As a classical music fan and semi-audiophile, an MP3 player has not been high on my list of must-owns. MP3 files can alter music fidelity compared against a CD, even at the highest MP3 bit rate of 320Kbps [see below under 'Playback Fidelity']. But, for fans of a small market like classical music, MP3s are very competitive against FM radio broadcasts, broadcasts that have all but disappeared in many cities. Classical MP3s are well suited for playback in non-audiophile 'noisy' conditions like shopping, road travel, gym or workplace. MP3 files trade off high fidelity against longer playtime.

Many of the features marketed around MP3 players are less useful in classical music. Compositions tend to be long, so "random shuffles" or "repeat tracks" are rarely used. I use bit rates that consume ~ 1 gigabyte for 100-150 tracks to play for 9-10 hours. Removable memory cards are preferred to make more music available.

Viewing ID3 tag data is helpful but not necessary; basic information is more than adequate: track title, playtime and track number. More important for an MP3 player are: excellent playback fidelity, ease of use, small size, durability, reliability and low cost maintenance [batteries, accessories or repair.] Spectrum analyzer readouts, VU meters, other 'dancing' LCD icons, and even configurable play lists are not necessary in a portable player.

By comparison on a readout's usefulness, Apple's Flash iPod Shuffle has no readout.

Earphones or buds must be comfortable, playback at high fidelity and sensitivity, but and ear bud review is entire issue on to itself.

Maintenance

Compact flash, CF, is an stable, older format, solid state memory card still in production. CF cards have some of the highest densities available [ 8 GB by Lexar as of this writing] and have been tested in field use by consumers of digital cameras and older MP3 players. As one of the oldest formats, its not only reliable, it’s the lowest cost solid-state memory under 1 GB. Its engineering parameters are well known and it can take abuse: I’ve had cards dropped, exposed to static discharge, high humidity, even submergence in fresh water, yet survive. Despite a finite number of read/write cycles in a card, many cards I’ve used repeatedly since 1998 are still fully functional at their rated memory capacity.

Engineering aside, CF's future is clouded by its relatively large size and power consumption compared to SD cards. SD cards are its most significant competition and likely successor. Until then, CF cards offer a best bang for buck in megabytes per dollar spent.

There are extensive reviews of various MP3 Players that use CF memory cards. I used these reviews to locate candidate players for my use. I was surprised by how few choices there were left available. Most players for sale today have non-removable flash memory, support SD cards or jump drives, or use Li rechargeable batteries.

Among removable compact flash MP players, there are two easily found on the Internet still for sale, and with excellent reviews: various models from Frontier Labs that come with no on-board memory [Nex IIe is common] and a rare, Diva 3xxxW from Daisy Technology.

http://www.epinions.com/pr-Portable_Audio-Frontier_Labs_Nex_IIe

The Diva is designed by a Bulgarian firm and has limited availability in the US market. Its higher memory models have been reviewed elsewhere at Epinions. 3xxxW Diva models are all the same MP3 players that differ only in on-board memory [the xxx is the amount of built in memory in MB].

http://www.epinions.com/Diva_mp3_player_Model_number_3128W/display_~reviews

Playback on either machine was ~ 10 hours on AA NiMH 2300mAH batteries.


MP3 Playback Fidelity, UPDATED

The Diva ear bud fits well, and I have worn it for many hours continuously, comfortably. It has a hard outer shell rather than soft rubber, that can be annoying. However, ear buds are easily replaced and there are many models designed for comfort, style and higher fidelity if not very high prices {e.g. $300 Etymotic ER-4P}.

I used the same fragment of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto Eb ripped at 320Mbps MP3 files on each test and against its CD master.

I compared the Diva ear buds against the Diva, a Nex IIe, an nVidia audio card earphone output, and earphone outputs of a NAD audiophile receiver.

I did A-B comparisons against a MD 31 Sony portable earphone played on the Diva player and against an audiophile Beyerdynamic DT880 headphone.

Against the Sony, the Diva ear buds favored very well if not surpassed the Sony's performance. It tended to roll off the highs earlier but had a better bass response. These sonic differences could easily be compensated by fixing the Diva Player's equalization settings from flat to boosted were needed [the Diva has a 10 band equalizer]. The Sony's sounded brighter and sharper, but couldn't deliver as rounded a bass response even with amp compensation. On the Sony, strings sounded clearer, but 'thin', diminishing their 'warmth' and body.

Against the DT880, however, the Diva did not have the same depth and fullness across a spectrum but held its own in terms of sonic fidelity.

Against the original CD track, the deficiencies of MP3 were subtle only on A-B testing. String sections seem to 'warble' a touch, and MP3s seemed to be 'missing' depth and breath. Again, these were audible only on A-B testing. With the DT880, these differences seemed even more apparent.

No clear differences could be heard when MP3s were played on the Nex IIe or nVidia card. The sonic differences of the Sony headphones, DT880 and Diva ear buds were unchanged. The NAD amp provide MP3 playback with more breath audible only after A-B testing. Alas, the NAD also seemed to amplify the warble, which is often faint through the Diva or Sony earphones.

The Diva brand-less ear bud is not going to be easy to replace if damaged.

Using a cassette adapter to playback files on a car from the Diva player, the playback fidelity was as good as well-recorded metal cassette tape and played on clean, degaussed, tape heads. Hiss was non-existent from the MP3 playback. If anyone recalls what it takes to make a cassette tape sound good, MP3 clearly make the cassette format obsolete. Goodbye degaussing, head cleaning, Dolbys A-Z, tape munging, and all those side issues with tape music!

There were no clicks or pops during track transitions as compared to the Nex IIe.

Reliability, UPDATED

As a whole, the Diva and Nex IIe are reported reliable and durable after > 2 years of use by other Epinions users, despite the Diva's soft plastic body. Both players reportedly survived drops and bangs and play skip free music despite jars to the player while playing. Both machines use simple levers for solid-state switches like those on a computer keyboard. In toto, there are few moving parts to break and increase the players’ reliability.

There are no complaints among 3 Diva reviews, while there are a few among 12 reviews who have complained of some glitches in the first releases of the Nex IIe, repaired with a firmware upgrade.

After over my personal 3 months of ownership and daily use with minor drops and bangs, the battery door broke, but can still be closed. The down volume key got some dirt that annoyingly sometimes moves the tracks AND adjust volume. Its light weight makes the Diva take drops with grace, as it generates less potential energy to damage its content.

BUGS!
At exactly 320Mbps for rips, the Diva player would lock up when tracks were fast-forwarded. It didn't exhibit this behavior with rips of lower rates. The only solution was to remove the battery and reset.

I updated the firmware. Transferring the file meant connecting the Diva via the USB port, and drag dropping the file. I experienced a conflict with existing USB flash drivers installed in WinXP, I had to shut these devices off for the Diva to be recognized. However, if the Diva driver was shut down and rebooted, it locked up WinXP, fixable by a user log-off ... the Diva drive would not be recognized until the user log-on again.

The sys file is loaded to onboard flash memory, and /- volume and PLAY buttons pressed simultaneously. These went smoothly.

Annoying, these faults are not critical, as I am not using the Diva XP driver, but the on-board WinXP driver chosen by plug-n-play. I won't be using the 32MB of Diva on-board memory on a regular basis. I'll report if the Diva drivers fair better.

The Nex IIe upgrade method is better: load the upgrade file on blank flash card, turn the device on and off and upgrade is initiated.

Once while moving the "HOLD" key on the Diva, it went to record mode while the key stated it was on HOLD mode. A few repeat movements of the switch and it was fixed.

Size, Ease of Use and Durability

The Diva is an unusual player, as a user would not think of quality out of the box: it feels like a child’s toy and its body shell is of light plastic. Compact, it’s slightly larger than a box of paper clips. Light weight, without a CF card or battery it weighs as much as a single AA battery. It fits easily into a shirt pocket without weighing it down.

The Diva ships with ear buds, a configuration disk, and a plastic belt clip-case that feel like plastic used to make diner table covers. Despite its cheapie look, the plastic belt clip rides well on a belt, and its spins easily on its clip to see and adjust its controls. The case is a snug fit and does not alter the size of the Diva much. The case provides splash protection against water.

The Diva supports USB 1.1, compact flash Type 1 and likely a mini-B USB jack. The Type 1 slot limits the Diva to a maximum of 2G CF cards. USB 1.1 is a major nuisance for transferring files at 1Mbps ... this technology can be bypassed by loading the CF cards directly through a CF reader attached to a PC [at USB 2.0 speeds, files transfer at over 200Mbps.]

The Diva’s Spartan LCD readout is the size of a stamp, is without backlighting and provides basic information.

I get > 8-10 hours of playback on a single AA 2200mAH NiMH battery. This playtime matches closely total playtime I get from a full single 1G CF card, so I can listen through an entire 1G CF card for the life of one battery.

Music related controls are all on the front of the player. They are spaced far enough to be identified by touch. It would be better if labels were more touch-friendly. The forward button advances tracks, but if held also fast-forwards on the current track. There is no rewind current track button, and pressing the back button jumps the playback to the previous track played. This track button can be bothersome, as accidentally hitting it will change the current track, and playback begins from the start of any track. Hitting playback buttons accidentally can be stopped by using the HOLD button. Side controls and connectors are well placed as they are rarely used during playback: a 3 position HOLD-REC-PLAY button, the USB port and CF card eject button.

The battery is easy to access but the door is flimsy and feels like it’s easily broken. Other Epinion users have not reported long term issues of breakage here. Its easy to load and remove a single AA battery here.

Recording

FWIW, the Diva is also digital recorder the stores 4min/1MB at a bit rate of 32Kbps. The sampling produces crisp playback voice fidelity and the device can quickly be switched between music playback and recording.

Comparisons: Jump Drive, iPod, fixed memory USB MP3 players and Nex IIe

While shopping, a few issues surfaced as I dissected various MP3 players at stores and with some owners.

Apple's iPod was expensive yet has quality issues, i.e., some broke. While many were repaired under warranty, a good number malfunction after warranty. Nevertheless, most folks like the iPod despite its reliability, and pending legal action for quality issues.

Jump drive MP3 players are helpful if one already uses jump drives for other reasons, and your jump drive is reliable. This is mostly the case, except in some instances:

http://www.epinions.com/pr-LifeView_Lexar_JumpDrive_Secure_256_MB_JDS256-231_Flash_Memory/display_~reviews

Players with rechargeable batteries guarantee future problems unless batteries are user replaceable. Batteries wear out sooner if power consumption by a player is high [e.g. iPod.] These batteries tend to be custom made, and often expensive. Memory card players run off AAA or AA rechargeable or alkaline batteries, which are available everywhere, even in third world countries.

Players with fixed amounts of memory cannot be upgraded if higher memory cards are available, nor can multiple cards be swapped into them preloaded with music.

The iPod and clones use large fixed hard disks, and while they offer large and lower costs of storage per megabyte, the hard drive is more prone to skips with jarring, and damage if dropped. Solid-state devices are lighter, more rugged and suitable for travel, including environments with high humidity and heat [e.g. beaches]. While having 6000 tracks to choose from is a major convenience, it won't matter if the device malfunctions.

I tried a Nex IIe for a week. It offers quite a substantial increase in features and construction quality, including CF Type II, higher memory capacities [currently up to 8 GB], WMA support and firmware upgrade for future music formats [the Diva is trapped in MP3, as of its last firmware upgrade, 2.22]. However aurally, the Nex IIe was slightly inferior to the Diva in playback A-B testing. At times, the volume had to be cranked to maximum to hear subtle passages in classical music. The Diva playback remained distortion free at maximum volume, on all types of headphones or ear buds I tested earlier. The Nex IIe headphones are uncomfortable, but worse, were inferior to the Diva ear buds aurally and will need to be upgraded.

Connected to a cassette adapter or a line-in to a pre-amp on an audiophile system, the Nex IIe at maximum volume could barely drive its input. The Diva powered "line-ins" easily with room to spare.

The Nex IIe is well designed but heavier and bulkier compared to the diminutive Diva.

While I haven't compared the sonic qualities of all the other MP3 players mentioned above as stringently as I did the Diva and the Nex IIe, the sonic differences between these two players suggests all MP3 playback isn't made the same, despite non-sonic features. Whether its the player unit or the shipped earphones with a unit, a buyer needs to audition a player carefully to insure its sound is a good buy.


Conclusion:
A well designed low cost MP3 Player. Not superlative for looks and construction materials, but highly recommend for sonic quality and functionality.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 40
Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection

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