Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by master_audio

Do Compuzone sell online and ship to outside M'sia

master_audio — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:18:50 +0800

Or to be precised, do you ship to S'pore?

Samsung YP-Z5 & Zen V

master_audio — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:40:37 +0800

Got a sample from friend yesterday, I am listening and doing a comparison with a Creative Zen V now.

A few thing for sure, YP-Z5 has a better screen than Zen V. Thinner but longer. Zen V has a round and small shape that fit my Levi's Jeans coin pocket well.

ID is subjective to personal preference, but I'm leaning towards YP-Z5 here because of the classy look and feel which I believe due to the metalic materials used. Too bad it did not share the same size (except LCDs) as Zen V.

UI... personally I prefer Zen V. Zen V UI is easy to use, and most importantly, it allowed you to access to a lot of options: Detail Track Info, Configurable Menu, User Defined EQ, etc. But YP-Z5 has a couple of good features, it allowed the player to switch to UMS mode, however I have not test that one yet. Another one is the fast scrolling, which I miss very much on Zen V.

Button control... both have its pros and cons. YP-Z5 combined touch sensitive and tactile button. While tactile button working fine for me, it is the touch sensitive button that annoyed me much (though I'm a Zen Micro user). Maybe I will get use it. Zen V button working fine for me, but sometimes it feels too fragile to me, maybe because of the plastic-feel.

I am playing with both players now and trying to adjust to same volume level, using same songs for comparison. Earphone used is Creative EP630. As being discussed many times: Sound preference is subjective. Both players have different sound charateristic. Initial impression is Zen V has a warmer sound, smooth listening, but can be too warm sometimes where the details are lost. YP-Z5 has a sharper sound where you may hear more details sometimes, however it also can be too harsh on some songs.

So which one is better? Looks wise, YP-Z5 win hands down. But I miss the Zen V features from time to time. Sigh, tough choice.

Creative SL3100 Bluetooth Wireless Headphone

master_audio — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 19:09:52 +0800

First, this is not a review.

Second, this is just an user humble opinion, which is by me.

Third, you may have your opinion different than me. This is much subjected to individual preference.

Design

The outlook design looks normal to me, but it is heavy when hold on hands. This is most probably because of the built in bluetooth transceiver, rechargable battery & headphone amplifier.

On the Headphone side, there are two LEDs indicators, one at the right ear pad with bluetooth logo on it, the other one just located near the power on/off switch at left ear pad. At right ear pad, there are additional switches for controlling Volume and FF/RW. And there is additional hole for you to plug to any MP3 player using 3.5mm stereo jack cable. On the Left ear pad, additional DC-Plug Hole for charging purpose.

On the Transceiver Module, there is one Power Push On/Off button, with a LED indicator on side. And there is DC-Plu g hole for charging purpose too.

The power adaptor comes with the headphone have two DC-Plug so that you can charge the headphone and Transceiver Module at the same time. When charging, LEDs on the Left earpad (near power on/off switch) of Headphone and the LED on the Transceiver will turn Green. When fully charge, the LEDs will turn off.

Plug the Transceiver to the player. Turn on the Transceiver module by pressing the power button and hold for few seconds until the blue light appear. As for the Headphone, turn the Power On/Off switch to ON, the LED indicator will turn on to Red. When the LEDs on the left earpad start blinking in blue color, they are in sync and can be used now. Suggestion: Turn the volume @ Player to maximum, then adjust the volume @ Headphone to your desire level.

Sound

The most impressive part of this Headphone to me is its Sound Quality. Seriously, I am not a fan of bluetooth headphone nor a clip-type headphone. But this headphone sound signature really makes me surprise. Listening to Eagle's Hotel Carlifornia Live (128kbps CBR MP3!!!) makes me want to listen to this headphone more! The bass it delivered is heavier than my initial thought, vocal is good though a little too bright for my taste. The treble can be harsh sometimes which may need time to burn in. In overall it give me a very good impression!!!

The listening experience is using two different sources: Zen V & Zen Micro. Both give me positive sound.

I always having negative view over bluetooth or any wireless headphone, but this one really change my view. I believe there are a lot of good sound quality headphone out there, it may not sound as good as those audiophile headphones, but it is definately one of the best sounding bluetooth headphone.

Gripes

While deeply impress by its sound quality, there are a couple of things irritate me.

One, the clips makes my ears feels painful. It is very inconvenient for wearing a long period. (Update: It is getting better after long usage: after stretching the clip for around 1 week, still tight though but not as painful as before)
Two, when you walk or jog along the busy road where there are a lots of cars passby, the signal can break occansionally.

Plus

I notice when I turn off the power at the Headphone, the transceiver will automatic turn off after a while if it did detect any bluetooth device around to save the battery power.