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The JetAudio CW300 was a successful model due to its small size, it’s 30 hour playback on a single AAA battery, and its incredibly high sound quality with a 95db signal to noise ratio. There were also additional features such as a built-in FM tuner and a voice recorder. JetAudio now continues the iAUDIO series with its latest MP3 player. Rather than naming the next device the CW400, it is simply called the iAUDIO 4. The iAUDIO 4 boasts new features such as what they call ‘Color Sound’ as well as sound enhancements such as BBE and Mach 3 Bass ( I will talk more about these later in the review). Let’s find out if the new iAUDIO 4 has what it takes to be a worthy successor to the CW300. |
Packaging/Contents
The iAUDIO 4 came in a nice shiny looking box. You can immediately see what the device looks like at the front of the box. The back of the box lists all the great features of the product. What I’ve always enjoyed about JetAudio’s products is that they all come with everything you need. This product included a carrying case, earphones, instruction manuals, line-in cable, armband, a battery, and installation CD. There are also 2 clear screen protectors if you wish to keep the screen scratch-free and clean.
A Closer Look at the iAUDIO 4
When comparing the iAUDIO 4 to the CW300, the overall design is a bit different. First of all, the width of the device is smaller, but the height has increased a bit making the design look a bit like the iRiver MP3 players. Instead of the usual jog dials, the iAUDIO 4 just uses regular buttons.
You have your usual buttons such as volume, play, forward, backward, etc. The mode button is what allows you to change between the FM tuner, voice recording, and MP3 playing modes. As you can see, the button placement and functionality are not too different with the iAUDIO 4.
When looking at the front of the device, you will notice how satisfying the LCD screen is. It is at least two times larger than the CW300. When the device was turned on, you are greeted with the usual iAUDIO logo, but this is where you get a glimpse of the ‘Color Sound’ that I was talking about earlier. The LCD screen flashes in different colors as the player intro when the device starts up.
When the device was playing the sample soundtrack, the interface looked very well organized. At the top left of the LCD screen, there are two lines dedicated to displaying the information about the track. The first line shows the artist, and the second shows the song title. Underneath the song title is a black bar containing all the specific information about the song track. This includes the bitrate that the file was encoded in, the equalization, and the sound effects that are enabled. The right of the screen shows important information such as the battery life (represented as three bars), the track time, as well as the sound meter. This layout and display of the LCD screen is very satisfying and easy to look at.
Installation/Transferring the Files
Installation of the device is minimal. Just open the cover underneath the device and insert the provided battery. The device now is fully powered and you are ready to transfer files.
Transferring files onto the iAUDIO 4 is a bit different than CW300. First of all, some of you may be wondering where the USB port is. The USB be port is located on the side of the iAUDIO 4 when you remove the battery cover. Then, you can either use the provided USB cable or adapter to plug it into your computer. When plugging the player into my computer, my Windows XP computer immediately recognized the device without any additional drivers. The device should show up in your ‘My Computer’ folder as a drive.
Since the device shows up as a drive, you can transfer the files in one of two ways. You can either directly drag and drop your sound files onto the device drive or you can use the provided JetShell program. Even though this device is a MP3 player, you can use this a flash memory drive if you’d like to store some of your own personal files.
It Is More Than An MP3 Player
Throughout this review, I’ve been referring to this device as an MP3 player. This is not entirely accurate. Another difference between the CW300 is that player supports multiple file formats. That means that you can listen to other sound files in formats such as WMA and WAV. If you convert your MP3 files to WMA with the help of the JetShell program, you will discover that you will be able to fit many more songs than the standard MP3 file.
Although already mentioned, this device also is a voice recorder and an FM tuner. I found the FM tuner and voice recorder worked without any problems. When using the FM tuner, you can even record music off the radio at a maximum 128kbps bit rate.
Color Sound
Since the LCD can backlight the screen with so many colors, it enables to take advantage of them. With the ‘Color Sound’ feature, you can specify which color to light up when you are in a certain mode. Ideally, you can look at your screen quickly to determine if you are in the right mode. The thing with this feature is that the LCD will turn off the color after a few seconds after you press a button. This feature is more of a “nice to have” rather than something that you “need to have.
Sound Quality
Sound quality was excellent. I listened to 192kbps MP3’s that I transferred onto the device and they were crystal clear with excellent stereo separation. If you are in a very quiet room, you will begin to appreciate the subtle sounds that you may hear in your music that you may never have heard before. JetAudio’s devices have always had good sound quality and they continue this tradition with the iAUDIO 4.
Equalization/Sound Enhancements
Equalization is still very useful in a device such as this. There are preset equalization settings such as Classical, Pop, Vocal, Rock, etc. I found the Rock equalization to work the best according to my music since I like songs with a lot of drum beats. With the equalization turned on, you will discover that you may be able to lower the volume and enjoy an even longer battery life.
This device introduces new sound enhancements which were recently included in their latest JetAudio multimedia software player. This includes BBE, a sound enhancement which supposedly enhances the clarity and brilliance of the music. As an audiophile, this enhancement didn’t really interest me, therefore I turned it off. I really enjoyed what Mach3Bass had to offer. It offers more powerful bass and a tigher sound bass. This helps compensate for the low bass producing qualities that earphones have.
Battery Life
With the use of Color Sound, I can suspect that is the reason for the drop in battery performance to the CW300. The CW300 claimed up to 30 hours of continuous playback, but now the iAUDIO 4 has dropped to 15 hours of playback. I would like to see JetAudio increase the battery performance a little higher. I was able to get a good 11 hours of playback from the device at moderate to high volume levels.
Improvements?
My only issue with the iAUDIO 4 is that the USB plug can only be accessed when you remove the battery cover. With the frequent removal of the battery cover to transfer songs, I’m worried that the cover will get flimsy.
The earphones are slightly larger than the average ear. You might find them falling out of your ears frequently. It is better to use your own headphones with this device.
The case of the iAUDIO 4 isn't really considered a case. A case is supposed to protect the device from accidental scratches. The case included with this product seems to be more of a style statement rather than actually protecting the player.
Conclusion
JetAudio has done it again with another attractive looking MP3 player. With its many features such as a FM tuner, voice recorder, and small design, it will be hard looking elsewhere. I really love the LCD display on this device and it will surely catch your eye once you have a good look at it. The Color Sound feature is a nice addition to player but is not absolutely necessary. Also, I would like to the USB port on the player relocated. The 256MB version of the iAUDIO 4 sells for $179.00 which is average for a product like this. Since this product still isn’t quite fully exposed in the US yet, you will definitely catch some attention if you show it around.
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