Does it "sound" right?

[lanceman]

I am a happy EZReader Pocket Pro owner. I purchased it during the first phase of the promotion(Suppose to end in Nov. last year I think). I loaded it up with almost all the E-Book/E-Doc collections I have without any major issue (Well, for a big CHM file, say 1500+ pages, the system usually takes a long time to parse it and gives the feeling of hanging). I always upgraded my EZReader with the latest firmwares. Everything went smoothly until few days back when I wanted to try the music/voice synthesizer.

I didn't pay any attention to the music function until now because that was not on my feature checklist when I was looking for a Ebook reader. Recently, I thought I would give the voice reading a try and the sound quality was horrible. The voice synthesizer works OK. In fact, I should say it works pretty well. Even for a non-native English speaker like me can still catch up with most of the reading. However, the sound quality is worse than a AM radio. There was a sharp, high pitch static noise constantly humming in the background accompanies with other random statics!

At the beginning, I thought it might be just the voice reading part. But when I tried the music player, the same situation! The background noise totally ruined the song. I am not sure if it's normal. Nowadays the chip technology is so advanced. I really doubt if it's the right quality even the device was not meant to be built for the purpose.

Can anyone give me some advices or feedbacks based on your experiences of using those functions? Is it still possible to RMA the unit? Robert? TIA!

[Solicitous]

Well I don't use the MP3 player function much, I do the TTS sometimes in the car. To me it sounds like one of the follow;

1) Faulty headphones. Do you have another pair to try?
2) Perhaps the volume is too high for the headphones. When playing a MP3 you can adjust the volume in the software as well as adjust the volume on the supplied headphones. If the output volume is too loud from any device (ipod, stereo, mobile phone) the sound will distort when it hits the speakers/headphones.

See if that helps you at all.

[theducks]

Solicitous has the right ideas.
Decent headphones (I never tried the supplied ear-buds) work perfect. My volume indicator is at mid-point with a fairly loud sound.
Smooth music. No (electronics) background noise.
The TTS voice is tollerable. Like many TTS, there is a tiny electronic burr at the end of phrases. A "Down Ohm" accent?

[lanceman]

Thanks for your reply Solicitous and theducks.

I did have tried different headphones b4 and the results were still unacceptable. I am not a HiFi fan that would expect EZReader to give me super high quality of sound. But at least it should give a decent one.

I think I should try to record a piece of TTS/music clip and upload here for the justification.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. Although they don't really solve my problems, but that gave me all the ways to re-verify the issue. I really appreciate this forum. That's why I visit here almost everyday.

Lance

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by lanceman

Thanks for your reply Solicitous and theducks.

I did have tried different headphones b4 and the results were still unacceptable. I am not a HiFi fan that would expect EZReader to give me super high quality of sound. But at least it should give a decent one.

I think I should try to record a piece of TTS/music clip and upload here for the justification.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. Although they don't really solve my problems, but that gave me all the ways to re-verify the issue. I really appreciate this forum. That's why I visit here almost everyday.

Lance

Dear Lance:

I use my Pocket PRO a ton for music. I think I sometimes listen more than I read. Trust me... I had an iPod and when I got the first Pocket PRO I had all my fellow employees compare. EVERYONE picked the Pocket PRO sound superior. I bought a very high-priced audio-technica noise-cancelling pair of headphones. I also has a great pair of Sennheisers. The sound on the Pocket PRO warrants great headphones.

You are still under warranty. The warranty is parts and labor for a year. Let our techs try first to help you by phone (1-866-368-8788) or email (support@astak.com). We have never yet had a single complaint regarding the sound so this will really be hard for the techs.

But it is important that we at least try to right it for you.

[Acreo Aeneas]

Originally Posted by lanceman

However, the sound quality is worse than a AM radio. There was a sharp, high pitch static noise constantly humming in the background accompanies with other random statics!

I know the problem. Turn down the volume on your PP. The PP's internal amp has a really high output (max mW is probably somewhere around 100?). Secondly, if you are still getting pops and crackle, try a better pair of 'phones or get a headphone amplifier to go between your PP and headphones and turn your PP's volume to lowest audible setting. The amp should help clear up some of the noise.

The problem is a high output (from the source) and a low impedance (from the 'phones) plus the phones internal speakers not being able to handle the higher output. If the amp doesn't clear up the noise, then you should get a pair of higher impedance phones (some with 20 ohms or greater resistance).

[lanceman]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Lance:

I use my Pocket PRO a ton for music. I think I sometimes listen more than I read. Trust me... I had an iPod and when I got the first Pocket PRO I had all my fellow employees compare. EVERYONE picked the Pocket PRO sound superior. I bought a very high-priced audio-technica noise-cancelling pair of headphones. I also has a great pair of Sennheisers. The sound on the Pocket PRO warrants great headphones.

I have a Sennheiser HD-202. Not a high end model, but I think it should be good enough to handle regular usages. I know that to judge the sound quality is a very subjective matter. I hope that the complains I had are not because I am too picky.

You are still under warranty. The warranty is parts and labor for a year. Let our techs try first to help you by phone (1-866-368-8788) or email (support@astak.com). We have never yet had a single complaint regarding the sound so this will really be hard for the techs.

But it is important that we at least try to right it for you.

Besides all the features, form factor, etc. that made me decide to choose PP, I think knowing that there is a trustworthy person from the product company actively helping people here is also a big factor. Thanks Robert! I really appreciate your responsiveness. Like I mentioned from the beginning, music player is not my big concern. But I think TTS can become a big one to me. I will contact your tech support later to figure things out.

Originally Posted by Acreo Aeneas

I know the problem. Turn down the volume on your PP. The PP's internal amp has a really high output (max mW is probably somewhere around 100?). Secondly, if you are still getting pops and crackle, try a better pair of 'phones or get a headphone amplifier to go between your PP and headphones and turn your PP's volume to lowest audible setting. The amp should help clear up some of the noise.

The problem is a high output (from the source) and a low impedance (from the 'phones) plus the phones internal speakers not being able to handle the higher output. If the amp doesn't clear up the noise, then you should get a pair of higher impedance phones (some with 20 ohms or greater resistance).

Hi, Acreo. Thanks for the advices. I will give it a try. As of my reply to Robert, you think HD-202 is ok? I guess because of my limitation on the language, my description might lead you to think of the distortion. Let me try to explain it again. If I use TTS, the voice I heard seems to be broken into two layers. The foreground layer is the normal voice. But the other layer is a sharp/acute sound (It's a synchronized voice to the foreground one) that is really annoying. Why cannot I just get one tone of voice but two? Maybe it's normal to TTS but at least it sounds way too different from my Garmin GPS's voice

[Acreo Aeneas]

The HD202 should be fine. Think the ohm resistance is 20? Should provide enough resistance and the phone speakers should be better quality (meaning no pop/crackle even with higher output sources).

Any decent quality IEM would work too.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by lanceman

I have a Sennheiser HD-202. Not a high end model, but I think it should be good enough to handle regular usages. I know that to judge the sound quality is a very subjective matter. I hope that the complains I had are not because I am too picky.



Besides all the features, form factor, etc. that made me decide to choose PP, I think knowing that there is a trustworthy person from the product company actively helping people here is also a big factor. Thanks Robert! I really appreciate your responsiveness. Like I mentioned from the beginning, music player is not my big concern. But I think TTS can become a big one to me. I will contact your tech support later to figure things out.



Hi, Acreo. Thanks for the advices. I will give it a try. As of my reply to Robert, you think HD-202 is ok? I guess because of my limitation on the language, my description might lead you to think of the distortion. Let me try to explain it again. If I use TTS, the voice I heard seems to be broken into two layers. The foreground layer is the normal voice. But the other layer is a sharp/acute sound (It's a synchronized voice to the foreground one) that is really annoying. Why cannot I just get one tone of voice but two? Maybe it's normal to TTS but at least it sounds way too different from my Garmin GPS's voice

Dear Lanceman:

Thank you. Astak is always concerned about the end user experience. We are not perfect and still learning our way. I just like to try to help people. I know my own experiences with other companies and do not want that for Astak.

Yes, my first real experience with machine voice was also GPS. The parent company of Astak made almost all GPS mapping SD cards for years and years. Almost all mapping data was duplicated by us in the hundreds of millions and put out on our own cards. We still do. My first job with the parent company was talking with these GPS companies. Like you, my Magellen and my Whistler have very clear voices.

TTS on eBook Readers is NOT close to that. Soon, likely, but nowhere near that at present. TTS is clear enough to be understandable and I love it on a long plane trip... but on a scale of 1-10 it is barely a 6. Certainly a blessing... but not what I would call much more than adequate. The problem is not background noise though.. the problem is more a very much machine voice. I am trying to be honest here. Unlike other manufacturers that never seem to tell the bad with the good... I think there are things that I would like to see improved. This cannot be improved with a firmware upgrade; but new models will hopefully have more improvement of a nice feature.

[lanceman]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Lanceman:

TTS on eBook Readers is NOT close to that. Soon, likely, but nowhere near that at present. TTS is clear enough to be understandable and I love it on a long plane trip... but on a scale of 1-10 it is barely a 6. Certainly a blessing... but not what I would call much more than adequate. The problem is not background noise though.. the problem is more a very much machine voice. I am trying to be honest here. Unlike other manufacturers that never seem to tell the bad with the good... I think there are things that I would like to see improved. This cannot be improved with a firmware upgrade; but new models will hopefully have more improvement of a nice feature.

I think you have answered my question and I appreciate your honesty. That's exactly how I thought about the TTS quality on PP. Hopefully, you will address it in the future models. IMHO, if you really make it right, I believe it will be a good selling point to business people. It will be even better if you also take care of the existing customers by addressing it at the firmware level

Do you have the release schedule (Just ballpark) of the new models?

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by lanceman

I think you have answered my question and I appreciate your honesty. That's exactly how I thought about the TTS quality on PP. Hopefully, you will address it in the future models. IMHO, if you really make it right, I believe it will be a good selling point to business people. It will be even better if you also take care of the existing customers by addressing it at the firmware level

Do you have the release schedule (Just ballpark) of the new models?

Dear Lanceman:

It appears all new models are going with the new Sispix screen. That will help a bit on margins (we hope) and make Astak even more competitive. The new screens are wonderful; BUT there is a delay on all SisPix screens as they make a last minute change. That is delaying every model. I was sure we would have all new models in two months until this news. A good rough guess is now three months. I am not allowed to say anything more as we want the new models and they want me to keep quiet!

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Robertb

It appears all new models are going with the new Sispix screen.

I really think it is "SIPix".

BOb

[QIbHom]

I don't know, pilotbob. I kind of like "Sispix." It has a lovely feminist ring to it. Very attractive, that.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I really think it is "SIPix".

BOb

Dear kindly Pilot Bob:

Thank you!! I always do appreciate corections and I can certainly use correction. I will refer to it as SIPix from now on.