X-Micro EVA Portable Audio Player - Performance Summary
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| Performance in Seconds (lower is better) | Simple Tech | Verbatim | X-Micro EVA MP3 |
| 102MB (321 Files Total) Transfer Rates: | 188.4 Seconds | 333 Seconds | 399 Seconds |
| 6.59MB (1 File Total) Transfer Rates: | 1 Second | 3 Seconds | 3 Seconds |
The performance of the EVA MP3 player is decent as you can see from our test comparisons. It managed to hold a second/third place against the two flash drives; the low transfer numbers are obviously caused by the USB 1.1 support instead of the commonly used 2.0 standard.
The music quality was surprisingly impressive with this audio player. The five option equalizer made a noticeable difference between each setting. The audio quality was crisp and clear for the most part; however, there were some areas during our Hard Rock (Metallica) testing where we thought EVA player could improve upon. (This was nothing major.) The portable MP3 players simply can't be compared to the top-of-the-line speaker system whose sole purpose is to concentrate on the sound levels. We had no problems turning the volume up to the fullest levels while still getting decent quality from the player. It is recommended that you try to keep the volume to a mid-level for the best possible performance.
On a related note, X-Micro claims the battery life of the player to last around 12 hours. During our testing our battery lasted for 11:33 hours. Not bad, and the lack of time can be attributed to testing error and battery flaw.
The voice recording quality testing was decent. The audio quality was understandable, but not as clear as we would like it to be. There were some occasional crackling sounds, which were not caused by human errors such as tapping and the like. If you were to record a conversation with this player, you would have to keep it fairly close to the source of the audio in order to record a clearly audible stream.
The FM tuner on the earphones is an interesting concept to say the least. The antenna for the FM tuner is located in the center with all the necessary buttons around it. We managed to capture a large volume of frequencies as soon as we turned on the tuner. Just like the player itself, the audio quality was amazing for a portable FM tuner. What many of you may find even more appealing is that the FM tuner is battery operated and does not need the player to operate. This means that you can use the earphones with just the FM tuner separately. The downside to this is that there is a volume option missing on the FM tuner. Even when you connect the earphones to the EVA audio player, you won't be able to use its volume controls to adjust the volume of the FM tuner. We did find the preset volume to be somewhat loud on some frequencies while other stations were perfectly fine. It shouldn't be too difficult to make the FM tuner and the player share the same volume control, but it is up to X-Micro to decide.
Conclusion
The navigation system, easy to follow menu and functional buttons make a noticeable difference between performance and consumer satisfaction. Overall, we think highly of the EVA MP3 player and if you are looking for something with all three functionalities -- FM tuner, voice recording, and music – at US$140, this makes for a worthwhile consideration.
Thank you for joining us today on Dev Hardware for this review by Cool Tech Zone’s Gundeep Hora. If you have any questions or comments, click on the article discussion below, or visit our hardware forums for more information on these and other MP3 players. Or jump back to our home page for more hardware news and reviews.
Gundeep Hora is Editor-in-Chief of CoolTechZone.com, a hardware analysis and information site dedicated to conducting thorough, in-depth, and practical reviews of the latest consumer-end products. Visit them at http://www.cooltechzone.com. |
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