X-Micro EVA Portable Audio Player
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As the competition increases in the world of portable audio players, we are seeing numerous improvements and features on these gadgets. Every manufacturer tries to do something that will make their player unique from the rest. X-Micro, a name not known to many and a rather small member of the MP3 player market, is tossing their hat into the MP3 player ring with the X-Micro EVA Portable Audio Player. Can they fight the good fight, or are they doomed to obscurity?
NOTE Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of Dev Hardware, its parent company Developer Shed, or any of its partners and affiliates, and are solely the responsibility of the reviewer.
Specifications:
- Memory Size: 128MB/256MB/512MB (Internal)
- Battery: 1 AAA battery (Alkaline Battery)
- LCD: 96*32 Do matrix LCD
- Size: 101mmx32mmx24mm
- SNR: 90dB
- Earphone Power: 5mW+5mW
- Supporting Frequency: 20Hz-20KHz
- Supporting Bit Rate: 8Kbps~256Kbps(MP3)
- Music Format: MP3,WMA
- Record Format: ADPCM ID3
- Language: Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Deutsch, Dutch, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai
Features
- MP3, WMA playback
- Voice recording
- 5 Equalizer mode (Jazz/Classic/Rock/POP/Normal)
- Back-light LCD display
- High speed USB 12Mbps
- ID3 Multi-language display support
- Repeat A-B and repeat mode
- FM earphone optional
Most of the features on this unit are industry standard. It comes with built-in voice recording capabilities, can be used as a flash drive, can play MP3s and WMAs, and has built-in FM tuner functionality. Interestingly, the FM radio functionality is not built into the tuner itself, but rather to the ear-phone unit. We’ll take a closer look at that a little further on.
Accessories
The EVA portable audio player comes with an USB connection cable, a driver CD, a FM earphone, a user's guide, one triple A (AAA) battery, and a neck brace.
Everything else is self-explanatory. We must admit that the user's guide that comes in the package is one of the thickest we’ve seen. Users will usually encounter either fold-out pamphlets or small User Guides with various products, so it was surprising to see how much time and effort X-Micro put into the user's manual alone.
Another interesting issue of note was the FM earphone. Unlike most other units with included FM capabilities, the FM tuner on the EVA is permanently attached to the earphones. The FM tuner looks like a saucer disc with "Scan", "On/Off", and "Reset" buttons at the top. The downside of having the FM tuner on the earphones is that if you decide to use alternative earphones, you will be left without the FM tuner capabilities. Although this is a major faux pas on the part of Micro-X (since many users will probably opt for more comfortable headphones), this is understandable on X-Micro's part since they were probably intending to reduce the clutter on the player itself. They could've adopted iRock's method by integrating the FM tuner as an option in the player menu.
Next: Product Analysis >>
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