My M6 review

I've used a sansa express, an insignia, a samsung T9, and various ipod flavors. the T9 is my current favorite, so I will review the M6 against it..

the M6 can be found for 20-35 USD cheaper on the same memory model. For that, you get a larger screen (2.4 vs 1.8) with higher rez (320x200 vs 176x144), more video formats and more audio formats, notably FLAC. advantage: M6.

form factor and style: I prefer the T9. it's narrower and little longer, but sculpted and feels better in my hand. the T9 also looks more stylish to me. the M6 is pretty basic lookwise. the M6's metal back does attract less smudge than the T9. still, advantage: T9. I enjoy carrying it with me much more.

controls: a mixed bag. I don't like the fact that the T9 has the menu and back buttons on the top side instead of the front face of the player. the M6 scroll strip makes it easier to scroll through long list. (the T9 just has the usual 4 directional buttons and an enter button) a small change would make scrolling a lot better on the M6: when you move your finger to the top or bottom of strip, it should keep on scrolling until you lift your finger off the strip, because chances are you want to continue scrolling, you're just running out of strip. instead it stops! you then have to take your finger off and repeat the scroll motion. it takes finesse to scroll by touching the top or bottom without clicking the button and without making a select.

the touch strip is also a bit too sensitive, so when I select something, often the select bar moves before the selection takes place, so I end up having to go back and select the right thing. also, it would be better if they separated the strip from the buttons and make the buttons discrete and tactile. the tactile buttons on the T9 makes it much easier to control it by feel, and much less of a chance of clicking something when you mean to scroll, and vice versa. so even though the scroll strip should make scrolling through long list less tedious on the M6, I have to give the T9 the edge here due to the imprecise nature of the strip.

screen: obviously no comparison here. M6 is bigger with higher rez. T9 has better contrast. I also like M6's horizontal layout and wish the T9 had a horizontal option. much better use of space, IMO. you know how you have a lot of songs with long titles, like "The Rolling Stones Live in Concert - 01 - Start Me Up.mp3". On the T9 you just see something like "The Rolling Stones Live in Conc" and you have to wait for the title to scroll by to see what it is. and in the browser list you have a bunch of these

The Rolling Stones Live in Conc
The Rolling Stones Live in Conc
The Rolling Stones Live in Conc

Not very helpful.

One good thing about the T9 is when in the menu, it automatically dims the background picture so it's easy to read the text. when you're in the graphical top menu or in the now playing screen, the background is displayed normally, with the song info displayed off in a black area so you can always read it clearly. on the M6, the background is displayed same way all the time, so you pretty much have to choose a dark, even background in order to read the text (or choose an evenly light background and use black text). You can't really have any picture you like with lots of light/dark details.

still, advantage: M6

UI: this definitely goes to T9. FF and RW is pretty tedious on the M6 in comparison to T9. on T9, you hold the << or >> and it starts RW and FF, and the longer you hold it down the faster it goes. this is great for getting to the right place in a long audiobook file. the T9 also has a convenient one click bookmark function, great for audiobook or just to mark a favorite place in a song. it also has a dedicated REC button for recording, great if you record a lot.

the T9 has separate Menu and Back buttons, so when listening to a song, you get a quick access menu with functions like EQ and play mode by clicking Menu (hold down Menu a couple of seconds to jump to main menu). When you click "Back" it brings you back to the song list. on the M6, the Menu button always brings you to the previously used menu. so if you go change the EQ or something, then how do you get back to your list of songs? you have to navigate to it from the top, e.g., Music->Albums->etc.. or Browser->Music->folder1->subfolder1->etc. A pain.

Also as mentioned above, on the M6, the touch pad requires more finesse and is harder to use without looking or while on the go. I also have to be careful with the volume control. I never feel like I quite have control of the M6 and experience too many "oops" moments.

One nice touch on the M6 is you can edit what you want to have on the main menu. would be nice if the T9 has this too, but the quick access menu makes editing the main menu less useful.

advantage: T9. and for people who listen to audiobooks, BIG advantage: T9.

sound quality: the M6 has more things you can tweak. the T9 only has EQ, 3D levels and bass boost. the M6 also has impressive bass. Yet I prefer the sound on the T9. less hiss with or without 3D, and overall just a more even and pleasant sound. I keep tweaking the M6 but I just can't get it to sound as pleasing to me. on the T9, I can really crank up the volume on rock and techno. when I do that on the M6, I get a headache. it's subjective, and others will have their preference, but I like the T9's sound better.

FM radio: the T9 has a better tuner, period. Reception isn't great where I am when indoors, but the T9 manages it better. On the M6, stations either don't come in or only in mono. I get like 1 channel with decent reception on the M6. I also like the T9's preset system better. the editable FM.ini on the M6 is cool, though. still, advantage T9.

video: M6 here, no question. But I'm not into watching video on a 1.8 or 2.4" screen when I have a 21" monitor and 65" TV. it's more a novelty than anything else. I do appreciate having the larger screen on a DAP, just not for watching video.

miscellany: the M6 takes a little longer to start up and about twice as long to rebuild its library (I have the exact same songs on both). I think just displaying the song titles as it builds the library slows it down some.

software: don't care, don't need it. I use MSC mode on both.

overall, the M6 has a lot of good things to recommend it. with improved UI and some changes to the controls, it would be really good. as it is, the T9 is still better to me, even with higher price tag and smaller screen.

Thanks for posting an objective review. Those are the two mp3 players that I'm debating between also. I'm still leaning toward the M6, with that nice screen, and I prefer the tactile strip (I have a Zen Micro). It just takes some practice to get good with it.

Just a little rebuff. Sorry if I get a little personal, Ive had a bad day, and I need to vent.

Controls. To scroll through a music photo or video selection, press and hold your finger either right below the menu or back button, it will start scrolling, until you lift your finger.

FF and RW. There are two ways of FFing and RWing, one method is, tap the pad when you are listening to a song and go up and down on the touch pad and you can quick select exactly how many minutes or seconds you want to go forward or back in the song. Second method, is ofcourse, to press and hold the FF and RW buttons.

And I dont think that because one player sounds _slightly_ different than the other, as a result you would get a headache from listening to it.

As for the video, you see, people who leave home and do things might need the feature because they are not always at home to watch their big screen TV and browse Youtube videos on their big computer display.

For scrolling continuously, I find it easier just to leave my finger on the menu or enter button (at bottom).

You can also skip to the top, middle and bottom of a list with the FF and RW buttons.

ylac

yes, I know about the different ways to FF and RW. I still prefer the T9's way of doing it. It's simpler and faster. You have to try it to see what I mean.

for scrolling thru lists, the M6 is better. clicking up and down gets tiresome on the T9. the only thing is it's a little too touchy and sometimes when I lift up my finger to terminate a scrolling action, the selection bar moves one or two lines.

When I say I don't care about video, that isn't a criticism of the M6. That's just what my priority is. I did say for video, it's the "M6, no question."

one more thing: the M6 is 2x-3x faster transferring files. Nice.

edit: I don't know why the M6 gives me headache. Something about the sound signature. I ordered some sennheiser px-100 to see if it helps.

I really wanted to like the M6. can't get anything with the screen this large at this low price. With some changes, it'd be great.

P.S: for some reason, it occasionally repeats the last 1-2 second of a song before going to the next. This is very noticeable on audiobook files where the tracks are continuous and there's no slilence at end of each track

Wow a first Quality comphrehensive review! Kudos to you pctwo!