My Samsung Q3 Preview

[lebellium]

This Q3 strangly looks like the Z5, I asked my brother to find his old Z5 to make a picture Q3 vs Z5

The aluminium frame is great but the black plastic keeps all fingerprints...I prefer the R0 finish

The navigation square seems to be plastic too.

The IEM that come with are the EH-420, the same that come with the R0. So you have them I guess? They are better than most default earphones but not good enough to avoid the replacement^^

I also noticed there is a "level optimizer" feature.
"Automatically adjust the volume of each track to maintain the same volume."
That directly reminded me your usual replaygain request
Not tried yet but I'll let you know how good it is compared to a real replaygain feature.

[CrowdAds]

[dfkt]

A dynamic compressor/limiter is often bound to suck, it's probably like the stuff one finds on some Sony players. Meaning, it boosts quieter parts of a song and limits louder parts, having an adverse effect on the dynamic range. Unfortunately, such an approach is generally no good replacement for Replaygain. If Samsung really managed to do realtime pre-analysis on a per-track basis, then it might be nice, though - but I never heard of such an implementation.

[rohit3192]

Originally Posted by glove4

Considering that the Q2 (which I used to have a while back) as well as the R0 can be found in stores in the U.S., can I assume this bad boy will also be available here as well? I am liking this thing a lot.

Q3 already available on ebay.com.
But I only saw 4GB capacity there.

[lebellium]

Originally Posted by dfkt

A dynamic compressor/limiter is often bound to suck, it's probably like the stuff one finds on some Sony players. Meaning, it boosts quieter parts of a song and limits louder parts, having an adverse effect on the dynamic range. Unfortunately, such an approach is generally no good replacement for Replaygain. If Samsung really managed to do realtime pre-analysis on a per-track basis, then it might be nice, though - but I never heard of such an implementation.

You're right:
The feature doesn't work: At the same volume level, my children of bodom songs have a higher volume and my yngwie malmsteen songs have a lower volume level as when the feature is off.
Even worse, it seems that the feature makes the volume change during the same song!

[dip166]

Just got a Q3 for Christmas, and it's really nice! The earphones are pretty cool too!
The only thing I can't seem to change is the main menu language; although I can change the language everywhere else, the text under the icons on the main menu remains in French no matter what. Does this happen to anyone else?

Maybe it could be fixed through UCI? But then I don't think those are available to Q3 in English yet...

[lebellium]

The main menu is in French only in FR region code. In all other region codes it is in English.

Put this file at the root of your Q3 and it will turn into EU region code.

[dip166]

Wow, thank you so much, that sure did the trick !
No idea why my player would come with the FR region code though, lol

[atr3yu]

hi guys. which is better? P3 or Q3. In my country the price of both 8gb is the same.
On the plus P3 is a metal anti-scratch case and a lot of good reviews on the web. but on the plus Q3 - has analog buttons, and a better battery.
If anyone listened to both, which has better sound quality? which should I buy?

[lebellium]

They do not belong to the same range at all, there's no comparison Oo

The Q3 is only an audio player while the P3 is both a video and audio player and has more features. The choice depends only on your use.

Only me has both of them (and almost all other Samsung DAPs) probably.
They all have a good flat sound. And the new SoundAlive (Q3) are not better than the DNSe 3.0 (P3)

[atr3yu]

Originally Posted by lebellium

And the new SoundAlive (Q3) are not better than the DNSe 3.0 (P3)

Thanks, exactly what I meant.

[dfkt]

That's sad to hear... I wasn't overly impressed with the R0's sound enhancements, but they're clearly better than SRS WOW and similar crap. Too bad they took a step backwards with the Q3.

Why do they even try? They should simply license BBE and get the hassle and futile effort of "doing their own thing" out of the way - especially since no other sound enhancements currently available can match BBE's quality.

[lebellium]

For me DNSe 3.0 are the 2nd best audio enhancements available on the market just after the BBE.
They are clearly better than the shitty SRS WOW, X-FI and Sony effects.

But BBE provide so many sound settings, that's too much for a device made for the general public.
For me it's always the same matter: Samsung makes DAPs for the general public while Cowon makes DAPs for the audiophiles.

The goal of Samsung is not to make the best audio device but to make people believe it actually is. And in writing on the Q3's box "High Fidelity sound - SoundAlive" they will probably reach their goal. When you see the success of iPod you cannot deny the marketing is much more important than the real performances.

[dfkt]

If it's written on the box then it must be true.

Actually, the DNSe stuff on the R0 has quite a lot of settings as well - and the implementation is IMO more ass-backwards, less user friendly than BBE on Cowon players.

My point is, even some weirdo Chinese manufacturers/rebadgers like MP4Nation are licensing BBE - it can't be that expensive. In comparison, Samsung developing their own stuff must certainly cost more money and resources than licensing something that's already available.

With BBE you don't have to support all the manual tweaks - for a simple consumer player Samsung could for example only implement the presets, such as BBE ViVA, BBE Headphone, BBE M3B, etc - those shouldn't frighten the average consumer much, but would sound perfectly fine. (Again, I don't think DNSe is any less complicated for the average user at all.)

[lebellium]

Originally Posted by dfkt

If it's written on the box then it must be true.

It's the sad market reality

it can't be that expensive. In comparison, Samsung developing their own stuff must certainly cost more money and resources than licensing something that's already available.

Don't forget the Samsung's will to control everything. This firm is as powerful as the Korean government itself, that's just crazy.
Licensing means less control. BBE are BBE and will remain BBE.
While thanks to the power of marketing the DNSe have become SoundAlive. That's so easy when you do your own things.

Samsung is anything but a "nice" company who cares about its customers. That's the point.

But from a customer point of view, like you I'd like to have the BBE on my Samsung DAPs

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by lebellium

Don't forget the Samsung's will to control everything. This firm is as powerful as the Korean government itself, that's just crazy.
Licensing means less control. BBE are BBE and will remain BBE.
While thanks to the power of marketing the DNSe have become SoundAlive. That's so easy when you do your own things.

Samsung is anything but a "nice" company who cares about its customers. That's the point.

That's absolutely true, a scary thought indeed. Reading in-depth about Samsung makes Google/Sony/Apple/Microsoft/etc seem like humanitarians.

Don't say these things in public, or some nice gentlemen from Samsung will knock on your door some day.

[lebellium]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Don't say these things in public, or some nice gentlemen from Samsung will knock on your door some day.

ahaha

For those interested in this player, I can tell you I'm almost done with writing the ABI review, I already took some pictures, I'm currently benchmarking battery life and I still have to make the video

[lebellium]

My brother finally found his Z5!



This was also the occasion for me to inquire about this old 2006 model and I learnt the interface has been made by Paul Mercer, a former Apple software engineer who actually made the interface for the 1st generation iPod.
A very interesting article from the New York Times here:
He Helped Build the iPod; Now He Has Built a Rival

And some interesting posts on ABI:

Originally Posted by Slydini

Samsung's firmware update history isn't the best, but at least it's not the worst. I was the one who set up the polling system for the Z5 firmware ideas and bug fixes and I actually got a response from Paul Mercer himself! (He's the one who designed the Z5 interface and he was the main developer of the Ipod interface). He informed me that he was aware of ABI's requests and he was thankful for all the input; Subsequent firmwares DID address some requests (MTP/UMS Mode, Gapless, Text Reader), but others were still ignored (Scrolling from Z to A, Compilation Album bug, etc.).

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...18&postcount=2

Firmware 2.34 can be downloaded here:

Release Notes:


(Per Paul Mercer, Iventor - Posted in Z5Lounge)
---------------------------------------------------
Boy you folks are quick!

That is the latest updater, compatible with all current Z models. It apparently takes a few days to propagate to all the world wide Samsug support sites.

The US version should be posted soon with release notes and install instructions. In the meantime, the full release notes are appended below. In appears the sleep timer drawing bug and the MTP connection mode bug did not make it into this version of the release notes. Those two bugs are fixed in this release.

Thanks for your continued support.

Paul

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...53&postcount=1

*sigh*
That was the good old time Samsung, or at least this guy, listened to users requests!
The Q3 is inspired by the Z5 in term of design but in term of software/firmware.... we will probably never get gapless for example...

[wallygoots]

Thanks for the preview. I've been shopping for some time for an MP3 player. I don't care for touch screens and the Clip+ battery life is a downer imo. Screen size is also a slight negative, but workable for the overall size and weight. I almost bought a Cowon D2+ despite the touch screen because it had an standard SD card slot, great sound, and excellent battery life.

So this Q3 is a new option. The only down side for me is no card slot and only 4GB is available in the US. The player would be perfect with a little better screen and a card slot.

But I really like the battery life, the no nonsense GUI, the purportedly good sound, folder nav, size, price, and the intuitive tactile controls. Might be a perfect music/podcast player.

Does anyone know when they plan to ship the 8GB to the US? I'm tempted to think they have crippled the Q3 capacity so that folks will move up the price ladder to higher spec players. 4GB/8GB/16GB should be available everywhere imo if they leave out the card slot.

Cheers,
Seth

[TastyRedCherry]

Got the Q3 player yesterday.
I absolutely love it to bits!!! I think I am a Samsung fan(love their mobile phones, mp3 players, tv's and so on). The screen is bright, the sound is so awesome/clear and the tactile buttons are so great!

[NAC1999]

LOL i just got mine a week ago and I AM IN LOVE WITH IT!!! Better than any sansa ever. Go samsung!! I too am a samsung fan!!