Nationite Sflo 2

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m-jeri said:
Any reply to my query
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Sorry M-jeri .Don't think we will be able to source single unit of the requested Onda player.It's possible to source one but the pricing for single unit won't be very tempting .
bennysachdev said:
I got my player from mp4nation.net and it took exactly 2months from the day I ordered till the day I got them. This was after raising several tickets on Mp4nation's support website. Their response for my ticket was nice and speedy, but that din't change the fact that it took them 45days to send the item out(they blamed telcast for shortage for which they wouldn't/couldn't do anything) and 15days for hongkong post to send it and it to go through customs and reaching my house.

@PristineNote : Would you be keeping some stock of the Sflo2 with you?
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If we are able to source the Sflo 2 , we will surely stock them . MP4Nation always seems to be low on stock of Sflo 2 and don't easily agree to ship a big order .We will try our best :) .
 
Decan said:
^ You can (in fact should) pay around Rs. 800 more and get it through EMS and get it delivered well within a week to avoid excessive delays with delivery and avoid things getting lost/switched in transit.
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I had ordered a S:Flo2 on Dec31 and paid $18 extra for EMS. I still do not have the package in hand. Please visit Head-Fi to get more information on the shipping delays for S:flo2. They never have enough stock of S:Flo2. So if Pristine Note is getting S:flo2 for under 10K its a great deal as you being a consumer wouldnt have to deal with the mess of delays ,shipping etc. I would have ordered one if it wrnt for the fact that my order is still stuck :/
 
I was not talking about S:Flo2 specifically, but it was more of a general comment about getting things beyond a certain price point through premium shipping if available. I have brought many things from MP4Nation or others above $100 with EMS/private couriers, never had to wait for more than a week for delivery with tracking. In fact many times have got products delivered faster than I would through DTDC from an Indian city. And just to make it clear, this was in response to bunnysachdev's delivery woes through Hong Kong Post, not in any way to undermine Pristine Note's effort to get the products available in India itself. People can always make informed choices on whatever option is more comfortable for them :) .

@m-jeri: Talking about MP4Nation, they should be respecting their stated warranties for products they deal in I would suppose, never have had an experience in that respect with them. Others might be knowing better perhaps.
 
Decan said:
And just to make it clear, this was in response to bunnysachdev's delivery woes through Hong Kong Post
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Mr Bunnysachdev did not get his player probably because they sell off their stock almost as quickly as it comes so they take their time to ship it directly. :)

Plus warranty means you have to ship it back to mp4nation at your own expense. Makes a lot of sense to pick a player with warranty in India itself if the price is not a lot more than the shipped price directly from the source.
 
Man, i'm lucky i got mine off ebay even though it was the 2GB one. Waiting 2 months to get one is pretty frustrating. Heck, i was pissed at Iccworld for taking a fortnight to deliver my headphones, for get 2 months
 
@decan I was talking specifically about the Sflo2 which is a different case compared to the other offerings of Mp4nation(Simply cuz the thread title says IC-Sflo2 not IC-Mp4nation Items).
 
bennysachdev said:
^ Well yea, that too ;) UI Sux!!! Hardware is amazing. Somehow i got used to it in a week. And F/w v2.3 made it slightly better. So yea, it just works.
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I really dont find the UI sucking ! :(
rather i find the touch screen thats very bad.

if they just had physical pause/play and next song button, that would have been great. :(
 
The touch screen is okay, sensitivity is fine and detection is also okay. Its due to the UI mostly. I've been using the black-and-blue theme (v2.3) for some time and it's a bit better than the other themes. This player could have been awesome if it had rockbox support
 
Well the stock UI isn't good at all. Its only after I upgraded the firmware to the Black and Blue them v2.3 that it started to look better and more usable. Although its nothing to write home about.
The point being and the reason why I still love this player to the core is simple, When the music starts, everything Shuts Up!!! Pair them with any IEM and you have the best SQ the iem can deliver. So I would call it the perfect source. Its only after you've heard the Sflo2 that you know whats been missing in them iPods all along. ;)
 
esanthosh said:
Seriously, I don't get why Wolfson DACs are so revered. Is it because of their sound signature? Is it because of some technical capabilities? Or is it because they have lesser issues than other DAC chips? Aren't there better DAC chips from better companies? Or is it due to their Price/Performance ratio? Any clarification for this n00b are welcome.

While we are on the subject, WM8740 is a stereo DAC. What advantages does one get if they use dual WM8740? Cleaner signal paths? Any explanation which does not go way over my head would be very helpful.

I don't know much about DAC chips and am not experienced enough. But the mere mention of Wolfson DAC chip has been met with great enthusiasm in the audiophile community. I am just trying to understand. I know that CA uses Wolfson in their CDP / DAC. But some like it, some don't.

Besides, DAC chip + implementation is what makes a better player / DAC ;)
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I was almost tempted to reply this in a PM, however I thought it would be a good idea to share with the community. It is a very good question indeed, why use a dual Woltson DAC, when they are inherently stereo? To answer some of these we will have to traverse, to the genesis. I would try and keep it simple without getting into too much technical.

For a long time there has been bunch of audiophiles, who while were not scientific in their approach, came and developed some rules. These were never scientifically proven (at that time), but was not strongly disputed as these were close to the heart of some of the audiophiles. We have moved to portable audio today, however the true audiophile still rules the roost on the high end audio. (let me not dwell too much on this..)

They came about with some empirical rule, these were purely followed by the audiophiles.... (some of them were snake oils of course).... some of them (now most) were imbibed by the high end manufactures. Now over the years they have reached the portable audio setups. Rules like ... using the least path, tubes over the transistors, cables crossing, using cables instead of PCBs, direct solders, cables, records over CD (Analogue being better than Digital), Not using the equalizers in the signal path, direct path, switching off the video/light to preserve the audio integrity... one more //// Mono Blocks being better than Stereo! (There are of course many more ...)

I would focus only on the last point ... Mono Blocks over Stereo! Of course it is a manufactures delight, when he learns that he is going to sell 2 units instead of one. However some of it is true because of better current management (independent transformers), EM insulation etc. Using the dual Woltson DAC is an extension of this manufacturing reason. Signal path isolation, Thermionic emission, high mode sampling, eddies (eddy current) could be some of the reasons, however I have not come across any research papers on these.. The specs also says something: 120dB SNR (’A’ weighted, mono @ 48kHz)/ 117dB SNR (’A’ weighted, stereo @ 48kHz). The manufactures also claim "The Dual Differentail Mode allows two DAC to be used in parallel with the aim of improving performance ( abt 3dB improvement in SNR is expected). The DACs will output differential left or right channel data, depending on their configuration".

How apt are these design? Lets not dwell on this. They certainly do add price, also audiophiles crave about them. So some manufacturers have now imbibed these in their portable setups as on the onset they get an improvement of 3dB.

@Benny: Splitting the DAC may not have any use at all at the digital level (the DAC are split in any case). The path there after takes more or less mono slab path, improving further SNR. Yes you are right about LO, because it "kills the middleman!"

I hope it helps.

Sflo:2 is a good sounding PMP. I like them. I also like the Fuze+/Fuze/Clip+.

Disclaimer: We are the distributors for the Sflo:2 in India and this is an IC thread.

Update: Just got a mail from Nationite. The Nationite N2 on the HO sounds similar to Sflo2 HO.
 
+1 for the wolfson sound, not sure how much difference the dual dac implementation works though. I'm using my galaxy s for my music needs, it comes with a WM8994 and I definitely prefer the tone and sound signature compared to the clip+. That said I have a iPod mini which also uses a wolfson chip I guess and sounds a bit lousy :P so I guess it depends on both the DAC and amp section
 
Is this thread dead? @Pristinenote, i still hope quite a lot of guys, at-least to satisfy the conditions for international shipping if one exists, will be met if you go ahead with the order. Why not you repost enquiring about the same again? Thanks.
 
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