It may not look the part, but Sindre Lia finds a stellar performer in the JVC Alneo XA-HD500 portable audio player and its 6 GB of storage, complete with remote controlled charging cradle.
Review summary of the JVC Alneo XA-HD500:
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 The JVC Alneo XA-HD500 is an audio player with very distinct high and lows. At first sight, an unattractive design and mediocre LCD display makes one wonder whether the Alneo is even worth considering. Poor design aside, however, the XA-HD500 goes on to deliver impressive sound quality out-of-box as well as a nice treat in the bundled cradle complete with Infrared remote control. Storage capacity is quite decent at 6 GB, and its menu system is also responsive albeit somewhat unintuitive. Release: October 2005. Price: $250.
Pros: Excellent sound; charging cradle with audio outputs and cable; great battery life; responsive interface
Cons: Dull design; mediocre monochrome LCD display
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Full JVC Alneo XA-HD500 Review:
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With only two Flash-based audio players under its belt, JVC takes aim at the HDD-based audio player market with the Alneo XA-HD500. The Alneo sports a 6 GB hard drive capable of storing up to 3000 songs, and the complete list of audio formats supported includes MP3, WMA and WMA DRM with the latter enabling access to PlaysForSure compatible music download services such as Napster and Yahoo! Music. Measuring in at 91 x 51 x 18 mm (3.6 x 2 x 0.7 inches) and 92 g (3.2 oz), the Alneo is not unwieldy but its silver case surely needs an extreme makeover to appeal at first sight.
When switching on the XA-HD500, it quickly becomes evident that the Alneo's monochrome LCD display should have had a higher resolution. Browsing the menu required scrolling sideways, and having a few more lines of text display wouldn't have hurt a bit. On the other hand, the Alneo treated us to a responsive system and excellent interaction when using the navigation and action buttons.
Where the Aleno really shines, however, is in the departments of music management and playback. Microsoft's Windows Media Player 10 as well as USB 2.0 is used to transfer songs effortlessly and rapidly to and from the Alneo. Furthermore, a range of JVC's proprietary audio technologies such as CC Converter for Compressed Audio, Digital Surround and Digital Active Hyper Bass, along with a comfortable set of in-ear headphones, provide a great sound experience for the user. The entirety of the audible landscape sounded impressive, whilst loudness proved outright incredible.
The Alneo also offers another great out-of-box feature, which is the inclusion of a charging cradle with audio outputs and an Infrared remote control to connect the player to a stereo - from now on the gold standard in accessories.
JVC claims a battery life of up to 30 hours for the Alneo XA-HD500, with the player delivering a respectable 20 hours in our tests.
Availability
The JVC Alneo XA-HD500 is currently available in Europe and North America, bearing price tags of approximately €250 EUR and $250 USD, respectively.
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