Snow Angel BX-10 review - clock,radio,speaker and mp3 with remote
 

I recently got a speaker with radio and mp3 player.
It has a build-in battery, so perhaps it would qualify for personal
portable mp3-player.
:)

Snow Angel BX-10
(CY-BX10)

The device is really cheap - around 12USD, s/h included - and comes in a
rather colourful box:
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...69a/t584a4.jpg

So, basically, it's a stereo FM tuner with alarm clock, lcd screen,
remote control and ability to play mp3/wma off usb-sticks and SD-cards.
It also has a built-in lithium battery and can act as an amplified stereo
speakers.


The overal built quality is above average. However, the plastic panels
shift a little when pressed and the SD/USB ports bend down slightly when you
plug something in. The case is probably MDF, but the wood-textured film
is not put on very well - it has visible bubbles in a couple of places.
All f it could be easily fixed, though.

The sound quality is quite impressive (for such a tiny device, of course).
The FM stereo reception is strong and thanks to the battery, no noise
enters audio from the power lines. BTW, the device accepts 5v from any USB port
or USB charger. I connected it to some quality one made by Blackbery. The
fully charged battery lasts at least a couple of hours.

A bit closer on functions.
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...9ab/t580a4.jpg
The device acts as a clock. It also has Date, but I still didn't figure out
how to show that.

There's an alarm clock, which can be set from any file or FM station.
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...aa8/t646b2.jpg


The control is basically the same on the device and on the remote control.
Convenient. The menu is pretty straightforward, but with few drawbacks. To enter
a menu, you press Menu, not "Play" as usual. Only "left" and "right" are used
for scrolling, even if you scroll up or down. That really needs getting used to.
And the menu inactivity timeout is splitsecond. You have to be really fast before
the device exits menu automatically.

The setup is quite advanced:
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...2af/tc8875.jpg

Major European languages are present. Alas, it doesn't have Russian, so no
Cyrillic tags again.
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...0a9/td3f43.jpg
The funny thing is, when you select Chineese, it displays
Cyrillic in memory Root, but doesn't display while playing.
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...d98/t37bd3.jpg
Will this codepage problem ever cease?


The device can be configured to auto-off in 10 30 and 60 minutes. That is
probably usefull.

http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...3f3/t97996.jpg
The contrast control is poorly calibarted. At half the setting the LCD is almost
areadable. The highest setting is barely enough. I would like more contrast.
Perhaps it could be fixed by a little soldering. The backlight is milky white.
You can configure auto-off seting from a couple seconds to always-on.
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...128/t753ac.jpg


The FM radio is very basic.
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...bc2/t881ad.jpg
You can tune manually, you can save presets and tune by presets and there's
an auto-preset function. That's it. No RDS.

http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...c6f/t7e312.jpg


http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...6c1/td95ad.jpg
The mp3 player plays files from SD card or USB thumb. Playback begins imediately
on insertion of the media. Tags are scrolled, Title-Artist-Album.
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...8c9/t97d16.jpg
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...3ff/t2a478.jpg
I don't know if v2 tags are support, since I don't use them.
USB port doesn't provide sufficient power to powerup a USB HDD. This is
probably solved by a Y-cable or self-powered HDD. I didn't test that since
the device obviously won't read NTFS. Perhaps I'll try that, or create a
second FAT32 partion to transfer music to it.


The player suports varios repeat settings:
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...3d1/tb73b2.jpg
You can scroll through titles:
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...e8a/t94acf.jpg
And it has a great equalizer with some 7-8 presets. I really liked the
SRS Wow function.
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...d17/t31da9.jpg

The remote control is full:
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...6cb/tfbb92.jpg
The control itself is the size of a cigarette lighter. I couldn't figure out
what the digits are for. To turn the device standby, you press and hold
the Enter button. If you press the power button, the device will turn off
completely, and the only way to bring it back to life is to flip the
switch at the back off and on again.
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...a1a/t9bae5.jpg
Again you have to get used to it. When in standby, the device still powers up the USB-thumb drive (the activity
led stays on).

http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...d83/tb82a9.jpg
Speaker mode is activated automatically on inserting a 3.5 jack to the line in
port. Not exactly convenient if you want the device to be connected to your
PC and still have the ability to use other functions.

I din't find a way to upgrade the firmware. Too bad as I would like to add
Russian tags support.

Overal, I'm quite happy with the device. What I miss is Russian tags, NTFS
support and a line-out. With line-out, I would hook it to my home theater
as a cheap FM + mp3 player with remote. Perhaps, it could be easily added -
will probably look into it later.

Looks like it's Actions-based :)

So, I openned it up:
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...aeb/tf89ee.jpg
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I would give the make a "strong" point. Neat, but way far from perfect.
The case is paperish MDF.
Look at the IR sensor mount above the left speeker. The transistor legs are just bent to peep in the port.:)
By the way, when holding "Volume-" on the remote for long, the device shuts dead off, same as with the "Power" remote button.
The easiest way fix the above mentioned "bending" of the USB and MMC ports, is to epoxy a little "shelf" upnder the lower screws of the back ports panel. Or add some "legs" to it so it would rest on the "floor" rather than on the back side only.

Talking about the speakers:
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...272/t3753c.jpg
That is the source of warm, immersive tube sound.
The markings say CY-16, 4Ohms 3Wt
The CY-16 is probably the model of the device - I've seen this number in some listings.

The battery:
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...fd5/t2aaaa.jpg
Is 3.7V 500mah litium-ion. Nothing special and quite bulky.

The main board:
http://img11.imageshost.ru/imgs/1006...7d5/t4b7f6.jpg
Full: ImagesHost.ru - õîñòèíã êàðòèíîê, ñåðâèñ äëÿ ïóáëèêàöèè êàðòèíîê íà ôîðóìàõ
Forgot to take apicture of the other board, will do.

Still figuring out where to solder the line-out, so it would disable speakers when connected.
Any ideas?

Buy a line out jack with built-in switches, wire the speakers to the switches. Done. :)

ATS2501? That's a new one...

SD Card Not working
 

Recently i bought BX-10. FM radio / clock / USB works well. But when i put Kingston 2Gb SD card, it says "EMPTY CARD"
I tried formating the card with FAT as well as FAT32, but got same problem.

The card works well on Computer and other music player, but BX-10 always shows "EMPTY CARD"

The songs are in MP3 formats. Please help how to use this SD card with BX-10??

yeah, I thought about such switches. How are they called? a ebay link whould be greate

The problem is, OUT would not be linear, but rather amplified. This could theoretically damage the device you connect to.
However, most modern "multimedia" amplifed speakers seem to handle computer audio out power no problem.

Have you tried other cards?
Mine is a kingston 1gb microsd, works OK.

1 or 2GB
 

HI.
Thanks for your idea.
I used 1Gb microSD and it worked with my system. Can it happen that the system can't recognize 2Gb and can only work with 1gb card?
The 2Gb card that i used works in Laptop, but not in the system. Please see if i can use it in any way.
Thanks a lot!

Arhg, maan...it's so freaking hot here and this cards issue forces me to do extra actions... :rolleyes:

Alright, remembered my camera uses a 2gb kingston micro-sd through a sd adapter. Tried it with the boombox, ant it works
Borrowed a 4gb usb flash drive from my wife's, put some music on it - and it works.

They all are FAT formatted. So assuming the slot in your device actually works with the 1gb card, it's something with the 2gb sd card.
try formatting it in gparted (there's a life cd), f@@k windows.