Audio Reviews

I got one for about Rs. 2400 from Compuage Infocomm. I read a lot of reviews about it and finally choose it over the SBS-370. First thing one notice is that the bass is really deep. The frequency response is better than other 2.1 speakers. Also the woofer are of good quality and they can last long. The design of speakers was very attractive and the build quality is good. The loudness is too much and max volume should never be turned on.
Otherwise, a good speaker set to be coupled with your inbuilt AC'97 Audio.

these speakers are good for the money. the bass is awesome...and if you have a good sound card then the bass will make you happy. the only coplaint i have is that the plugs are loose...the 2 jacks where the small speakers plug into sometimes dont get connected....you have to push itin, and make sure you dont move it. the remote is convinient, and its simple to set up. all in all its a good product for your money

I bought this a few weeks ago from a computer shop. It is a very low cost good performance speaker.
When I was about to buy this speaker, I was able to test it using a pc with an audigy soundcard. It sounded great, I wasn't really able to test it at very high volume. I didn't notice that the bass becomes distorted at high levels until I brought it to my apartment where I was able to play it loud enough. At first I was disappointed because the bass didn't sound as good as my creative sbs370 which has a very smooth tight bass. But after a few weeks of long hours of use, I've learned that I can get the best effect when setting the bass level at only 20%, pointing to the second dot in the bass volume knob. At this level, the bass is sufficient enough to fill a moderately sized room at high volume level, and a small room at a mid volume level. But if you're going to use it with your dvd player, you can try increasing the bass level a bit further. I think this speaker is a great deal for its price. But if you want a really good sounding speaker without any compromise, you should spend more and get the kinds of altec 621, or megaworks, or klipsch promedia. Though they are a quite more pricey, they really sound awesome.

The drivers for the SBLive have never been great. With Windows 2000 the drivers were horrible. With Windows XP, you can have basic functionality, but instally Liveware (required to get all the features from the card) will cause system instability, etc. Don't buy this for XP!

I bought this card in a bundle that included the FPS1000 and I've been fairly pleased with the card. (The speakers are a different story. Please see my rant under the Soundworks FPS1000 if you are interested.)

I realized from the get-go that this was just a Soundblaster Live with extra software. However, I'm a sucker for bundled software, and so I took the bait.

As to be expected, the software has run hot and cold in its usefullness. I will say that once I FINALLY get Cakewake to interface with my MIDI keyboard, I will be quite pleased with my purchase. (However, the last time I tried to get it to work, Cakewake was strangely silent. Something must have been wrong in my setup somewhere.)

Some of the software is quite lame. Creative's LAVA and "Keytar" come to mind. (The former is a bad rip off of some of Winamp's finer visual effects and the latter is a poor, poor excuse for guitar effects on the keyboard. Get a real guitar.)

In the end, however, I'm pleased with the performance of my card, and I still maintain that this was the bundle for me. (I certainly shouldn't have bought the "X-Gamer," and I'm still not certain how useful the "LiveDrive" that comes with the Platinum edition is.)

I give it 4 stars because the chipset is a GOOD chipset for a consumer sound card. If you are serious about sound and computers, definitely look elsewhere. Myself, I'm only semi-serious, and, for better or worse, this is where I landed.

I've upgraded my computer many times in the past, but I had a few problems with setup this time. First, it was confusing because the drivers for Win98 are designed so that you *don't* install them when Windows prompts you. While the card included a "Quick Setup Guide" that explained this, the main manual didn't. Also, my Gateway has a sound card wired into the motherboard, and this caused a *major* conflict. The manual wasn't really helpful in troubleshooting this problem, either. But once I disabled the other sound card in the system bios the card started working perfectly.

Other than setup, though, the card is working wonderfully. My old card was a SB64, so I wasn't sure how much better the sound would be. It is, however, noticably better. And it gets even better when the environmental audio settings are used.

I do have to agree with some other reviews that some of the software seemed a little silly. The mp3 player/recorder looks great, but I can't seem to get it to play both mp3s and cds, which makes me kinda prefer realjukebox.

Oh, one other thing about the card -- it includes support for multiple cd drives, so I can finally use my second cd drive for playing music. A wonderful advantage if you have two drives.

I knew that if I was going to use my Nomad II with any sort of frequency, I was going to need a charger. The price may be high, or you might say that the charger should be included, but if you bought a Nomad II, you need to get this.

The battery life on a Nomad II is about 8-10 hours of play-time. So you use one battery, then another, then another. Soon, you'll be spending a boatload on batteries. This accessory makes the Nomad more cost effective for you.

Not only is this a charger, but it's also a docking cradle. Like the Palms out there, you can use this tool to upload files (in this case, songs). The connection is through a USB port, if you were curious.

Don't fret if you're looking to buy a Nomad II. You do not HAVE to have this accessory. You can purchase batteries, and a USB cable and USB port on the gadget come with the Nomad II. But if you're going to use your Nomad II a lot, you NEED this.

I bought this docking cradle and a Nomad II at the same time. The cradle makes the Nomad easier to use, because at the end of the day you just drop it in the cradle and it charges, and it's ready again the next morning. It also comes with it's own USB cable, so that you can leave the one the Nomad comes with at a friend's or work for trading files there. The other good thing is that when you transfer files to the Nomad through the cradle, it doesn't use batteries like using a straight USB cable to the Nomad does. My only complaint is the fact it has to plug into the wall for power, as well as USB, but they can't help that (since it has to charge a battery).

I had bought the Japanese version in Japan a few months before the American version of the docking station was released.

It worked perfectly on the USB port, performing the synchronizations I needed and charging the battery in the Nomad.

This is a great speaker if you have 5.1 stuff. If you don't, you won't get anything from the center speaker. Ignore the people who heard popping/cracking sound. Maybe it was because I had a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy sound card. Great speaker if you play games or watch DVD that have 5.1 audio. Otherwise, get a 4.1 speaker. With 47 RMS, this speaker have enough power for home use (even too much for me because my neighbor is knocking on my door everyday). In my opinion this speaker is not as good as the 5300 but it's good enough. Must buy if you don't have a 4.1/5.1 speaker.

I've owned these speakers for 18 months now and have them set up in my home office. I drive them with a SB Audigy card and from the day I set them up, they have produced nothing but sweet sound. The bass is clean and not overpowering. The wired remote not only has volume and bass adjustments, but also a headphone jack that when used, cuts off the audio to the speakers allowing me to work late and not disturb the family.

I have never heard any "popping" noises (other than a small pop when I power down my PC.) I have the AC plugged into the surge protector side of a UPS. I don't know if that makes a difference or not, as I've never tried it any other way.

The only drawback I found was if you want to wire the rear speakers to the back of a standard bedroom, you'll have to buy a set of RCA M-F extension cables, as the existing cables are too short. If you shop around, you can pick them up for a few bucks. I just wish I knew that before, so I could have had them on hand when I first installed these.

There are many junk surround speakers being sold today, but these are not one of them. For the price, it's very hard to beat the quality.

This is my fourth or fifth Creative Labs/Cambridge Soundworks speaker set, and they get better each time. This set isn't quite as good as the last one, a 2.1 (stereo with subwoofer) system that cost me $75 or so, but unless you turn it up really loud, it's comparable.

What I like about it is the use of leads with attached plugs. Anything under the desk here is liable to accidental kicks, and the spring-loaded wire clips sometimes lose contact. Also the volume control is larger than earlier models (which makes it much easier to keep on the desk) and it holds a headphone socket. Even the satellite speaker stands grip the top of my monitor well.

This system looks like an example of someone taking a step back and spending some time to intelligently improve the speakers. Even the plugs are color-coded with the sockets.

If you have Windows XP, forget it. I was on the phone with Yepp Technical Support, as well as RealJukebox Help (Yepp uses RealJukebox software). No one could tell me how to get it working with Windows XP.

After a *LOT* of research I bought my first MP3 player.
It is a very good deal, specially if you buy the 32Mb version an add an unexpensive 64 Mb smartmedia card. 96Mb is fairly more music than the one you'll need for a ride on the bus to college or work.

The sound is pretty good and you'll usually use it on shuffle without the remote. I don't have to say anything about the look.

The software works ok, you'll probably preffer the Yepp explorer (downloadable from samsung's site) than the included Real Jukebox.
About the transfer speed, well, when working with the embedded memory is just fine, however, downloading or even erasing music from the smartmedia is kinda' slow.

To sum up, if you get it from less than 100 bucks... it's a really good deal.

I have just received this unit today. It takes less than 2 minutes to transfer 32MB mp3 songs to the onborad memory using windowsXP, the YEPP explorer from the samsung website, DO NOT INSTALL THE SOFTWARE ON THE CD. I think this player's output is loud enough to enjoy the music on the street or working out. I don't know the battery life but ppl do have good thing to say about it. I have no problem connecting this unit to the computer.(less than 1 mins) and about the belf clif? It is very easy to use and fit perfectly to the player and I have no problem wearing it around.(I do prefer to have an arm band.) The battery door is no trick to open. This is the easiest electronic I have ever used. I don't know why people keep having hard time to operate it. I bought it at 39.99 with free shipping and I am heading to the neweggs.com to get a 25 Dollars 64MB SmartMedia card. Total investment will be around 65 dollars for a 96MB meomry MP3 player with cool apperance. Thumb UP to samsung again. oh yeah, I do own another 99 dollars Samsung Laser printer (8MB). I think I will give them more business in the near future when I buy a new plasma TV or HDTV.

I owned several memory-, CD-, and HD-based MP3/WMAplayers and honestly I don't know why I get this Muvo2 player. There are simply too many thing that I don't like about this player

1. The control is way too small (less than 1/2" in diameter with 5 functions)

2. The navigation sucks -
a. You can't choose a song directly w/o playing a folder and then advance to the song you want.
b. You can't back out of a folder w/o going through menu | folder option | 1st folder | next/prev folder...
c. Only 2/3 functions of the tiny control wheel is available for navigation.

3. They want you to buy additional battery for $50 instead of using standard batteries.

4. The control wheel and play buttons are completely hidden when the unit is in the case so you have to take the unit out before you can control it.

5. The USB 2.0 and USB charging support are nice. However, you can't use the player in the USB charging mode.

This was my first MP3 player purchase. I have waited until there was a flash-memory-based product with sufficient capacity to be worth my effort. While the Creative MUVO2 X-Trainer has several attractive features (intuitive/no-hassel interface as add-on hard drive via USB2.0 or USB1.1 connection, mega-battery life - over 24 hours continuous play,noise-free operation - no moving parts, skip free playback - no moving parts, and armband/waistclip, seemless integration with Creative PlayCenter software), it falls short on some critical features:

* Unable to play ".WAV" files without errors
* Playback buttons not very user-friendly - especially compared to other products on the market.
* No FM radio
* No record function/input (microphone)
* Memory only 512 MB & can't upgrade with flash memory cards. Creative either needs to increase memory to 2 gigs (NOT HD), enhance usability/design and increase features.

By the time they re-launch their products, we will be demanding miniature MPEG4/JPEG/MP3/FM... with easy-to-use wireless interfaces on flash memory and infinite battery life for under $300. Viva la consumer :P

I picked this for no moving parts, and easy interface with windows XP. So far, So Good, we use it while out on the ATV's. Ease of use for us is just fine, yea, wish it had more memory, Yea, regular batteries would be nice, but ease of getting MP3's onto it is great, hit play, and enjoy....

The power supply died after less than two years of mild use. Now I have to trash it? The sound was so-so, with a high pitch all the time. Good for begginers.

This is one great receiver. For the price you can't go wrong. Two things though that kept it from 5 stars. The remote is awful. I mean really bad. To change the volume in the center and surrounds you have to hold down two buttons at once. That happens alot when you use the remote. Also, if it has 5.1 analog inputs i can't find them. But as far as sound quality it's excellent.Thanks highlander for the info. I still think you need 5.1 analog inputs for DVD-Audio. I'm not sure Aiwa knows what it's talking about. I've been thinking about buying some DVD-Audio but i'm afraid it won't work with the digital input. Also that "over limit" light is annoying.

After listening to receivers by such brands as Sony, JVC, Kenwood, Pioneer, and Onkyo, I found the Aiwa AV-D58 to be the best sounding, except for the Onkyo. But at only ..., more than half the price of the Onkyo, this Aiwa was a far better value. The sound is very good, especially when listening to Dolby Digital and DTS encoded DVDs. Pro Logic is great, as well, but 2-channel sound is lacking. One of the best features here is the Super T-Bass system, which dramtically improves the bass if you're not using a powered sub. I only have it set at the second level, anything higher than that and the bass starts to sound too boomy. Other than that, this is very nice sounding receiver that's worth far more than only ....

I purchased this unit primarily on spec and price. The 7" display is bright, and DVDs play well. Unit is attractive and slim - easily carried, and just fits between the front arm rests on many cars so kids can see in the back - better than a fix-ed in car unit since you can also take it with on the plane/hotel/etc. Battery lasts for rated 3 hours - but is somewhat bulky.

However after 4 months of ownership, I have noted 2 major problems.

i) Unit can overheat when playing back DVDs - causing frame to freeze.

ii) Screen hinge mechanism seems weak. One hinge already failed on my player, and the other is already cracking. We'll see how good the AudioVox warranty repair is.

Overall, I'd look at the Panasonic or Pioneer models next time for a few $$ more, the hinges look more robust. Bigger than 7" model may not fit in the car as well.

We've owned this DVD player for about a year now and are very happy with it. We use it in the car on road trips, have taken it on an oversees plane trip and use it in our home. We've had no problems with it whatsoever. It does get pretty warm after it's been running for a while, but so far this has not affected its performance. The sound is sometimes not loud enough when using it in the car, but we solved this by bying a cassette adapter so the sound gets routed over the car stereo. I liked that this DVD player already came with the DC adapter cable for the car. We bought an extra battery for a 10-hour plane trip, which turned out to be unecessary, as they had DC hookups between the seats (on American Airlines) and we could have just powered it from that! Overall, we are very satisfied with this product and the low price. It does a great job of keeping the kids entertained on trips, and while at home we just plug it right into the TV.

I have been using this player for about a week. It's had quite a bit of use in that time. So far it has been working perfectly! It is very nice, considering it was only $220! It does everything you buy on of these for and more! The sound is good without headphones, but OUTSTANDING with them! Buy one of these and you won't be disappointed-unless you plan on giving it to a "2 year old"...they can break anything! NO fault of Audiovox. I'll update if I encounter any problems in the future.

This item was dead out of the box for me. Look elsewhere. Normally, Creative Labs has great quality. Not this time.

Great product! I tried the Rio 500 first but the volume was week and did not give me enough control. Then I got the Nomad II. Its got great volume (7 watts I think) and when you throw in the equalizer controls (bass and treble) and the output selection (headphones or speakers) you get plenty of sound. Depending on the size of the files I can fit about 30 songs, two - three hours of music. I generally use 65kb songs.

Interface is pretty OK. THe firmware on the Nomad is good, easy to use and upgradeble. The Creative music and Nomad software is not so hot, but I don't use it anyway. Because its upgradable, I got the WMA format so I can access the Nomad through the Windows Media Player.

THe sound recording is great. I recorded a late night speech and slept through the whole thing - about 4 hours the I reviewed it all the next morning. And I can't imagine not having a radio on something I paid 250+ for.

This is the one

I started running (again) this summer and since I was already an mp3 junkie decided to buy an mp3 player to keep me company. After days of research on the net I finally decided to buy the Creative Nomad II. It hasn't let me down. I had read reviews about weak sound and problems with battery terminals but I think the sound is excellent and definitely loud enough for working out. There was a day when the sound cut out so I switched batteries only to find out later that the charge was fine. I have not had this problem again.

My Nomad II came with a small pouch and remote control, which I love. I also bought the docking station and it's awesome. I never have to hook up the USB connection, just load it into the docking station. The battery charges while you download songs. The software was easy to use but I will probably download the upgrade for the WMA format and try and use that as well. I also bought a case logic belt (that's really for a cassette player) that goes around my waist and holds the player at the small of my back. Excellent for running.

Built in memory may have been nice but the upgradable smart media cards are nice too. Right now, an hours worth of music is plenty for me. I highly recommend the Nomad II!

This review comes after using the SD80 daily for nearly two years.

Pros

Sound quality is generally excellent
Battery life is fantastic, especially with backup AAA battery
Player is tiny and can be worn on your person or put in your pocket
Protective case offers outstanding protection and is functional
Transferring files to SD card is reasonably simple
DRM protection has never caused an issue for me

Cons

Panasonic support is woefully lacking, to the point of irresponsibility

Product is now dated for what it offers
You must use Real Audio or, when you can find it, Panasonic's SD Jukebox software to transfer files
Limited to USB 1.1; no support for third party card writers, 1.1 or 2.0
Included 64mb SD card would not function in the Panasonic USB Reader/Writer, but was able to bring it to life formatting it on another writer
Panasonic does not maintain an archive of all of the software needed to make the player work should you lose the installation CD.
Maximum volume below average - you may find it too low in noisy environments.

Overall

A great choice if you can find it at a substantial discount. I would have rated it four stars a year ago. The unit has become considerably dated now, with far faster USB 2.0 units for less money and fewer problems. This has always been an obscure player in the MP3 marketplace, and Panasonic has done nothing to change that in North America.

Some tips and observations:

Throw away the included headphones. They're terrible. I recommend the Koss Porta Pro or KTX Pro 1 headphones. They have better bass response and carry a lifetime warranty.

Panasonic in North America has been completely unresponsive to customer support requests for their SD series players. Many customer service reps do not even know the line exists, much less offer support. Panasonic online support for the product is completely unacceptable. They have essentially abandoned updating their website with software and driver updates, and they unacceptably do not provide online access to all of the software necessary to make the product work. If you lose your installation CD, your player is worthless.

Multiple experiences with customer service have never produced a satisfactory result. This is a major negative for the entire Panasonic product line and is an important consideration if you think you will need product support.

Unit must be used with included software (or SD Jukebox, usually found overseas). You also cannot use a third party USB reader/writer, which limits you to their own unit, which operates at USB 1.1 speeds. If their reader is missing/broken, it is not cheap to replace.

Certain MP3 files encoded with lower end "ripping" software do not play correctly. Those songs will abruptly end. The only way to predict this behavior is to compare the reported length of the song as it sits in your library with that reported by the Panasonic unit after transferring songs. There is no fix - you can only re-encode the song in hopes of getting through this. It affects about 3% of songs I've found, but almost always those produced by individuals, not professionally encoded files.

WMA files play at louder volumes than MP3 files.

Transfer times can be laborious. Make sure you have the software set not to re-encode your files or convert them to another format, such as AAC. It will add lots of time to the transfer.

Player controls are not intuitive for changing to random playback, boosting the bass, or other extra functions. But you can usually manage it in five minutes or less. Note the playlist function does not appear to be implemented.

Clearly the Panasonic line is not well known and you can impress your friends with the individuality of their product line. Unfortunately, it turns out there is a reason why a product line is not well known - in this case it's Panasonic's own fault.

Sure, this Audio Player is tiny and compact and will wow anybody that you show it to. Sure, the small storage disc makes it easy to fit many, many songs.

But if you lose that software disc you get when you first buy it, then there's no point in ever having it in the first place.

Even worse, you could still have the disc and you'll never be able to use it ever again. If you lose the case that the disc came in, you would have bought all this in vain.

The serial number for the disc is needed to install in into your computer, but if you lose the case which tells you the serial number.... then you're just in trouble.

I have not been able to locate a new SD Jukebox software anywhere, and since somebody accidentally deleted my SD Jukebox program from my computer, I'm left with no means to rotate my songs.

So, if you decide to buy this portable audio player by Panasonic, don't ever lose that disc. Even if your life depended on it, don't lose that disc.

The main draw of the SD80 is just how small it is--I throw it around my neck everytime I leave the house because it's so non-obtrusive to anything. You might as well have it with you 'cause you never know when you're going to have to wait a couple of minutes for a bus, get bored walking down the street, or whatever. It's there when you want it, and is so simple to use you can operate it even under clothing (living in Seattle, I often wear it under a sweater or coat).

The player's functions are simple, but enough. Random play, playlist play, and repeat... All playback operations are handled with three buttons--skip back, skip forward, and play/stop/pause. The play/stop/pause button is actually very functional, despite combining so many things.

The player doesn't come without some problems, though. First of all, it's not a straight MP3 player. To put files onto the SD card you need to use the Real software. It's not bad software per se, but I would unquestionably prefer being able to simply drag MP3 files from my hard drive folders to the removable USB drive that shows up in Explorer. Also, the included 64MB card is a little stingy ... It's enough to fit a whole CD, but nothing more. At least you can upgrade...

Overall, the convenience of being able to just throw the thing around my neck when I leave the house is what makes the player really really usable. It's always there, never in the way...and the other complaints are minimal.