Ordered D2! Some Questions

[dzjc]

Hi All,

Just ordered the D2 and can't wait now till it arrives! Have a few questions though.

1. It's my understanding I can play my mp3s/flacs by folder arrangement? Does this mean that it will play folder->subfolder->subfolder? For example, if I have the following:

Beatles->Abbey Road
          ->Sgt Pepper
          ->Rubber Soul

I can select the Beatles folder and it will play all the subfolders?

2. Can I play the D2 in my car using the cassette-converter adapter?

3. Anyone using noise-reduction headphones with the D2? Opinions?

Thanks!
Dale

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

1 Yes
2 Yes
3 Not me

BTW, Welcome to abi

[Flamin_Spirit]

I'm using JVC marshmallows if those count, love the sound, just fiddle with the settings, and any buds/headphones will sound good sooner or later

[WalkGood]

I may have misunderstood #3, did you mean noise-cancelling or iem’s that block out ambient noise?

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by dzjc

1. It's my understanding I can play my mp3s/flacs by folder arrangement? Does this mean that it will play folder->subfolder->subfolder? For example, if I have the following:

Beatles->Abbey Road
          ->Sgt Pepper
          ->Rubber Soul

I can select the Beatles folder and it will play all the subfolders?

No, unfortunately you can't do that. You can only select files, not folders. The only player I know of that lets you play folders is the Cowon X5. Even Rockbox can't do that... how I wish that was possible on any of my (modern) players.

You can however select the first file in the folder, and it will play all consecutive ones.

[Flamin_Spirit]

actually, Dfkt, there is a way to play all subfolders, but you must be browsing by tags, not by folders themselves, to the OP: if you wanted to play all songs by the Beatles for example, you would go to artist>beatles>all and then choose a song, this will play all of your tracks by the beatles, this works if your folders are set up as in the OP, but not if you mix artists etc in the folders

[dfkt]

Sure, but you cannot select folders. Browsing by artist ID3 tag of course works (which brings a lot of issues that file/folder browsing doesn't have).

[Flamin_Spirit]

and those issues only arise in the event of DB corruption or faulty tagging, if one's files are properly tagged, they should not have many problems at all, I haven't had any misplaced songs, artists, albums etc, in my collection because all of the tags are nice and orderly

[dfkt]

What I meant (for my personal needs) is that ID3 browsing doesn't support nested tags, like nested (aka. sub-) folders, so my whole genre categorization doesn't work. For some people with a simple music collection ID3 browsing works, for other people with a large eclectic collection it simply doesn't work.

[dzjc]

Originally Posted by dfkt

No, unfortunately you can't do that. You can only select files, not folders. The only player I know of that lets you play folders is the Cowon X5. Even Rockbox can't do that... how I wish that was possible on any of my (modern) players.

You can however select the first file in the folder, and it will play all consecutive ones.

Therein lies my dilema. I have hundreds of bootlegs that aren't tagged (properly, if at all) and I have no desire to spend hours tagging all of my mp3s, hence the reason I was asking about playing folder-subfolders.

But it sounds like I *have* to resort to tagging?

Regarding my headphone question. Yes, I was referring to noise-cancelling 'phones. On a similar note, I'm old-school and like over-the-ear phones, so good recommendations for thnose?

Thanks for all the responses!

Dale

[EddieE]

dzjc - you can still play through all of those albums in order - just start on the first with boundary on "all" and it'll automatically go through them in order.

But if you put shuffle on, you can either shuffle just the sub-folder you're in or ALL folders on the whole device.

Agree that it would be a great option to just select any folder and say "play all within", sadly not though.

[dj_si]

Originally Posted by dzjc

Regarding my headphone question. Yes, I was referring to noise-cancelling 'phones. On a similar note, I'm old-school and like over-the-ear phones, so good recommendations for thnose?

I don't actually have any NC headphones, but it's something I recently investigated. Here's an informative user review that I found on this topic:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3VGKXJ...R3VGKXJOMZUDKY

I've read quite a number of other reviews (both from users and on techy sites), but common comments are:

- Bose QC2: Quite bassy; can get uncomfortably warm/hot when used for long periods; no passive mode, i.e. will not work at all if the noise cancellation is switched off (or the battery's dead); low/no noise leakage, so won't disturb people around you.

- Audio Technica ATH-ANC7: Very good quality sound, though less so in passive mode (NC switched off); very comfortable; noticeable leakage - may annoy people close by; price won't break the bank.

- Sennheiser PXC 450: Very good quality sound; low/no noise leakage; bass may not be as strong as some people might like; quite bulky; excellent overall, but certainly not cheap!

Personally, I'd get the Audio Technicas if it weren't for the leakage problem. But to avoid annoying people around me, for now I've decided to stick with my old Sony MDR-D77 cans, particularly for flights - they're not noise cancelling, but the over-the-ear design with sufficient volume works well enough for me. (Though they've been discontinued, the MDR-D777 is similar in design, and on paper has a higher spec.) Alternatively, I also like the sound from my Bose In-Ear Triports (original mk I, quite bassy), and they're easier to carry around.

Si

[jet_silver]

3. Anyone using noise-reduction headphones with the D2? Opinions?

My D2+ arrived today and I've tried it with two pairs of my headphones. With the circumaural and cheap Senn HD497 the D2+ sounds a lot better than my old X5. With the supra-aural and a little pricier (noise-cancelling) Senn PXC250 it sounds better than that. I have it at 40 / 50 on volume. It doesn't sound -loud- the way that an ipod sounds loud. There isn't any crud or hash, the volume just goes up with no loss of quality.

The D2+ sounds very, very good to my ears, with these two headphones. I can't abide earbuds and haven't tried any.