Call me crazy, but that is the first stand-alone mp3 player in a LONG time (I'm talking since the original Creative Jukebox) that has me considering buying one.

TendoMentis

Hmmm.
At that price point I could bulk up a bit and go with an ultraportable PC and have way more multimedia options, although the trade off would perhaps be storage.

-but then a wireless connection would make online content available...hmmmm

It's tough because it's cool looking, but I like more versatility in the devices I choose to lug around with me.

strider_mt2k

@kaneshadow: Whenever I try to use any kind of built-in sound processing it always kills the overall sound as opposed to enhancing it.

Keep it simple, keep it clean.

The money they put into THAT circuitry they could have used towards better quality amp components and such perhaps.

strider_mt2k

Looks like a great upgrade to the Zen (which I just bought by the way- isn't that always how it goes?) Except what they don't tell you is that Expander and Crystallize are complete BS. It's the same foolishness that has been kicking around the audio manufacturers since the advent of the MP3. They'll try to convince you that since MP3 is a "lossy" compression, that they figured out a way to just "un-lose" that extra data. It just ends up sounding really really noisy and awful.

kaneshadow

I am intrigued.

Solidius

Guys, read any review of Creative's X-Fi sound cards and see for yourself it's not BS.

"Despite its faults, the X-Fi XtremeMusic is highly recommended. In fact, the card's strong performance in our gaming and listening tests, its low CPU utilization, and the X-Fi architecture's considerable potential warrants an Editor's Choice award."

"Anyway, the new SoundBlaster X-Fi offers such a rich set of hardware and software means that there is plenty of choices for everyone out there."

"Prosumer audio content creators, high end gamers and hi-fi buffs will appreciate the attention to detail and the clean sound, not to mention its low CPU utilization. Along the way, they'll have fun with the myriad of audio settings. But beware the cost!"

... and that's only from the first three reviews I got on Google.

rospaya

@kaneshadow: Exactly. All they're doing with their "magical potion" is piping the audio stream through a digital multi band compressor, effectively boosting portions to damn near 0 VU that were never intended to be that loud in the first place.

Dook_In_The_Urinal

those headphones are pretty nice.

@strider_mt2k: cowon's enhancement thing sounds pretty good to me. i dunno if they've actually figured out algorithms to fill in the missing data but subjectively, it sounds good.

Weihovah

this is awesome! this is the upgrade to the zen! i am a proud owner of the zen. this thing is great on videos! i especially love the sd expansion slot and the battery life. also, the built in mic for recording. I just hope the X-fi can finally inegrate both internal mem and the external (SD card). i dont see the point of accessing the data in the SD seperately.

reiyaku

X-FI is truly the king of sound cards. Any other sound card upgrade is crap. EAX is crap. The X-FI crystalizer can turn a regular sound system into 100% win. Seriously. It isn't just hype. BUT, get the cheapest model, the you don't need the GamerXtreme or the Fatality model. The cheapest model has the crystalizer, and thats all you need.

NumberFiveIsAlive

Too little, too late, Creative.

I just dumped my Zen V:M 30 for a Zune 80.

I wanted a bigger screen... and you continue to make be squint at 2.5".
I wanted more storage... and you dump HDD for low-capacity flash.
I wanted it months ago... and you made me wait.

Creative, are you really, seriously still in the PMP game? Even Microsoft, the kings of hardware blunders, are leaving you in the dust, and you can't even see Apple's taillights for how far off in the horizon they now are.

416Hammy

No FLAC, no sale.

JChristopher

this thing is sexy

snowy_coke

This is a really nice looking player, I just wonder how easy that multi-button navigation thingy will be to operate when it's in your pocket. That's one nice thing about the Zune.

maven2k

you confuse compressor with exciter, dook_in_the_urinal

X-Fi processing expands dynamic range and does not compress it. It takes a 16 bit material makes it into 24 bit. It is no magic, it has been done for years (ever seen this "digitally remastered" record? The new thing about X-Fi is that is becomes affordable, mainstream and implemented in consumer electronics. Of course not without compromises, but this is a mainstream media player with some communication (texting) capabilities and nothing else.

If my tracks that I got from various sources and cannot always re-rip them in better quality can be slighly tuned to sound better at playback - then why not?

And I know X-Fi tech works cus it came with my DELL computer - it does make tracks sound better to my ears, of course all depends on your taste for music.

Now I hope this X-Fi tech becomes mainstream and I'll see it added to future macbooks etc

mac0id

This looks great. I've really enjoyed my Zen, but I too wish for true card integration and a firmware fix to the white screen of death (I've got up,up,up,up,up, left,left,left,left,left, down,down, center, play, hold, unhold ingrained in my muscle memory at this point). The reason SD integration would be great for me is that I really don't need more than 4-8 Gigs to carry around with me, but I'd love to keep a couple of cards around, maybe by genre or something for longer trips or when i just want a whole bunch of blues, or jazz or whatever on the player that I don't normally keep there.

faust_motel

@kaneshadow: You're right that it can't put back what was taken out, but to me their sound processing does make the music sound better. Even if all they're doing (and i don't pretend to know what it really does)is boosting hard to hear sounds, that's fine with me.

I wonder if this one will have line-in recording, and FM recording, as some older models do.

Zlevee

I sense a price drop coming for the standard Zen.

shadowthief0

@JChristopher: Do you FLAC guys buy anything?

@416Hammy: Creative has never seemed to care too much about their competitors. They just put out solid hardware, damn the date. I personally like the way they come in just a little later than everyone else, cause they tend to have all their crap ironed out.

Tony Bullard

wow, pretty pretty

MrBlahBlah

Couldn't pay me to buy another creative mp3 player 3/3 dead. within a year.

1roll20s

I'll be picking one up, even if it's not my main DAP, the built in MSN ( Think hacked firmware down the road.... all the uses for that wifi... ) and X-Fi crystalizer are more than enough extras to get my interest over Johnny Generic's MP3-only funbox.

Zeni

No wifi browsing? No thanks. I'll pick up a refurbed iTouch and get more utility out of it. Btw what OS is running on this?

Mr_Nowitt

updated version of the Zen UI

trecipticon

@Tony Bullard: We buy Cowon products. IMO, Cowon D2 is a lot better than this.

eating

Why is this cheaper than the regular Zen? On Creative's site, the X-Fi 32GB is $280, the regular Zen 32GB is $300....?

kmanfactor