Samsung YP-Q2 v. Sony E-series deathmatch
Sounding out two top 8GB media players
By way of peripheral goodies, Samsung also chucks in three games, a text reader, a datacast/podcast application, and the ability to display JPEG, PNG, BMP and GIF files. The Sony will only display JPEG images.
When it comes to music playback...
While the earphones supplied with the Q2 are superior to those bundled with the E444 – generating a far less sibilant sound with firmer bass – neither pair could be described as anything other than average. You would be well advised to chuck them in the bin and replace them with something along the lines of the pair of noise-isolation Sennheiser CX400 earphones we used to provide a level playing field in our test.
But first, a word or two – and some acronyms – about the sound modification options on offer from these two players. Rather than the DSEE sound enhancer and VT surround sound systems which are reserved for the top-of-the-line S- and X-series Walkmans, the E444 comes with Clear Stereo and Dynamic Normaliser, along with the usual seven-setting equaliser, two of which are customisable. That's a step forward from the old E Series, which only had an equaliser.
Samsung also gives you two sound effects settings – Street Mode and Audio Upscaler – and an altogether more encompassing equalizer with 13 pre-sets and three customisable settings called DNSe (Digital Natural Sound engine). The DNSe equalizer also has a handy Auto setting, which is were we left it during our test. Clear Stereo and Audio Upscaler are both designed to put the life back into music that file compression takes out and both do a decent job.
...there's not much to separate these two players
Dynamic Normaliser balances the volume of different tracks and, again, works well. Street Mode emphasises the upper frequencies of a track and boosts the bass levels, presumably in order to make it easier to hear what's being played against a loud background. Frankly, all it does is make things sound too bright at the top end and muddy at the bottom, so is best left switched off. The Sony spec sheet also mentions Clear Bass, but our player had no evidence of such a thing installed, so we are not sure how that performs.
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