|
|
MP3 - the new standard for music distribution, or a technology doomed at the hands of the RIAA? While nobody knows for certain, one thing is clear: this technology has changed how many of us listen to music both at, and away from, our computers.
80% Rating: 
|
|
|
|
Home >
Reviews >
MP3 Players >
D-Link DMP-100 |
|
|
Audio Quality
Despite these limitations, the player did install rather
smoothly on my test system (which, by the way, does not have a printer directly
attached). Upon connecting the cable and powering up the computer, Windows 98
detected the device immediately, and prompted me for the driver. Following this,
I installed the D-Link MP3 Manager software, which came on the supplied
CD.
The D-Link MP3 software is very easy to use. On the top half of the
screen, you will find the files on your computer, and on the bottom half you'll
find the songs already stored in the player. Placing songs into the player is as
simple as dragging and dropping; a status indicator shows how much memory is
available on both the player's internal memory and a memory card (if
installed).
Performance and Audio Quality
Being a parallel
port based device, I was expecting extremely slow transfer speeds. After telling
the software to download 31.4MB of songs, I had to wait approximately 15 minutes
for it to complete. While 15 minutes may not seem like much time, it can sure
add up if you frequently decide to download new songs into the device. One major
limitation I found with the software was that there was no way to change the
order of songs on the player, without erasing everything and downloading again.
Once you select songs to download, they appear in the same order as they appear
in the file selection dialog. For instance, if you have three songs titled by
their artist name first, this is how they will appear in the player. The only
work around is to download songs one at a time into the device, which is a very
time-consuming process.
When using the player itself, I noticed a small
bug. I have found that when using files encoded with Variable Bit-Rate (VBR),
the time indicator increases very quickly (i.e., the player reads 10 seconds
when only 5 have passed). The song plays at normal speed, but the indicator
displays otherwise. Unlike CD's, which have a table of contents that defines
track lengths and such, MP3 files have no such information. As such, some other
form of calculating the total time must be used. Whether a flaw with MP3's
encoded in VBR in general, or a special quirk with this player, I cannot say for
certain.
As
with several other MP3 players, the bundled headphones with the D-Link were
definitely below par. After listening to the output from the headphones for a few
minutes, I thought the player deserved better. Therefore, I chose to plug in
my Sony Street-Style headphones to see what would happen. Sure enough, they
made a big difference. Whereas the bundled ear buds sounded flat and muddled, the
Sony's produced a very dynamic and crisp sound.
The player itself offers
several preset equalization settings (No EQ, Pop, Classical, Jazz, and Ex-Bass),
which allows you to tailor the EQ settings appropriate to the type of music. For
example, the Pop setting increases the mid-range frequencies, Jazz increases the
high-end, and Ex-Bass increases the bass. Overall, I preferred using the Jazz
setting for most of the songs I listen to (Classical did work best with
classical music however).
For the ultimate audio quality test, I compared
the D-Link to my Discman. For this test, I used 5 tracks encoded from various
audio CD's. I used 128Kbps quality (Constant Bit-Rate). For the Discman, I
burned the compilation to an audio CD from the MP3s. The Discman did sound
better overall, but the MP3 player brought a few surprises to my ears. Using the
Jazz equalizer setting, songs sounded crisper on the player due to the enhanced
treble settings that this EQ setting provided. In terms of bass response, this
is where the Discman clearly won. Setting the MP3 player to Ex-Bass mode made
the sound more muffled, and tended to distort the bass at high volumes, whereas
the Discman handled it far better. In terms of overall loudness, it was a
virtual tie between both units. Overall though, I was impressed with the audio
quality of the D-Link. While a bit more bass would have been nice, I appreciate
the boost to the treble frequencies just as well.
Final Thoughts &
Conclusion
The DMP-100 makes a strong entry into this ever-popular market. Although the standard
32MB of storage and parallel-port connection work against the player, its
overall sound quality manages to overcome these deficiencies. Unless I'm going
on a fairly lengthy trip, you can expect the DMP-100 to be nestled in my
pocket wherever I go despite its
shortcomings.
|
|
|
|
RSS Newsletter
