iRiver comes through again, with the SlimX iMP-400, improving on an award-winning MP3 CD player.
With a thin design, a full-featured remote, and skip-free operation, iRiver's first-generation, superthin MP3 CD player, the SlimX iMP-350, set a new standard for the category. Now the company is serving up the iMP-400, which delivers the same performance and features as its predecessor but improves upon its design.
The iMP-400 is a tad smaller--13cm x 14cm x 1.65cm-- than its older sibling, though it's a hair heavier at 245g. Unlike the iMP-350, this SlimX has almost no buttons on the chassis; iRiver clearly designed this player to be controlled exclusively by the remote, which enabled the company's designers to pare down the size of the main unit. This arrangement suits us just fine since the most common way to carry around a portable CD player is in a bag, with the in-line remote clipped to the strap.
iRiver also improved the remote, which now has dedicated buttons for play, fast-forward, rewind, and stop on its front, just to the right of the backlit, four-line LCD. A multifunction jog dial on the bottom of the remote controls volume and toggles between play modes (short press) and FM/CD (long press). The text and graphics on the screen are quite small, so if your eyesight is poor, go with another player. But iRiver did a great job with the menu layout, as all features--and there are quite a few--are easily accessible.
The included, wraparound Sennheiser MX300 headphones have a unique, sliding cover on the outside of each earpiece. Move the cover one way, and four small holes let in external sound--useful for jogging, bicycling, or other situations where you need to hear what's going on around you. To block outside noise a bit more, slide the covers over the holes. The effect is not dramatic but is noticeable.
The iMP-400 handles a wide variety of CD-Rs, CD-RWs (Packet-Write, ISO 9660, Joliet, Romeo, and Multisession), and audio CDs with nary a hiccup. In terms of file formats, this model plays discs filled with any combination of MP3s, WMAs, and ASFs in multiple folder levels, so you can organize your tunes however you like. When you want to play a disc, you can set the shuffle and repeat options for a single directory or for all tracks. You can also use software such as Winamp to burn M3U playlists onto the disc alongside the music files.
Other notable playback features include an autoresume feature that picks up right where you left off; two visualizations that move in sync with the music; a sleep function; eight EQ presets; bass and treble sliders; and the ability to fast-forward or rewind within a song at 1X, 2X, 4X, or 6X speeds. Unbelievably, the iMP-400 can display these features in 37 languages, including rare tongues such as Basque and Slovenian.
The iMP-400's FM radio tunes to stations digitally and uses the in-line remote cord as an antenna. You can search for strong channels by holding down the rewind or fast-forward buttons, and 20 presets help you access the stations that you listen to the most. To round out the package, iRiver includes a cassette-style adapter and a cigarette-lighter power adapter for easy connection to car stereos.
The iMP-400 handled every disc that we tried, although the player takes a few moments to scan MP3/WMA combo CDs before playing them. We'd liked to have seen some degree of disc memory so that such scanning wouldn't be necessary every time, but we can live without it. Throughout all testing, the SlimX's sound was very clear through both our test headphones and the included, wraparound Sennheisers, with a very good signal-to- noise ratio of 90dB. We encountered no skips while walking or commuting by bicycle. And to our ears, the iMP-400's top volume was definitely plenty loud. But if you're the type who likes to decimate your hearing by cranking the sound well past 11, you might need something with a little more juice.
FM radio reception was decent--about what we expect from a portable device. The tuner pulled in almost every station within range, so we have no complaints here.
Battery life was average for an MP3 CD player. The iMP-400 lasts 12 hours on its two flat, removable, nickel-metal-hydride batteries. To avoid fatiguing the cells from overcharging, the iMP-400 stops accepting juice when the batteries are fully charged. The player also automatically drains the battery when you start recharging, because you can get a fuller charge by starting with completely exhausted batteries.
To augment battery life, iRiver has again included a slightly awkward external battery case that holds two AAs. You can connect the battery pack to the player to add another 10 hours of playing time, for a grand total of 22 hours.
Company: iRiver
Price: AU$374
Distributor: mp3DIRECT
Phone: 1300 880 128
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