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Samsung YP-T7Z


Date
: 07/8/05 – 12:47:48 AM

Author
:

Category
: MP3 Players

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer
: Samsung

Price
: ~250 Cdn (Street Price)

Samsung has been slowly but surely developing its name in the digital audio world. Many users have heard of the Samsung YEPP line-up and the new digital line-up doesn't come as a surprise to many users. We first looked at the YP-MT6Z and it was an MP3 player that did exactly that, but also doubled as a radio and a recorder.

The first of our series will be looking at the YP-T7Z. While this MP3 player is capable of delivering everything the MT6Z has to offer, there are a few extra features you may be interested in. Stay tuned as we find out what these features are.

Page 2 : Package

Samsung shipped me the YP-T7Z in its retail package, although mine was cut open for someone else to review; you don't need to worry about this at the store. The YP-T7Z comes in a clear plastic box, and it'll be easy to spot any abnormalities.

The front of the box is the first thing consumers will see, and to grab your attention, Samsung proudly displays its unit on the top right side of the package as well as some of the key features that make it stand out.

The specifications that I mentioned in the above quote are printed on the back.

There's no need to squint your eyes to read the text, we'll list those on the next page, so click on that ‘next’ button!

Page 3 : Specifications

This is what Samsung has to say about their own YP-T7Z:

They also provide the following features and specifications:

By glancing over the specifications, we can see that when the YP-T6Z is filled to capacity you will need to recharge before you get the last 6 hrs of songs. All things considered, the battery life isn't all that long.

Page 4 : Package Continued

We'll continue our look at the YP-T6Z by taking a look at the contents of the package and we'll do a whirlwind tour of the actual unit.

The YP-T7Z comes with a number things inside the box.

We'll start things off with the AC adapter used to charge the YP-T7Z. The recharge time is approximate 2 hrs. Below the AC adapter is the installation CD, this CD contains some drivers and software to accompany the YP-T7Z. At the bottom left corner, we have a number of cables. This first bundle contains the headphones, ear bud covers and necktie. Our middle column of goodies is composed of a quick guide, followed by a detailed manual and ending with the 3.5mm male to male recorder cable and the proprietary Samsung USB cable. Our far right column has a warranty leaflet, the USB dongle and a belt clip. There is clearly no shortage of components that gets packaged with the YPT7Z.

The actual unit is protected in a molded plastic case. This prevents unwanted movements and scratches during shipment. The delicate LCD screen is also protected with a sticker that you need to peel off.

The player is remarkably small ~6×4 cm.

The front shows two of the more important features of the YP-T7Z. We have the screen, protected by the sticker, and the joystick that navigates between all the features.

The sides of the player are not neglected, more vital features are tucked away in the sides. The picture below shows the ‘hold’ switch, ‘play/pause’ button, ‘loop’ button and ‘record’ button.

The other side has the family name and headphone jack.

Standing the unit up, we see the loop that will support the necktie.

The easiest way to get ahold of the loop is to hold the player upside down and let the loop hang free. At which point, it'll be much easier to feed the necktie through. This is far easier than trying to get ahold of the clasp with your fingernails.

The base of the player is the interface between the YP-T7Z and either the AC adapter or the USB connector.

There's no useful information on the bottom of the player.

With a quick walk through of the model complete, let's look at the setup and software installation.

Page 5 : Setup and Software

The first thing you need to do when you pull out the YP-T7Z is to charge it until the battery is full. If you don't, then it may not function properly! As soon as your player is charged, its time to get going!

While it is not necessary to install any software for using the YP-T7Z as an MP3 player, you will need it for some of the other features.

-Samsung will automatically detect and install the basic drivers. Within a few minutes you can copy your favourite songs to the root folder for playing.

If you do decide to install the software, you get the option of Win98 USB drivers, Samsung Music Studio and the Multimedia Studio.

To take advantage of the picture viewer, you need to install the Multimedia Studio. Once you have that piece of software installed, run it and find the files you want to transfer over.

For images, you will need to resize the pictures, but all of that is done within the Multimedia Studio software.

If you want to use the text viewer, you can copy plain text files to the text folder. You are limited to plain text files and other file formats, such as Microsoft Word, won't work.

If you decide to install the Samsung Music Studio, you get a few more options to tinker with. The most notable feature is changing the bitrate. This will allow you to increase bitrate for better quality or lower bitrate so you can add more songs.

Once you get everything you want onto the YP-T7Z, all you need is to get it ready to take it out.

Apart from the headphones, you get the option of a belt clip or a necktie to hold onto the MP3 Player. My personal preference was just carrying the player in my pocket. The earphones are around 5 ft in length and you could easily run the YP-T7Z from the bottom of your back to your head.

Page 6 : Performance

To start the YP-T7Z, just hold the play/stop button for a few seconds. It'll take about eight seconds for it to boot into the play list.

There are several lines of information on this color display. All of this information is pretty useful: current song, next song, battery life, current time, play time into the song (or play time remaining depending on configuration), equalizer mode, and music quality. Moving the mini joystick to +/- changes the volume. As you can guess, going left or right moves to the beginning of the song or switches to the next one. Holding it in one direction will fast forward or move back in time.

If you press the menu button once, it takes you to the list of songs in the particular folder you are in. Holding the menu button takes you to the main menu.

Here you get
all
the options: Image Viewer, Text Viewer, Play List, FM Radio, Navigation, Now Playing, Settings and Exit. If you hit exit, it'll take you back to the ‘Now Playing’ window.

The FM Radio has a frequency range of 87.5 to 108Mhz and you can store a large number of presets. Not to mention the ability to record songs directly from your favourite station.

With the Text Viewer, you select which file you want to open and it'll display the file in a series of pages. Each page holds six lines and each line has 14 characters.

The Image Viewer does a good job at displaying different wallpapers. The color is respectable for a screen this tiny. The max resolution is 800*600, but with the Multimedia Studio, you can take larger files and automatically scale down the resolution to fit onto the YP-T7Z. The effective usefulness of this feature is debatable. Without a built-in camera, the picture viewer is only so useful. A camera phone could easily take over the YP-T7Z's picture viewer feature.

There are a number of settings, too many to cover in this review, you can change with the YP-T7Z. If you're looking for a particular setting that you
must
have before you buy it, check the online manual at Samsung's webpage.

One of the key pages for any audio enthusiast is tinkering with the audio settings. With the YP-T7Z, you get the option to work with the ‘Bass Booster’, which adds a touch of bass to enhance your music experience.

You can also change the SRS from 0(lowest) to 10(max). SRS (Sound Retrieval System) attempts to replicate surround sound.

The Preset Eqs vary from ‘Normal’, ‘Classic’, ‘Jazz’, ‘Rock’, ‘User’, ‘SRS’, ‘TruBass’ and ‘WOW’. The ‘User’ Eq will have you customize the setting for different frequencies: 60, 300, 500, 1000, 3000, 7000 and 14000 Hz.

While the menu has been very easy to use, I found that the menu would return to the play list far too soon. I often find myself looking at my monitor for a few seconds and by the time I looked back at the player, it was already at the playlist.

All of the above features are very important to the success of the YP-T7Z, but the most important factor of all is how well things sound. For audio users looking for a device that will help pass the time, the YP-T7Z does a decent job. If you're looking for more from the YP-T7Z, the headphones will be your bottleneck. The pair of earbuds provided don't pack a very powerful punch and with the very thin wires, I worry about splitting the wire in half when the cables get tangled up. An investment into a pair of quality headphones may be necessary for true audiophiles.

Page 7 : Conclusion

The YP-T7Z has certainly been a convenient MP3 player. The compact size is a definite plus for those who already carry a number of things in their pockets. The backlit color LCD makes it very easy to read at any time of the day. The ability to do a number of things with one device is certainly better than having one device for each product.

The YP-T7Z certainly comes in at a high price for flash based MP3 players, but all of this is due to the added features; you won't find an FM Radio, Picture and Text viewer add-on for the Apple iPod Shuffle. However, you can find some hard drive based products offering much more space, with fewer features, at a similar price. One of these will be the Samsung YH-M20, a 5 GB solid state MP3 player, in an upcoming review.

Advantages

• Compact Size

• Color LCD
• Lots of features
• Rechargeable battery

Disadvantages

• Short battery life

• Expensive

Overclockers Online would like to thank Samsung Canada for providing this sample for evaluation.