HiFi Blog: digital audio goodness

The world’s smallest digital audio player (measures 24×24x24mm, weighs 18grams) gets reviewed by PC Magazine. Apart from a few weak points (mainly the lack of Shuffle-like sonic accuracy, and a kinda weak battery) they give it the thumbs up (rating: 4/5):

[...] it’s more than adequate for its intended market, and all the extra features (not to mention a screen and freedom from proprietary software) make this the most compelling choice among the current crop of flash players.

Alex Leopold from dapreview also gives this player a thorough look, provides plenty of pictures, and ends up rating it with 88/100:

Nothing really too much to complain about. Sure its not perfect, the buttons are a little bit cheap, the cube shape isn’t ideal, and the battery life kinda sucks, but, all in all, I really like this product. Mobiblu truly has a winner on their hands with the DAH-1500i. It is incredibly unique, ridiculously small, and just so damn cool!

Please note the “i” in the model name. This is the model authorized for distribution in the US market, and is different from its “1500” brother in that it provides USB 2.0 connectivity (instead of 1.1—40 times faster), supports WMA DRM**, and adds voice & FM recording.

Apart from these differences, the models are the same. Some rough specs/features:

• 1.2 inch OLED screen


• 90dB SNR, five-band EQ, six EQ presets, comes with all standard playback modes (shuffle/repeat/etc.)


• uses a file-based navigation system (like most flash MP3 players), also allows you to delete files & create playlists on-board


• no need for drivers, Windows identifies it as a removable drive, so adding songs to it is a drag-and-drop issue


• built-in rechargeable battery, supposedly rated at 10 hours, but review tests show less


• headphone jack doubles as USB port, charges via USB, doesn’t come with a wall plug AC adapter (one can be bought separately from mobiBLU America’s site though, for $14.99)


• comes in two flavours (1GB and 512MB, selling for $129 and $99 respectively—this is the “1500i” model we’re talking about—) and six colors
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They’re currently selling like hotcakes at Walmart.com (exclusive launch partner), so much that the company had to issue a statement saying they’re doing their best to meet demand. Apparently the cube fever is running so high, they’ve even set up a blog dedicated to the player, though it sadly carries only one post at the time of this writing.

• DAH-1500i review #1 [pcmag.com]


• DAH-1500i review #2 + A look at the DAH-1500i’s innards [anythingbutipod.com] (lots of pictures—thank you, enzo)


• DAH-1500i review #3 [dapreview.net]


• Official DAH-1500i site [mobiblueamerica.com]


• Changes in specs for DAH-1500i [mobilewhack.com]

[mobiBLU DAH-1500 links start here]

• DAH-1500 review #1 [phonephile.blogspot.com]


• DAH-1500 review #2 [anythingbutipod.com] (again, lots of pictures)


• Specs for DAH-1500 [mobilewhack.com]

• Actually, the WMA DRM support is kinda shaky too in that it can only reproduce tracks that you have bought from pay-per-song services, not tracks you have got from subscription services. This is probably because the player lacks a secure Janus clock.