configuration menu and browsed around... I don't know - a couple of minuttes and then finally selected a song. All this time it seemed like the harddisk was spinning (I admit it is difficult to hear, but the harddisk didn't spin up when you started the song, so that is a good indication of continues spinning).

I think the question is a matter of what we consider unnecessary spinning (or bugs)... so here is my list based on my experience with the H140:

* When DB-scan is activated, the HDD keeps spinning at startup even after all necessary startup data has been read. 45sec.-2 min of unnecessary spinning! Further more the HDD keeps spinning in "stop mode" forever.

* When DB-scan is not activated, data is read all the time during startup, but the HDD also keeps spinning in "stop mode".

* HDD starts spinning when "browser mode" is instantiated from "stop mode" or "playing mode". It does not stop if no song is selected and the user exit "browser mode" without choosen a song. The HDD keeps spinning forever until a song is selected or new songs are loaded by normal playlist progress! ...may take up to 10-12 min. of useless spinning! Is it really necessary to spin the harddisk before a song is found and choicen? (<- that was a comment to iRiver). It seems like the browing catalogue is all presented in memory, since it works perfectly when browsing is activated from "recording mode". From "recording mode" I can press the joystick and enter "browser mode" without the harddisk starts to spin. First when I select a song, it correctly starts spinning.

* The HDD spinning stops correctly when "radio mode" is entered by holding PLAY. However, when the user exit "radio mode" by holding PLAY, the HDD starts spinning in "stop mode". It keeps spinning forever until new songs has been loaded into memory!

* The HDD keeps spinning when it reaches "stop mode" after the H1xx has been disconnected from the PC.

* The HDD keeps spinning during text reading forever even though all the text is in memory! The HDD will only stop if new songs are loaded into memory.


I know it is a lot to ask but the I would appreciate if you (or someone else with a H3xx) would check how many of these spinning issues the H3xx have similar to the H140. Maybe iRiver just don't consider these spinning issues as bugs, but merely as necessary spinning. Because it has such a downside on the effective batterytime, I think it also interests the rest of the community and future H3xx buyers if the spinning behavior has been changed on the H3xx.

[jeff]

Wow, that is quite a list you've got there..... I'd have to say that I've not tested for all the various hard drive spinning issues you've listed. Furthermore, I probably won't unless I have free time(which i don't have much of ). I will test again for the startup spinning bug in a quiet and more controlled atmosphere and report back. I had not detected the bug prior when I tested for it.

I must throw something out there to folks though and that is, there are no figures or tests showing that battery life is significantly reduced by the HD spinning bug. It must cause some battery life loss since it takes juice to spin the platters however. I must also ask how many of you don't have the automatic power off enabled? and why would you turn on your player and just leave it on without using it? Would your battery life be 18hrs without the "bug" and with it only 12? That would be a significant problem but that's not occurring.

I'm not denying the "bug" is there or its importance but I believe sometimes that issues like this are blown way out of proportion.

[MyGoul]

Hello,

Thank you for your topics, there are many information, it's just great.

I'd like to have information about the EQ on the H340. I'd like to be sure i really understant how it works. The SRS/Trubass/WOW Preset are modes that you cannot modify, it's preset ? In this case, what do you think of these modes, cos i'm not really impressed with the sound they give.

I understand that there is only the WOW User that you can configure using the configuration panel in the sound section. Does anyone can submit the values he has choosen ?

Thank you in advance.

[mook8515]

What will be the approximate speculated price?

[jelleman]

Is it possible to create (and save) playlists with the H340 itself?
In the manual I found only creating playlists with winamp and a pc is mentioned.
If it's possible how easy is it?

[MartinJ]

Dont you get a remote with the h320?/h340?

[jeff]

What will be the approximate speculated price?

Not sure, my guess is $399 (320), $499 (340)

Is it possible to create (and save) playlists with the H340 itself?
In the manual I found only creating playlists with winamp and a pc is mentioned.
If it's possible how easy is it?

The player does not "yet" support on the fly playlists. They are very easy to create in WinAmp or QCD Player.

Dont you get a remote with the h320?/h340?

Yes you do. You get a non-LCD remote which works just fine.

[MartinJ]

Will you do later a Pmp-120 H320 size comparison video?

[jeff]

Will you do later a Pmp-120 H320 size comparison video?

I don't have a 320 just a 120 and 340 but will do a video comparison, yes. I plan to do videos from now on as they show how something really works and you get a true picture.