Sound quality of T10

[manks40]

How is the sound quality on the T10 2GB? Is it excellent with no EQ? I read one review on Amazon that said the sound quality was not so good compared to earlier iriver models because the T10 uses a samsung chip instead of phillips. Is that true?

How does it compare say to the iAudio U3 2 GB MP3 Player?

I had a simple iriver mp3 player in the past and the sound was very good imo. It died recently. I bought a ipod nano second generation last week and to me it sounds awful. So now I'm trying to really research this before making another purchase.

Thanks for any advice.

[Sesquash]

Since every body's sense of hearing is quite different, AND not any one person might like certain aspects of the sound spectrum, it is a great thing when you have a D.A.P. that can really fine tune the sound of the music to personally please YOU, the owner of it.

The T10 does that excellently. I use to enjoy most all the time the S.R.S. (which is still very good) feature but taking the time (1 hour actually) to keep playing with the 5 band equalizer, I have the music reproduction to (for my ears...the ultimate listening experience) 100 percent personal satisfaction.

I still do like the LIVE EQ setting for 'live recordings'.

So for myself, I run with my personal equalization most of the time. Will jump into S.R.S. when using ear-buds, and will run with LIVE if it enhances the 'live performance' over my normal User EQ settings.

But no matter what you set, the T10 is superb. I now own one 1 gig, and two 2 gigs. If one fails for whatever reason, another comes out of the drawer to replace it.

For myself personally, the T10 represents the ultimate, portable D.A.P.

I've had many others, and my kids benefited from them when my first T10 came to rest against my chest. The kids will only get these through the Will, lol.

Cheers!

Sesquash

[manks40]

thanks sesquash!

anyone know any offline stores in us that carries it?

[ShyAnne]

Sound in T-series players is excellent. As Sesquash noted, sound quality is subjective. Much is dependent upon the particular ears involved.

Some claim T-series players don't get as loud as the older ifp-series players. I don't know how loud those people like to listen to their DAPs but the T10 and T30 get plenty loud enough for me. Listening too loud damages ears, which means less hearing sensitivity, which means many things may not sound as good as they actually are. It's a vicious cycle.

The American T-series models do have more output at 18mw+18mw vs. 15mw+15mw for the T-series players available for the rest of the world.

If you want more technical specifications on sound quality check this thread:
T30 Freq. Response: Excellent

The tests in the above thread were actually done on a T30. But I own both T30 as well as T10 models and although there are differences in size, features and navigation, sound is basically the same in both.

As far as availability at offline stores, you may have a problem. These days it's all about iPod and Zune at the bricks-and-mortar stores. The only iRivers I have seen lately on physical store shelves are Clix models.

[manks40]

do you have to use windows media player with the T10?

I was checking out WMP version 10 and 11 and I find I really don't like wmp - bad sound and the songs seems to start fast when you press play - like the very beginnings of the songs get clipped

[ShyAnne]

No, you don't have to use Windows Media Player. If you leave the T10 firmware as MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) then you can use any MTP software you like, including Winamp, Media Monkey, Yahoo Music, etc.

If you don't want to use any music management software at all you can switch the T10 firmware to UMS (Universal Mass Storage, same as USB mass storage) so you can drag and drop files on the T10 and organize the files directly instead of using sync.

I have seen customer reviews on other sites (Amazon, etc.) regarding T10, many say "It makes you use WMP!!!" or "No drag and drop!!" but these things are simply not true. The reviewers in question apparently couldn't figure out that there are other options. These forums contain complete instructions on using other software or switching the firmware to UMS.

[manks40]

Thanks shyanne. Actually now that I've used wmp 10 a little I don't think its that bad.

Anyway, I ordered the T10 (2GB) from amazon for $139. That and some sennheiser px 100's. Eagerly awaiting them.

Thanks everyone for your help.

[manks40]

Ok, I received my T10 today from amazon. It really sounds awesome. Plenty loud too. It apparently is the AU/HK version (I checked it on power down). I'm in the USA. Is there any difference between this one and the US version?


I installed the iriver software that it came with and it updated itself to iriver plus 3 and updated the firmware to 1.76. It seems I can use the software or use windows media player or anything. How do you guys usually use it? I am thinking of just using the iriver software with it.


Thanks!

[ShyAnne]

If you never saw one in person bet you were shocked at the size, for all that powerful sound it's still very small and portable. The online pictures make it seem huge and a few user reviews elsewhere have complained it's "big and bulky". LOL ... I guess those people have never lugged a portable CD player through an airport. It does sound awesome, plenty loud without distortion and a nice looking player too.

The American (USA, Canada, South America) T-series models have more output at 18mw+18mw vs. 15mw+15mw for the T-series players available for the rest of the world. Face plate colors are different in some parts of the world for 1GB, but the 2GB models are always all black. The American and European models come with MTP firmware and are packed with WMP 10; Asian, Australian nad Scandinavian models come with UMS firmware and are packed with iRiver Music Manager. Those things are the only differences.

As far as how to load songs onto it, play around with different programs and see which one you like best. Alternately, you can use no program at all and just drag and drop.

One caution. Whatever program you use, don't follow the directions in the manual for creating playlists. Unless they have changed the printing since I got my first T-10 those instructions don't work. It tells you to create and sync playlists at the same time, with the player connected. All that did was load songs separated into album/artist but didn't transfer playlists. Instead create all your various playlists in the program first, then connect the player and sync the completed playlists. No matter what program I use that way always works, it will still separate into artist/album but playlists will transfer as well. If you use drag and drop you just create your playlists as folders in Explorer, then drag the completed folders.

Make sure you play with all the effects to find what you like best, or you may just like the sound with no effects at all. Any questions this is the place to come ask, but you already knew that.

Enjoy your T10 2GB and don't panic the first time you drop it ...LOL. They're pretty tough players.

[manks40]

Thanks shyanne. Yeah you're absolutely right - it's very small and light and feels nice in the hand. I thought based on the reviews that it was gonna be much bigger and "clunky". I think one review said it doesn't stay put when you sit it down - it actually positions itself perfectly when you put it on a table imo.

With regards to having less output by 3mw - does this just refer to potential volume?

In any case it sounds pretty damn good and gets louder than I can take. I actually like when its all said and done the normal eq setting. The rock setting is second favorite.

I was a little disappointed with the sennheiser px 100 headphones that I also ordered - they are noisy - good sound though I think my little headband sony headphones are just as good.

The iriver software is acually not that bad imo. Extremely fast transferring!

Thanks for the warning about the playlists.

[manks40]

One question...

When you press the lower volume (-), does the round wheel seem to come up a little so that when you touch the raise volume (+) the wheel kind of clicks down slightly?

[ShyAnne]

Originally Posted by manks40

With regards to having less output by 3mw - does this just refer to potential volume?

Yep. The 15mw+15Mw ones were produced because of a protective law in France that limits maximum potential volume of digital players. But as you said, the model you already have can get louder than you can take so it doesn't look like the 3mw difference is a problem. The only possible difference would be if you were playing the unit through portable speakers. To drive portable speakers, my 18mw +18mw T10 units do need to be turned up to a level that's well past what's comfortable for earphone listening. But I don't need to turn it up to max volume so it doesn't seem the missing 3mw should make any noticeable difference even if you were to run the unit through external speakers.

Originally Posted by manks40

When you press the lower volume (-), does the round wheel seem to come up a little so that when you touch the raise volume (+) the wheel kind of clicks down slightly?

On both my 1 GB and 2GB T10s, pressing either the volume up/down control or FF/REW does cause the wheel to raise slightly on the opposite side but it does not stay raised. Not sure if you meant yours stays raised until the opposite side is pressed? If so I don't think it's supposed to do that as neither of my units works that way. Mine raises on pressing but immediately goes back to flat after pressing a control, I don't have to press the opposite control to get it to go back down.

The only difference in controls on my 2 T10 units is that the buttons on the 2GB feel punchier somehow, there's definitely a much stronger ::click:: feel to them than on the 1GB unit. This is noticeable on both the click wheel and the top buttons, but there's no difference in response. Controls respond very well on both. The only other difference between the two is startup time. Even when completely full the 1GB unit boots up in less than 3 seconds, so I expected the 2 GB unit would boot up in twice that time but it doesn't. Once full the 2GB unit boot up takes more than three times as long, at about 9 or 10 seconds. A minor annoyance and it only affects initial startup, control response time is the same when each unit is already on.

As a side point, I do prefer the click wheel over a joystick. A few user reviews elsewhere complained about the change from the joysticks on iriver's previous flash players, apparently some users with large hands find joysticks easier to control.

But there was a problem on older players with the joysticks breaking so I believe that's why iriver changed the design. Those joysticks were very tiny and had tendency to break off if the player was dropped and just happened to land the wrong way, or if the joystick caught on a pocket edge or case edge. Others broke simply from usage over time but I suspect those cases may have been due to rough handling from some users. Joysticks on the older players only needed a tap to respond but some people habitually yank the things, continually doing that would certainly be likely break it over time.

[manks40]

I see. Yeah, mine (the wheel) will stay very slightly raised (not visible) after clicking lower volume (-). If I click anything else after it or even just touch the wheel the wheel will pop back down. It only happens when I click volume down. None of the other three choices clicked makes that happen to the wheel. Not the biggest deal in the world just concerned in the future it could lead to the wheel popping out.

[ShyAnne]

You said earlier in the thread that the T10 2GB was purchased from Amazon.

They have a pretty decent return policy, especially if it's an even exchange rather than a refund. Yeah, still a hassle to return/exchange anything but if you're really concerned then it's something to consider.

I would certainly give it consideration if my 2GB T10 had been $139. Mine wasn't even three digits before the decimal point, but only due to a lucky find during a Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) blowout sale on a limited number of brand new units. Still, I would not have been happy if the product had a defect and would have considered an exchange. Not to sound overly picky but if I buy a brand new product as opposed to a used or refurbished then I expect that product to function as brand new. Just a thought.

[manks40]

Yeah, the packaging was thrown out unfortunately. I got it from one of the Amazon stores. Was also a little disappointed that it wasn't the US version. I usually buy electronics offline but couldn't find the T10 anywhere (or any iriver products actually - including clix) and was a little impatient. Not even iriver has the T10. Looks like it has now been discontinued. But anyway, it sounds great and if I ever have a serious problem with the wheel I'll try and fix it myself. It seems pretty secure.