The iRiver H320 MP3 Player: Very "I" and Very "You"
Written: Jan 04 '05 (Updated Jan 06 '05)
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Pros: Feature-packed, plug-and-play, excellent sound, color screen, primitive video feature.
Cons: Occasional problems with playlists and a buggy database feature.
The Bottom Line: More costly than competitors and a challenge to find, but its amazing features make it all worthwhile.
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| Andrew_Lim's Full Review: iRiver H320 (20 GB) MP3 Player |
A Note to the Reader: Well, it’s now been over a year since I last wrote a review here, and for a while it seemed as if I had run out of things to write about. But my absence was really due to a lack of time. After graduating, a new road of life awaits me. I do not dread it, but I do not look forward to it either.
Where it all began
It was back in 12th July 2001 when I first laid my hands on a hard disk-based MP3 player- a Creative Nomad Jukebox (DAP6G01), which I then subsequently reviewed here. Carrying a 6 gigabyte hard drive, it offered me the power to transport my entire CD collection wherever I went. I have never looked back on the flash-based MP3 players since.
This device worked well and gave me much joy for over three years, way past the day when the diminutive iPods became immensely popular. But I eventually desired something smaller and more powerful, an MP3 player that could double up as an external hard drive to backup my important files.
Research was now tiresome, as the world of MP3 players had grown tremendously over the last few years, and many brands were now available. The iPod immediately came to mind, but I chanced upon a lesser-known brand, “iRiver”. Initially, I dismissed this as an iPod rip-off, but I was soon taught otherwise.
I settled on the iRiver H120 and went to search for this in Singapore, but found it to be incredibly scarce. The newer H300 series was more widely available, and I decided to put my money here.
This review pertains to the iRiver H320 which is one of the most fully-featured MP3 players I have seen to date. It has a large variety of useful features and can perform almost any task that may be expected from an MP3 player…and much, much more!
The following review is split into sections, with ratings given out of a maximum of 10 points.
What’s in the box (Rating: 9.8/10)
-iRiver H320
-User manuals (printed in English and Russian) and Quick Start guide
-Installation CD
-Earbuds/ earphones
-Headphone remote control
-USB cable and USB host cable
-Line-in/ out cable
-External microphone
-AC adapter
-External battery pack
-Carrying case
-1 year international warranty for the iRiver H320 (90 days for accessories)
iRiver has done well in providing all the required accessories to support an equally complete device. The leather carrying case has a plush interior and comes with a belt clip. It exposes the internal microphone, the Hold switch and the DC-in port for easy access. But the clear area over the screen and the space over the buttons is badly off-center, making operation challenging.
The printed manual includes labeled diagrams and explains functions well, but the version included appears to be a draft. It contains some irritating typo errors and more rarely, evidence of an attempt at editing. Check out this amusing example:
”Promptly swap with a dry swab[not clear, and “swap” is not right] and ask for technical support.”
Appearance (Rating: 10/10)
At first glance, the iRiver H320 is a sleek, shiny black box similar in size to a fourth generation iPod. Closer inspection reveals that there are interesting “fractal art” designs on the casing comprised of squares and rectangles. This is in stark contrast to the metallic appearance of the earlier H100 series, which many complained had a “dated look”.
The front boasts a 2-inch (diagonal measurement) color LCD screen, six buttons and the iRiver logo. The internal microphone (plus a Reset function) and the Hold switch are on the left and right sides respectively. The headphone/ remote jack, line-in and line-out jacks reside on the top of the device. The bottom holds the DC-in, USB 1.1 Host and USB 2.0 Device ports. The back carries no functions, with only two stickers and an SRS WOW logo.
Overall, the player has a quiet and dignified look, feels solid and is durable. It rests comfortably in the palm, and is easy to operate with one hand. The six buttons on the front require firm but not undue pressure to activate, which is a great improvement over the previous H100 series that had a flimsy central Navigation button. Notably, the fractal design and words are all printed on the inside of the plastic casing and will not rub off with wear and tear.
Features (Rating: 10/10)
One of the most striking features of the device is its 260 thousand pixel, color TFT LCD screen. It displays icons and text beautifully and with remarkable clarity. The Contrast and Brightness are also customizable. The screen is the basis for other advanced features such as the display of pictures (JPG and BMP files no larger than 1 MB or 3 MB respectively) and also text (TXT).
It has never been easier to show pictures to your friends, read lyrics, documents, telephone numbers and street directions while on the fly! It is annoying that music is not supported while browsing through pictures, but a user may do so while reading text files.
Besides the common MP3 format, the MP3 player can also play other music files with these extensions:
-OGG
-WMA
-ASF
Note: According to various sources, the iPod carries copy protection measures that modify any MP3 files it holds, rendering them unusable by any other system/ computer except other iPods. The iRiver H320 has no such measure.
The 20 gigabyte storage is enough even for demanding users, but a fully-featured FM Tuner has been included for anybody who tires of their music. It has auto and manual scan abilities and stores up to 20 preset channels.
If there is any free space available on the device, it need not go to waste, for the iRiver H320 can act as a plug-and-play external hard disk. No software installation is needed for Windows ME or Windows XP. Macintosh users need not turn their backs on this MP3 player, for it also works on Mac OS 9 and 10.
That being said, the included CD contains nothing more than a driver for older operating systems, and does not allow for MP3 encoding or the creation of playlists.
The player carries a USB 2.0 interface (480 Mbps) that allows for rapid transfer of files, but is also backwards compatible with USB 1 ports. Transfer of approximately 5.6 GB from my laptop’s USB 1 port took a whopping 2 hours.
The iRiver H320 can record via its internal microphone or through an external microphone, both of which are standard on most MP3 players. But the device then goes many steps further. It can also record from external devices such as CD and tape players, and it can record from its own FM Tuner.
All recorded files are automatically encoded into MP3 files. The bitrate can be changed. It goes up to 320 kbps for all recording functions except when recording from the internal microphone, where the setting tops at 128 kbps. Recording from internal and external microphones is clear and even softer sounds (such as those from my brother’s PC game and the whirr of a computer fan) can be heard. The device fared amazingly well on FM Tuner recording, producing sound indistinguishable to that which is heard from the tuner. The Voice Monitor function ensures that you can still listen to the source of the sound while recording is taking place.
The headphone remote control is a handy accessory for most busy users, but it falls short because it does not come with an LCD panel. The included earphones were made by Sennheiser, and it has an average bass response in comparison with other open-air earphones, but I find the highs to be overly crisp.
Additionally, the device can act as a host for other external devices such as digital cameras. Picture files on a camera can be transported into the MP3 player without the need for a PC, thus freeing up space on your camera’s memory card.
Note: This feature is only available on international units and not on those sold in America.
And I saved the best surprise for last. On 11th November 2004, iRiver produced a firmware upgrade that endowed the iRiver H320 with the power to play videos! With the latest firmware, the device can play AVI files limited to a resolution of 220 X 176 pixels at 10 FPS with a bitrate of up to 500 kbps, and the video files can only be one hour long each. This feature is still in the early stages of its development, but I expect it to advance significantly in the future.
Sound (Rating: 10/10)
Note: The iRiver H320 was tested with a pair of Koss- The Plug headphones. It is competitively-priced, and its output is amazing. Its structure locks out surrounding noise and allows easier evaluation of fine differences between devices.
After having listened to the Creative Nomad Jukebox for years, the sound from the iRiver H320 struck me at once as being more subdued and richer. I subsequently tested the Creative, iRiver and a CD player, running the same songs through them and listening to each individually with all sound modifiers turned off.
The iRiver H320 produces quality sound that closely mimics that of traditional CD players. The highs are mellow and smooth, complemented well with deep (but not booming) bass, resulting in a warm sound that I have always desired since the days I last plugged into my Discman.
Many listeners are audiophiles and prefer to hear their music “as-is”, but I do not consider myself as one of them and would rather customize some settings. There are 5 preset EQs including Normal, the bassy Rock setting, and a powerful Ultra Bass one. An additional User EQ allows modification of Treble (0 to +6 dB) and Bass (0 to +24 dB) individually.
The included SRS WOW function is similar to that found on Windows Media Player, and allows for sophisticated 3D sound and deeper bass. It comes with an SRS preset, a TruBass preset, and one that is user-defined (SRS, TruBass and Frequency Boost can all be changed individually). With TruBass, the player can produce convincing strong bass with less distortion. By itself, the SRS 3D effect makes a band sound fuller, like a symphony in a concert hall, but voices sometimes sound relatively hushed.
Other settings are the Sound Balance and Fade-In function, which are of limited use, but probably included for the sake of completeness. Volume is not as strong as that of a CD player, but a setting of 6 out of 40 has been loud enough for me. Technically speaking, the output value stands at 20mW on headphones rated at 16 Ohms.
Ease of Use (Rating: 5/10)
This is where the iRiver falters. The player navigates via a File Tree system similar to that in Windows Explorer unless an information database is created by the user. This database contains all the ID3 tag information of MP3 files, and subsequently allows navigation by Artist, Album and Genre. But even so, the system does not allow for searching by letter, which was present even on my old Creative Nomad Jukebox.
Although this database feature becomes available after installation of the driver, it only worked for me to a small extent because an error in Windows always forced me to abort the procedure before it could be completed.
Playlists cannot be created on the fly but must be made on the computer with software such as WinAmp which is currently free for download. Another problem I experienced with one or two of my playlists was that a random song appeared to be missing when I clearly remembered adding the song to the list.
Hopefully, such problems will be fixed in the future with firmware updates from the iRiver website. These issues have not yet been reported in the reviews I read so it is possible that this is a one-off anomaly. On a side note, I also happen to be a firm believer of Murphy’s Law.
Despite these shortcomings, navigation has been quite simple. The icons are vivid, with text displayed clearly and in a size that is easy to read. Some of the buttons have functions that vary with different play modes, and whether they are pressed quickly or pressed and held down, but these became second-nature to me within a short time.
Battery Life (Rating: 9/10)
An internal (non-removable) Lithium Polymer battery provides all the juice for the player’s functions. Playback time as tested by the factory is 16 hours. Increasing the bitrate of songs (requires the hard disk to load more often), using sound-modifying settings and leaving the screen on for a longer time will decrease battery life.
Under ordinary conditions of use, the iRiver H320 will effectively provide you with music for every waking hour of your day. But that’s assuming you’re lucky enough to sleep for 8 hours a day! I can already foresee that I will have many sleepless nights in my future profession.
The battery life is adequate but still shorter than that of the Creative Zen, which is advertised as being able to run for 24 hours! The battery charges quickly within 3 hours from the included AC adapter, and it can also be charged via a USB port.
The included external battery pack is a nice touch. It can house four batteries (not included) and easily connects to the DC-in port of the MP3 player in the event that the internal battery goes flat while you’re on the road.
Overall Rating: 8.97/10
Conclusion
I fell in love with the iRiver H320 the minute I started listening to it. Despite obvious flaws with the navigation system, and a steeper learning curve, I’ve found this device to have incredible sound, unbeatable features and a smart, posh appearance. It lacks a Calender and Games, which the fourth generation iPod possesses, but is yet superior in other aspects, including the ability to view pictures, challenging the new iPod Photo. Even portable media players will soon have to compete with the iRiver H320 because this wonder can also handle video files.
The ability to double up as a plug-and-play hard disk makes this an invaluable backup tool, and an easy means of transporting large files between computers. And with a way to record from an FM Tuner and external devices, it is never too difficult to obtain the song you want.
If you want an all-in-one package, and are computer savvy enough, the iRiver H320 might very well be the MP3 player of your dreams. Although the iRiver H300 series is much harder to find in shops than the majority of the iPod and Creative models, and also costs more, it is worth the hunt, and you’ll certainly get what you pay for. Few things will attract more attention than that vivid brightly-lit color screen, and you can perform some great party tricks with this beauty.
Be a rebel. Get an iRiver H320.
Useful Links
1. iRiver Global Website
http://www.iriver.com
This is iRiver’s official Global website. It is animated and well-made, with various sections easy to find. Go here for free firmware and driver downloads, an FAQ, forums, beginner’s guide, tutorial and customer support. In the days before I obtained my MP3 player, I contacted the staff on availability of the product in my area. I got a response within 48 hours.
2. WinAmp
http://www.winamp.com
Home to the famous, computer-based MP3 player, this is one site that most enthusiasts know about. The software can be downloaded at this site and used to create playlists for your device.
Revised 6-1-05
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 388
Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
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Epinions.com ID:
Andrew_Lim
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Member: Andrew Lim
Location: Singapore
Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 83 members
About Me:
Veterinarian working at RSPCA (Burwood), Australia
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