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iRiver IMP-350 Portable MP3/CD Player

B

Blurry

Senior member
I am currently looking for a good MP3/CD player since my old player (Nomad 2) doesn't give enough power for my audiophile headphones. I have come across the iRiver IMP 350 which looks very very nice and I also heard they used to make products for SonicBlue. I was wondering if anybody who has tried/used or own these nice mp3 player could tell me how the audio quality is, and how good the LCD remote is, etc.
 
Just got it on Friday, so I can't give you a good review yet.

But...

#1 - the Remote is the coolest thing in the world - Nicely (secure) plugs into the unit (which is thin) and has a perfect length cord to the remote. The LCD is very high resolution and a cool blue backlight. Fantastic amount of options - menu is really cool. It may be light and be made out of plastic but it seems pretty sturdy. The three jog dials basically do everything - figured out how to use them without the manual in about 10 minutes. I now walk around manipulating everything with my hand in my pocket fooling around with the remote - that sounded bad.

#2- the iRiver itself is sleak. The top is aluminum but the bottom is plastic. I don't really like that the top is fixed to the bottom by a plastic hinge rather than a metal one - you have to be careful. Nevertheless, it seems well designed and sturdy. The cover latches down really well.

#3 - The batteries last forever (with MP3s, it loads them into memory and stops spinning - kinda freaked me out when I opened it and the disk was stopped). The unit even has the option of discharging then charging the batteries to prevent memory problems. In fact, the LCD shows a little picture of the battery with eyes and a mouth getting filled or draining - cute touch. It also has a AA battery tube the attaches to the unit for extra battery life. I haven't spent too much time with regular cds yet, so I can't tell you how fast the batteries drain.

#4 - the Sound - Surprisingly good. The bass does not have the greatest range (not always clear) but the mids and highs are great. Changing the eq is very effective (Rock is best for me so far - I generally like that scoop). You can apply the eq to both mp3s and audio cds. I have been using it with Grado SR60 headphones which are sort of designed with portables in mind (on problem is with the extra long Grado cord and the long remote cord - I have been binding it up with a rubberband for now). It sounds really good. Look, it is a portable, so it is not going sound drop dead fantastic with every source material, but it is above par (especially with MP3s, which I have generally dismissed as poor quality files). It pumps out enough juice to really blow earbuds out of your ears. With my Grados it gets loud enough that I can hear the music well in all but the loudest of situations, but not loud enough to do damage (which is probably a good thing). Oh, it even has a line out - nice touch.

#5 - I e-mailed iRiver and they told me that they are planning to support Ogg Vorbis (open source audio standard) and MP3Pro in a future firmware release - Very cool.

- That is about all I can tell you now - I have only played with it for a few hours thus far. So far I have been very pleased. For a portable, it is fantastic and fun with a lot of good thought going into one device. Post if you have any specific questions. Hope this has been of help. Check e-bay - so good (still expensive) prices on new ones can be found there.

 
Thanks Airbus. I was thinking of getting one of these too. I like the its size compared to the Rio Volt SP250
 
imp 350 is the best cd player i ever got so far!
memory card players r too small n expensive for expansion. hard drive players r bulky n major battery drainer (except ipod).

i bought the player immediately when it first came out. hasnt failed on me since. no complaints. oh yeah, the cd player is so small n light, u dont even have to hold it! i just hold the wire n let it dangle around as i walk. the remote i just clip onto the shirt n control it that way
 
Glad to be of service Rude Boie.

If anybody is hesitating to get this thing - don't. It is not perfect (nothing is), but I am pretty sure you will be happy with it.

A lot of thought went into this device (more than I can say about most products). For instance, I just found out today that you can change the volume while the thing loads a disk. When you turn the player on, a little "iriver" logo pops up on the screen and it says "loading" (for mp3s or accessing the audio cd). If you hit the volume jog dial, a little volume bar will pop up below the logo allowing you to change the volume before the music starts (lets say you had it up loud before because you were walking outside and wanted to turn it down from the get go) - stupid little feature, but it makes sense. BTW, you can also set it that when the song comes on, the volume gradually gets louder so you don't blow your eardurms (or headphones) out.

Anyway - happier about this think day by day.
 
Airbus,

I had a couple of questions about the iRiver (I'm considering a RioVolt 250 at the moment)...

How long does the iRiver take to load an MP3 CD?

What is the display like on the remote (about how many characters can it show)?

Does it require CDs to be burned any special way?

Thanks!!!
 
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