S10 Discussion

[jeff]

Discuss the iriver S10 here...

[jko]

I recently decided to 'downsize' from my H120. It's only about three quarters full and even then I don't listen to everything on it - it was 'novelty' value being able to put my cd collection on to it. I was trying to decide between the iAudio U3 and the S10 but when I saw the S10 'in the flesh' I just fell in love with it - it's just so tiny and very cute. But, trying to be sensible I listened to both (actually an F2 rather than the U3, but they're the same thing). Both sounded excellent and both did what I need to do (the U3 also does line-in recording and that was on my 'would like but not absolutely necessary' list).

Anyway, couldn't resist the S10 and, although I don't get it properly until Christmas, I was having a play to make sure it was all behaving.

Sound quality is absolutely top rate - as good as, if not better than, my Rockbox'd H120. I've only listened with my Shure E2C in-ear phones so I can't really comment on how it sounds with the supplied ear buds. I've listened to some classical (Vivaldi) and some rock (Led Zep, Pink Floyd) and the sound detail is superb with just a little tweak to the 5-band EQ to nudge up the high frequencies (I'm getting old). I even spotted some encoding flaws that I hadn't previously noticed. i went back to the h120 to see if they were there too and they are, just not quite so obvious.

It's easy to navigate round - basically just folder organisation. FM radio works well enough and voice recording (my 'must have') is acceptably good and reasonably sensitive. File transfer is easy - was able to sync with Winamp (didn't try WMP) but it's just as easy to drag-n-drop in Explorer.

Doesn't do gapless (although I didn't try ogg format) but the gap is very short. Still noticeable though and a bit annoying (I've been spoiled by my Rockbox'd H120). Will only be an issue if you listen to the sort of music where one track flows into the next.

Overall, an excellent little (very little) player. Even though it's a premium priced item, you will get excellent sound quality in a beautiful package.

Can't wait until Santa brings it now. Next decision is whether to sell on my h120 (it'll probably just gather dust anyway) or keep it for the odd times I need line-in recording (or I could just use the laptop for that). If anyone in the UK wants to make me a good offer for a v.good condition h120 recently given a 2300mAh battery upgrade, feel free to pm me before I decide to pop it on ebay.

John

[itsmeguys]

Yeah, went in and saw the S10 a few days. I was shocked at how small it actually is! It looks soo nice. If I had the money easily despensible, I would definately buy it!

[tina000001]

The T10, T30 (with firmware updates), and Clix can. Theoretically if the S10 is capable of playing secure .wma files protected by Windows Media DRM it should also be able to play these audio books. Anyone know?

Thanks.

[Lord Julius]

I got my S10 yesterday, and I'm blown away. If that thing isn't an ipod
killer, then nothing is. (Of course it won't be, since since the eyePods have
the superior marketing )

It's sooo small, pictures can't do it justice, you need to hold it. At the same
time, thanks to the dClick navigation, that's about the minimum size you can
go and still comfortably use it with one hand. It does require a few minutes
of practice to operate the volume buttons without accidentally clicking
anything else, but then it's easy to operate the basics blind in your pocket.
A nice feature: when the unit is off and you click it for two seconds, it
shows the clock for a few seconds, and goes off again, without fully starting
the operation. Handling is mostly intuitive, maybe it helps that it's my third
iriver, and they have a kind of common philosophy.

Sound is brilliant, probably the best I heard. I compared it with the H320,
both on no EQ, by alternately plugging the headphones in, while the players
were playing the same songs. The H320 is slightly crisper, at first that
sounded a little better. But the longer I listened, the more I found the S10
to have a warmer, more natural sound. I can distinguish the instruments
better, and it's less stressfull for the ears when listening for a long time.
The bass is a bit more present than on the H320, not pushing to the front,
I'd rather describe it as more relaxed. Volume is identical on both units.
Your experience may vary. Sound depends on the music, ears, habits, and
a lot on headphones. I use the Creative Aurvana.

The Radio is crystal clear, and picked up all the main stations without
problems. It nicely mutes the noise between stations while scanning. I am
really impressed by it, it beats my Nokia phone by miles.

The microphone is not very sensitive for distance recording, I don't know
how well it'll do when recording lectures. Sound quality is good enough, so
boosting the volume later, in a sound editor, might fix that. Not a feature
I personally use anyway. Radio recording is superb, even medium quality
is enough for occasional listening or word programs.

The screen is readable at absolutely any angle, colours are bright, so there
is quite some potential for themeing or simply a nice slideshow as a screen
saver.

Software: haven't installed iriverPlus, since I don't do DRM, transfer music
simply through USB, rip CDs to MP3, and create my playlists as m3u and
convert them with LJConvert, so I don't really need it. Couldn't use the
cute mini CD in my laptop drive anyway...

I can't say anything about battery life or charging yet. I'd like to add a few
negative bits so I don't sound like a fanboy, but heck, I AM! I do miss line
in encoding, but I still have my H320 for that. All in all, I am very impressed
by the unit, design, quality, functionality, everything is convincing.

One question for jeff, if he reads this: iriver korea is offering the USB plug
as an accessory. Could you get those for the shop? I soooo see people
losing theirs, and then you're screwed... I'd also like a second one anyway,
so I have one in the office for charging.

[jeff]

Originally Posted by Lord Julius

I got my S10 yesterday, and I'm blown away.

I agree, been using mine everyday and absolutely love it!! if marketing were on our side this thing would sell like crazy.

Software: haven't installed iriverPlus, since I don't do DRM, transfer music
simply through USB, rip CDs to MP3, and create my playlists as m3u and
convert them with LJConvert, so I don't really need it. Couldn't use the
cute mini CD in my laptop drive anyway...

iriver Plus 3 does not support DRM music. It is simply a music management system sans DRM and it works well.

One question for jeff, if he reads this: iriver korea is offering the USB plug
as an accessory. Could you get those for the shop? I soooo see people
losing theirs, and then you're screwed... I'd also like a second one anyway,
so I have one in the office for charging.

One step ahead of you. I'm working on this and working to bring those colorful neckstraps here also.

[jeff]

PS - the clix AC Adapter does not work with the S10. Plugged it in today to test and nothing happened...

[Lord Julius]

Alright, I found something I dislike about the S10. I connected it to my
stereo, set the alarm, and expected to be woken up by music, like with
my T10 alarm function. Instead: about 20 seconds of feeble beeping.
Lucky I had woken up already, that pathetic whimper wouldn't wake a
princess on a pea...

I'd love to hear that it's a user error and I can make the alarm play music
if I do this and this. Or even choose between music and radio alarm, which
is what I had hoped for. Anybody has better experiences?

Btw, I managed to get iriver plus 3 installed and running. You need to be
local administrator on your machine (XP home edition), or it won't see the
connected S10. Took me a while to figure that one out, maybe it helps
somebody to avoid frustration. Editing the radio channels is a nice function,
so it was worth it after all.

[pelinkovac]

Well I hope to buy one as soon as I beat up Santa and steal his money.

[gcellama]

I know the s10 charges in like an hour and a half in the USB, but can I harm it if I just leave it plugged in for a long time..will I f up the battery?

[squidkidd]

I doubt it will affect your battery. I bought a wall usb charger off ebay for $10 and when its done charging on that it displays a "charged" message, so it at least knows when its done.

[pachinkoman]

It's smaller and nicer than my mobiblu cube.

[mikestaple]

Thank you Santa Jeff! Just opened it up this morning. Got the wife the Apple Shuffle. I think she has dap envy!

[asmqb7_s10]

Hi everyone, I'll be getting an iriver S10 in about a week and I'd like to know if there are any "secret combinations" for it (like pressing a bunch of keys together and suddenly the credits appear).

Thanx in advance

[pachinkoman]

The SQ, the size, the UI - WOW

An Apple Shuffle? Ha! I say Ha!

[danshe]

Is there any info as to whether the S10 will play audible files? I'm leaning towards getting the S10 over the clix but I want a player that works with audible. My other irivers don't. I can convert the .aa files to mp3 but it's a hassle.

[iViktorClix]

Reading your post and comments I'm considering buying this product.

Just a question:

How long does the battery really last? I dont really trust the released information by iriver.

Also is it possible to buy any iriver at thailand?

[RobBobAReBob]

My Zen micro that I use when I run has died this morning. I was thinking about a Clix untils I saw the S10. Would the S10 be o.k. to run with?

[Lord Julius]

It's a flash player, and it's very light, so it's great for running. I have not
seen an armband for it yet (at least not for sale), so you'd have to put it in
your pocket, or get some generic armband. It's small enough to fit into
practically everything.

[jimdearras]

Originally Posted by pachinkoman

It's smaller and nicer than my mobiblu cube.

How do you like that? Target is closing thm out at about half price.

YBIC,
Jim

[Nobody71000]

I got my S10 from Santa last week - but I am having trouble getting the alarm and timed FM Recording to work !!!!

Does anyone know of some "trick" I might be missing???

Thanks..

[Lord Julius]

Both works fine for me, just following the instructions in the manual. Except
for the alarm just beeping instead of playing music, but that's by design, I guess.

The only "trick" I can think of: do you have the current time set properly,
not forgetting the AM/PM settings? Otherwise it might start the alarm at
7 in the morning when you expect 7 in the evening. Maybe if you are a bit
more specific about what you did and what doesn't work we can help better.