C-860 questions about sound quality and power input.

[ev1l]

I\'m seriously considering a C860, and I have a couple of questions:

- What\'s the input voltage and power on the charger connector? I need this to know whether I\'ll need a travel adapter. I might be able to get away with using a standard wall adapter with the correct specs.

- What is the sound quality on the stereo connector? I\'ll be listenning to music on the Z via a pair of pretty accurate headphones (Sennheiser HD280Pro for the hi-fi nerds ) and I\'m not really willing to put down E600 for something that\'ll sound like a cassette player. Could anyone who owns the C760 or C860 (hardware is the same) comment on that? I have an MD player that I use on the move, and IMHO the quality is decent, in case you need a benchmark.

Thanks for your time, folks

[ThC]

I have some pretty good headphone too (Koss PortaPro) and you can except aprox the same quality as a standard mp3 player ... only problem is the lack of any equalizer (except with the OpenZaurus rom which seems to support it but I haven\'t really tested it)

[MarcusKracht]

The C860 comes with a small charger (US). I went to Europe and all I
took along with me was a voltage converter (10 USD). You might need
an additional plug to be able to put it into the wall, since the one I have
was unusable otherwise (just the physical shape made that impossible).
But these things come cheap, too. I am not sure I needed it, but in this way
I was sure that the input voltage was 100V. But you do not need the fancy
stuff they recommend you to buy. I read that the zaurus needs 6V input,
I should check the rest.

-- Marcus

[ev1l]

Stupid me forgot to specify I live in the Netherlands, but I\'m really more curious about the input voltage on the Z itself, not the power adapter.
My two options right now are to get it through either a friend in Japan, or a english retailer (more expensive, but better support).
I was very pleasantly surprised by the sound coming off my very old mp3 player, so we\'ll see how well the Z sounds. I\'m just glad it\'s not rubbish.

the voltage input for the Zaurus is 5V, 1A but I\'ve heard about people having problem with cheap 3rd party power adaptators as it seem to be a little picky with the stability of the voltage...

Yap, I wouldn\'t dare plug an unreglated power supply (the output voltage on one of those will vary between 5V and 5*sqr2 V, youch) into a $800 toy. Not quite rich enough yet

[Teletubbie]

You could get also one from Trisoft in Germany. Cost=809 Euros, super support and near to the netherlands.

[ThC]

the voltage input for the Zaurus is 5V, 1A but I\'ve heard about people having problem with cheap 3rd party power adaptators as it seem to be a little picky with the stability of the voltage...

[ev1l]

Thanks for all the replies. Noone else has remarks about the sound quality using different ROMs/players/kernels? Or just general remarks maybe? Puh-leaaase?

[bing]

i just played the same tune on my z and a dell axim and an ipaq. i personally can\'t tell the difference in terms of quality. maybe that gives you some reference point?

[ev1l]

i just played the same tune on my z and a dell axim and an ipaq. i personally can\'t tell the difference in terms of quality. maybe that gives you some reference point?

Ah, well I know it won\'t suck too bad now, cool  How does it compare to your desktop (if you have a half-decent soundcard, or even if you don\'t)

[gromituk]

I would have thought that the things to worry about would be maximum volume without noticeable distortion (but bear in mind that something in headphones is 10-15dB louder for the same perceived volume as something from loudspeakers, so you can easily fry your ears if you use headphones regularly - 15dB louder is 30 times the power), and extraneous noise at low volumes caused by breakthrough from the digital circuitry, which may well depend on what it's doing and whether the backlight is on.

If these are OK, the main nasties are going to be the inevitable compression artifacts.

I have just got an 860 sent from Japan and it's fine so far with a £10 switching plug-in power supply, rated at 1 amp, switchable output voltage set to 5V.  I have heard that the 100V power supply is not even happy on 110V in the US, but it is also a switcher so its output is regulated to 5V if it works at all (a lot of people are confused about this and assume that the output voltage depends on the input voltage).

[shinRaiden]

With the Z's, all that matters is your file quality and your headphones fidelity. I have a Audigy2 platnium and an Nforce2 Soundstorm in my desktop, and with the same headphones the Z is really good.

[ev1l]

I'll be plugging Sennheiser HD280's in the Zaurus, if that helps any. I can detect compression artifacts at 128bit FBR, but the APS (128-320bit VBR) mp3's I made from CD's sound just fine to me. My cans are closed and only 68 ohms, which makes them quite responsive to portable equipment.

With the Z's, all that matters is your file quality and your headphones fidelity. I have a Audigy2 platnium and an Nforce2 Soundstorm in my desktop, and with the same headphones the Z is really good.

That seems a bit surreal   What headphones are you using?
edit to clarify: I have an M-audio Revolution in my desktop, and it's *awesome*.
The audigy2 sounds almost as good IMHO, so the zaurus getting similar quality would be quite the accomplishment.

[ericwerk]

Hi

I have an 860 as well and I used both madplay and xmms on pdaxrom to play music. Sound is regular mp3 quality if that is the format you are gonna use, haven't played any lossless formats so that I can't say. Just a bit tricky making sure it doesn't suspend.

veel plezier, het is een mooi machientje

eric

[omega]

The sound quality is really really good in the c860 - really. There's no background hiss, and the fidelity is nice! Regarding power, get yourself an ipda USB charge/sync cable!

[padishah_emperor]

I'm seriously considering a C860, and I have a couple of questions:

- What's the input voltage and power on the charger connector? I need this to know whether I'll need a travel adapter. I might be able to get away with using a standard wall adapter with the correct specs.

- What is the sound quality on the stereo connector? I'll be listenning to music on the Z via a pair of pretty accurate headphones (Sennheiser HD280Pro for the hi-fi nerds ) and I'm not really willing to put down E600 for something that'll sound like a cassette player. Could anyone who owns the C760 or C860 (hardware is the same) comment on that? I have an MD player that I use on the move, and IMHO the quality is decent, in case you need a benchmark.

Thanks for your time, folks

I think the sound quality is excellent, well better than the Sony NX70V anyway and better than what I've heard on a few iPods.  But it's purely subjective, personally it's the best audio device I've ever had but then again I'm glad I haven't got the ear of some people I've met who can never enjoy any music because they are always listening for artifacts and flaws, I don't know what they'd make of my Z, but I never let anyone else near my Z, even to hear music  

I got my C860 then tried a few different headphones until I found a pair for listening properly at home and I have the Sharp ones which came with the audio remote control for use in the street.

As I say it's subjective, I think music which is objectively "correct" sounds naff, but your mileage will certainly vary as do our ears  


I can't help with the power adaptor, my supplier provided a different one than Sharp would have supplied, but I know it works on 100 - 240 V AC, so it could work anywhere.