Audio Reviews

Do not waste your time or money. If you have or plan on having XP, then keep looking. This card has been nothing but headaches.

I had this card already installed with my computer from new, running Windows 98SE. I recently upgraded to XP and found, like other reviewers, that the driver no longer worked. However, the Hercules site had the right driver which I was able to download and install easily and it now works fine once more.

The Hercules MUSE XL is based on the C-Media CMI-8738 chip. This is a budget chip as you would expect for a budget card. The CMI-8738 is actually capable of 5.1 channel sound and SPDIF (digital) input and output, but in this Hercules implementation, you get only 4 channel sound and no digital input or output. Again, this is a budget card, so Hercules seems to have forgone the extra features in favor of getting the basics done well.

The sound is very good. The sound is free of distortion and the higher frequencies are noticeably more clean than my on-board integrated AC97 audio (an ECS motherboard with an Avance audio chip). For example, in the racing game "Rally Trophy", I noticed that the gear whine sounds are now more apparent and I finally can hear sound effects like the wind blowing. This card should present a good upgrade to most integrated audio solutions, which are probably even more budget-driven than this card. If you are using this card with a 2-speaker setup, be sure to open the installed mixer and change the setting from "4 speakers" to "2 speakers" - the default is for "4 speakers" and the sound will be quite strange without rear speakers connected in "4 speakers" mode.

The CMI-8738 is based on Sensura 3D positional audio, so it supports all the popular formats for your games: Microsoft DirectSound 3D, EAX 1.0, EAX 2.0, A3D 1.0 and I3DL. Although there is no hardware MIDI support, the package includes the software-based Yamaha S-YXG50 to support MIDI, which is probably good enough for most users since hard-core MIDI users undoubtedly will purchase higher-end cards.

Although the box does not specify compatibility with Windows XP, the latest drivers available at Hercules' official website do support Windows XP. The MUSE runs just fine on my Windows XP setup.

The software package includes several demo titles, many of which are time limited or function limited - you probably already have full-function alternatives for most of these titles, but if you do not, the package will get you started on popular functions like ripping MP3's.

The game port works. Not much more to say here.

Under my older Windows 98SE installation, the drivers seemed quite stable, but I experienced frequent "page fault" errors from the mixer when shutting down Windows. This may be more due to remnants of sound drivers for my integrated audio and I experienced no more problems after disabling the mixer. In my current Windows XP setup, I have yet to experience any problems related to the MUSE XL.

DO NO BUY THIS CD PLAYER!(...)
You may ask why I hate this so much. Here are the reasons.
1. The ting eats up batteries, I only get 10-15 hours for 2 AA batteries.
2. The sound quality is bad. Out of nowhere it will get all fuzzy and skippy and sometimes it will skip 5 second clips.
3. It reads the cd tracks very slowly.
4. It takes about 30 seconds to load, WHY DOES IT HAVE TO LOAD.
5. You can not just skip right to one song, if you press buttons too fast it will get confused and the laser will move all around for no reason.
6. (...)The prosessor is too slow to show streaming graphics so the games are all skippy. If you play the games a lot you loose even more battery life.
7. The only format that it plays well is mp3. I do not want to waste a ton of blank cds just so that the cd player will play right.
8. You have to keep it still. If you dont then the sound quality is even worse.
In conclusion AVOID THIS CD AT ALL COSTS and buy the newest modest mouse cd. You wont be dissapointed.

This player, given the cost is dissapointing for two reason. First the resume fuction doesnt work right. It constantly will reset back to the begnning of a track, making it difficult if not impossible to listen to audiobooks. 2nd, there is no ability to fast forward (scan) thru mp3 tracks. Again, it ruins spoken word mp3 tracks, which is what I wanted to use most.

The games are fun to play for the 1st 5 seconds. Dissapointing, I had to sell it and now am looking for something better. Its expensive too.

My former CD/MP3 player was the Philips EXP503, which I had for two years before it I damaged it by mistake (long story). I desperately wanted to buy the same model again, but it was out of stock. I visited the Philips website and saw the new Expanium CD/MP3 player, the EXP521. The EXP503 was definitely the best CD player I've ever owned, so naturally I figured the 521 would be even better...
I couldn't hate it more.
There are several annoying issues with this CD player. Here are the worst that come to mind:
1. It takes a long time to start. I'm driving my car with the CD player hooked to my car stereo, pop in an MP3 CD and hit play. And I wait. I keep driving along, and wait a little longer. I know it's alive because it makes all sorts of noises as the CD spins and the laser reads the information. So finally I lose my patience and look away from the road for a second to see what in the world is taking so long. FINALLY...a song begins. The longest I've ever waited was about 30 to 45 seconds. To some it may not seem like a lot, but again...my old EXP503 spoiled me.
2. I'm a nut for perfect sound quality, which is why I rip my MP3's at the highest possible bit rate (320). When I plug in my headphones into the CD player, I sometimes hear static and broken audio, which drives me crazy.
3. The push button for the bass has to be pressed every time you change CD's. My old EXP503 always kept it on, because the batteries inside remembered the last setting used. The only thing the EXP521 remembers is to cancel the annoying BEEP that you hear every time you push a button.
4. There's no belt clip, which may not seem like a big deal, especially if you're driving...but isn't this a portable CD player? Am I supposed to hold it wherever I go? If that were the case, I'd buy a small portable boombox with a carry-on handle. Again...my old EXP503 had a very useful belt clip.
5. You can't fast-forward or rewind MP3 files. On that same note, you CAN fast-forward or rewind through normal CD's, but the audio transition is very choppy. On most CD players, you fast-forward and you can sort of make out where in the song you are. The EXP521 sounds so choppy you have to let go of the button to figure out how far into the song you are. Unless of course you look at the time lapse and know exactly where you want to stop.
6. The background never lights up, which is pain when you're driving at night and you're looking for a certain song among 100 other MP3's.
7. The buttons don't respond. I'm listening to a song, hit the "next" button and nothing happens. The up, down, left, and right buttons on the left side of the CD player have to be PRESSED to make them respond. The two "Stop" and "Play" buttons on the right are the same. You have to press them either harder than normal or repeatedly to make them work. All the other buttons work normal.
On the other hand, I do have some positive things to say about the EXP521 (which is why it earned two stars):
1. It takes either AA or AAA batteries. Pretty cool engineering idea.
2. The remote control has a clip to attach to your pocket or your shirt (but again...where do you put the CD player itself? Do you carry it or put it in a huge pocket?)
3. It reads ID3 tags, although slowly.
4. It has a good shuffle feature with or without repeat, which I use often on road trips.
5. Other than the occasional crackling, the sound quality is very good. I've heard other CD/MP3 players, including Panasonic's new model, and they sound very dull, like the treble is all the way down. The EXP521 has very clear sound.
Overall, I wish I had saved my money and not bought the EXP521. I'm desperately looking around the internet for any retailer that still offers the EXP503, or even a used one from someone who doesn't like it (how can they not???).
Shame on Philips for making a newer product worse than its predecessor.

Okay. Here is a write up, that I did, on the comparisons/contrasts on MP3 players. Mainly, the Harddrive versions (I.E. Rio Riot/Apple IPOD -both of which I own) and the flash memory type... (I.E. Memorex 3642 Mp3 Player, of which I own as well).
What prompted this little jaunt (of which you may send to as many people as you like) My $499 Apple IPOD died during a sync last month. Just me copying files over to it, and the battery ran out of juice. I would have not attempted to copy music had I known the battery was low, but the battery read FULL STRENGTH. Anyhoo, I called Apple, they said return it for maintenance.

I did. Sent it back.

They returned it, still broke.

To my suprise, there is only a TEN DAY return policy.

TEN DAYS.

I did not realize this at all... and will not ever buy another apple product.

So, after a month or so of messing around trying to find another MP3 player... I decided to go with a flash memory MP3 player, the ones that use memory sticks.

SO, here are the pro and cons of these devices.

Pro's for the Memory Stick Mp3 players

-Cheaper. WAY CHEAPER than Hard drive types.

-If you go into music match and file convert to MP3 Pro and shrink the size of your MP3 to like, say 3o percent... you can really make a good Kompression. Example. My Memorex MP3 player has 32mbs of memory on board. It is expandable to 256mb. 32 mb will basically let you put one cd's worth of music. It is easy to put music on and off of them, due to your computer reading the USB as just another hard drive, so you drag and drop to put on, delete them to take them off. But, after you shrink your files to MP3 Pro 30 percent, you can put twice as many. So, basically a 256mb chip will allow me to put 208 songs on my little less than palm size MP3 player. And it wieghs like 3 ounces.

- More on memory. These little chips are the size of the upper part of your thumb, at least my thumb anyway. They come in 128mb, 256mb, 512mb and even though there aren't any MP3 machines out there to handle them YET, you can even buy a 1.5gig thumb size chip thingy. Considering the size of the chips and the shrinking kompression I told you about earlier, I could shrink my whole KOLLEKTION down to 10 of those 1.5gig chips. At the current shrink rate I am at 5 DVD's, which are way bigger and more fragile than these little chips.

- Not as fragile as hard drive type. You can drop one of these chips and not scratch it. I wouldn't stomp on one with my foot, nor get one in water, but they are encased in plastic. Ruggedish.

- Batteries last for like two days. There isn't much going on here, no moving parts, no laser or hard drive to put power to. Most of these flash Memory types have a single AA battery. I use a rechargeable type, so we are talking very low cost here.
In comparison to the hard drive types, where you will get a solid 8 hours of playing, this really whupps up.

- Size. Small. Very small. Mine is three inches by three inches. A square. But, you can get smaller ones. And the memory chips that go in them are the same ones you use for your camera. And you can put files on them. If you want to put a word doc on your memory chip, you can. Your Mp3 won't recognize it, but it is nifty storage.

COMPARISON/CONTRAST

- Size does matter. In the case of hard drive Mp3 players... lets face it, you can, if you so chose to, put a library of congress on these monsters. They are the caddilacs of the hand held devices, and guzzle batteries like gasoline. But when it comes down to it, size is the only thing they have going for them. I don't mean to downplay the hard drive types, but don't drop them, don't shake them, and after shelling out $ to Apple you might consider insurance. Apple doesn't care about you or your apple after 10 days of ownership.

- Price/Komparison. IPOD ran me more bucks. My memorex MP3 player ran me less... The 128 memory chip runs you 50 bucks. Owch. There really isn't a comparison to the two. The memory stick Mp3 players just is great... on this issue. And, you get MORE than a ten day return policy, since you buy these things at Target/Wal Mart etc...

So, that is my review in a nutshell

Ok first of all, everyone who's reviewed this item obviously never got past the second grade. People are giving this a low rating due to the fact that its not made for the new Ipod, when the picture of the item CLEARLY shows the old Ipod in the case. So thats not a problem with the product, but with not reading/looking at the description. Also, reviews for a case aren't the forum for reviewing all the digial music players out there so I don't even understand that one.
Second, this is the cheapest Ipod case I could find, so I didn't expect it to be the case of my dreams. But, in fact, I was really happy with it. It fits snug, has a clip (unlike some of the more expensive ones), covers the screen (a big plus and many covers don't have it!), and leaves all the ports accessible. I think I'll rarely ever take it out of its case. One downside, and the only reason it didn't get 5 stars, is that it is a little bulky. The back of the case has a thick pad and the plastic is kinda thick as well. But I would rather it be thick than tear 3 months into owning it.
So, if you want a cheap and durable case with a clip and screen cover, I would really reccommend this one. If you'd rather have something really slim, have a new iPod, or don't mind shelling out the big bucks, there are some super nice cases in the $40-50 range, but not on this site.

First, let me say that I own this case for my older iPod and think that, for the price, it is great. Sure, you could shell out the extra bucks for some leather case or something, but I didn't feel like going that high-end. It is a very durable case and the addition of the belt clip is nice (although I wouldn't use this case just by itself for protection...if you want to do that, get the NLO stuff).

Second, concerning what this case is designed for...

If you read their "features" on this case, it clearly states:

"Created for older iPods - a great accessory for earlier models of iPod"

What are they supposed to do? Come to your house and check out what kind of iPod you have? Not only that, but they include a picture as well. Geez.

So yeah, if you have an older iPod, this thing is great. But read the description before you buy!!!

While the quality was pretty good, I was distracted by the fact that the output was very little; at full blast, could only hear at normal levels. The earpieces are big and dont seem to be erganomicaly designed for ears. The foam covers were a little helpful for that problem, but fell off very easily, like if you store them in your pocket instead of the carying case, and when the covers are gone, the phones became very annoying to listen through.
I recently bought the panasonic RP-HV152 to replace them and all of the problems of the Koss product were fixed by the Panasonic product. At a similar price range, about four to five dollars, it is a much better suggestion and reccomendation.

While I agree with the other reviewer who said the sound quality on these ear buds is great, I was not able to make these stay in my ears, no matter how hard I tried. On the rare occasion when they did stay, I soon had to remove them because of the pain they caused. The "bud" part that goes into the ear seems overly large, the padding is thin and easily removable, and there is nothing for the ear to grab on to. I am continuing my search for the perfect ear buds....

I've purchased some Koss products in the twenty to fifteen dollar range, and have been surprized by the sound quality, but I was dissapointed by these. I was hoping to use them with my ipod (my apple earbuds are a little blown out), but they are way less powerful than the apple earbuds. I had to turn the volume all the way up just to equal the sound that I got from my apple earbuds at normal volume. And even then, the sound was less full and warm sounding. I immediately converted back to my blown out apple earbuds. These headphones are not terrible, they're good for their price, but I expected greatness. Just go ahead and spend some extra money.

This was a complete waste of money. It's now a Legacy card. Don't buy, because they are trying to get rid of a stockpile. There are no good drivers for them. (it wont work in XP now either!)

This card stinks. No words can describe how much fustration the lack of good drivers...[It'll take] aloot of pain to buy the half functional sound card.

Well, considering I have a windows ME that came with soundmax, this card rocks. I am a major gamer with playing First person shooter games like "Soldier of Fortune" and it helped the sound tremendously.This thing rocks!

Our rm v8 got out of wack and I would like to reprogram it but I lost the instruction help

The instruction manual is on the Sony website. Goto http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/support/
Click on remotes icon
enter your model number and click documentation
the pdf file is at the bottom

I have one, but I can't used because I haven't a user manual for reprogramm it, if someone send to me it, I appreciate your help. excuse my english, an a cuban.

Best regards,

Arturo

I purchased this product just a few months ago and it's broken already. It was used at a desk with ear phones so it wasn't moved,bounced or anything you would expect a personal player to withstand.It skipped at the slightest bump and went through batteries like crazy.I now have a different CD player and would not recommend this to anyone.

I bought this CD player because it was reasonably priced but I probably would have been better off buying a portable cd player with am/fm raido with a headphone jack. When I left the anti-skip protection off, it skips at the slightest move. I also found that if I turned the anti-skip protection on, the sound quality isn't as good.

The skipping is terrible. But it's good if you just want to sit down and listen. Like maybe when you watch tv or go on the computer. If you move it, it will most likely skip. Another problem is that the headphones are never perfect.

If you can get used to that, then this would be a good cd player to buy and at a good price.

this mp3 player is ok - sound quality is good, clear screen, small, and lightweight. however, the battery case cover doesn't close all the way anymore (although still usable) - so it is somewhat fragile. i have windows 98, so audio manager software works - but it crashes my computer every so often. the internal memory only holds about 13 mp3/CD songs - not enough! plus, the internal memory cards seem much more expensive than the player itself. also, can one only use the 64MB SD memory card or can you use the 128 MB card, too? i would actually recommend getting a different mp3 player like the iPod since it holds 5GB or 10GB of music....

the product is great... especially with the battery attachment which lasts pretty long..

but i do not have the driver for win98 anymore cuz i reformatted my comp.

can someone PLEASE e-mail me the driver to spy5680@yahoo.com

I bought this player 2 years ago ...in Japan and thought it was a bargin then. I still haven't changed my mind. With SD cards (Sun Disc) making 512MB and soon 1GB memory cards I can listen to my player for hours and hours. My only wish is that it was rechargabe like a cell phone as the hook that holds the battery door closed snapped off. Also, I can only get 5 hours of play time with 2 AAA batteries. Other than that, one of the best buys I ever made!!
At (this price) it would be stupid not to consider this player.

I bought a Buslink Mp3 player in a Datavision Store in NY (Datavision is a big reseller, listed in Buslink page).
The unit sound volume is weak, but this is not the problem. After just 3 months of use the unit wont play mp3 anymore, the screen went crazy every time I start it, and then froze. I contacted Buslink to got a replacement but I got THE WORST SUPPORT, INDIFERENCE AND BAD ATTENTION from they, particulary from Ivan Smith, customer support. Walk away from Buslink. They cannot replace the unit without the invoice from Datavision, they do not honor your waste , confidence nor preference. Stay away from Buslink, a unit that lasted only 3 months and they wont replace. I REPEAT, THE WORST QUALITY AND SUPPORT I GOT IN TONS OF PURCHASES. DONT BUY ANYTHING FROM BUSLINK

got it for Christmas :)...

After going through the manual listened to some different styles mp3s... :

1. The earphones suck... can't use :(

2. The sound of Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14 'Moonlight' - 1 Adagio Sostenuto was horrible :( Besides the low quality, there was some additinal background noise... So it sucked...

3. Loud rock is ok kinda :(

So I'm ready to return the product...

I recently got this mp3 because my old one wasn't working very well. i love the sleek design on the mp3 but somethimes the buttons are hard to navigate but overall the sound and durability are fantastice its been a couple weeks and there are no flaws except the button placement

The yo fun is a piece of junk.
The UI for the downloading software is terrible.
It eats batteries.

Wanted to use it to record voice and then transfer it to my computer. Recording seemed to work OK, but couldn't get the drivers to install on Windows 2000 nor Windows XP. The manual is the worst translated Chinese to English I've seen in quite a while, making it incomprehensible.

The Kaser Corp web site is awful and doesn't seem to provide any updated drivers. Tried to contact them, but never heard back.

Purchased the player and it worked fine for two months of low use. Then it stopped playing music. Can move files back and forth just fine. FAQ's at their site are pitiful so I wrote tech support- no answer in a month. I just wrote again. If you want to roll dice and hope it works then go ahead but if it doesn't you are up the creek with no paddle and no place to turn for help.