Nomad Zen NX

[Seanms88]

Hey all,
I've been introduced to the AnandTech site not too long ago, and saw there were forums, how awesome is that , well I decided to hop in here and ask a question I've been trying to get awnsered for a while. When browsing the main site all I saw reviews for (Hard Drive MP3 Plaers) was the Apple Ipod, and I wanted to know if anyone here has tried out the Nomad Zen NX 20gb version. I am most likely going to be picking it up, but haven't seen many reviews because it's been out for only a few short weeks. If any of you know anything on it's performance, I'd appreciate your input. Well anyways, good day, and look foward to posting with you guys.

-Seanms88

 

[Mr N8]

I'll be picking up the 30GB version tonight. I'll let you know how I like it.

Gotta love a Litium Ion battery in an mp3 player.

 

[Seanms88]

Oh yeah, the only reason why I'm getting the NX is because I am afraid of ruining the regular zen's battery. I've read it takes a mere 15 seconds to charge the baby. Anyways, can't wait to see your impressions.

 

[Mr N8]

Here's my initial impression.

Size - Nice and small, could be a little smaller. Not quite pocket sized if you wear regular jeans. Maybe if you wear baggy jeans.

Menu is pretty easy to use. Software set up perfectly and drag & drop songs worked flawlessly.

It gets pretty hot when tranfering a lot of files to it, and my only complaint is that it can't stand up because of the front cover release on the bottom.

Overall its nice. If you are going to use it with headphones, get better ones. The creative ones that come with it aren't that good. I plugged my senheissers into it, and this machine plays excellent quality audio. Plugged into my stereo, too, and its very nice. I would definitely use it for parties, rather than my changer.

 

[Mr N8]

Forgot to say:

I'll be using it pretty extensively for a trip this weekend. If I find anything else I like / dislike, I'll let you know.

I played around with it for a while longer yesterday, and I would say that its definitely a great player, and will put a little competition out there for Apple.

As far as the charge time, the initial charge is ~4 hours. After that, it is 1-2 hours, and it should give you 14 hours of continuous play on 1 charge.

 

[Seanms88]

Thanks for the small review, I plan on getting new headpones soon for it, I'm going to go ahead and order it from Creative this week. Where did you get yours and about how much was it? How is the protective case?

 

[ethebubbeth]

i love my nomad jukebox zen (original one, no usb2.0). my only qualm is that you need to install a driver and software to use it.... isn't seen as an external drive to windows

 

[bradolson]

I had the old Zen USB 2.0. Was a little to large for my tastes. Using the Notmad software helped a lot.

Brad

 

[Seanms88]

Yeah it is a little big, I noticed that as I went to check it out. The size almost made me turn away and started getting me thinking about the iPod, but it's just too darn expensive. This wendnesday I'm going to get the NX, any ideas on new headphones I should get? I like behind the ear ones.

 

[MogyBear]

I have Sennheiser HD497's and I love them. If you want earbuds or something small, look elsewhere, but if you are not concerned about size, go with Sennheisers.

 

[MogyBear]

Whoops-- mod delete, I clicked "post" twice

 

[ethebubbeth]

i'm currently debating whether or not to buy a pair of grado sr80's, they've gotten nothing but rave reviews. yes, notmad explorer is a VERY worthwhile investment. 20 bucks or so gets you an amazingly robust program to manage your jukebox. it is infinitely better than the buggy bloatware creative provides

 

[Mr N8]

Originally posted by: Seanms88
Thanks for the small review, I plan on getting new headpones soon for it, I'm going to go ahead and order it from Creative this week. Where did you get yours and about how much was it? How is the protective case?

The case is pretty good, but hard to get the player into, at first. I got mine at BB for $299. Talked to the salesperson and got him to throw in the 2 year replacement plan for free. This is most likely because I'm in there fairly regularly, and I usually answer questions they have about products / strange problems they are having with computers at their service desk.

Anyway, in approx two years, I will be back to BB asking for a replacement to my current one, whether or not it works. I love their policy on this piece of equip. Replace or upgrade if original isn't available (which it won't be), no questions asked.

 

[Seanms88]

I'll be picking mine up wednesday at the best buy too, it's only 249.99 for the Zen 20 GB. I was going to splurge for the 30 model, but I figured, I only have about 5 gigs of music anyways. I will probally get the 2 year plan too, we did that with a laptop my brother got, and he traded his in 2 months ago for a brand new ibm thinkpad, and it's pretty darn awesome.
I'll also be picking up these headphones, thier goofy looking but I like behind the ear ones
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...hones_StreetStyle&ProductSKU=MDRG57G&Dept=acc

Also, is the case small or bulky? Should I get a new one?

 

[Mr N8]

The case is fairly thin. Probably only adds 1/4" to each dimension. I still love the size of the Ipod, but for price/GB I just couldn't justify the size.

2 problems I see with the case. No clear cover for the LCD screen, so it has to be opened to load a new playlist. Not that big of a deal if you have a lot qeued up. The snap covers up the power adapter slot, so you have to leave the case open for charging.

 

[BoomAM]

One word.
iPod.

 

[Mr N8]

Originally posted by: BoomAM
One word.
iPod.

iPod sound isn't nearly as good as the Zen NX. So, you have a choice Size and Style for iPod or Quality sound in the NX. I'm not saying the sound from the iPod is bad, its just not as good at the NX.

 

[Seanms88]

Now I'm wishing I had gone with the Ipod. Wednesday night I went to pick up my NX, and all was fine and dandy, got a nice new pair of headphones. So I went home, read the instructions and installed away. I installed all the software, drivers that came on the cd. After that, nothing worked. It wouldn't read the zen. So I tried numerous things that night, I installed the service pack for xp Pro, then updated my mobo drivers to usb2, and I also re installed everything and turned off any anti-virus software. Then things started to work, the zen was reading the computer (it did the connecting screen saver when the computer was connecting to it) but it still told me my player was not connected. Now I can't even use the player, something happened and it says "Firmware Problem" and takes me to a boot screen. What a shame?! I'm returning it for a nother one, if it doesnt work I'm going to go with the 10 gig Ipod.

 

[Mr N8]

That sucks. I didn't have a single problem with my drivers or software. I've seen it recommended that you check out notmad software intead of the prepackaged nomad stuff.

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: MogulMonster

Originally posted by: BoomAM
One word.
iPod.

iPod sound isn't nearly as good as the Zen NX. So, you have a choice Size and Style for iPod or Quality sound in the NX. I'm not saying the sound from the iPod is bad, its just not as good at the NX.

Personal opinion.
Im from the stable of thinking that sound quality difference that you are talking abut has little to no impact on the sound quality when using headphones. But thats just me. The iPod is still 100x better quality than my old Rio600 was. And we all (should) know how good the sound quality out of Rios are/were.

 

[Seanms88]

Technically speaking, the sound is better by statistics. And Nomad is the king of sounds, ask anyone who knows anything about mp3 players.

 

[BoomAM]

Its all down to personal opnion on how something sounds.
Proper "audiophiles" might well prefer the NoMads, but to the average person, the iPod would sound just as good. The best thing to do is test both out and see what you find is better. No one can tell you that x is better than y, cos its down to your ears.

 

[ethebubbeth]

if you get any problems with your firmware, reboot the player. if that does not resolve the issue, download the flashing utility from creative's site and flash to the latest bios.

 

[Seanms88]

I tried to reboot the player, that didn't work, so they told me to format, but it wouldnt connect to the computer so I couldn't install the os. Well I am going to try another one (along with a pci usb2 port) this way is should work. If it doesn't where can I get the flash or whatever to flash the bios (the zen's bios right?) all I could find was firmware, but nothing was avaliable for the Zen NX 20. Thanks in advance

 

[BoomAM]

Firmware is the "BIOS" for the Zens, and most other devices as well.
DL the firmware for the Zen model you have, its the same as a "BIOS" update.