iAudio X5: Got it! - Page 4

dkl · #1 11-29-2005, 03:50 AM

Well...I finally had a chance to get my hands on the 60GB IAudio X5 and I'm very disappointed

, not with its features, but rather with its build quality (sound familiar with our beloved BMW X5???). The first one I got was DOA (just got a white screen when I powered on...couldn't get it out of that mode no matter what I tried)...had it RMAed

. The second one was a little better, but still very flaky. It freezes up on me whenever I moved the unit. I mean, just picking it up the unit may cause a freeze! Turning the unit upsidedown in my hand may cause a freeze! As a matter of fact, rotating the unit in any axis may cause a freeze! What's weird is that whenever it freezes like that, just giving the unit a light tap will usually unfreezes it. That is unbelievably flaky! I'm suspecting a loose contact somewhere in the device or may be even a hard drive tracking problem. Needless to say that I returned it for a refund. This picture is all I have left of my IAudio X5

So I guessed I won't be able to have an X5 playing in my X5

With the short extent of time I had with the X5, I have to say that it is one hell of a device (feature packed)...if only they've gotten the build quality thing right. Great sounds (lots of personalization tuning), great feature sets (FM radio, voice recordings, built-in mp3 encoding, OTG USB, just to name a few), and of course...the easy "drag & drop" file system without requiring extra software to work the thing! The only drawback that I found was with its 10,000 file limit. I filled the thing with about 30GB of various mp3s and video clips and it's already hitting the 7,500 range. At this rate, I can't possibly fill up the device without running into its 10,000 file limit!

Now, I'm seaching for an alternative...any recommendation on a DAP with greater than 60GB capacity, preferably with video capability and "drag & drop" filing system? I'm ruling IPOD out because I don't want to deal with iTune.

alpac · #2 11-29-2005, 10:56 AM

Thanks for sharing your experience with the X5. I was pretty interested in bying it with all the good reviews I read about the sound quality but after your post I will certainely reconsider this. I like the Ipod, I bought one for my daughter few months ago, but like you I do not like the need to use Itune software. The new Ipod with its color display is really nice and as far as I know the ipod is the only mp3 player which can be totaly integrated with BMW cars (display song title and use of all BMW stereo commands) via the IceLink. This is a big plus in my opinion.

dkl · #3 11-29-2005, 01:57 PM

It's true that Ipod will integrate nicely with BMW cars, but controlling it is still very limited (I wouldn't exactly call it control when only 5 or 6 playlists are available). The only "real" control function that is available with the Icelink integration is really just the Forward and Reverse button. I have hundreds of albums and would like to be able to jump between them quickly if necessary. Therefore, I will have the player at hands reach anyway. Thus, integration to my car, either through a device such as Icelink or the AUX input wouldn't make much of a difference to me. The only real advantage that I can see with the Icelink interface is that it will charge your Ipod at the same time, but I'm not sure what it will do to the built in battery life (subjecting it to all the unnecessary charge/discharge cycles). Personally, I will only want to recharge a battery when necessary in order to prolong its life span, thus I'm not sure that I want this automatic "recharging" function.

My biggest beef with the Ipod is iTune. If you're not careful, your whole music collection on your computer can be wiped out in an instant. Beside, I'm just plain lazy and don't really want to learn another software if I don't have to

My brother-in-law has an Ipod and comparing the sound quality to the IAudio X5, the X5 totally blows it out of the water (I'm comparing the same mp3 file using the same headphone)! At this time, I'm not sure if I want to settle for an Ipod just yet. If anyone has any recommendations, I'm all ears

statdoc · #4 11-29-2005, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkl

(subjecting it to all the unnecessary charge/discharge cycles). Personally, I will only want to recharge a battery when necessary in order to prolong its life span, thus I'm not sure that I want this automatic "recharging" function.

Current lithium ion batteries actually do BETTER with frequent "topping off". In the days of nickel cadmium batteries, and even some of the technologies after those, you needed to deep cycle them (full discharge followed by full charge) in order to prolong battery life, and avoid memory effect. That is not the case with most current batteries.

Thunder22 · #5 11-30-2005, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkl

Well...I finally had a chance to get my hands on the 60GB IAudio X5 and I'm very disappointed

, not with its features, but rather with its build quality (sound familiar with our beloved BMW X5???). The first one I got was DOA (just got a white screen when I powered on...couldn't get it out of that mode no matter what I tried)...had it RMAed

. The second one was a little better, but still very flaky. It freezes up on me whenever I moved the unit. I mean, just picking it up the unit may cause a freeze! Turning the unit upsidedown in my hand may cause a freeze! As a matter of fact, rotating the unit in any axis may cause a freeze! What's weird is that whenever it freezes like that, just giving the unit a light tap will usually unfreezes it. That is unbelievably flaky! I'm suspecting a loose contact somewhere in the device or may be even a hard drive tracking problem. Needless to say that I returned it for a refund. This picture is all I have left of my IAudio X5

So I guessed I won't be able to have an X5 playing in my X5

With the short extent of time I had with the X5, I have to say that it is one hell of a device (feature packed)...if only they've gotten the build quality thing right. Great sounds (lots of personalization tuning), great feature sets (FM radio, voice recordings, built-in mp3 encoding, OTG USB, just to name a few), and of course...the easy "drag & drop" file system without requiring extra software to work the thing! The only drawback that I found was with its 10,000 file limit. I filled the thing with about 30GB of various mp3s and video clips and it's already hitting the 7,500 range. At this rate, I can't possibly fill up the device without running into its 10,000 file limit!

Now, I'm seaching for an alternative...any recommendation on a DAP with greater than 60GB capacity, preferably with video capability and "drag & drop" filing system? I'm ruling IPOD out because I don't want to deal with iTune.

I've had mine for about 3 weeks now and haven't experienced any of the problems that you describe... sorry about your bad luck, but mine is rock solid and i'm loving it.

I've shown it to a few buddies and 3 of them have since bought 1 from newegg and none of them have had a problem either....

dkl · #6 11-29-2005, 05:27 PM

Any rechargeable battery will only have a limited cycle life. Constantly "topping" it off will bring you up to that limit very quickly.

statdoc · #7 11-29-2005, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkl

Constantly "topping" it off will bring you up to that limit very quickly.

Battery University

Quote:

Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns.

dkl · #8 11-29-2005, 08:15 PM

Doc...thanks for the link. Good read! OK...you have convinced me (somewhat) that "topping" off the battery is a good thing for Lithium ion

. But it still doesn't detract from the fact that each time you top off the battery, you are basically eating into one of your charge/discharge cycle, in which a lithium ion battery is only good for 300-500 of these cycles. If you do this every single day (assuming that you only drive your car once a day), it means that you will eventually need to replace your battery almost every year. Also, having the thing constantly plugged in and charging it unnecessarily will eventually produce heat...which will kill the battery. In a laptop, it is recommended that you remove the lithium ion battery (to prolong its life) when powered from an external supply. You can't remove the battery from the IPOD. These are the reasons why I don't like to constantly charge a device if it doesn't need to be charged.

So...the bottom line is that there has to be a balance between frequent charging and excessive charging. The Icelink only allows me to do the latter.

dkl · #9 02-04-2006, 04:51 PM

Well…after having an iAudio X5 for a few days and was so bummed that 2 had gone bad on me, I’ve decided to try my luck elsewhere. The Archos AV500 fits the bill perfectly…well, almost perfectly as it didn’t have nearly the features capabilities of the X5, but it had all the features that I wanted in a portable media player. This includes a massive 100GB harddrive with a beautiful 4” display, plus a removable battery. Best of all, it has “drag and drop”, so there’s no need for extra software to transfer files…just like the X5; except that this also does ID3tag sorting as well. Oh…this AV500 doesn’t have that 10,000 files limit as on the X5…so no worries about running into any limits other than the drive capacity. The AV500 supported far fewer formats than the X5, but this wasn’t much of a problem for me since all my CDs are ripped in .mp3. Now, I need to go out and fit the AUX input in the "real" X5 to accept this baby

In a nutshell, this is really just a portable “walkman” PVR that double as an mp3/wma player.
Video: visually stunning…to say the least.
Audio: My ears tell me that this slots in between the X5 and iPod…The X5 being the best and the iPod being the worst of the bunch.

By the way…does anyone know where I can download clips of 5th Gear or Top Gear?

vinuneuro · #10 02-04-2006, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkl

Well…after having an iAudio X5 for a few days and was so bummed that 2 had gone bad on me, I’ve decided to try my luck elsewhere. The Archos AV500 fits the bill perfectly…well, almost perfectly as it didn’t have nearly the features capabilities of the X5, but it had all the features that I wanted in a portable media player. This includes a massive 100GB harddrive with a beautiful 4” display, plus a removable battery. Best of all, it has “drag and drop”, so there’s no need for extra software to transfer files…just like the X5; except that this also does ID3tag sorting as well. Oh…this AV500 doesn’t have that 10,000 files limit as on the X5…so no worries about running into any limits other than the drive capacity. The AV500 supported far fewer formats than the X5, but this wasn’t much of a problem for me since all my CDs are ripped in .mp3. Now, I need to go out and fit the AUX input in the "real" X5 to accept this baby

In a nutshell, this is really just a portable “walkman” PVR that double as an mp3/wma player.
Video: visually stunning…to say the least.
Audio: My ears tell me that this slots in between the X5 and iPod…The X5 being the best and the iPod being the worst of the bunch.

By the way…does anyone know where I can download clips of 5th Gear or Top Gear?

Looks good man. Glad you've found what you want

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