#Ultimate backup k9 controls full
#Ultimate backup k9 controls portable

The OLED 1.8' screen is quite nice and quality is very decent. While compact and very pocket friendly, it also has some weight due its metal material. The player is very compact, made of sturdy metal alloy body for back and sides, and transparent plastic front panel and plastic buttons.

#Ultimate backup k9 controls full

The earphones are very hard to drive, even for the K9 itself it's needed to reach about half of the full volume (~15/31) stepsīuild quality is quite good for the low price, and much more solid than the more expensive popular budget options like Sandisk Clip and iPod. However the built in speaker does make it stand apart from other Mp3 players out there and this allows me to offer a guarded recommendation.Ĭapacity: built-in 8GB flash memory, up to 32GB SD card external storage However, it’s always nice to have the option.Īll in all this is a reasonable player but is not as good as their cheaper model when it comes to sound quality. Activating EQ results in a drop in volume and I tend to usually leave the setting off. Basic playback modes are offered and the unit supports the creation of playlists - although in all fairness I didn’t really play with this feature all that much.ĮQ is available and this includes user-defined settings which is a welcome feature. I found the sound quality to be fairly neutral but also a little lacklustre when compared to the S5. Navigating through the interface does take some getting used to but it didn’t take too long for me to adapt. I could detect a continuous low level amount of background static when using sensitive IEM’s - although this is not as obvious when using larger headphones.

#Ultimate backup k9 controls portable

The K9 has a reasonably powerful headphone amplifier and can certainly go loud enough for most portable headphones. In all fairness, I strongly suspect if Sony or Apple produced an MP3 player this size with a built-in loudspeaker, it wouldn’t really sound very much better. Whilst it’s sound quality is rather dire, it does go surprisingly loud and, given its limitations and the price of the unit, can be kinda forgiven. The speaker is activated by simply removing the headphones. This is a shame because the screen really is quite clear and bright and could almost certainly be exploited more than it is here. Whilst the screen is bright and clear - even offering a reasonable resolution, the text size is too big and as a result, the screen can only show a limited amount of information. I found the buttons tended to rattle a little which was a bit of a shame but it doesn’t effect the basic functionality at all. The S5’s touch interface is quite difficult to navigate in pitch black darkness because the controls are not backlit, I personally don’t like this approach but one advantage the K9 does offer is the ability to use the player in the dark. As a result, the controls have multi functions depending on how long you hold the button down for. The only other control is the power switch. This is because the K9 tried to put its functions into five basic controls - up/down/left/right/OK. Another thing which sets this player apart from the others is the inclusion of a loudspeaker which can go surprisingly loud. The bottom of the unit has the headphone socket, Micro USB socket and power switch. There is an Micro SDCard Slot on one side whilst the other side and top of the unit have no buttons at all.

The colour screen is bright and has a reasonable resolution. The back of the unit is steel and the front feels like plastic. At first glance you could possibly mistake the player for one of the older Apple Ipod Nano players but rather than a thumbwheel, the K9 uses a more conventional diamond configuration for the buttons - rather like those found on some of the Sony MP3 players. With a claimed battery life of up to 80 hours, this is quite an achievement. One of the differences you will notice straight away is the use of a colour LCD screen on the K9. The sound quality produced from this tiny player is truly remarkable and I was very interested to see if their K9 model could match - or even beat it.Įxternally the K9 is larger than the S5 but not much heavier. One player which really impressed me was the tiny Benjie S5. In all fairness though these players cost many times - many many times more and basically offer pretty much the same basic function. Whilst there’s nothing wrong with the build quality of these units, they certainly don’t have the same build quality and attention to fine detail that you find on Apple and perhaps Sony music players. I have had the opportunity to review a few inexpensive MP3 players recently and have generally been quite impressed with many of them as they clearly appear to put sound quality before pretty much anything else - and also kept their costs down as a result.