Chicken's in the oven grandma..

Ok, to put to rest and enlighten you fan boys of popular products that still think a name means the internals are worth a pissing well....

ipod and Zune will fail horribly on sound chips. The best thing going right now in the Chinese market is Wolfson audio decoder chips. I have had 2 devices with those chips and pitted them against the top brands aforementioned and shamed them horribly. You can say all you want about audiophiles and how the difference can't be heard. I beg you to put a device with a Wolfson chip against an ipod or zune. I dare you even. There isn't an ear in the world that won't hear the difference. YES, it's that drastically noticable.

I'm not saying this device in the article has that chip. It may not, and that doesn't matter. I'm advocating the quality-for-price ratio of these Chinese players. Ok, so the first device I had, a Nationite S:flo (rebranded Teclast T-50) had the shittiest firmware I've ever used. Just horrible. But the sound was AMAZING. Second device I had was a Samsung P2, which got dropped once and now it's got a short so bad it won't turn on anymore. Bummer, because I loved that thing. BUT, once again, that Wolfson audio chip ROOOOCKED!

Now there is a Nationite S:flo v2 coming this month (if not already out) that is muy updated, and this device has 2, TWO, 1+1=2 Wolfson audio chips. One for each channel. BAM! The sound will be ethereal. It's also the newest Wolfson chip as well, which from what I heard will dominate.

So maybe the Wolfson won't beat out the likes of Creative. After all, they own the sound business. Frankly I dont' know anyone that owns a creative player, so I couldn't test it.

What I'm saying is that you can read all the hype you want, and read all the negative engadget articles you want slamming Chinese mp3/mp4 players, but I have owned one, and I can tell you from experience and passion that yes, the internal memory is shameful when there's an option for 1080 output, but shop around and pick up a cheap one with the Wolfson chips for your mp3's. It's like listening to your favorite music for the first time. In-freakin-credible. So you do have to shop around and compare. And for god sakes, read user reviews! Make yourself aware of the prominent issues with players of any kind, or products of any kind for that matter, so that you know what you're getting into. All electronics have a fail rate. Deal with it or work around it. My player(s) broke and yea, I was pissed, but I only paid $100 for each, months apart. It's been worth that at least for the pleasure my ears have received and the experience and knowledge that a cheap Chinese mp3 player can crush the biggest names in the biz without even flexing.

there will be an S:flo v2 in my hands in the next month or so and a 16gb microSD to max it out. (where the hell is 32gb? Most devices say that they support 32gb, but there's no such thing. Did I miss a memo?)

Stupid Engadget. Anything to discredit gadgets that don't begin with 'i' or are coming from a company so elequently named after a fruit. I think apple trees the world over should sue Apple Computers for copyright infringement.

Teclast actually has some decent products. I've rallied for them over and over because the sound will stomp an ipod directly into Hell (no handbasket required).

You should see the new S:flo v2 coming to mp4nation. It is absolutely insane. DUAL Wolfson audio chips, microSD slot, and it can play more formats than you can name....that's enough to sell me. I will be getting one to replace my broken S:flo v1 gen 2

Seriously, do yourself a favor and spend the bones on a device with a Wolfson audio chip in it, and put it up against your ipod, Zune, or any other player on the market. It will dominate. Maybe not brands like Creative who specialize in sound, but the Wolfson may actually give it a run. Those audio decoding chips are no joke.

I don't buy mp3/mp4 players that don't have Wolfson, and I never will. I don't care if the ipod has a blowjob app, if I can't hear the moans in HD sound, you can keep your ipod. (you know what I'm saying...)

It's not an iPhone, it's a Gigabyte M258 MID. I was just looking at these yesterday and considering one. There's also an Aigo MID 8888W, which is quite nice.

Yes, the background on the MID is that of the iPhone. http://www.umpcportal.com/products/Aigo/MID/8888W

There are some REALLY sweet pieces of machinery on that website. Get familiar and you'll say "iPhone, what?"

My favorite joke:
-----------------------------

There's a couple. They've been together for 50 years.

For 50 years, the wife had 2 shoe boxes under her bed, and she asked her husband at the beginning on the marriage,

"Whatever you do, please do not look in those boxes. If you love and trust me, you will not ask or look in the boxes"

The husband agreed, and never asked nor looked in the boxes.

On their 50th anniversary, the husband finally found the nerve to ask his wife,

"Honey, we've been together 50 years. We've trusted and loved each other for 50 wonderful years, and I've never asked once about the 2 shoe boxes, but I gotta ask now, after all these years, what is in them?"

The wife says, "Ok honey, we've been together a long time. If I can't share it with you now, then we're in trouble"

She pulls out the 2 shoe boxes from under the bed, and opens the first one.

There, in the first box is 3 eggs.

The husband looks perplexed, and inevitably he asks why the 3 eggs.

The wife says, "Well, everytime I cheated on you, I put an egg in the box"

The husband works it out in his old head, "3 eggs, 50 years...you know, I didn't even question our love and I never knew. I can let that slide"

The wife opens the second box, and it's STACKED full of money. The husband almost has a heart attack, but musters the breath to ask about where the money came from.

The wife says,

"Everytime I got a dozen eggs, I sold them"

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A little something for you Engadget. You rock!

Samsung P2 has amazing sound quality whether you're pumping it through speakers or headphones. I use it as my truck's system. I have 2 Cerwin Vega 10'', tweets and mids, and the sound quality on the P2 pretty much is the best thing I've ever heard in terms of mp3 players.

I hear that the Meizu M6 is actually better than the P2.

The P2 has an OLED screen that is top knotch, comes in 16gb versions. Yes, it's a little small, but the 16:9 aspect ratio makes up for that. Honestly though, It's a music device. They put an awesome sound chip in that machine.

I've said it before; I am a Wolfson audio fanboy now. This is my second device that has the Wolfson audio decoding chip in it, and as long as Wolfson remains alive, I won't buy another device without it.

I'm just saying...after having a Zune 1st gen for a couple years, Wolfson is allowing me to hear new sounds and new definitions and dimensions in my favorite music for the first time.

Honestly, I can't say enough good about this player.

If you have to have the latest shiny thing, get the P3. I will never buy Sony products again. Samsung IS the new Sony IMHO.

Sony died in the 90's.

Hail Samsung! the 'new Sony'.

Sony used to stand for THE name in quality electronics. Now they're just an overpriced joke. I usually don't even pay attention to Sony's products. I blaze right past the Bravia's to the Sammy ToC's.

I just wanted to come here and fail a little Sony apathy.

I'm done. Coffee here I come!

@simbadogg

Really, this is the first one? You must be new here....

A little hint: Engadget is like a really hot diseased whore. You know she's giving you the clap and probably 9 levels of AIDS, but damn she's hot. Why do you stay with her? All she talks about is frickin Apple news! You don't know, but you do stay....you do stay...and you find yourself saying WTF a lot to the things she says....maybe it's that her being so dumb is a turn on, knowing you're so much better than her.

Vaporware, exactly.

I can tell you this: I don't give half a shite how much it weighs or if it's water proof. What matters first, foremost, and ONLY to me is battery life and LENGTH. Give me 2,000 charges and triple the charge length AT LEAST and I'm a happy man. I don't care if that adds 5 more pounds to a laptop battery.

Case in point: I have a Zune and a Teclast (Nationite rebranded) mp3 players. The Zune gets, oh, about 5 hours of video. Not terrible. The Nationite gets about 3-5 hours of audio playback. That's horrible when it's rated for 12. that's a bad battery most likely. My Samsung P2 should be here Monday or Tuesday and it has a proven 27 hours, HOURS, of continuous audio playback. Sammy rates it at 30, but of course that's with low bitrate music and all backlighting and screen wakefullness turned to 0. Still. 27 hours, and 6 hours of video.

Battery life. It's ALL about the size when it comes to portable electronics.

Help me, I'm still running WindowsME!!!!!!