View Full Version : New G3 owner. :) :) :)
It's pretty damn nice.
It's a 256 from Suntec, and I'm in Canada (awesome shipping from Suntec to Canada).
I'm really happy with it so far.
The price premium is significant, I paid about $200 Canadian, and my sister just got a 256 BenQ for $80. I would say it is worth it. Ogg support was a big seller for me, and the design really is awesome. This is my first DAP, but it feels so well put together compared to other ones I have handled.
I haven't done much with it yet, but the controls are easy to work with.
The only feature this doesn't have that I would be interested in is support for some kind of removable media. But that would probably limit the design, and reduce the battery life.
So far, this is great.
Well, I feel like writing a full review at some point, but until I do, here's a more detailed update.
Accessories:
The accessories are very nice. The neck strap is a little long, but is both stylish and rugged. The included cables are a bonus. The plastic case seems fairly tough, and the player looks good in the case. Sometimes dust gets in the case and is hard to get out, but it isn't a big problem.
Earbuds:
The included earbuds are great. I was thinking of getting some canalphones to go with this, but I'm so happy with the earbuds, I think I will hold off for a while.
Sound Quality:
It's not quite as good as having a decent 2 speaker+sub setup on my computer with an Audigy, but it comes close enough that I am amazed it's coming from this little player and earbuds. There may be better sound quality available from other DAPs, but I would be very surprised to find any significant improvement.
Microphone Quality:
I'm really impressed with the quality of the built-in mic. I haven't used the line-in yet, so I can't comment on that, but the mic is very cool, especially in crowded environments. My wife and I were out to dinner the other night, and I ran the mic the whole time. Listening to the recording, it's easy to make out 5 or 6 seperate conversations at once, but our conversation is the most obvious.
Body:
I'll go over the body bit-by-bit.
Style:
Overall, the style is really well executed. The buttons on the side have a brushed silver finish on the top of them, but both the letters and the edge of the buttons are done in a recessed polished silver. It's a very small touch, but really well executed, and the player is full of such little things. The holographic text on the front is very eye-catching.
Shell:
The body shell itself is very nice to look at and handle. It is plastic, but the quality of the plastic is superb, The white pearl colour is quite subtle, but rather fetching. The silver around the edge is also nice.
Fit:
The pieces are fit together extremely well. The gaps are tremendously small, and are uniform all around.
Moving parts:
The weak point is the battery flap, as other people have mentioned. It's really a small issue, as I've only had to open it once, and it seems like it will be another week before I have to open it again. It's the only piece on the player that wiggles. A really strong point, as far as I'm concerned, is the flap that covers the line-in and USB. The movement of this flap is smooth and assured, and when it's shut, it's very firmly shut. The hold switch is very nice, though a little difficult to move. This may be a good thing, I haven't used it enough to be sure.
The buttons on the side are very nice, even though they are plastic. Metal might be better, but Cowon does such amazing job with plastics that it isn't a real issue.
Jog Stick:
The jog stick is really nice. I'm fairly sure it is all plastic, but it has a really precise feel. I've been using it for almost a week, and I haven't once misused the jog stick. The clicks are very solid. The only thing that I am a little skeptical about is the jog stick as a button. I think I would prefer either a seperate button, or a change to the tip of the jog stick to make it more like a button. I haven't actually had a problem with it, an d I use it less than I use the rest of the jog stick functions, so this isn't really an inhibiting issue.
Screen:
The screen is really great. The backlighting is very effective, and it's easy to read even the smallest of the text.
I won't get into the functionality at the moment, because I think I've written enough so far.
JMyungRocks
12-27-2004, 11:17
More, more!
El Salvador
12-27-2004, 14:47
Hm, you're not very optimistic about the sound quality. For an mp3player, one of the most important things is the sound quality. I guess we should expect at least (very) good sound quality from an mp3player of that pricerange and not sound quality that's 'OK' if you know what I mean.
I read that the sound quality of the U2 was very impressive. Has the G3 'less' quality or something?
I also recently purchased a G3- here are a few observations:
1) The included ear buds produce decent sound. I also purchased : Sony MDR-EX 71's; Sony MDR-Ex 51's ; and Koss Porta Pro headphones. The Sony EX 71 's and Sony 51's are really outstanding. Do yourself and the G3 a favor- upgrade to a pair of good earbuds!
I Audio- stop building earbuds sized for elephant earholed people !
2) IMHO- the sound quality of the G3 is very good ( caveat- with the appropriate earphones).
3) The included case used with an armband makes for a great gym companion. The Sony EX 71 earbuds have the optimal cord length for armband wear.
4) AA Battery life no where near 50 hours the way I listen to it. Maybe 25-30 hours max.
5) Sound volume range is 0-40. I rarely listen to it a greater than 28. Any louder- and you may damage your ears.
I wish IAudio would offer/supply a more robust case and armband combination for those of us that use at the gym/exercise. The clear case is kinda cheesy- but it works.
I have the one gig unit- plenty of memory.
Other than some learning curve stuff - the G3 appears to be a very good unit.
I got my G3(512MB) a couple of weeks ago. I got it from newegg.com for US$175.99 with 3-day Fedex included.
An interesting thing is that all capacities(256,512, and 1GB) are the same color in pearl(pearl with silver stripe). I'm thinking that only the sky white has the red(256),blue(512), and silver(1 and 2GB) stripe differentiation. Unless they just changed specs and they're all just silver
and pearl.
As for the sound quality, the earbuds are better than most bundled earphones but should still be replaced immediately. The earbuds that came with my Sangean AM/FM pocket radio blow them away! Once you use better headphones or earbuds you hear that the G3 is an excellent sounding player. But be careful, with better phones the artifacts in your MP3's will be more evident and you'll have to use at least VBR2 or 192 CBR. The stock buds mask artifacts pretty well but the music sounds less vibrant.
Some cool things i like about the G3 are:
You can choose the song order from file name(alphbetical), file creation time(new to old), and download time(the order you put them on the G3). There are 20 bookmarks for long files and audio books.
I like how you can change the preset EQ settings. It like you have 6 User EQ settings.
One issue is the line in. There is a fuzziness on most recordings and your limited to 128Kbps. Hopefully a firmware update will fix both. Some people have said that the fuzziness occurs on fm recordings also. I only tried it only once but it was clean.
One last thing, the joystick is metal not plastic. And who was the joker who started a thread asking about a remote for the G3? It weighs about 2.5 ounces and you wear it around your neck! What do you need a remote for?
Hm, you're not very optimistic about the sound quality. For an mp3player, one of the most important things is the sound quality. I guess we should expect at least (very) good sound quality from an mp3player of that pricerange and not sound quality that's 'OK' if you know what I mean.
I read that the sound quality of the U2 was very impressive. Has the G3 'less' quality or something?
I apologize if I didn't make it clear, but the sound quality of the G3 is excellent.
The system I compared it to (2 speakers+sub w/Audigy), costs almost as much as the G3 itself, and is a full speaker set. The quality is as good as anything I've ever heard on headphones.
[I still think the joystick is plastic. It looks like metal, but it feels like plastic]
And now, with some thoughts on functionality.
Startup/Shutdown:
I've never owned a DAP before, so I don't have much to compare it to, but there is something awkward about the startup/shutdown. It's not a big issue at all. The initial startup takes a couple seconds, and this is annoying when I pause it to talk to someone, and it turns itself off. This is good because it conserves power, but then it takes a couple of seconds to start up again. Perhaps I need to experiment with the settings a little more for this.
Settings:
This thing has settings for everything. It has an equalizer, which I never use, so I can't really comment on it. It has a number of other sound-modification settings that I have not experimented with yet.
Changing settings is really quite easy, and the settings menu is animated in a very nice way. It's another little touch.
You can adjust how song titles are displayed(from ID3 tags or filenames), how fast song titles scroll, whether to display a clock or album information.
You can set it to wake up at certain times, or to go to sleep after a certain number of minutes (if you are going to sleep with this thing, get different earbuds). There even seems to be a setting to tell it to record a radio program at a certain time. I haven't tested it, but it seems like a pretty cool idea.
The thing is wonderfully configurable.
Transfer Speed:
I use Linux on a laptop, so speeds might be faster for other people, but I get about 2 MBps, so it takes about two minutes to load the whole thing up. But since I usually copy two or three songs at a time, I'm never waiting on the player.
Sound Volume:
0-40. I usually sit between 22 and 28. At 30 it is too loud, but still fairly clear.
Formats:
I use ogg and mp3. I don't have a huge range of encoding rates, but I haven't had a single problem playing anything.
Linux Compatibility:
I'm on Mandrake 10, I plugged it in, and it automounted RW for root. I manually remounted(right-click>unmount; right-click>mount) it, and it was completely usable. Took about 5 seconds to start copying things to it.
Capacity:
Mine is 256, and that's really enough for me. It would be cool to have a larger one, but my collection is large enough that it makes more sense for me to just keep my laptop handy and swap songs ever couple days, at least as long as I'm going to stick with a flash-based player.
Battery life:
One week of use, and it's still two bars. I've probably used it less than fifteen hours total, but that would include an hour or two of ogg playing, and two hours of voice recording, so I'm quite happy with the battery life.
That's everything for now.
JMyungRocks
12-28-2004, 13:20
thanks passive!
El salvidor-*I read that the sound quality of the U2 was very impressive. Has the G3 'less' quality or something?*
All three of the new units(U2,G3,I5) have an identical sound engine- SIGMATEL 3520, the only differences are battery type, cosmetics, and of course color screen on the I5. So fear not , all of these units will sound awesome. :)
El Salvador
12-28-2004, 13:55
passive and JMyungRocks, thanks for your comments :)
I kind of misunderstood passive but now I'm pretty convinced that the G3 is still the best choice for me!
Now, the only thing for me is waiting for the 2GB version! :)
In February, it will be available in Europe, I guess. That's the last thing that I heard of.
JMyungRocks
12-28-2004, 14:44
2 gig flash with ogg capabilities will be sweeeeeet!
SpiritualBlue
02-10-2005, 16:38
Hey got my G3 and im very happy with it!
But still got one thing making me go craazy!
How do i switch between the Folders?
I've manage doing it by clicking it 2 the right after the last song, but is that the only way? takes far 2 long 2 switch between the folders!
// Happy g3 owner :)
EDIT: problem solved :) sry was 2 excited with my new player that i forgot 2 take a look in the manual :D
You can choose the song order from file name(alphbetical), file creation time(new to old), and download time(the order you put them on the G3)
Won't it play in file number order? If not, albums would not play in proper order, and much music would sound quite mad, to put it mildly.
we want pics !! we want pics !! :)
You can choose the song order from file name(alphbetical), file creation time(new to old), and download time(the order you put them on the G3)
Won't it play in file number order? If not, albums would not play in proper order, and much music would sound quite mad, to put it mildly.
If your songs are named like this it will be fine:
[Artist Name] - [tracknumber] - [trackname]
or
[tracknumber] - [trackname]
e.g.
Poets of the Fall - 01 - Lift.mp3
or
01 - Lift.mp3
Vlad Tepes Drac
02-10-2005, 20:55
Great post man! Congrats on getting the G3!
I think you could post your review on the main website! We need nice long detailed reviews like yours :D
You can choose the song order from file name(alphbetical), file creation time(new to old), and download time(the order you put them on the G3)
Won't it play in file number order? If not, albums would not play in proper order, and much music would sound quite mad, to put it mildly.
If your songs are named like this it will be fine:
[Artist Name] - [tracknumber] - [trackname]
or
[tracknumber] - [trackname]
e.g.
Poets of the Fall - 01 - Lift.mp3
or
01 - Lift.mp3
what if the ID3 tags contain the track number? Or does the unit solely rely on files themselves?
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