Entered CNET Catalog: 05/29/2004
SKU: DVX
Manufacturer: H20 Audio
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Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 06/23/2004
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 User Rating:
2.5 stars
out of 1 user reviews
Nemo would not aproove of this!!!
Pros: Waterproof to 200 ft- who goes that deep anyway?
Cons: Bad quality of sound the deeper you go.
Review: Hooray! the walkman arrived from the USA since it was cheaper there. It arrived in an inverted box after it's week long journey and I opened it with real curiosity.
I noticed in the manual that the case wasn't covered by the manufacturer's warranty since it was bought over the internet. Also the only upgrading of the player was to come from the iriveramerica.com website and not from the other websites around the world.
In the box was a CD with a USB cable and software for organizing music between your PC and the MP3 Player. There was also a spare O-ring with a tube of silicone grease for the waterproof case that came in the box. They were nice enough to include the required batteries in the box which consisted of one PP3 9V and one AA battery. There were a set of earphones for using the player on dry land and a neck holder that you could adjust until you strangled yourself.
What would Nemo think of this gadget?
Please note that CNET made a big mistake in their video review of this product in that the case is fixed to your BCD D-ring with a clip on the end of some string of 30cm in length. You do not insert it into your BCD pocket since you will be operating the volume controls quite often during your deep dive. By the way the sound you hear in the video is what it is really like underwater!!!
The waterproof headphones are speakers about the size of the outer ear and have mask clips so as to fix them to the mask strap. I had to remove the clips by unscrewing a couple of screws as I wanted to insert them under my neoprene hood centred over my ears.
So what's the kit like for Nemo to use in the big blue?
At the surface I switched on both the MP3 player and the separate amplifier sitting next to it in the case. The music seemed to be ok and when I dived below it continued to be fine until I reached about the depth of 8 metres. The volume decreased and the quality of sound got to be quite bad. This was due to the immense increase in pressure of water on the membranes of the head speakers. I tried to be clever by adjusting the player's graphic equalizer to increase the bass but it made matters worse! The funny thing was how the quality of sound got much better with air pockets of large bubbles moving around under my hood passing in between my ears and the speakers. Yes, the headphones were inserted from beneath my hood from the neck. The thick cables connecting the headphones to the case were very thick and strong where they could take a pull of up to 5 Kilos in force.
Over all I think Nemo would be disappointed with this product as the quality of sound got really bad the deeper you would dive. The gadget would be great for classical music but on a tinned speaker quality and you would have to adjust the volume quite often. The speakers could have been made of 'piezo' buzzers which could be imbedded into a mouth piece where your teeth grip and send vibrations through your teeth with an amazing quality of sound but alas, the idea didn't realize.
In the end I wasn't impressed with the product in terms of sound quality but they did try, however I think the gadget is more suited for snorkeling than scuba diving and is immensely over priced.
I noticed in the manual that the case wasn't covered by the manufacturer's warranty since it was bought over the internet. Also the only upgrading of the player was to come from the iriveramerica.com website and not from the other websites around the world.
In the box was a CD with a USB cable and software for organizing music between your PC and the MP3 Player. There was also a spare O-ring with a tube of silicone grease for the waterproof case that came in the box. They were nice enough to include the required batteries in the box which consisted of one PP3 9V and one AA battery. There were a set of earphones for using the player on dry land and a neck holder that you could adjust until you strangled yourself.
What would Nemo think of this gadget?
Please note that CNET made a big mistake in their video review of this product in that the case is fixed to your BCD D-ring with a clip on the end of some string of 30cm in length. You do not insert it into your BCD pocket since you will be operating the volume controls quite often during your deep dive. By the way the sound you hear in the video is what it is really like underwater!!!
The waterproof headphones are speakers about the size of the outer ear and have mask clips so as to fix them to the mask strap. I had to remove the clips by unscrewing a couple of screws as I wanted to insert them under my neoprene hood centred over my ears.
So what's the kit like for Nemo to use in the big blue?
At the surface I switched on both the MP3 player and the separate amplifier sitting next to it in the case. The music seemed to be ok and when I dived below it continued to be fine until I reached about the depth of 8 metres. The volume decreased and the quality of sound got to be quite bad. This was due to the immense increase in pressure of water on the membranes of the head speakers. I tried to be clever by adjusting the player's graphic equalizer to increase the bass but it made matters worse! The funny thing was how the quality of sound got much better with air pockets of large bubbles moving around under my hood passing in between my ears and the speakers. Yes, the headphones were inserted from beneath my hood from the neck. The thick cables connecting the headphones to the case were very thick and strong where they could take a pull of up to 5 Kilos in force.
Over all I think Nemo would be disappointed with this product as the quality of sound got really bad the deeper you would dive. The gadget would be great for classical music but on a tinned speaker quality and you would have to adjust the volume quite often. The speakers could have been made of 'piezo' buzzers which could be imbedded into a mouth piece where your teeth grip and send vibrations through your teeth with an amazing quality of sound but alas, the idea didn't realize.
In the end I wasn't impressed with the product in terms of sound quality but they did try, however I think the gadget is more suited for snorkeling than scuba diving and is immensely over priced.
