My M6SL adventure

Hey gang,

It's done ... I finally made up my mind, and ordered a white 8GB M6 SL on eBay.

After the relief of having decided, now begins the sweet wait.
I'll keep this thread updated with little and big events (my preciousss package shipping and traveling, an unboxing, and a review), just to share the Meizu joy all over

Satka

I hope everything works out for you I had problems but It's a different story.

Well Stranded, I hope I don't experience any problems, but let's start with a geeky introduction ...

To ease the wait, I made a papercraft model of my DAP-to-be ...
The model is a "quick and dirty" one, since I couldn't find good textures, but the form factor is there !

Oh ... you'll need Pepakura Viewer to display and print the model !

Satka

i had problems to but was just usual stuff , having to update firmware as it was my first time , and another 1 the screen on mine went all white now n then dont know why , but nothing major happend , but anyways mine is a SP , but shudnt be too much diff, hope it works ok for you

Yay !

The vendor eventually managed to get a black version, so here is the updated Pepakura model !

"I love it when a plan comes together !" :D

The package just left Shenzhen (China) today, and I have a tracking number !
Although I don't know where to use that number to follow my precious item during its world trek, things have gone so smoothly until now that I can only but be confident !

Satka

This vendor is really a pearl: quick and kind, I definitely recommend it ! (he's called ldyonline on eBay)

The tracking number can be used here:
http://www.ems.com.cn

Satka

hi satka,

i can only confirm what you say about this ebayer. he is really fast and helpful.
i got my meizu m6 sl from his shop just three days ago. everything worked fine
(except the time the customs had waste).
i hope that you wont have problems with the customs.

(Humming "Raiders of the Lost Ark" main theme)

Here we go ... the package just left Shenzhen a few hours ago ... beware of Kali worshippers and enraged customs agents on the way !




Satka

It's here, at last !
After countless times of checking the postal tracking webpage, cursing the postman, and sending impatient emails to the (always calm and nice) eBay seller, the package finally arrived, brought by the now blessed postman !

Here are the unboxing pics (there's also a Flickr set if you want bigger photos)

"Open me ... quick !!!"


Chinese newspapers yay !


The nice box came with a USB charger, compatible with french outlets. This is a very nice touch from the seller, who's been perfect all the way through.


Oh, that was the back view ... The front one is very yummy too !


Delicately sliding open the treasure ...


To reveal the beauty.
It's so small !


In the box:

• A sealed bag with earphones
• Instructions manual (in chinese)
• A warranty notice (I think), in chinese too
• A CD with the manual, and software
• A tag in chinese (no idea what it is)
• A black silicon protection sleeve
• A USB cable

The earphones, plain and simple


First flashy photo of the M6SL


Yes, it is nice


Connectors are on the right side


The back is soft, shiny but not reflective


And my papercraft model put to the test: not bad, just a tad too big !


I'll post a review in a few days ... but the overall impression as of now is ... Congratulations Meizu !

Satka

thanks Satka, this is the kind of information that makes the forum

Hi, thanks for the pics of the SL.

You said that included IN the box is the silicon case. I am planning to ask some reletives in China to buy this for me and I need to know if the case comes inside the box or was it an extra gift from the ebay seller. Thanks.

Hey Sujinge9.

The silicon case was in the Meizu box, so I suppose you should get one too (unless they change the packaging somehow)

The only (and very welcome) gift from the seller was the USB charger with French outlet

Great thread, I'll keep reading.

The silicone case does not normally come with. I think the seller added it.

Originally Posted by Satka

Well Stranded, I hope I don't experience any problems, but let's start with a geeky introduction ...

To ease the wait, I made a papercraft model of my DAP-to-be ...
The model is a "quick and dirty" one, since I couldn't find good textures, but the form factor is there !

Oh ... you'll need Pepakura Viewer to display and print the model !

Satka

That was nice Satka... at least one very creative member of this fansite (a bit aggressive and negative)... thank you for this Pepakura experience... but you aren't loving too much a simple device that could disappoint you?

EDIT ***

I have to say thank again for the whole thread... was nice to feel your enthusiasm...

During the week I'll go to buy a new player... a Cowon D2... probably I'll share the experience in some other fansite that soon will appear
I'll inform you when it's officially launched

EDIT 2 ***

I would like to know your opinion concerning the earphones... I really like very much the Meizu PT850 I have i use them all the time... I know that you have received a new model. Your opinion will be useful.

Hey DaremoS,

Thank you for your message

Yes, I know I'm being a little over-enthusiastic about that new player ... but that's what I tend to do for a lot of stuff
The M6SL is a good little device ... it does have its pros and cons, and is not the ultimate player for anybody ... I'll try to write an unbiased review (and I'll talk about the earphones too)

Let us know when you get your hands on the Cowon D2, which seems to have a whole lot of interesting features. It belongs to a higher category than the M6SL, I think !

DaremoS, the new earphones are as good as the old ones, if not better!

Originally Posted by nice2know_u

DaremoS, the new earphones are as good as the old ones, if not better!

Thanks for the info... I do have another excellent earphones which are Koreans Cresyn which brings even a better sound that Meizu PT850 I think that due to its incredible isolation... but sometimes I want good sound and not so isolated as I'm paying attention to my girlfriend... in that times I prefer my Meizu... I do have also Koss sparkplugs... and assorted others that have came with my collection of players... but..

my favourites are Meizu & Cresyn !!!

Originally Posted by Satka

Hey DaremoS,

Let us know when you get your hands on the Cowon D2, which seems to have a whole lot of interesting features. It belongs to a higher category than the M6SL, I think !

So I've heard too... by this days some big department store is offering iAudio D2 as it is called now... by a lower price than M6 (which I already had)... so I wont let the go the opportunity ... I just hope that my Credit Card behave pretty well... :D:D:D

Here is my humble review of the Meizu M6SL.

First a little context: I'm not a die-hard audiophile, meaning I won't necessarily be sensitive to encoding rates variations, or sound purity.
On the other hand, I like my gadgets to be as friendly as possible, and customizable too. We each have a very personal view of what's ergonomic, and what's useful, that's why I don't really believe in universal devices that everybody should (must !) love and use.

So ... what is good and bad in that silicon-based wafer of technology ?

PART 1

What is it ?

The M6SL is a Digital Audio Player (DAP), or a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), depending on your usage of the device.
My first incline was to use it as an audio player, which labels my Meizu as a DAP.
But ... there's more than meets the eye !
Let's first explore each main area covered by the device.

Sound:
This is the main feature of course. In a word, I found the sound quality to be enjoyable. In fact, the number of settings (preset and user-defined EQ, Spatializer, 3D sound and more) make the audio experience a deep experience.
I found the sound to be rich and warm, with a powerful output (you might want to use the sound restriction feature to avoid destroying your ears, in case you accidently max the volume - more on this later).

The earphones are always a concern for me. I seem to have trouble finding earphones that fit my ears in fact. It's not that I'm a hobbit or a house-elf, but my left ear seems to be slightly bigger than my right one, which means that any earbud that comfortably fits my right ear will tend to move a little in the extra space of my left one. This is not a problem until I start walking, since the body movements tend to increase the problem, until I just lose the left earbud. Just annoying.
I also tried the kind with a foamish matter you stick into your ear. It works very well, but is not that easy to put on and off quickly (because sometimes you have to take them off, to ... you know ... talk to people)
As for the ones covering your ear, they are ok, but too bulky to fit in a pocket.

So I tried the Meizu ones with a little bit of apprehension.
And I have to say these are very good earphones for me: they fit and stand their ground perfectly, are easy to put on and off, and most importantly, are able to deliver a very enjoyable experience, whatever the type of sound. I'm listening to Sibelius violin concerto while typing this review, with Classical EQ preset, Spatializer enabled and some bass boost, and the sensations are just perfect.

Plugging the M6SL to amplified speakers (like the Altec Lansing inMotion) is a delight.


Video:
This is where the M6SL transformation occurs: I no longer have a DAP, it's a PMP now !
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from the video playback, and was seeing it as a nice but cheap addition to the audio feature.
Well, the video playback experience as a whole is well executed. The controls are easy and intuitive, you can modify the video backlight intensity, the device memorizes the position of the three latest videos played, and the fast forward is very good: it starts slowly and gradually speeds up to the end of the movie. Yes, I sait movie, because it is really possible to sit through an entire movie, the rich sound kind of compensates the small screen size.
I now have spent several evenings watching palm sized movies and tv shows !
I'm not going to post any video capture of the M6SL during a video playback, because my camera is just not able to do justice to the actual thing.

To make all this video extravaganza possible, you have to encode your video files first. That operation is very easily performed by the Batman tool (by the very talented BobbyQ). It is not a Meizu software, but it does a wonderful job to resize, rotate, shift the audio and tweak the appearance to your liking.
Batman is an extremely rich application, and yet unexpectedly easy to use if you don't want to do some fine tuning.
I've only been a dumb user until now, and just converted my FairUse-extracted movies to M6SL format, but I'll soon witness the full power of that fully armed and operational video battle station !

... to be continued

PART 2

Radio:
I only used the radio features a few times ... all I can say is that it works well, and I didn't need to look at the manual once to feel at home, and get exactly what I wanted.

Recording:

I still have to test the recording capabilities ... it is not a feature I'm particularly fond of, and I don't really expect the pinhole microphone to produce high quality results.

(switching to Revenge of the Sith soundtrack, still with classical settings)


Photos:
The slideshow feature is simple and works well, the photos are beautifully displayed by the QVGA screen, in crisp colors.
That being said, I don't really have an interest in browsing photo albums just for the kick of it ... I'd rather manipulate, sort, edit them on a proper screen, with a real image editor.
I'm sure this function will appeal to some people, but I'm not one of those.

Pocket operation:

The M6SL is pocket-friendly, which is just what I wanted from my new device.
I tried to operate the touch strip through fabric (trousers pocket), and it didn't work for me ... but it's very easy to reach the device inside the pocket and slide the volume up or down, without a glance. The same goes for play/pause and track skipping.
Another thing to be aware of is that tapping and holding the touch strip below or above the center sends the min or max command to the device, resulting in an extremely loud output, if you didn't restrict the maximum volume beforehand.

Navigation:

It took me a few minutes to get used to it, and I found it to be a little too sensitive at first. I got used to it after a few hours of intensive usage, though.

Startup takes over 15 seconds. This can seem a little long, but I learned to anticipate my musical urge, and switch it on before I'm ready to listen (if you know what I mean)
During audio playback, tapping the strip switches the interface from default to progress control, to full file details, to graphic equalizer.
This is all more or less useful, but I sometimes found myself fast forwarding 10 seconds, when I just wanted to change the volume (meaning I did a tap-slide instead of a slide).
That said, the touch strip is very well designed and used during audio playback. For example, there are no less than three methods to change the volume ...
The listening position of the current track is memorized, which is particularly useful when listening to podcasts.

Organizing:
Adding folders or files to the Playlist is done by using the Browser utility (which as its name indicates, allows you to navigate through your folders, which can be opened, added to playlist, or deleted.


Customizing:
I didn't try skinning the device yet, but any photo from the library can be used as a background, which is nice. Being able to customize the main menu contents is really important, and helps speeding up the M6SL usage. After all the device's main interest is to reproduce music, the way you like it, as quickly as possible. This is not a show-off gadget, even if it's a beautiful object, but a device which functions have been compacted down, making it the perfect invisible and lightweight musical companion.

Quirks & hiccups:
1) (reason unknown) I experienced two music library full scans for no reason. The library contents had not been modified, and yet the device spent the lengthy process of scanning its entire memory (and the more files you have, the longer the process).
2) (repeatable) After several fast forward actions on a track, the screen freezes, followed by either a return to the original state, (sometimes without the sound working anymore), or a black screen (no button response) requiring a full reset.

Battery:
I didn't perform an extended test (I am still too dependent on my Meizu to let it play music by itself for a day without touching it !)
First rough test showed that batteries lasted under 21h while playing MP3s, at volume 20. Full charging took under 2h (again, no exact figure here)

(Finishing the review with Air's "Mer du Japon" from "Pocket Symphony")

Uselessness:
To think that they took the time to add useless features in such a tiny body is amazing
The tools and games could have been forgotten entirely I think, as they don't really fit into the form factor or interface of the device. The calculator is a pain to use, the calendar is useless, the games deserve at best one minute attention before closing them forever. The stopwatch doesn't continue running when going back to music menus
I might sound a little harsh here, but again, this is not a PDA, or a gaming console this is an audio player, and it is very good at it, period.

Absents:
I would have liked to have an alarm (or several ones), the ability to create several playlists (not just one), and the ability to memorize the playing position of several audio files (as it is done with video files). Maybe background cycling through a photo folder during playback would have been nice (but not essential).

--- EDIT---
It is possible to have multiple playlists, you just have to save the current one (it will be named PLAYLIST1), and further files and folders will be added to a new playlist.

Silicon protection:
Not much to be said here ... I'll let the photos speak for themselves

PS: All photos of this review are available in a Flickr set