Audio Reviews

I have a different MP3 from this company, but I need to warn anybody considering a purchase from Digitalway. My MP3 failed within 6 weeks - customer service is impossible to get a hold of, even more difficult to understand than the User Manual, and unwilling to send the return/repair forms. The 120 day warranty is worthless.

i think it was very cool and useful.
go Korea~!~!~!

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 (expensive) 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 $499 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 $499 bucks. My memorex MP3 player ran me 45 dollars. The 128 memory chip runs you 50 bucks. Owch. There really isn't a comparison to the two. The memory stick Mp3 players just kick ? 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

Won't blow your windows out but for the price it's a very competent package. I replaced a Technics home theatre receiver and my old DVD player with this to upgrade to a DTS capable system and I haven't looked back. Excellent full-featured DVD player (slo-mo, zoom, progressive scan), and a good number of inputs for other devices including s-video and optical audio inputs which are handy if you have a latest generation game system for instance.
Sound is crisp and good considering what you pay for this little beauty and I haven't had it complain yet about driving the 12" woofers in my main speakers.
Front panel gives great quick access to sound level and balance/fade adjustments.
DVD video quality is good through the s-video output.
A few down sides: front panel buttons have a very "cheap" feel, though I haven't had any problems yet, and the remote is an ergonomic nightmare. I've had the unit for 4 months at least now but I still have to stare at the remote whenever I'm watching a DVD and the volume controls are in my opinion undersized.
Also, like most JVC players it seems, the player is slow to react to control inputs, ex: Play (when stopped), and chapter skip, and slow switching titles (for instance when accessing bonus features or when switching to the menu after the feature is over).
All told though I'm really happy with the unit's video and sound quality and convenience and and you can't beat the price.

A solid replacement for a DVD/CD player and a receiver at the same time. Excellent, clean power. Great picture. Fairly easy to set up, although the connection diagrams in the manual do not make it clear which connections are options for each other nor what are the advantages and disadvantages of the various options.
It is large and very heavy so make sure you have room for it.
There is a blue light in the middle of the DVD slot which could be annoyingly bright in low light conditions but luckily there is dim button on the remote.
The remote in general is poorly designed. It is hard to tell what does what. The common keys such as volume are no larger than, or more centrally placed, than all the other keys. This is also a problem with an older JVC DVD player I have. I would hope at some point JVC's designers would study what, for example, the Tivo folks have done to make remotes easy to use.
Displays (such as volume level) on the main unit are small and cannot be read from accross the room.

I have been using the JVC RX-DV3VSL DVD/Receiver Combo for three week and I love it. This is my first experience a combo unit and I was not sure what to expect. This is the first time I have used a HD component on my HD-ready monitor and what a difference. My regular DVD player produced a good picture but I did not realize what a difference the progressive scan makes.

For the best audio quality you need to use the fiber optic lines and get rid of the analog. The 500 total watts realy makes you feel what is happening.

I did not give it 5 stars because the remote is too small and very hard to read.

This is the worst stereo you can think of buying. I'm glad they don't make them anymore!!

I do not think that I would have been happy paying the list price for this system, but I am very happy with the item based on the price I did pay. The CD gives good sound, but has skipped on one song on one CD (out of about 20 played). The larger speakers are good, but the two smaller speakers that are supposed to deliver "surround sound" provide very little volume in comparison.

What a great stereo at a great price. The best part is that it has an auxillary jack so that you can hook it up to the audio output of your tv or computer (record from mp3s to tapes!). Four quality speakers make for nice surround sound, and there's good bass. It has a lot of functions but oddly no autoreverse for tapes. Koss could use a little help in the looks department too. But overall, it has almost anything you could want from a stereo.

I liked the scound Quality and the volume control. The problem i had was that the twist part broke and one of the plastic parts that holds the speaker peice broke. They were in my backpack which gets beat up alot and i had them for about 6 mounths. They are probably the best headphones you can buy for 5 bucks.

They are good. The sound qualiy is excellent. The design is outstanding. But, don't turn them up too loud. They only go to a certain sound level. My speakers on the headphones are blasted. I'm getting new ones though. They are worth the money. Go buy them today.

I bought these headphones on the spur of the moment. I was leaving for vacation and needed some cheap headphones. These headphones certainly were a bargain. Not only is the price great, but they are quite comfortable and the swiveling earphones are great when storing them. The only problem is the volume control. It is very touchy. My suggestion is to just keep it on the mid-setting and use your CD player's volume control.

The dude from Carlsbad got a 4-way splitter (given the specs he/she quotes). Make sure you properly terminate unused outputs on your 4-way.

This is a 2 way and works as advertised.

After making some recent upgrades in my primary audio/video system it became clear that the two way splitter that the cable company provided was simply inadequate to the task. Upon doing some research I determined that this particular splitter made by one of the industries most reputable manufacturers was going to have to be the way to go. Upon hooking up this superior two-way splitter in conjunction with Monster's MV3F2M NF Video 3 coaxial cables there was quite a wonderfully distinct difference in the picture on my new television.

After seeing such a distinct improvement in the signal for my primary audio/video system I immediately went out and purchased another one for the computer room to use for both the cable modem and the television in that room. This is the perfect two-way splitter for either a television/cable modem hookup or a television with PIP (picture-in-picture) capability in conjunction with a cable box or satellite receiver!

I highly recommend this outstanding cable splitter to any and all who're interested in getting the best picture available from their television sets or signal for their cable modems. The end results far outweigh the costs for this splitter! {ssintrepid}

The splitter my cable company installed degraded the signal on the bigscreen TV, especially on the lowest (2-6) and highest 54-60) channels. The cable tech wanted to sell me a powered signal amp for $32. It worked, but I passed and bought this model. The results were as good as the fancy booster, without the fuss.

i am a high school student, and on a day to day basis, i ride my bike home. Since i find the ride without music to be very boring, my iPod accompanies me. At school, i am skeptical about keeping a 300 dollar piece of equipment on my belt loop, or in my back pack, its just not smart, so it goes into my pocket. With this case in particular there is a small transulucent piece of plastic to guard the screen. Now you may think, thats great, the screen won't get scratched when really, the exact opposite is true. If you keep it in your pocket, like most people will that value their iPod, the translucent plastic rubs against the screen and leaves it hopelessly scratched, to the point that you can hardly read the screen! My suggestion is to go buy the jam jacket, which i have switched to. the jam jacket has no screen cover, and leaves your screen good as new!

I received this case as a gift and have been very happy with it. My 15G iPod fits snuggly in the case and I've never worried about it falling out. The controls are easily accessible and the belt clip is secure.

Not sure why the one reviewer worries about the screen scratching, I guess if I got sand all up under the plastic screen then kept taking the iPod in and out of the case. Ive had it for a couple of months now and have yet to take it out or needed to. The belt clip works great, the armband works better. All in all it looks sharp and am glad I picked it up.

This card is (...)! I bought it for home theater use, because it has optical output and does dolby digital 5.1. My biggest problem is with the DD5.1 audio. The card can either do stereo our dolby digital(w/ PowerDVD) but not both. You have to manually switch between the two in the sound card properties!

I had a very difficult time getting dolby digital working at all with my system. Now that I've gotten it to this point I can hear DD5.1 encoded DVDs in all their sonic glory...for about an hour straight. At that point the sound CUTS OUT! It will return if I back up a couple of chapters on the DVD and go back forward to the start of whatever chapter I want to start from. I can't fast-forward/rewind within a chapter--that's a sure way to cut the sound off.

Stereo sound/Dolby Surround work fine over the optical connection, but that's not nearly as good as DD5.1 when it works.

As far as gaming goes, I have not done much with it, but I can recommend that if you don't want your PC to lock up, turn off the 3D-sound features.

Purchased this card after buying (and returning) the Phillips Acoustic Edge card for about half the price. Never could get the Phillips card to work in my Dell machine. The Fortissmo II card installed with some minor problems (of my own doing). Downloaded the latest drivers from Hercules-performs flawlessly. Attached my old 2.1 speakers to the rear channel and my new Monsoon 2.1 setup to the front - Sounds awesome. Works well with my games (Homeworld never sounded better!) as well as my CD's and MP3's.
For it's sound quality and features I feel it's a great value.

Can't beat it for the price. Excellent software bundle, too.

I just received this little toy the other day and I have to say that I am not too impressed with the sound. Its better than the radio, but its not as good as a cd (like the say). You cannot beat the price though... If you want a good MP3 player you will have to spend a little more... The bad thing about these players is that they dont have a FM tuner. This function can be very handy if you work out or run. Like they say it is the smallest MP3 player, so it doesnt slow you down like those large radios might.

Damn, This little toy is off the chizzzzzzannnnggggg! It is also very easy to install, use, and cool looking as well! Only thing bad is that the disk doesn't hold to many songs. Parents this is the perfect gift for your teens, besides it's at good price too! Good, no need to spend money on the expensive CD burner and blank 80 mb disks!

This is the perfect little object... it easily allows you to listen to songs in great waulity and then delete em when you font want them... I want to give this a 4.5 because i think it dosent hold too much memory.. and the little disks they come in are easily lost.. but it dosent deserve a 4 so i gave it a 5.. Its great for the price, and small.... I love it

I bought this about 1 year ago and have had to send the unit back 6 times so far. Every time I send it back it takes at least 4 weeks before it is returned to me. To date I have sent it back 3 times for the headphone jack (the ... headphones worked but the headphone socket has problems) and 3 times battery connection. The battery connections are very cheap and very fragile. Just putting the battery in could cause them to snap. It has now been over 2 months since I have sent it back and it looks like they have lost my unit. Now they refuse to refund me as I have had it for too long. I have notified the FTC (US consumer protection as far as I can figure out).

The menu system is NOT user-friendly, it regularly freezes or pauses even when just walking with it. The headphones are very cheap (as mentioned). If I could give it negative stars I would, it is a zero out of ten, a zero out of a google. Don't waste your money on this! Burn it,it would bemore interesting and giveyou more gratification.

I have owned the NEO Jukebox for over a year now and can now say that I have somewhat mastered the rig! I recently changed the hard drive from a 20gb, which came with the NEO to a 30gb IBM Travelstar. I have over 6000 songs on the 30gb and am quite happy with it. I have an aux. in on my car stereo to which I connected a "splitter" from "The Shack" and together with another "splitter" for the line out (headset) on the NEO I have complete compatability with my Car Stereo. This was the main reason for going thru the exercise of adapting to my car stereo. I now have sufficient sounds for any length trip into the unknown with no more accompanying "commercial" necessities and the unit plays flawlessly. Compared to the "overly advertised" IPOD and the overpriced Archos, I would say there is no competition for the NEO!

After searching and searching for "the perfect MP3 player, I saw this add and got curious and did more reasearch and was given this as my 50th birthday gift! It is big- 4 1/2" X 6" X 1 1/4"; it has wonderful sound; it holds 600 CDs; it has a lithium-ion rechargeable battery with AC recharger; and it operates with Windows 95/98/ME/2000 and MAC O/S 9 and above. One complaint is that all functions are done through the function key, e.g., volume. the bulkiness means you've got to figure out your own way you want to use it. I love the case becaue it allows me to put it around my neck or shoulder and clean house or go and be submerged in it great sound. In other words, this is no small player to toss in your packet and run with. It does have the ability to buty the unit to play in your car and charge through the car's power. I love it, and it comes with its own software to download CDs to MP3.

I bought it after reading enormous recommendations on M-Audio brand everywhere. Unfortunately I ended up returning it, because it's...terrible.
Connecting to my new Dell desktop and senn HD-280 headphone, the sound distorts as soon as the volume is turned half way up.
Then I tried my laptop, same problem plus a static-like sound becomes audible after about a minute. Nothing can stop it unless powering down the laptop. Restart, works for one minute, then the same thing happens again.
Now I wonder where did all those wonderful comments on M-Audio come from.

This little blue box will explode your sound outward, upward, and around you--bringing back missing frequencies, expanding the stereo image, and maximizing the signal-to-noise. The Surround system is extremely good, particularly the Dialog Enhancement feature which works to make center-mic'd things clearer and more focused. It's great for DVDs, but where it really shines is in the music department. With a set of Altec Lansing ATP3s, I was astounded by the clarity and forcefulness suddenly present in every note... and hooked up to my stereo, a JVC MX-GT80, the result was absolutely ASTOUNDING-- crystal-clear through every possible frequency imaginable. In short, it has turned my modest computer speakers into absolutely extraordinary powerhouses of sound, and my $350 stereo system into one of the most astounding... OBJECTS... I have ever heard.

Buy it. Now.

This thing is great, especially if you have only two speakers--the TruSurround XT technology is really phenomenal and shines through the most with speakers that are good, but not GREAT. Sonica makes any speakers sound just incredible--with amazingly crisp bass and incredibly articulated high-end. The surround effect is stunning.

If you want good sound, buy one.