Digital-Audio Reviews

This product is not worth the cost. It does not connect to the internet efficiently. Wireless is not available. Keyboard doesn't connect which makes editing playlist painful. Although there are 3 USB ports, they don't seem to work. Networking doesn't seem to work behind a firewall. You can't add drivers via the CD because it doesn't understand a data CD.

HP Support is unhelpful. I sent e-mail asking about attaching a Lynksys Wireless Ethernet. The response was - we can't help you on third party wireless solutions - just HP. So I responded - what is HP's solution. Answer - "We don't have one"!

I recommend you buy a dedicated PC - it functions better and more reliable.

Wow--I bought one, and it has been the WORST consumer electronics experience of my lifetime.

The device does not read CD's when you plug it in and start it up. You have to reset it, but the instructions on how to do so are wrong.

Although you can put in on a local area network, and download music to it, you cannot upload music from it.

Even when downloading it takes from minutes to hours to "post" the downloaded music in your library. (No, you can't find them in your "Recent Downloads" file either.)

When you shut it off, the hard drive continues running 24x7 unless you really shut it down (hold the power switch for 5 seconds) If you have an energy star monitor attached to the unit (it's internal display is really not usable) the monitor will not go to sleep.

When ripping CD's to the hard disk, the machine plays out of the hard disk, but you can't play anything except the tracks being ripped. (unlike a Tivo or ReplayTV where recording and playback are understanbly not tied together)

Every morning the unit powers itself up to check for updates, but it never powers down.

Downloading to a Compact Flash card (by the approved SanDisk SDDR-31) just does not work. "No portable device found".

The unit requires Audio CD-R or CD-RW royalty-paid media, but only low-speed media is writable.

I burned an Audio CD-RW sucessfully, but the unit refused to erase it afterwards. "CD is not writable".

Calls and EMails to HP support are the most ridiculous thing imaginable (I saved them) Support does not read the question, they merely supply an answer that has some of the same keywords as your question--Like the answer to my question about erasing CD-RWs was two-fold: A: "You can't use data CD-RW, you have to use Audio CD-RW" (Since I burned it, they should have known it was Audio media--I told them it was. B: The DE100C does not Erase media (then what does the "Erase CD-RW" function do?)

Anyway, I strongly urge people NOT to buy this. For its incredible lack of functionality, it's WAY overpriced. I'm taking mine back shortly. I'll just buy a dedicated laptop for less.

I've had my HPDEC since Christmas. At first it worked great, but about a month later it really started to have problems. It started locking up during its nightly updates and requiring cold boots to recover. Then one day it quit coming up altogether. It would sit at the "Starting Up" screen and go no further. :( I scoured the HP Technical Support site but they had no information on how to fix it so I called HP Tech Support. They put me on hold for almost an hour (at my expense, they don't have an 800 number), and finally got to talk to a technician who told me these "secret" way to reset it:

1) During a cold startup, hold down the 'CD' button to reset to try to reinstall the last patch.

2) If that doesn't work, hold down the 'CD' button to get to the '5 seconds' screen, then press and hold 'CD','Library',and 'Record' until a screen comes up saying restoring to Failsafe version. This restores the OS and software to the original factory-installed version. You'll have to go through audio/network setup again, but it DOES NOT erase your saved music, as that is stored safely on a different disk partition.

I had to perform Step 2 about twice a week for the next three weeks till I got fed up and unplugged my network cable (which is the only way to stop the nightly updates). That seemed to work until the power went out last week and I had to do it yet again. Ugh. Can't say I'd call this this thing STABLE by any means... I really like it otherwise, about the only other really annoying thing is it should allow you to hook up a keyboard since entry of song/cd info through the remote control is PAINFUL.

DON'T BUY IT! I bought a KOSS DVD player and it broke in 6 months. I was told I was out of luck because the warranty is only 90 days. They do not do repairs. My only option is to buy a new one and wasn't even offered a discounted price for it. I have seen several complaints like mine about KOSS on the web. They make JUNK and they make it to last just to get past the warranty period and then it breaks. Oh, by the way I loved it until it broke.

We've had this machine two months....yesterday, it stopped showing a picture, but still plays sound. I suppose we can use it for a stereo.

Also....the remote control is pretty unresponsive. Seems to take a long time to get the message. All in all...a pretty crappy machine.

Luckily, still under warranty.

So I get this DVD player for Xmas from my parents to make up for my VCR that died recently. I had never heard of "Koss" before. I had never touched a DVD before. So my wife and I pondered the cryptic setup instructions which did not match the machine at all and finally got it set up. No remote. We found it - hidden in a small crevice in the styrofoam. How disorganized. So we just got it. So far so good. It still works. After -- one week. But it's a new year. Wish us luck! And thanks for the crummy reviews. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I was looking for a way to transmit digital music from cable TV to my stereo in the family room about 40ft away. Running wires would be very difficult, so this product looked like the ideal solution. Set-up was fairly straightforward. The location of the transmitter/receiver is somewhat sensitive, but once everything is in place and the antennas adjusted for clear reception I kept getting clicks as if the music was coming off a dirty vinyl record. Totally unacceptable for listening.

Suspecting my Panasonic 2.4 GHz cordless phones at the opposite end of the house, I proceeded to unplug them. The clicks went away and I received a very nice clear channel of music. Unfortunately, I can not unplug my phones, so I will have to return this product. I called J&R Music and promptly got return authorization. Too bad, I'm still looking! Has anyone found something that works?

I'm now exprimenting with a 8oo MHz system, but I'm fighting clicks from my 800 MHz cordless phones. If I'm really careful I can position the receiver so that the clicks are tuned out. I'm finding that you have to be really careful when mixing wireless gadgets together.

Low expectations key to avoiding disappointement. At least in an appartment building where the neighbors employ a variety of electronic devices the sound quality was poor, the songs sounded like they were coming from a dusty sratched up record spinning on a turntable. Changing channels (there are four) didn't help. Oh, and there were some minor problems too: couldn't get the remote to work, one cable was missing from the package while another came with a duplicate, only two batteries were included instead of four. Had to return the product. Maybe someone else with more patience and better luck will be able to get satisfactory performance out of this thing.

A bit of experimentation with the placement of the transmit and receive devices yields a good signal and decent sound quality.

I have avoided 2.4 gigahertz phones to reduce competition with my 802.11b wireless lan equipment and adding the soundlink didn't cause any problems.

This product is superior in every way to the US Robotics 900 megahertz product that I tried out first.

Neither device is true "HiFi" quality, but for music originating from a PC expectations need to be realistic and the Sonic Link is wholly acceptable.

I have the same comment as those before me - what good is an alarm clock without a battery back-up? Sony seems to be a little out of touch - I can't believe they'd even bother to manufacturer this product without that feature.

It appears this radio does not have any type of power backup for the clock and alarm which, in my opinion, makes it useless. Also, according to the Sony web site this product has been discontinued. Maybe there's a connection there.

I like the styling and features of this radio, but there is one feature that I am concerned about. Most clock radios have battery back up in case the power goes out. I do not see this feature. Does it have battery back up? If so, how long does it hold the time, 20 minutes or for several hours. I am thinking of purchasing this item. This will be the deciding feature. Thank You

Well, I bought the new DV-578A mainly because it is plays SACD's. I've accumulated about a dozen hybrid SACD's and have been wanting to hear them in Hi-Rez. Well, it is an understatement to say that I was very disappointed when I sat down to listen to the 578 and discovered that there is a noticeable "pop" between tracks on most SACD's. I've been through two units now and they both have the same problem. The pop only occurs on the SACD layer, never on the regular CD layer. What's the point of buying a machine with Hi-Rez audio capabilities when it only has issues playing the Hi-Rez sections of Hi-Rez discs?

I've contacted Pioneer about the problem and was told that they know nothing about it. There's always a chance that a firmware upgrade could come at some point, but I would not hold my breath waiting. At this point, I'm ready to just return this thing for a refund and completely write off Pioneer's inexpensive equipment. I'll buy an SACD deck from another company with better quality control.

FWIW, the video quality on the 578 is fantastic, as is the sound quality on standard CD's. However, this is all essentially meaningless to me considering that I bought it mainly as a SACD player.

Bottom line: if you have any intentions of using this as a SACD player, look elsewhere!

The Pioneer 563A had a problem playing long DVDs, and had limited bass management. But it played high quality SACD sound. The DV-578-A does not do this but cuts the quality down to 88.2/24 rather than the approximately 192/24 it starts with from the SACD.

One expert says: "563A DOES NOT convert DSD to PCM, it is a true DSD machine. The 578A "junk" converts DSD to 88.2/24 PCM"

I bought a 563A at closeout price.

was cool for a kids surround system. worked for about 6 months before the DVD function stoped working. the radio is EXTREMELY sensitive, i could get stations that were unavailable in any other system i have owned(including CAR!!!) the speakers are weak and the sub is overpowering. After about another month of non-dvd, i was upset and about to buy another system, like a sonybox. I removed the shell and found the broken chip that had burned out. I simply used a eyeglass screwdriver and poked at it untill the dvd would work(took about an hour, but dvd only works untilll unit gets hot, bout 4 hours) in the directions it says not to put anything on top of it(even ps2 or xbox), dont! should work fine then. Anyway, found a cool feature the company installed that allows them to sell the unit in asia too, in the case there is a switch labled NTSC/PAL, you can switch it to pal and play bootlegs,imports, and non-region code dvds! the menu text switched to chinese or japanese or something too....The MP3 menu is confuseing but managable. If you have an older stereo with bigger speakers, i reccomend changing them, the ones supplied are low quaity.

Yes this case looks nice and it has nice quality. However the felt inside really rubs into your ipod and stains it. It leaves an ugly black smear streaked across it. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!!!

The playback of the music on this unit sounds good. It has many problems that outweigh this positive. The worst problem is that it caused my Handspring to lock up quite often causing a soft reset and sometimes a hard reset. It also ate batteries very quickly. I even got a AC adaptor when I was loading the files and a AC adaptor for the car. It still used batteries too quickly.
Also, It takes way too long to load mp3 files on onto it. Innogear was offering a speedloader to load the mmc file faster. Minijam uses a propietary format on the mmc card so you can't just buy any mmc card reader.
You cannot store any kind of file except for mp3 on the mmc cards either.
This is a product that has potential if Innogear will address all of the above problems.

I'm no novice but I couldn't even install the hardware, never mind the drivers. The CD-in jack didn't fit on the J4 or J5 input on my (Intel 815e) chipset; and the card didn't seat properly in the PCI slot.
Brought it back the same day and got the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz audio card. Installed like a dream and the sound ROCKS!
Don't waste your time. The cheap price says it all - you get what you pay for.

I bought this card thinking it was comparible to Creative Labs
5.1 cards. Boy, was I wrong. This card drops audio and does not work with Windows XP. The website says the drivers are the latest
but this is incorrect they still do not work. Do not buy this card.

The two reviews, as of this date, say that the card does not work on their computer or that they have major problems with it. I have a motherboard with onboard sound, and I will bet they do also. I also have Windows XP. Disable or remove the onboard sound, reboot the computer, then install the drivers for the sound card. It will work just fine. You can find this information on the I/O Magic webpage under their forums. Good sources for information if you are having problems. I did have a problem with WinRip, an included software program. Freezes every time. I dumped it. Rest of the free software works o.k. If all the software worked, I would have rated this card a 5.

bad would be a good word for this product. I am writing this in the first day that I have this product. It sucks really bad. It sais that it costs $100 regularly.Ha ha ha, I wouldn't pay 50 cents for it, let alone $30.

This mp3 player is so un believably BAD. It takes like 9 hours to finally set up. I bought mine about 2 months ago. guess what, it broke. the thing is so bad. no wonder it was so cheap. the customer service is also horrible. the thing just stopped turning on. i put a new battery in too. when i got it, i opened the battery slot and one of the things that closes it broke off so i had my battery taped in the whole time. If your looking for an mp3 player, do NOT buy this peice of @$#!* !!!!! i would never buy ANYTHING of this brand ever again.

I don't write many reviews, I just don't have the time. But I can't pass up the chance to tell everyone what a piece of ____ this player is. I'm just going to be redundant, because everything negative that anyone here has listed is true. I've had both the 32mb and 64mb versions (got the second one free through a rio employee, but paid too much for the first). Both died just after the three month warranty period (not to mention the faulty buttons and software prior to that death), and rio could care less. I just don't understand what's wrong with these units that every single one could die. There is no quality control. These are my first rio purchases, and I could never in good faith purchase another rio product. Listen to everyone here and stay away, no matter how cheap. You will just be throwing your money away. Take a hint from that 3 month warranty, it's pretty clear that Rio knows these will not last, so they won't stand behind their product.