[Review] Looking for an i-pod

Looking for an i-pod

I have recently bought myself an i-River IHP 140 and am running it with a pair of Shure E2c, now comparing this to my mates i-pod, well it doesn't look as nice and the ipod jog wheel thing is better, other than that the 140 is superior in everyway, cheaper, around £250 and comes with remote, 'Phones, carry case (ugly brown leather afair, but can't be seen in pocket) external mike for vox recording, will also record from analogue and optical sources and will out put to both as well, and has built in condesor mike for recording memo's etc, and various other leads. when ripping cd's to comp its just a matter of dragging and dropping and then using mood logic to add to DB, the batteries also last around 12-16 hours, and are rechargable.

With the supplied 'phones the sound was ok but with the e2c it's way better (MP3 at 192) than a portable has any right to be. I also compared it to the ipod (4G 40Gig) and sound is way better even with the e2's used on both.

So if you are in the market for one of these, then try this, it sounds excellent, if however you want a fashion statement then buy the ipod.

 

I should have posted this in the reviews section, could one of the mods move it for me

Ta

AK

 

So Analoge, it seems you have bought the inferior product and are justifying your purchase, never mind, I am sure you have hundreds of voice memos to record.

Voice memo to self, 'in future buy the better product'

 

maybe along with the logo change we should change the name of the forum to zealot gain.
cheers


julian

 

The new Sony NW-HD1 looks promising. 20Gb... Smallest, lightest and thinnest... with a 30 hour (rechargable) battery life.

The i-River IHP 140 really has a lousy UI.... So I bought an iPod instead. My mate has an i-River and we're always slagging each other off.... 'Mines better than yours'... and so on... And yes, he has mentioned the vox recorder.... But has he used it?

 

No Garyi

mearly posting for others I did my research and preffered the I river, but then I have never been a sheep, apart from looks the Iriver wins hands down, and lets face it looks are not so important with soething that spends so much time in yer pocket.

The apple product is lovely but, i'd like to know how you think it is superior, as for recording without comp, what do you do if you have protected cd (eg like tubular bells 2003) that won't play on comp, with 140m you can record straight to it, and supposing you are at a mates house and want to record an album, again how do you do this with the ipod, if they sounded the same(the ipod si worse) then the choice would be harder, but I suppose I'll just have to be unfashionable.

Ju who is the zealot here I'm merley posting for info, I couldn't give a jot if others think I'm wrong, it's not there money or their ears. BTW did I mention it also has a radio built in

Oh and gary with the £50 saving (not to mention the savings on accesories) I bought the E2C's so i river IHP 140 with e2c (and remote) for same price as Bog standard inferior sounding Ipod

Ps Jerry I agree with you regarding UI as I stated in my first post, but the 140 still sounds better. The other things were a bonus.

 

paul,
i was just commenting on gary's almost bub like loyalty to anything apple. as he's already admitted that he's a bit of an apple slag i thought he wouldn't mind the gentle ribbing. sorry if you got the wrong end of the stick.
cheers


julian

 

Bramley?

 

Sorry mate for the misunderstanding I don't get into arguments about macs vs PC as I coudn't care less, unlike Gary (does he have shares in apple or is he just deaf, as the 140 sounds way better) although i would have thought that the Mana or Naim fora had first dibs on the Zealot gain handle.

 

Julian - you need to check your spelling. Apple's spelt with a leading silent "Cr". Tee hee.

Seriously though, can ANY of these HDD machines run off of normal AA or AAA batteries? If I could get a machine that can do that, I might be tempted by one. Both my MD (not been used in over 2 years!) and CD portables can run on their own rechargeables or normal alkalines.

That reminds me - anyone want a Panasonic SRJ220 MD? I'm sooo tempted to flog it!

 

The iriver runs on an internal rechargable the (Cr)apple one does too, the irver one can be replaced quite cheaply but it will last 2-3 years before needing changed, if they ran on AA or AAA they would eat batteries like a really hungry battery eater.

 

There is an attachment/peripheral available which allows the use of AA/AAA batteries with an iPod....

And, no, AK. It isn't because the iPod needs it.

 

Just an observation AK. You say you aren't a sheep and yet you come out with the above quote which is very sheep like.

The argument about which is better is about as pointless as which amp is best. They all do a job, can you live with what they do or don't offer inc sound quality?

 

Fair point Lee, however twas said toungue in cheek originally, I was mearly pointing out that for less money you could get a similar product, that, to these ears offered a better alternative, the only negative comments I heard regarding the 140 were those that I stated and agreed with above, the ipod is better looking and has better UI, if these are more important to you than anything else then choose an ipod, the fashion statement remark was added because the majority of all the ipods sold has been because they are the must have accessory, not because people want to listen to music all day like us lot, we are primarily interested in the quality of our music delivery and as such are more discerning in our choices, I have taken quality as my main choice and I beleive that the 140 is better in that regard than the Ipod, this is not to say that you would arrive at the same conclusion, mearley meant to provoke your interest enough for you to audition both and not disregard the other without trying it.

 

The price of the ipod, the stuff avialable for it and most importantly the software that is used with it makes it the better product.

I do agree that looks and feel are important, I played with an iriver and couldn't believe how cheap and tacky it was, I never had an intention of purchasing one anyway but an important point. I am not having a go, iriver wants to be all things to all men, it just appears that it only does all of them things 'OK'

The ipod dosn't pretend to be anything other than a music player, the software on the pod and the PC intergrate to make this as flawless as is possible, it enables me to have any amount of music going at work, including inteligent playlists which update them selves.

I know I am a mac zelot, have used macs since the MacPlus days, but just because they look great does not mean they are just candy, the ipod is a fantastic piece of kit and does exactly what it says on the tin.

 

Garyi you are obsessed, the iriver isn't as nice looking but it's just as well built, and certainly isn't cheap and tacky, are you sure you didn't pick up a dummy display model? I never said the ipod was poor quality and only candy, I just said that all things considered the iriver just swung it for me, the recording without computer is extremely useful and have used this already.

I never made snide remarks, i just said all things considered the iriver is better IMO, you are begining to sound like a Apple Bubbitt

 

Hey, look you start a thread suggesting that the ipod is just fancy looking, I am giving my view.

Its just a forum mate, I am not wound up, you like the iriver I have stated my reasons why I don't like the iriver.

As I mentioned else where its always going to be difficult to have a reasoned argument between people that have already purchased the products, their purchase will always be best.

On a related topic, I should sell things for apple, or at least get commission, so far I have 'sold' an apple to two work colleges, my dad and father in law and today pretty much secured the sale of two ipods, lol, wheres me commission?

 

No hard feelings Gary I just answered back as you made some, in my view snyde comments, i never said the ipod was bad, I just felt that the Irver had the edge for my priorities, next time read the post without yer gaurd up.

Regards Paul

 

I'm with you on this argument analoguekid. I have the H140 and in my comparisons it sounded better with my phones. A bloke at work just bought a 4G iPod two weeks ago, we have been relentlessly comparing the two.

As for the UI I'm not bothered by it, once I've hit play I let it keep running through the albums in sequence until it's time to turn it off. Any tracks I don't like just need one tap of the remote clipped to my shirt and it's gone. I'm looking forward to getting an iSkin though as the belt clip on the back of the fugly brown case is irritating in my shirt pocket.

 

Wasn't really an argument matt, and FWIW I do like the ipod, gary kinda misinterpreted my post as an attack on his beloved Apple, which was never my intention, just all things considered i chose the iriver, gary chose the ipod.

So would you mind pointing me in the direction of were I can get the accesories for it?