Review: Samsung YP-Z5 MP3 Player

Don Bradbury takes a look at a prospective Christmas gift for any audio enthusiast

Product	YP-Z5 MP3 Player
Company	Samsung
Web	www.samsung.com
Price	£140 for the 2GB model
We like	Small, strong, excellent sound quality, PlaysForSure technology
We don't like	Touch Pad indecisive; proprietary UBS 2.0 dock; fussy over OS and software presentation
Rating	8/10
Requirements

MP3 players abound in profusion, but excellent ones are rare. Apple's ubiquitous iPod was so good that it stole the market, and offerings from competitors therefore have to be something really special in order to grab their share of the market.

What better place to start then, than for Samsung to turn to the man who designed the iPod itself, Jonathan Mercer. Perhaps he did such a good job with it that it was always going to be difficult to outdo himself with a new design, but that's what he had to attempt.

So, no point in changing the fundamental mode of operation; stick with scrolling menus and a responsive touch pad to do it, but, if possible, make it slicker. Did Samsung's designer manage it? Well, perhaps. What was a commendable effort on his part was to produce a smaller (though somewhat thicker) device, certainly swish and sleek in silver or black Aluminium and Steel, and with that all-important excellent sound quality, including PlaysForSure technology for maximizing music download options.

Touch Pad

But that touch pad operation? Well, let's just say we'd have preferred more effort in that direction. It's responsive alright, possibly too responsive, and practice is required to get the touch correct without either overshooting the required menu item or in some other way having to return to the previous menu. Thumbnail operation seemed to work best, but it was not as precise as we'd have liked.

In terms of sound file downloads, we'd have preferred a more universal method of putting our MP3/WMA files into the 1, 2, or 4GB of flash memory which required that the user's computer should have Windows XP with Service Pack 1 or higher (it will work with no other OS), Windows Media Player version 10 (it will work with no other software front; a CD bearing this software is provided), a USB 2.0 port, and DirectX 9.0 or higher.

Docking

Using a proprietary USB 2.0 dock connector and cable was also perhaps unwise. With no other way of charging the superbly long life Lithium Polymer battery - 35 hours is claimed, with 2.5 hours for a full recharge - this chosen mode necessarily puts the user at the mercy of the dedicated socket and the reliability of that link.

Earphones? Just great. We did get more bass from our Sennheiser headset, but in other respects we were more than happy with the Samsung offering's sound quality. And we could get perfectly adequate volume levels without distortion, too, which is always nice to report, and the side-mounted control for it we quite liked It's just that if you're going to buck the trend in terms of overall design, you have to get everything right so that folks are more likely to switch allegiance.

Viewing

The screen? Perfectly adequate, though with the wrong (portrait) shape for most shots which will require landscape orientation. JPEG files can be downloaded and they view reasonably well, but both music (MP3 or WMA) and graphic files (JPEG only) have to be loaded onto the player via Media Player 10 through a synch option using drag and drop. Perhaps the good old days of a simple removable drive, recognized as such by any version of Windows, with user downloads via Windows Explorer or the like, would be more universally acceptable.

Basic operation of the Z5, including that problematical touch pad, is very briefly described in a tiny eight page leaflet, though there's an on-CD manual in PDF format for those who need more.

In conclusion

We've met awkward MP3 player menu navigation before, and the Samsung Z5 is not the worst we've seen by a long chalk, but the fact remains that the user has to spend a deal of time before mastering not only the menu system itself, but more importantly the required deftness of touch to achieve a slickness that this player deserves.

But the Z5 certainly delivers heavyweight audio performance with DNSe Portable 3D Sound Technology, which is a dedicated sound engine designed to reproduce music in 3D surround sound. Rather quirky ergonomics means that it would not be our favourite choice, although it's build and sound quality for the price, not to mention it's bright, sharp graphics display, deserve some dedicated effort on the part of the purchaser. However, that dedication has to be factored into the buying decision. It would have been countered somewhat by the inclusion of an FM tuner, voice recorder, and, these days, wireless headphones, but you can't have everything at this price; it's just wishful thinking.

 

Don Bradbury