Product face-offs
ZicPlay Xenn 2 Go
| Autonomie | 10 heures de musique |
| Se recharge via USB | Oui |
| Capacité mémoire | 2 Go |
| Tuner FM | Oui |
| Enregistrement | WAV 32 Kbps |
| Connexion | USB 2.0 |
| Formats supportés | MP3 / WMA - SMV |
| Dimensions | 90 x 40 x 7.5 mm |
| Poids | 50 g |
Transfer rates
While the interface of this player can be considered slow, the Xenn’s transfer rates are quite simply catastrophic. It’s USB 2.0, but in practice this is difficult to believe.
It requires 3 minutes 36 seconds to transfer 100 MB of music data or a transfer rate of 0.46 MB/s!
For comparison, good USB 2.0 keys have an average speed of 7 MB/s and the slowest are at 1.5 MB/s which is still 3 times faster than the Xenn’s.
Michael Jeulin
Test date: 2008-03-04
Test date: 2008-03-04
It’s with a very elegant design and attractive characteristics that the ZicPlay’s Xenn makes an entrance. For a low price, it has audio/video capabilities, a 1.8 inch screen, an FM tuner, a voice recording function, and even a micro SD slot. This apparently gives it the title of serious challenger to more expensive players.
Tests: ergonomics, audio and video quality
Ergonomics: In hand, we have a compact and light device (90 x 40 x 7.5 mm for 50 g) with a nice design. There is a brushed aluminum finish (available in black or gray). The control buttons on the face are very well integrated and silent although they are somewhat hard. While the overall look is very attractive, finishing touches and assembly are deceiving ruining this product’s finesse: there is some play with the on/off button and the assembly of the face and back is not flush. Another issue is that the Xenn’s standard earphones come with a cord but there is no place on the player to attach it. Strange…
In actual use, it’s disastrous on almost all levels. We’ll start with the extreme slowness that makes navigation and listening frustrating. The transition from one track to another requires a delay of almost three seconds. Next, display is not fluid to the extent that scrolling through songs means the name of the track blinks. We get the impression of seeing one image at a time. Still in the interface, it is impossible to look for an audio track, choose an album or any other category as the player does not give you any playlists. In the end, we can’t understand why a file explorer is absent from a player with a screen of this size.
Audio: With the standard headphones we started audio tests…and we only needed 10 seconds to tell that they are of poor quality. So as you may have understood, the first thing to do is to replace them. However, once this is done audio restitution isn’t much better. The sound isn’t natural or clear. In addition, an omnipresent whistling can be heard which turns out to be quite disturbing.
Video: Given the very mediocre quality of the screen (small viewing angles, definition, lack of fluidity, and the matrix is very visible), the video side of this product proves to be completely obsolete. In addition, all of our test video files failed to play.
Tests: ergonomics, audio and video quality
Ergonomics: In hand, we have a compact and light device (90 x 40 x 7.5 mm for 50 g) with a nice design. There is a brushed aluminum finish (available in black or gray). The control buttons on the face are very well integrated and silent although they are somewhat hard. While the overall look is very attractive, finishing touches and assembly are deceiving ruining this product’s finesse: there is some play with the on/off button and the assembly of the face and back is not flush. Another issue is that the Xenn’s standard earphones come with a cord but there is no place on the player to attach it. Strange…In actual use, it’s disastrous on almost all levels. We’ll start with the extreme slowness that makes navigation and listening frustrating. The transition from one track to another requires a delay of almost three seconds. Next, display is not fluid to the extent that scrolling through songs means the name of the track blinks. We get the impression of seeing one image at a time. Still in the interface, it is impossible to look for an audio track, choose an album or any other category as the player does not give you any playlists. In the end, we can’t understand why a file explorer is absent from a player with a screen of this size.
Audio: With the standard headphones we started audio tests…and we only needed 10 seconds to tell that they are of poor quality. So as you may have understood, the first thing to do is to replace them. However, once this is done audio restitution isn’t much better. The sound isn’t natural or clear. In addition, an omnipresent whistling can be heard which turns out to be quite disturbing.Video: Given the very mediocre quality of the screen (small viewing angles, definition, lack of fluidity, and the matrix is very visible), the video side of this product proves to be completely obsolete. In addition, all of our test video files failed to play.- Design
- Finishing touches, headphones
- Poor audio quality and screen
- Slow
- Autonomy
- Transfer rate
The very attractive design of the Xenn actually turns out to be a trap. This player had too many defects starting with its slowness and we do not recommend you buy it.
Return to the Introduction : Product Survey: Portable Audio and Video Players
