I decided to mess around a little with my old SigmaTel player today. When i tried to power it on it wouldn't work, so i connected it to my computer to charge. I charged it a little then tried turning it on again - it would just flash the USB screen. Cool, the firmware's crashed. :lol: I flashed my backup, voila, it worked.
So i put some new music on it, plugged in my Sony earbuds that i also use with the Meizu (right one on the Meizu earbuds broke, have to update my sig). Hit play, turned it up, and was like "what the f is this???" It sounded like CRAP. Then i asked myself: "have i been listening to this piece of junk till i bought the M6SL???" Yes, i did. Actually, no, i didn't, as i had that Actions player, which died coz a capacitor came off the board and i couldn't solder it back. Then i bought this SigmaTel, which i thought sounded worse than the Actions, but i couldn't make a fair comparison as the Actions was dead.
Plugged my earbuds back to the Meizu - it totally blows away the SigmaTel. In fact, it's about to literally blow my old Sony earbuds as they ring a bit on heavy bass, i'll go get some Creatives.
The 10-band EQ on the Meizu is very effective, the separate bass and treble boost controls are nice to have, and the spatializer on the Meizu is the only effect of this kind that i ever kept turned on. The Virtual3D effect is awesome and doesn't negatively impact sound quality unless you abuse it. It gives that "surround" feeling to the music without making it sound like a tin can. And the PCE (Phase Corrected Equalizer) is pure bliss, a slight touch of it is all you need to brighten up any kind of music. You do have to turn the volume down a little to avoid amp clipping, but even so, you'll be overdriving your earphones (or ears
) before pushing the amp's limits.
Of course, we are talking about different price ranges, but imo, the Meizu M6SL was worth every penny. The dedicated audio circuitry makes a night and day difference between the Meizu and your average clones, and it also beats Apple's overpriced and overpopular ipod in just about everything, a little minus would be the user interface which is beautiful compared to chipods but doesn't get to Apple's smoothness.
Wow, this turned into a mini-review of the M6SL. Well, guess i'll finish it later, in the meantime feel free to post your Meizu experiences here. 8)