SimplyVibe SV-X6U1-Black Premium Rechargeable FM, MP3 Player and Portable Speakers w/ DSP Bass for iPad 2, iPod, iPhone 4S, Laptops (Mac/ PC) and Mobile Devices (Li-Ion Battery) - Best mp3 speakers site, right here

I can’t say enough great things about what I just got in that little brown amazon shipping box! I think I find and buy something neat from Amazon at least once a week for the last 2 years, but this is the best purchase so far. I never write reviews but I always read them before I buy. I saw the reviews on the white color SV-X6, but this one didn’t get any yet. It sounds like this is the first time they have a black model. Anyway, I figure I would be the first to give everyone a review of what I love about this purchase.

Pros:
1) It looks and feels like a quality product. The finish is a nice glossy shine and smooth to touch. Doesn’t leave finger prints.
2) The sound quality is room-filling loud. When you turn up the volume on the speaker and on your iTunes or laptop this thing rocks, but sound quality is still clear! But don’t expect it to work well outdoors or at a loud party. It’s mainly for personal use.
3) LED display shows song names and track information, even bit rate!
4) This thing is Versatile, I have a 16 gig SD card and it read it – unlike my damn digital camera! I am still happy that I could find a use for my SD card now.
5) It’s battery OR USB powered. I can plug this in to my laptop and use it while it’s charging. Then when I shut my laptop, I can unplug and continue to play my music. There is a separate headphone jack so i put this in my backpack or pocket and listen on the go!
6) Even though I have my iPhone I use this speaker to play my songs so my battery on my phone doesn’t get drained as fast.
7) You can buy extra batteries! search for BL-5C Nokia
Do I need to say more – just buy it and thank me later!!

Cons:
Not the most intuitive interface, but read the manual and you’ll get used to it. I emailed the seller and there is a simplyvibe website for tips.
Too many features that I may not use, but it’s good to know that they are there.
You can record FM radio. Why listen to radio in the first place when I have 4000 songs in my SD card. It has alarm, I would use it but I already have my iPhone that does that.
It doesn’t come with a carrying case.

Hope this helps! My first review. Yay!

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For many of you “bitrate” is not interesting, for you: the unit has respectable bass for a portable unit, but it is a portable unit. It is not a stereo. However, a stereo won’t fit into a suitcase, or fit in your hand. The radio has a nice clear sound. It works well if you hook up an external mp3 player, useful for “lossless” encoding fans.

Now my real review: (for people who know what “lossy” and “lossless” encoding are.

For mp3 encoding, pretty much any player will play any mp3 you create. A nice encoder is included with windows media player (no, i’m not kidding!), media player uses the frauhofer encoder which, if set to 320 kbps, is the best overall encoder for mp3, and honors their patent.

Where the simplyvibe speaker shines is that, for me, I have had no problems playing quality 98 Vbr files, also obtainable using media player. The 98 quality files sound almost as good as the cd, and since you are using an sd card, file size should be less of a problem. Not too many mp3 players will play the higher bitrate vbr wma files, this player has for me.

a note about the display, it doesn’t seem to display the last few characters of the filename, but usually enough to identify the file.

also, i cannot find a way to randomize playback, though someone else may.

the filename window is useful for finding your place in an mp3 audiobook, also if listenning to an audiobook, if you want the unit to shut off after , say, 30 min. do the following

1. hold down menu (the clock will come on)
2. click menu again briefly
3. use the left hand toggle, just under the screen, to go to sys settings
4. click menu briefly
5. left hand toggle, to light up “tool”
6. click menu briefly again
7. power off set is lit, click menu briefly
8. adjust setting with the right hand toggle, setting is # of minutes till shutoff
9. CLICK MENU TO SET TIME
10. wait for screen to go to clock
11. click mode to sd card mode.

Anyway, that’s what I know so far.

ADDENDUM: note addition of bold type step 9.

Also, you can think of the menu button as an enter key and the play button as a cancel button.

I have discovered that you click menu briefly while your music is playing, a menu option cycle mode comes up wherein you can change to random playback.

Also, a thought, for people (Re: Parents) who want an mp3 player which has a speaker instead of headphones, this is an excellent solution. It is a good idea to avoid headphones when you can, because headphones are not really good for the longevity of your hearing. (especially in the ear canal headphones). The simplyvibe has excellent sound, and a very good speaker.

One sad note, there is a little distortion at high volume levels, so to correct this you may have to reduce the volume slightly. For personal use, or in a moderate sized room, it works very well. It has excellent tone.

I’ll post any additional thoughts as they occur.

PPS. I had a realization tonight about encoders, the best encoder for a player is probably the one that corresponds to the decoder which is in your hardware. For physical mp3 players this is probably the fraunhofer encoder/decoder because they have the patent and an mp3 manufacturer has to buy their decoder from the patent holder. For pc software that is downloaded, you may have to experiment. Also, there are different fraunhofer encoders available. There are fraunhofer encoders in media player and itunes, and I believe there are some command-line encoders available. To determine the best encoder, you may have to use the empirical method and see what works. Try everything you can, use what works.

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My laptop speakers are pretty crappy, so I was looking for some portable, compact speakers that had decent sound quality. Well, this one has all that and more! The sound quality is really fantastic, much better than I was expecting even after reading all the good reviews on Amazon. It sounds nice and clear and doesn’t distort at high volumes – and as for volume, it can get loud enough to fill a medium room.
I also really like the radio mode, which is useful, even though I admittedly don’t use it that much. I primarily employ it as a laptop speaker, and the connection and setup is quite simple and takes up minimal port space – just the audio line, in fact. I love that the battery is USB chargeable. I just charge it with my wall socket ipod usb charger and it’s ready to go, no need to take up usb ports on my laptop.
The screen is really useful too, and just a nice thing to have.
And lastly, the design – it looks great and complements my samsung 9 series very nicely. I also like the slightly rubberized bottom, which helps keep it stable.

All in all, a freakin awesome product! I would definitely recommend it for college dorms, which are short on desk space and often in need of some music.

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