It's been over a month since the last post. It feels like a year. There's been a lot going on in my life; good things. I just haven't had the motivation to put them into writing. I'm going to do a couple more product posts and hope it puts some oil in my joints.
All of my bras are size 70F (US and UK 32F). I haven't been able to find anything better in local stores. Even lingerie stores have a very limited size range, in addition to high prices. 120€ should buy you some kind of... I don't know, gravity canceller? A few weeks ago I finally decided that I had stretched (literally) my existing bras to a max and set out to find something that fits.
I've been very happy with my Sansa Clip+ player, but after several years of heavy use, it fell apart. The headphone jack had been loose for months when it started crashing. I tried deleting root files, updating firmware etc., but nothing worked. After a few weeks it wouldn't play anything from the microSD card.
What I want from a music player is good sound quality, a small screen and a microSD slot. A line-out connection would be nice (it lets you bypass the built-in amplifier for the purpose of connecting the player to an external amp). Some iPods have one, which is the only reason I considered them. But having to carry an amp with you at all times isn't appealing when you can get a superior player for the same money. Clip Zip's build quality seems to be on par with Clip+. When a product fails, I tend to want to look at other companies even though they most likely have the same return rate. Cowon E2 lacks both a screen and a card slot, but the real deal breaker was its weak battery. It came down to Cowon J3 and C2. I read bad things about C2's resistive touchscreen and UI. It cost 100€ less, so I finally decided to take the plunge.
I ordered it from the eBay seller NewItemExpress for 86,99£. It arrived within two weeks in mint condition.
The first thing I noticed was a poor bass response. At the beginning of Tori Amos' Strong Black Vine there were slight pauses where the low rumble should be. But when I listened to the same song a couple of days later, they were there! I haven't found much information on a possible break-in period for audio electronics. Some say no such thing exist. Either way, Clip+ still works to some degree so I was able to compare. Both players have a roughly equal bass strength.
Clip+ has a punchy and dynamic sound. C2 is more flowy and nuanced. At first it seemed a tad messy. This can be fixed with JetEffect 3.0, which is basically an equalizer. Clip+ has an equalizer too, but turning it on degrades audio quality noticeably. Pairing Meelectronics M9 IEMs with C2 really brings out detail and color in songs even without any tweaking. I still don't like their shallow bass, but it's more tolerable now. I always use AKG 272 closed headphones at home. They clearly benefit from cMoyBB and JetEffect.
To change JetEffect settings, you have to poke the gear icon. This took me a while to figure out. Poking the frequency button browses through different frequencies. I haven't spent much time experimenting, but I noticed that tweaking them will even out the sound quite a bit.
These settings tone down highs so I can push volume to an ideal level.
For listening without cMoybb I use the following.
I've had no problems with the screen nor the UI. This is my first touchscreen ever, so I instinctively poke, not swipe. The protective film on the screen instructed to do just that. I guess someone who's used to capacitive screens might have more problems. You do have to push the screen four times to get from currently playing song to album list, which is a minor inconvenience. It could easily be cut to one press. I also haven't figured out how to delete a file. Both trash bin icons are always grayed out.
To sum it up, C2 proved to be excellent value for the money. Since it's not from an official retailer, there's probably no warranty. Let's hope it lasts for a while.