Is the iRiver H10 20 GB able to take a bite out of Apple?

Author's Rating:

Pros: Sleek, Packed with features, excellent sound quality and very easy to use

Cons: Battery life lower than projected and no video playblack, like the H320

The Bottom Line: 
Excellent mp3 player if your looking for something instead of an Ipod; comes in 4 different colors, easy to use, amazing sound quality, removeable battery pack.

Author's Review


Nowadays, everybody and there mother has an iPod. I can’t even switch on the TV without hearing some Bono song, and the almost seizure inducing bright colors, almost unique to the iPod television commercials. But as iRiver’s homepage (www.iriver.com) has shown us, one mp3 company has decided to take a bite out of Apple.

If you have not heard of iRiver, before, they are a very big player in the mp3 market, and produce two other well known mp3’s: the h320, pretty much a bigger version of the h10, and the h10 5GB. Along with Creative, iRiver is the iPod’s main competitor, and there has been a lot of arguing back and forth on who makes the better mp3 player.
Personally, I got the h10 not only because of its very appealing features, its color capabilities, its sleekness, or its price tag, but because I did not want to be just another iPod owner…

A Quick look at the H10, according to iriver.com :

FEATURES
• Plays up to 600 hours of digital music
• 20GB of internal storage
• Vivid color display
• Ultra-intuitive interface with convenient touch strip
• Displays your digital photos
• PlaysForSure enabled to play more of your music
• Rechargeable battery lasts up to 16 hours
• Built-in FM tuner and FM recorder
• Integrated voice recorder
• Ultra-fast USB 2.0 transfers
• Supports MP3, WMA, JPEG and TXT files
• Enhanced 3D audio (supports SRS WOW)
PACKED WITH
• iriver earphones
• Carrying case with belt clip
• USB 2.0 interface cable
• Installation CD
• AC adapter
SPECIFICATIONS
• 5.8oz (approx)
• 102.3 x 61 x 21.7 (mm)
PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
• Windows XP (Service Pack 1 or higher)
• CD-ROM Drive
• USB Port
Ok, this is all well and good, but how does the H10 really stack up?


Sound
Sound is crystal clear on the H10, and is honestly some of the best quality I’ve ever heard on a player. You not only have the possibility of changing the EQ presets, but the iRiver also supports SRS WOW, in other words enhanced 3d audio, so sound quality comes out crisp and clean. I like to listen to hip hop, with very high bass levels, and surprisingly I had no problems with sound distortion, however, with different types of music, this may vary. And of course, the headphones you use play a big part in sound quality. The Sennheiser MX400 headphones are not too, too bad but I would recommend that you get your own headphones.

Interface
What makes this player stand out, is its interface. First of all, the iRiver is more or less the same size as the 20GB ipod 4th Gen. The H10 uses a “touch strip” that works in the same way as the ipod’s touch wheel, except it only goes up or down. The advantage to this is that it is not overly sensitive, however the disadvantages to the scrolling system on the H10, is the fact that scrolling down a long list of songs takes a while because it does not get faster as you scroll down, like other devices. There are also play/pause, forward, and back buttons. When playing, the touch strip controls the volume, the “O” button controls the equalizer, and the back button will let you get back to the menu without stopping the song that is currently playing.
Color was a major factor for me when I bought this mp3 player over other ones. Not only the vivid color display, but the fact that it will come in four colors: Trance Red, Lounge Grey, and Triple Platinum (all available on July 15th), and Remix Blue (currently available). Each color is vibrant and attractive, and will undoubtedly be compared to the iPod’s plain grey.

Connectivity and Hard drive
The 20 GB hardrive will supposedly allow up to 600 hours of music on WMA format at 48 kbps. However, I listen to files between 128 and 192 kbps, and I feel somewhat sorry for whoever does at 48. So realistically, the H10 can probably hold more or less 10,000 songs (WMA format).
Loading music onto the player is quite easy, but requires at least Windows XP (Service Pack 1 installed), and the (free) Windows Media Player 10 to sync files, which kinda sucks for Mac and Windows ME/2000/…etc users. Syncing does go fast with the provided USB 2.0, and a program is currently being developed, by a third party, to organize files by genre, type, etc. Connectivity may be somewhat awkward for some people as the cable that is provided splits into a USB ( to plug into the PC) and a power cord to attach to the AC adaptor. This may get annoying if you plan on doing two things at the same time, but really doesn’t provide too much of a problem.

Pictures
The H10 supports JPEG files, and the picture quality on the iRiver isn’t bad at all. Also, playing music while watching pictures is now doable (wasn’t on the h320). Unfortunately there is no available TV display (like in the iPod Photo), which would let you project your pictures on a TV. And unlike the h320 model, the h10 does not (yet?!?) support video playback.

Battery Life
Battery life on the h10 might be a turnoff for many. Even though, iriver.com says that the H10 has 16 hours of playback, this is only if you are playing a 128Kbps mp3 file, at 20 volume level (out of 40), while the LCD is off and the EQ is normal. I usually keep my player at a volume level of 30, with a customized EQ and either 128 or 192 kbps, so I found my battery life to be at around 10 to 12 hours, on one charge, which is not too bad. However, a plus is that for 40$ more you can get another battery pack (the h10 sports removeable battery packs), so if you are making a long trip with no charger, your music can keep going, and going, and going…

Radio, text viewer and Voice recorder
All these features are an added plus to many. The voice recorder can be set at three levels of quality (low, normal, and high) and is reasonably good. The FM tuner is pretty good. One added feature is the ability to record directly from the radio onto the h10, which is useful if you don’t want to miss your favorite radio program or interview. The text viewer is also relatively easy to use and to see, but not incredibly utilized in my case.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I can easily say that I am very happy with my h10. It is packed with features, has excellent sound quality, and looks good! The only major disadvantage for me was the lack of video playback and the battery life that was significantly lower than projected, but honestly, my only regret is that I did not wait to get the Trance Red or Triple Platinum versions…

For related articles check out:
- iRiver U10 1GB media player
- Apple iPod photo 60GB