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Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

This review is a walkthrough of the music players of the Nokia N900, iPhone 3GS and the Nokia N9 as well as comparison of critical points. Enjoy!!

I have used the following equipment:
Sources:
Nokia N900 (PR 1.3) – Standard player
Nokia N9 (PR_001) – Standard player
Iphone 3GS (iOS 4.3.5) – Standard player
Headphones:
Sennheiser HD595 50 Ω
Sennheiser HD800 (S/N 10XXX) 300Ω
Formats:
Apple Lossless
FLAC
Music:
David Arnold – Dinner Jackets (Casino Royale)
Daft Punk – The Grid (Tron Legacy)
Gorillaz – Stylo (Plastic Beach)
Rammstein – Frühling in Paris (LiFAD)
Tchaikovsky (Prague Philharmonic Orchestra) – 1812 Ouverture (conclusion)

Music player overview

N900

The N900’s Music player is very intuitive. You can choose between artists, albums, genres, playlists and songs. The Hardware keyboard can be used for searching anywhere in the five categories just by starting typing. The “Now Playing” screen is very easy to navigate, with a big album artwork, and buttons for changing track, shuffle, repeat and volume control. You also have the option to switch between the current playlist and search in the current song. It also has the ability to enable the fm transmitter, which is pretty neat. There is a desktop widget for the basic controls, so that you don’t have to enter the full player when changing track.

The N900 can pretty much chew through anything you throw at it (if you have extra decoders support enables from the repositories). This test uses FLAC files for the N900, and it has no problems playing without a hassle. The phone however does have some hiccups when searching for tracks or albums. Sometimes you have to give it a second; otherwise it won’t be able to find anything.

To get music on the device you just plug it into the computer and drag and drop from the file manager. When a lot of music has been transferred it takes a couple of seconds to index everything.

The output voltage of the N900 is very high, which means that you’ll almost never have to turn the volume all the way up. When you turn the volume down the dynamic range seems to be going down as well. When you reach half volume the dynamics are full again. This is NOT an issue on every source I’ve tried, so it’s not just my ears. I haven’t researched its volume function, but if it’s just bit shifting to turn down volume, you’ll automatically lose some detail when turning the volume down (winamp, wmp, itunes does this I know). Unfortunately the N900 does not have gapless playback, which gives a small pause between tracks. This is especially annoying when listening to album, where the tracks are connected. It also lacks an equalizer as standard. When playing music while doing other tasks you sometimes get some stuttering. The N900 does not stop the music when you unplug your headphones unless you have a plugin installed, and that can lead to some nasty public transport scenarios. When the screen is turned off you are able to turn the volume up and down.

Due to the high output voltage the N900 does not fail when asked to feed the 300 Ω HD800. The bass of heavy-to-drive headphones is often an issue when using a source which lacks power. The Bass in ‘Dinner jackets’ is a contrabass which goes very low, without being “synthetic”. This is handled very well by the N900. You get enough punch, but without it being muddy. The synthetic bass of ‘The Grid’ is also handled very well. It’s a deep rumble in the background, which tends to just be a muddy rumble, but the HD800 and N900 combo handles it very well.
When using the HD595 the output voltage is not as important as when using the HD800. The sound quality is of course very different than that of the HD800. As this is NOT a review of the headphones, I’ll just skip it very fast. The N900 actually does not output much louder in the HD595 than in the HD800. The N900 (almost) utilizes the full potential of the HD595. A headphone amplifier opens a new world, but that’s an entirely different story.
All in all, the N900 is a very solid music player. The drawbacks are loss of quality at low listening levels, a bit slow search function, stuttering during load, and the lack of gapless playback and equalizer.

iPhone 3GS

I think that most people have tried the iPhone’s music player, and that everyone has their own opinion regarding it. I will, however try to describe it. The main screen has 5 different views: playlists, artists, songs videos and more. There is no album view, which I find a bit odd. You can, however find albums, when choosing artist, but still, that’s a kind of a detour. When playing, you have a big album cover art, and buttons for next, previous, back, current album and a volume slider. When out of the player you can double press the home button to get a mini control on the screen. From there you can skip tracks, pause and turn volume up and down.

Due to the fact that the iPhone is an apple device, you have to use itunes, unless you jailbreak it. This means that you cannot just drop and drag from a file manager, and it also has the disadvantage that you are locked to using either apple formats or mp3. Some find it nice, some don’t, I personally don’t like the fact that I’m tied to one computer, and one format, but some prefer that they only have to plug in their device, and then the new music pops in.

When using other programs while listening, I have not had any problems regarding stuttering in playback. This I probably due to the lack of multitasking, but it is indeed very nice that no stuttering occurs. Regarding equalizer, it is present, but not in the music player(!). You have to enter settings->iPod and from there choose one of the equalizers. It’s not the most convenient way of doing it, but it most certainly is better than not having anything at all, even though you can only choose between presets. The iPhone stops the music when you unplug your headphone as default. As in the N900 when the screen is turned off you are able to turn the volume up and down.

The output of the iPhone is pretty regular, not very loud, but not very silent either. When using the HD800 some of the bass disappears. I guess it’s because the bass requires more power than treble or midrange, and thus the lack of power punishes the bass. The “real” bass of ‘Dinner Jackets’ is much more silent than it should be (compared to reference). The synthetic bass of ‘The Grid’ also lacks some power. It’s not unclear, but it’s just not as powerful as it should be. When turning the volume down, the same problem as on the N900 occurs. The iPhone does however feature gapless playback, which is a great advantage when dealing with albums that are meant to be heard as one.
When using the HD595 the difference towards the N900 regarding sound quality is minimal. I was not really able to tell the difference when blind-testing. This is very good as it bring the sound quality on par with the N900.

The iPhone is a nice music player, but it does have some drawbacks: The itunes dependability, the difficult way to find the EQ, the low listening loss, and, if you are picky and do not use an amp, low power output when using high impedance headphones.

N9

The N9 chews through loads of formats like its sibling the N900. These tests are made using FLAC

The main screen of the N9 music player is quite like the others. In the top you have some albums (possibly most heard, I haven’t heard that much), and in the bottom you have the choice between artist, albums, songs, playlists and Ovi music. When choosing one of the mentioned, not counting Ovi music, you are taken to a scrollable list. In the top you can tap to search, or you can scroll, either normally, or letter wise in the side, as most people know it from iPhone. When you choose a song, it begins to play and takes you to the now playing screen. It features a big album art in the top, and buttons for changing track, pause, favourite, repeat, shuffle go back and info about the current song (bit rate, size and so on). When you favourite a song, it can be found in the favourites playlist. When no album art is present a big, very sharply coloured text simply writes the album name, where the cover art should have been. If you are in now playing mode, you can just swipe across the album art to change track. This enables track changing without having to look at the phone.

To get music on the phone you can either use Nokia link, or simply drag and drop using a file explorer. I had one problem, though. I thought I was meant to put the music in the ‘music’ folder. When I unplugged the phone and wanted to start listening, it couldn’t find any music. If you put the music in the content folder inside the music folder it is able to find it, but that was very strange I think. During search for tracks I didn’t find any hiccups or stuttering, and the results came up almost immediately (<0.5sec). When listening to a song in a long playlist, you also have the option to listen to that song’s album. If you unplug your headphones, the music stops playing. Unfortunately the standard player does not support gapless playback. Another miss is the lack of an equalizer, as in the N900.

Regarding the sound quality, the output is not as loud as on the N900. As on the iPhone this affects the bass impact, when using HD800. In ‘The Grid’ the bass was a bit weaker than on the N900. In ‘Dinner Jackets’, however, the bass wasn’t lacking anything, unlike the iPhone. Besides the fact that the N900’s output was louder, the N9 was on par quality-wise. When turning the volume down, the device acted as the others as well. Until you turn on the Dolby Headphones in settings. Then the lover listening levels is not as bad is on the other two. I haven’t had the time to test movies with and without Dolby, but I suppose that the difference is bigger there. This review is made without the Dolby Headphones on, as it gave a very subtle, but unnatural sound, when listening at high levels. At low levels I would recommend it though.
The Ovi Music I am unfortunately unable to test, as it is not available in my country (Denmark), but it seems like an itunes kind of store.
With the HD595 the difference is, once again, close to non-existent, which makes it up to the different interfaces and features to determine a winner.

Other thoughts

Some of the tracks in the listing are not mentioned in the main part, and that is because the tracks I chose was where the largest differences were found. The more deep bass, the harder running high impedance headphones becomes.

The N9 is, like the two others a very good music player too. It settles in the middle of the two others with slightly better sound quality than the iPhone, and I bit lower maximum volume. On the other hand I haven’t experienced any hiccups whatsoever, which places it on par with the iPhone and on above the N900. In my opinion you can very well use the N9 as a music player unless you are very picky.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Regarding N9 music player and where to put music -- any location on EMMC will work if it is not a 'hidden' folder (i.e. does not start with dot).

For example, I put music into Music folder and not into Music/content -- everything works as you can see from this report of tracker:

Code:

$ tracker-info Music/The_No_Smoking_Orchestra/La_Vie_Est_Un_Miracle/Wanted_man.ogg 

Querying information for entity:'Music/The_No_Smoking_Orchestra/La_Vie_Est_Un_Miracle/Wanted_man.ogg'

  'urn:uuid:dd65bcd2-e54f-ff53-8231-40dc6c9b04e7'

Results:

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/contributor' = 'urn:artist:The%20No%20Smoking%20Orchestra'

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/date' = '2003-12-31T22:00:00Z'

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/date' = '2006-06-17T15:09:56Z'

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/date' = '2011-09-30T00:00:00Z'

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/source' = 'urn:nepomuk:datasource:878fca9745673741a963c5f613c8f41c'

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title' = 'Wanted man'

  'tracker:added' = '2011-09-30T07:33:06Z'

  'tracker:modified' = '14193'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Resource'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/01/19/nie#DataObject'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/01/19/nie#InformationElement'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/03/22/nfo#FileDataObject'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/03/22/nfo#Media'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/03/22/nfo#Audio'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.tracker-project.org/temp/nmm#MusicPiece'

  'nie:byteSize' = '4682142'

  'nie:dataSource' = 'urn:nepomuk:datasource:878fca9745673741a963c5f613c8f41c'

  'nie:isPartOf' = 'urn:uuid:e3ae4481-b32a-077f-2f26-9cead77cf2e4'

  'nie:url' = 'file:///home/user/MyDocs/Music/The_No_Smoking_Orchestra/La_Vie_Est_Un_Miracle/Wanted_man.ogg'

  'nfo:belongsToContainer' = 'urn:uuid:e3ae4481-b32a-077f-2f26-9cead77cf2e4'

  'tracker:available' = 'true'

  'maemo:relevance' = '1000000.0'

  'nie:contentCreated' = '2003-12-31T22:00:00Z'

  'nie:informationElementDate' = '2003-12-31T22:00:00Z'

  'nie:isLogicalPartOf' = 'urn:album:La%20Vie%20Est%20Un%20Miracle'

  'nie:isLogicalPartOf' = 'urn:album-disc:La%20Vie%20Est%20Un%20Miracle:Disc1'

  'nie:isStoredAs' = 'urn:uuid:dd65bcd2-e54f-ff53-8231-40dc6c9b04e7'

  'nie:mimeType' = 'audio/x-vorbis+ogg'

  'nie:title' = 'Wanted man'

  'nco:contributor' = 'urn:artist:The%20No%20Smoking%20Orchestra'

  'nfo:fileLastAccessed' = '2011-09-30T00:00:00Z'

  'nfo:fileLastModified' = '2006-06-17T15:09:56Z'

  'nfo:fileName' = 'Wanted_man.ogg'

  'nfo:fileSize' = '4682142'

  'nfo:codec' = 'Vorbis'

  'nfo:duration' = '308'

  'nfo:genre' = 'Soundtrack'

  'nfo:channels' = '2'

  'nfo:sampleRate' = '44100.0'

  'nmm:musicAlbum' = 'urn:album:La%20Vie%20Est%20Un%20Miracle'

  'nmm:musicAlbumDisc' = 'urn:album-disc:La%20Vie%20Est%20Un%20Miracle:Disc1'

  'nmm:performer' = 'urn:artist:The%20No%20Smoking%20Orchestra'

  'nmm:trackNumber' = '3'

Note that Tracker on N9 properly recognized that this is music piece, extracting all details -- album, performer, artist, genre, duration, codec and so on.

More to that, if I copy existing music into a different folder, let's say, Downloads, it will also be indexed and visible:

Code:

~/MyDocs/Downloads $ cp ../Music/Rocks.mp3 forks.mp3

~/MyDocs/Downloads $ tracker-info forks.mp3

Querying information for entity:'forks.mp3'

  'urn:uuid:7cfef620-2182-9e57-e58b-43c586544230'

Results:

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/contributor' = 'urn:artist:Frederik%20Olufsen'

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/date' = '2010-01-01T00:00:00Z'

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/date' = '2011-10-04T12:53:25Z'

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/source' = 'urn:nepomuk:datasource:878fca9745673741a963c5f613c8f41c'

  'http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title' = 'Rocks'

  'tracker:added' = '2011-10-04T12:53:32Z'

  'tracker:modified' = '15990'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Resource'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/01/19/nie#DataObject'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/01/19/nie#InformationElement'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/03/22/nfo#FileDataObject'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/03/22/nfo#Media'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/03/22/nfo#Audio'

  'rdf:type' = 'http://www.tracker-project.org/temp/nmm#MusicPiece'

  'nie:byteSize' = '8560516'

  'nie:dataSource' = 'urn:nepomuk:datasource:878fca9745673741a963c5f613c8f41c'

  'nie:isPartOf' = 'urn:uuid:74b0a328-c878-ad85-b86c-95ff4d23f710'

  'nie:url' = 'file:///home/user/MyDocs/Downloads/forks.mp3'

  'nfo:belongsToContainer' = 'urn:uuid:74b0a328-c878-ad85-b86c-95ff4d23f710'

  'tracker:available' = 'true'

  'maemo:relevance' = '1000000.0'

  'nie:comment' = '00000E64 00000EF5 0000C27F 0000C24F 000184A9 000184A9 00008000 00008000 000001D0 000001D0'

  'nie:contentCreated' = '2010-01-01T00:00:00Z'

  'nie:informationElementDate' = '2010-01-01T00:00:00Z'

  'nie:isLogicalPartOf' = 'urn:album:Rocks%20EP'

  'nie:isLogicalPartOf' = 'urn:album-disc:Rocks%20EP:Disc1'

  'nie:isStoredAs' = 'urn:uuid:7cfef620-2182-9e57-e58b-43c586544230'

  'nie:mimeType' = 'audio/mpeg'

  'nie:title' = 'Rocks'

  'nco:contributor' = 'urn:artist:Frederik%20Olufsen'

  'nfo:fileLastAccessed' = '2011-10-04T12:53:25Z'

  'nfo:fileLastModified' = '2011-10-04T12:53:25Z'

  'nfo:fileName' = 'forks.mp3'

  'nfo:fileSize' = '8560516'

  'nfo:averageBitrate' = '192000.0'

  'nfo:codec' = 'MPEG'

  'nfo:duration' = '345'

  'nfo:encodedBy' = 'IRIS Distribution'

  'nfo:genre' = 'Electro House'

  'nmm:dlnaProfile' = 'MP3'

  'nfo:channels' = '2'

  'nfo:sampleRate' = '44100.0'

  'nmm:musicAlbum' = 'urn:album:Rocks%20EP'

  'nmm:musicAlbumDisc' = 'urn:album-disc:Rocks%20EP:Disc1'

  'nmm:performer' = 'urn:artist:Frederik%20Olufsen'

  'nmm:trackNumber' = '2'

Now Music Player shows me two Rocks entries corresponding to the original and newly copied ones.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Thanks for the comparison. Very well written. I am just surprised you didn't include the other N9xx device, N91. That should have made a perfect comparison.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by patlak (Post 1102438)

Thanks for the comparison. Very well written. I am just surprised you didn't include the other N9xx device, N91. That should have made a perfect comparison.

i will possibly update with N91, but i didn't receive the device in time. therefore i supposed that you'd rather have the review faster. i can edit another section in, when i receive the N91 (which should be on its way!!)

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Great review Bequezox, you obviously know your stuff. But a little question concerning the N9 player. I am actually a little picky myself, but was satisfied with the N900. In the N9, pretending you are currently listening to Daft Punk – The Grid (Tron Legacy), is it possible from there to quickly access all other songs from Daft Punk (from artist), all other songs from Tron Legacy (from album), and/or a list of all existent songs by alphabetical order?

I am used to (and love) desktop music player such as MediaMonkey, and was wondering if maybe the N9 could be similar...?

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by IsaacDFP (Post 1102491)

In the N9, pretending you are currently listening to Daft Punk – The Grid (Tron Legacy), is it possible from there to quickly access all other songs from Daft Punk (from artist), all other songs from Tron Legacy (from album), and/or a list of all existent songs by alphabetical order?

If you are playing an individual song, you can access the rest of that album from within the 'now playing' screen (menu->play album). You cannot access other songs from the same artist. For that you would need to go back to the main screen and choose 'Artists', then 'Daft Punk'. Similar for songs in alphabetical order.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by IsaacDFP (Post 1102491)

What he said ^ :)

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by marxian (Post 1102499)

...you would need to go back to the main screen and choose 'Artists', then 'Daft Punk'. Similar for songs in alphabetical order.

Ah, didn't think so, but I can still dream :P
I'm no programmer at all, but would it be that hard to just say, for exemple, pressing on the artist names brings up songs by that artist, or pressing on the album brings up all songs in that album and simply going back would show your current song playing in the middle of an alphabetical order (which I think is already implemented by default)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by marxian (Post 1102499)

you can access the rest of that album from within the 'now playing' screen (menu->play album).

Hmm, at least that's new from the N900... (Yes, I like being lazy, lol)

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by bequezox (Post 1102414)

This review is a walkthrough of the music players of the Nokia N900, iPhone 3GS and the Nokia N9 as well as comparison of critical points. Enjoy!!
...

How about posting this for our friends at head-fi?
I, for one, would have searched for the N9 there...

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pierre Manslapper (Post 1102530)

How about posting this for our friends at head-fi?
I, for one, would have searched for the N9 there...

I'll try posting it there, i guess it could help someone :P

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

I don't know if you have access to a 5800 but some audiofiles drink water in it's name. It would be nice if you could compare that too.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

well I probably won't buy a hd800 for my n9 (who does?) so I don't mind the lack of power compared to the n900 :)

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by patlak (Post 1102438)

Thanks for the comparison. Very well written.
I am just surprised you didn't include the other N9xx device, N91.
That should have made a perfect comparison.

Interesting, I never knew about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N91

Quote:

Audio Quality

The Nokia N91 has been praised with an impeccable reputation of the best sounding mobile phone ever produced (the majority of stand alone portable music players can hardly compete with it either).[5] N91 uses a special DSP-33 chip set made by Toshiba and a powerful in-built Harman Kardon amplifier to boost up its volume while using acoustic, resulting in louder, deep bass and rich sound with perfect low and mid range frequency which has not been achieved by any iPod or Sony Walkmans.[6] Test conducted, the N91 wins over iPod Nano in its signal to noise ratio, output power at full volume, and output at 10–100 Hz.[7]

I wonder how it compares to my iTouch4G! :D
I recall that the N9 has some DSP chip that's not being fully utilised?
I can't recall the detail now, will come to me later no doubt...

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

The sound quality of the N91 is impeccable. It is peerless in this regard.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Thank you for the comparison review, bequezox. Does the N9 come with equalizer in the default music player? If yes is it presets or adjustment of individual frequency bands?

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamGan (Post 1103861)

Thank you for the comparison review, bequezox. Does the N9 come with equalizer in the default music player? If yes is it presets or adjustment of individual frequency bands?

Thanks for asking, i simply forgot to put it in there. I'll update the main post right away. Unfortunately there is not an equalizer present in the standard player :(

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Pfffffff......we're end 2011 right? And the stock media player still doesn't have it ??

I'll guess I'll stick with Someplayer in my N900 for now....

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by patlak (Post 1102438)

Thanks for the comparison. Very well written. I am just surprised you didn't include the other N9xx device, N91. That should have made a perfect comparison.

Finally, i've received the N91, and comparison is commenced! Update to come, hopefully soon!

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by bingbings (Post 1103893)

Pfffffff......we're end 2011 right? And the stock media player still doesn't have it ??
I'll guess I'll stick with Someplayer in my N900 for now....

There is an alternative music player than includes equalizer now:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...47#post1116247
Think there's one other too (not someplayer), can't recall it's name off the top of my head.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bequezox (Post 1116343)

Finally, i've received the N91, and comparison is commenced! Update to come, hopefully soon!

Sweet, thanks mate, I await with massive curiosity!
I suspect this will be a slaughter...
But hopefully the N900 & N9 still hold-up pretty well.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

@bequezox

How's it going, comparo commenced?

Cheers.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by qwazix (Post 1102782)

I don't know if you have access to a 5800 but some audiofiles drink water in it's name. It would be nice if you could compare that too.

don't forget the N91

it destroys everything else in terms of audio quality/loudness

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by bequezox (Post 1116343)

Finally, i've received the N91, and comparison is commenced! Update to come, hopefully soon!

N91 will wipe em out,

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Time will tell, but I imagine it will.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

hi bequezox!
how's the N91 review going? :)
since you're pretty much into audio, have you tried the YUIN PK1 on the N900 unamped? Can the N900 drive those buds?

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

what kind of battery life does nokia n9 get while playing music ?

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by vetsin (Post 1122893)

hi bequezox!
how's the N91 review going? :)

Ditto here, keen to hear you findings bequezox.
Especially how the N9 & N900 compare to the N91.

Thanks again.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Any news on the N91 comparison? Thanks.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Not to be the negative nancy, but if the N91 / 2006 is the end all compared to the N9 / 2011... sad state of affairs.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

^ it is the phone to beat in terms of audio quality/loudness/clarity through headphones

the second best Nokia I've listened to is the N900
with the 100% loudness patch enabled

------------------

in terms of speakers though... 5800XM , N95, 6110 navigator have AMAZING sound via speakers

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by coderedcomputing (Post 1132358)

Not to be the negative nancy, but if the N91 / 2006 is the end all compared to the N9 / 2011... sad state of affairs.

If you read the review for headphone usage the N9 topped this comparo 'overall'.
N900 come out in front in one or two significant areas (depending on your usage).

But for the N9 or N900 to lose against the N91 is nothing snicker at, see why
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...64#post1102964

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by jalyst (Post 1132366)

No no, I get that, and I've been eyeing one just to get as a player, it just seems like... if a company can include a DSP-33 chip with the H&K amp, I would shoot for quality like that in any of the high end 'flagship' devices!

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Ah I see.....
N9 has an interesting DSP too, but not of them same 'audiophile' calibre.
Has other interesting potential uses though, & the Dolby is a nice touch.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

I've filed a bug for gapless playback to be added to the N9 Audio player. Please vote for this bug to support it.

https://harmattan-bugs.nokia.com/show_bug.cgi?id=601

Seemed like a good enough thread to post this in rather than starting a new one.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

There is at least one 3rd-party player that will be supporting that soon.
QuaserMX is one I recall OTTOMH...
Might be best for them to focus on other things*, but thanks for taking the initiative,

*There's soooo many feature/design limitations & "BUGS" it's crazy!

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by jalyst (Post 1148995)

There is at least one 3rd-party player that will be supporting that soon.
QuaserMX is one I recall OTTOMH...

Yes, I'm anxiously awaiting that QuasarMX feature, but I learned from the N900 days (Instinctiv) that its best not to put all my eggs in one basket, so I figure I need to start my petitioning all over again for the N9. At least we eventually got Rockbox ported to the N900, which supports it. The Quasar dev has confirmed gapless will eventually come so I will remain positive on that.

If I could get gapless and skype/peregrine video chat on the N9 I will be perfectly content if I never received another update from Nokia (gave up hoping on the FM transmitter, or was that deemed impossible due to hardware antenna issues?).

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drekkie (Post 1149058)

If I could get gapless and skype/peregrine video chat on the N9 I will be perfectly content if I never received another update from Nokia (gave up hoping on the FM transmitter, or was that deemed impossible due to hardware antenna issues?).

vid-chat's supposedly confirmed (among other things) see this thread:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=81521
Change log could be wrong of course.....

FMTX is not ruled-out entirely yet, N950 is... follow the thread at FMC.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by jalyst (Post 1149065)

I literally just saw that right as you posted it. nice!

I'm not used to all this optimism wrt/ Nokia. lol

*patiently awaits the big let down* :cool:

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drekkie (Post 1149058)

Yes, I'm anxiously awaiting that QuasarMX feature [...] If I could get gapless [...]

That's right, Quasar needs gapless playback and good equalizer. If these two features come + Beta 1's superficial bugs will be fixed, it will become truly an outstanding player.

I am counting on QuasarMX becoming a mature player to be honest. I can't accept the fact that the default player does not feature bass and treble control.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Quote:

Originally Posted by bequezox (Post 1116343)

Finally, i've received the N91, and comparison is commenced! Update to come, hopefully soon!

Mate is this still happening?
No doubt you've just been too busy.

Cheers.

Re: Nokia N9, N900, Iphone3GS Music player review and shootout

Just bought an N9 recently, transferred some CDs from iTunes onto it through Nokia Link for Mac. Now I am able to play .aac files, but not .m4a (Apple Lossless).

I thought the N9 was supposed to play both types. Does anyone know?