Samsung Yepp E-32
Staff Writers
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Sep 1, 2000 2:54 PM
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Samsung |
RRP: $469 (time of review)
Unremarkable exterior but a powerful music player that does better with popular music forms than classics.
Overall Rating: 
User Rating: No user ratings.
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Samsung has made some noise recently about its MP3 players and this example is at the forefront of this product family.
Samsung has made some noise recently about its MP3 players and this example is at the forefront of this product family. Its outward appearance is fairly nondescript with the brushed metal look shared by the jazPipers, regulation controls and a good text-only LCD screen.
Its internal specifications are also unremarkable including a microphone for voice recording and uploading, an ECP parallel port interface, and 32Mb of internal flash memory expandable to 64Mb through a single SmartMedia card slot. In looks and features the Yepp E-32 most closely resembles the jazPiper MV32P even to the extent of offering a telephone book function where you can enter in details into the host PC where the data permanently resides before downloading to the portable player.
Performance is another matter. It fared particularly well in playback of the 256Kbit/sec reference tracks, just pipping the E-Sounds. The reason is apparently with the difference the EQ signal processing made to our listening experience. There are several 3D effects preset into the Yepp, and each sounds excellent on a variety of tracks and styles. Vocals that were drowned by the background were brought forward again, percussive and electronic effects fitted in again instead of blending into indistinct noise. As a consequence we recommend the Yepp more for rock music than the other strains we listened to, a turnaround to our findings with the other portable players which usually did better with classical and jazz tunes.
Samsung includes a MP3 manager called the yepp Explorer, RealJukebox and some sample MP3s. The version of RealJukebox requires registration before full facility is opened to the user. The yepp Explorer looks neat but has some areas which make it awkward to use. When selecting files to download you are allowed to tag multiple files but the display gives no indication as to the size of the files. The download proceeds, but when you play back the downloaded tracks you find that you exceeded the memory capacity. The Yepp E-32 makes a powerful MP3 player. We still have a wish list of features that will no doubt be addressed in the next generation of releases such as 64Mb memory, FM tuner, rechargeable batteries and a USB interface. Until then, we recommend the Yepp as the headbangers player of choice.