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 The word ‘pocket’ in Pocket mStation is something of a misnomer. You’d
need a parka at least, or a pair of generous cargo pants, because the
mStation is clearly no svelte, Q-designed James Bond gadget.
It shares the same fat dimensions of the Creative machine, albeit
with squarer edges. That
said, it would appear that someone has put considerable thought into the
design of the product. Its
predecessor, under the name of Neo 25, was brick-like and a bit dull, but
the mStation not only looks good, but reels you in and makes you want to
pick it up to find out more.
That could
be down it its obvious layout and bold use of clearly labeled buttons. Couple that with the largest and most desirable blue-screen
LCD display in the test, and you have the basis of a winning machine.
Actually, the screen is superb – a gorgeous and vibrant
blue/purple colour, with huge easy to read text and contrast control,
making operation in low-light conditions a piece of cake.
Huge, chunky buttons handle the basic operations, and the smaller
four control EQ and playback settings, as well as some menu functions.
In
playback mode, album and track information scrolls across the screen in an
authoritative manner and the device happily lets you navigate the
libraries
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for
new music. As the cursor
scrolls through stored albums, the font size expands at each track, making
it very simple to find music you want.
Under the hood, the mStation has a bountiful 10GB hard disk, which
is a standard 2.5-inch laptop affair that can be easily swapped should you
want to upgrade to a larger unit at any time.
Simply flip open the back panel and slip it out, formatting the new
replacement in FAT32 for best results.
There’s an impressive array of accessories bundled in
with the device, including a fully functioning IR remote control and RealJukebox
software. The latter is a
real blessing, and being the world’s most popular audio software,
satisfyingly familiar. RealJukebox
is a comprehensive and good-looking package, both completely upgradeable
and extensively helpful, which makes it an ideal program to accompany any
new-tech audio hardware.
Useful
Internet connectivity options will retrieve album and track details, as
well as background information and discographies of a chosen artist if
desired. Configuring the
mStation as the default location for freshly ripped music is advisable,
saving both time and your computers hard disk space.
Alternatively, files can be transferred
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in the conventional way, as a PC will see the device as an
additional drive, a feature shared by most of the group.
At
a standard 128Kbps encoding rate, playback quality is inspiring.
The detail is there, along with a good measure of information,
which gives the player an edge in sonic terms.
Always punchy, the mStation appears more upfront that its peers,
often to good effect. This machine has proved itself a bit special.
From design to sonic performance, the package as a whole never
fails to please and it comes warmly recommended.
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