Audio Reviews

I'm a student journalist who tends to rely on tape recorders for interviews, preferring them for accuracy's sake. I bought this one about a year ago, and it's given me nothing but trouble ever since. Playback is atrocious, especially in really quiet settings, where all it seems to pick up is the horrible white noise of nothingness ...

This was bought to use for meetings, seminars, etc. We tried it at home and it barely picked up our voices in the living room, much less a larger hall. The playback was barely audible, if at all. It would probably be ok if you speak directly in to it. Hope they will take it back.

I bought this recorder in January of 2000 and i really like it. I was a great price and it works great for all my needs. I am a college student and whenever there is a class i just record it and listen to it. The little gadget picks up all the information i need. This is a great recorder for anyone who needs one. A great price, too!

I bought this remote, and it doesn't even work. I called diamond about the problem, and they saud that I must have dropped it or something, but it never worked out of the box. I got so mad I smashed the thing. Don't buy one. I had the some problem with the Rio to, I wouldn't trust anything from diamond.

I should have known from the inexpensive price that this product was heading for the garbage. From the first day I bought it all it did was worsen the sound and slow down my mp3's. The buttons on this quiet too large headphone remote are hard to follow and I had trouble figuring out many of them. This large piece of equipment is too big for Diamond Rio and adds uneccessary bulk.

The reason I got this was that the play, stop, and change song buttonson my player fell off and i lost them! I had to use a pencil to turnit on or change the song. This worked great on the bus. It has all the buttons you need, and isn't as cheap as the player itself. The two problems are the size of the cord(I had to put it in my pocket and wrap the excess cord around it instead of using the given clip. I also found my frieds mini disk remote was smaller and had a lcd display that displayed the song name volume etc. The player itself only displayed the track number. If you dont need a player right now then WAIT FOR THE 600 TO COME OUT. It. . . has 32mb expandable to 320. Well im running out of things to say so the bottom line is if you do more then just sit in a chair and listen to it you need the remote. Also note it ONLY WORKS WITH THE 300

Everything about this A/C is first class. I love the remote control. The only exception is the limited spread of air. It has a circulating vent but the range is only about 45º. So it must be located where that is less of a problem.

Very good A/C for the money. My room is about 250 sq/ft, and it not only cooled off my room, but if I opened my door, everywhere else downstairs too.

We have owned and operated two of these units for one summer season, one in our bedroom and one in our kitchen. They replaced 15 year old A/C's. Both new units are semi-permanently wall-mounted. The units are amazingly quiet - I can finally sleep with A/C (previous A/C's were too noisy). It quickly removes excessive heat from the kitchen, even when cooking at suppertime, the hottest part of the day. The thermostatic control works very well and given the small size of the unit, it cools the air very quickly and keeps it uniformly at the set temperature. This unit is nicely sized to cool one, average-sized room. Units were professionally installed so I cannot comment on the ease of installation.

when i got this product for christmas the power buttom did not work and i found out that it was not in contact. whiel doin that wires were also apart. i went to returen it to target but i could not get my money back and they gave me a naother one and it did the same thing. i would not buy.

I received this as a Christmas present from a couple of friends and have loved the convenience, and how simple the product is. I didn't even need to load the included software to download music, so basically the product has been very easy to use. Love the small size and the extra componenets that are included (car adaptor and arm band). Few concerns have been the limited memory space, but that can be solved by purchasing a separate memory card.

Received my Lyra for Christmas and what a value. Very easy to use and I love the FM radio so I can tune in the big screen TV's at the fitness club. The extra items for the car and the arm strap were a definite plus. I did it all without reading the instructions...that tells you something right there.

This one is ok, but needs the adapter. I prefer the first one Belkin released. I have the cassette adaptor and cup holder in my Honda Civic. Works like a charm. !!!STAY AWAY from the FM transmitters.!!! I find them (I bought the one from Belkin and Griffen) both to be a waste of money...interference, static, etc...it defeats the whole purpose of digital music: clarity.

compare this first to a belkin auto charger and you'll notice the difference in the firewire cable. you'd need that flat thinggy to connect the charger to the new 3G ipods. look for other alternatives if belkins price too high.
.........

"Auto Charger for all iPods" is Griffin's strapline.

Well that is true as long as you buy an extra cable for the new version, or remember to take the cable that comes with the iPod.

Great work by Griffin... take an original product, change the strapline to include the new iPod and add a note on the back to say this device will only work if you go out and buy an additional item. Hey presto...Griffin have launched a 'new' product.

Just think of the other possibilities..."Sony memory stick, NOW compatible with all PDAs" (as long as you buy an adaptor).
Office 200x, compatible with all versions of Windows (as long as you buy an upgrade)...Damn it, I see where you got the inspiration from!!

Still it works, I suppose that's got to be worth a 2 points, (the extra point is for the marketing department. Good job chaps

I purchased this headset radio ... about two years ago. ... I used it solely at sporting events. I take care of my electronic equipment and do not abuse them. At first this radio headset was great but soon it was practically useless. First, when I changed batteries the plastic latch that holds the batteries in place would not properly close which would make the radio non-fuctional. This started happening shortly after the warranty was up. I called Koss [no] service department and was told that they would repair it for what I thought to be an exorbitant amount(over $20). Finally I was able to fool with the latch so it would kind of hold the batteies in place but the latch would continue to come loose causing the radio not to play. Then, the radio would make a loud squeaking noise and cut in and out. Also, the green warning light would come on to indicate that my batteries were low. This would occur right after putting in new batteries!

I would not recommend buying this headset radio. For what I paid for it the quality of workmanship left a lot to be desired. I have been very disappointed with Koss and will buy other brands in the future.

My wife bought this item for my birthday and I loved it for a couple weeks or so. Then, the headphones began to pick up a very loud static ring after 30 minutes or so of use. Gradually it became more frequent until they became unusable. (Yes, I tried new batteries.)

Unfortunately, because my wife bought them two months before my birthday they AREN'T COVERED BY THE 90 DAY (who would believe that) WARRANTY!

I had a KOSS HR 110Y earphone radio for almost two years, and I thought it was great. I took it with me to the YMCA to exercise three times a week. I liked it because: (1) it was completely on top of my head, with no cord down to my arm or belt to interfere with exercising; and (2) it has five buttons for pre-set stations, so I could change stations quickly. It worked very well, and it held up to quite a bit of getting banged around as I took it back and forth to the Y in my gym bag. Finally, after almost two years of regular use, it got broken. I had another identical one that had been sitting new and unused in the original package for about eight months. I tried that one, and it stopped working the first time I used it. Then, when I was trying to see if there was any way to make it work, I dropped it a short way onto a carpeted floor, and the door to the battery compartment broke off, so it was totally junk. Because I had already owned it for eight months, I didn't try to return it. I would be willing to take a chance and buy a third one, hoping it would be good like the first one and not bad like the second. But I can't find them for sale in any physical store, and even on-line, I can only find them offered for sale by one individual who claims to have a supply of them. I wonder if KOSS still makes them, if not, why?

Olympus makes GREAT digital cameras, but their recorders are to die for, especially when you interview someone and get back to the newsroom only to discover that while the tape was moving, the condenser mic had decided to go South on you and the only you can hear is the sound of the motor. Cleaning and demagnatizing the heads didn't work for me, either.

For interviews, spend the extra money and get a super quality product.

I purchased this product and found that it was of relatively poor construction quality. After reasonable normal use the cassette door hinge broke. I elected not to send it back for repair as my need for this equipment passed, but I was surprised that such a key element of the recorder would be so fragile.

I was given this as an unexpected & thoughtful gift, but after working with it a bit, I don't think I'd chose the Olympus again. One basic design flaw is that it doesn't stand up very well on it's think rounded base. You can balance it, but it will topple over at the slightest disturbance. I compared it with my friend's Panasonic RN505 which is substantially heavier, but has a bigger, better speaker & is more stable. When I played my tape on her machine it seemed as if the microphones on both were comparable.

Don't buy this unit at any price. I bought it a long time ago because it was the only one on the market at the time, and I liked the idea of playing MP3 CD-RWs. You can read other reviews and see the same complaints, but here are my chief complaints:
1. It skips horribly at the slightest provocation, anti-shock or not. This problem alone made me throw it out after I got my Sony, rather than subject someone else to this frustration.
2. Battery life (rechargable NiMH) is 2-3 hours.
3. It displays "Unknown tag" if the file has no ID3 tag. It could display the file name instead.
4. The supplied AC adapter often refuses to work for no reason.
5. The supplied earphones are horrible.
6. It's difficult to navigate through tracks. It plays files in directories but doesn't allow you to navigate directories. Everything is treated as being in one big directory.
7. Hitting "Next" while in shuffle mode actually goes to the next file sequentially, rather than picking a track randomly.
8. The user's manual is a useless short pdf.

There are better players on the market (i.e. every other player). Buy one of those. SERIOUSLY!

I bought a Philips Expanium and returned it for this player thinking that I wanted to see the song titles.

Reasons not to by this player:(1)This player is made very poorly. It feels like it is going to break. The paint on the buttons has already started to rub off and I barely use the device. (2) It skips worse than my Sony discman that is almost 10 years old. In the car you find yourself hearing snippets of the songs. It will even skip sitting on a table across the room (there was no dust on the CD). I'm not sure what's wrong with the player but sometimes it is simply unable to play an MP3 for no good reason (3) The headphone jack is finicky. You'll find yourself listening to mono for a while and realize that you have to push the headphone plug into the jack again. (4) Battery life is exceptionally bad. I'm lucky to get 3 hours out of the player. That's not enough to last me one day while I'm at work. Even though it comes with a rechargable battery pack, the battery gauge is still calibrated for alkalines so it looks like you have half of the battery life remaining right after a charge. (5) The ID-3 take support is pointless. If you haven't painstakenly labeled each one of your songs then you'll end up listening to "Unknown Tag" all day. It does NOT default to the file name if there is no ID-3 tag. Get the Rio Volt. Even though it has that annoying dancer at the bottom of the LCD screen, it's worlds better than this device.

I just bought the Pine SM-200C+ player and it's best player you can get for your money. It has 50 secs anti-shock, eq, rechargable batteries and random (features that the SM-200C is missing). I was originally going to get the Sonicblue Rio Volt 250. But after reading all the reviews of it dying just days/weeks after people ordered it, I decided on saving myself [money] and got this player instead. It has almost all the same features for half the price!

It doesn't have a back-lit display, remote & isn't upgradable, but I dont need any of that stuff anyways. The back-lit display would just drain your batteries, the buttons on the remote are too small and if a product works with no problems from the start, there is no need to upgrade the firmware.

Quick review:
Good ESP... no complain about that... And i liked the belt clip too but the desig is poor... and buttons are hard to identify whithout seen (whoever uses the player while driving would appreciate to be able to keep the eyes on the road) The cd cover release is easy to open accidentaly i.e. when trying to adjust the volume or when taking the player off the belt. Also the Superbass feature distorts the sound if you set it to the maximum. The resume mode doesn't completely work... the player will start in the song it was playing but at the begining.. and you have to press the mode button to go back to random or repeat modes. Batery life is decent (around 11 not continuous hours with a pair of alkaline AA)
I would add a random-dir play mode (to be able to play in random order the tracks in a directory)
My advice is "take a look at the Riovolt sp50, soul player or if you are into big brands you can even get a sony for the same money)
The bottomline: This player would be a good value for $35.00
The two stars are one for the esp and the other as a late christmas gift for Phillips. ;-)

I bought this player for it's MP3 capability, HOWEVER, when in MP3 mode, the player emits a random ugly "barking" sound in the right channel. There is even a mention of this in an addendum to the user manual. Philips calls it "monkey chatter", supposedly caused by "random electrostatic discharge", whatever that means. All I know is, it is extremely annoying and it totally ruins the sound of most MP3's played through it.

The unit works fine when playing music CDs, but if you want to play MP3's, stay away from this barking dog.

+ Fast startup - 2 to 4 seconds usually to read a MP3 disc.
+ Easy navigation. Folders & track seeking is fast. So is in song FF/RW you can hear. good for audio books.
+ Survives drops. Had mine go 3+ feet to concrete many times.
+ Nice high-visibility orange display (not backlit tho).
+ Smooth analog volume dial. No distortion heard at very loud volumes.
+ belt-clip
+ Nice chromed buttons.
+ Lots of sticker space on top (if you're into that)
+ Reads <128Kbs to 320Kbs MP3s w/o a problem.
+ Solid feeling construction (eg. Rio SP100 yucky!)
+ Button beep can be turned off.

+/- about a 10 hour battery life on 2 Ni-Mh AAs.

- Resume feature doesn't work right. Sometimes does, most of the time doesn't. Goes back to track 1 mostly.
- yucky in-ear headphones with ill-fitting rubber protrusion.
- newer players out have ID3 track display, backlit display, a working resume, etc. for the same ~...price.

Basically, great, durable, fast player marred by no ID3 tags & bad resume feature, now superseeded by the newest MP3 portables.

I have had TWO of these MDMT15 players fail on me. One did not work out of the box. I returned it and the new one failed one month out of warranty. Sharp would not repair it. I am an audiophile and keep my electronics in pristene condition. This player is of horrible quality and I would encourage anyone to buy a sony over sharp's bad quality.

I bought the Voquette adapter separately after I had purchased the Sharp MD-MS722. I'm happy with the player and the whole MiniDisc technology in general. However, I do take issue with the Voquette adapter. I had expected it to actually communicate with the player as far as when to start and stop recording, and with titling tracks. It does neither.

I had become somewhat tired of titling songs by scrolling through the alphabet one letter at a time and was looking forward to being able to simply type the title on my keyboard and have the adapter transfer it to my disc as part of the recording process. It doesn't do this.

The adapter is basically a fancy cable that connects your computer's sound card to the line-in jack on your player. You still have to use the synchro record feature of your player to record songs, and this, while fine for a lot of recording, doesn't work in all cases. The first few seconds of a song can be cut off, or pauses in a track can be misinterpreted as the end of the song. I thought the adapter would solve this problem by communicating with the player and telling it when to start and stop recording. Not true.

Just to make sure I'm getting my point across, the actual hardware piece that Voquette supplies does nothing aside from connect your sound card to your player. There IS a fancy little box with two lights on it (one red, one green) that the cord passes through on its way from your PC to your MD, but I'm pretty sure its only purpose is to look pretty.

My recommendation, just buy a 3.5mm plug to 3.5mm plug cable to connect your sound card to your player, and then use a program like Winamp or Windows Media Player to play whatever you want to record. You'll basically have the same setup at a much lower cost.

I would give it a 4. It's a little large, but it is an older design. As far as Voquette goes, it is indeed a glorified patch cord. It gets a 1. There is no communication with the player except to pass along the audio exactly as a patch cord would. Strangely, in the Voquette software, there is a choice to specify what model Sharp recorder you are using, like it makes any difference. Maybe it just lets Voquette know when you register it what kind of player you have without asking. Who knows... It is nice to leave the power supply at home and use the Voquette cord for power at work, where most of my recording is done (with a faster connection). .... I bought the Voquette ... after I bought the MDMT-15, thinking it was going to be this neat gizmo that would communicate with my MDMT-15. The box art and copy is a little deceptive, in my opinion.

It saddens me to think that people may be put off from purchasing the MDMT-15 because of ... claim(s) that it cannot divide tracks. It certainly does, with 4 keypresses. For the price, it's more than adequate.