Nationite S:Flo2 review/discussion

Ranix

United States666 Posts

January 21 2010 03:40 GMT

How is it going guys, no one is probably going to read this, but just in case. I ordered the Nationite S:Flo2 (mp4 player) and it came in the mail today after I decided to upgrade from my iPod nano 4gen. I'd like to talk about it and hear what others think.

Overview:

First off, let me tell you that the S:Flo2 is actually just a renaming of the Teclast T51 - a popular brand in China. So yes this is a Chinese product therefore automatically people assume the worst.

To be honest, I bought this from hearing about it from a friend and the specs. The specs are where this thing really shines.

+ Show Spoiler +

Let me point out where this thing really shines/the reason I bought it. This baby has 2 audio processors built in already. 2 of them. That's almost like a home theater setup. Absolutely awesome.

So anyway, it comes in the mail today and I'm eager to try it out. So I plug it in the wall to charge it and leave to do something. Come back a few hours later, unplug it, and... it wouldn't turn on. I couldn't believe it, the brand new player wouldn't turn on. I pulled out the manual (shitty by the way) and there was no troubleshooting section. I thought I was just being a dumbass and missing something, but as I later read online it happens. So I had to push the reset button and bam it turned on.

The first thing I wanted to do was upgrade the shitty firmware. So I plugged it up and was upgrading when the damn updater crashed along with the player again. I reset it again and it turned on. I was ready to test this thing out.

Another great feature about it is it fully supports FLAC files. I put on my favorite album, Dark Side of the Moon, then plug in my Audio Technica studio headphones (I want the best experience possible, plus I don't have good quality earphones.) and... wow.

This is where the S:Flo2 really shines. I couldn't believe the quality I was getting from a portable player. Let me reiterate, this was the closest I've heard to vinyl from a music player. I was in awe. That's the 2 processors + the headphone amp working right there. Just awesome.

I haven't messed around with video or anything yet as I'm not into anything other than music for portable players. Here is a quick pro-con summary

Pros:
-2 audio processors provide amazing quality
-FLAC support
-cheap for what you are getting
-10 hour battery life continuously playing music is great for me

Cons:
-Firmware is terrible
-ID3 tags can get buggy
-Battery on video is terribad from what I've heard
-Oh my god, if the player crashes one more time I'm going to ragequit.

...so, anyone else use something other than an iPod or Zune for music?

Jaxtyk

United States600 Posts

January 24 2010 05:42 GMT

I have the Cowon D2 just for music. And its great. Audio lvl goes up to 50 and the sound is so clear =]

I have to say that ur player has good support for the video. Xvid,Divx, and H.264 is great.

fungusmash

United States9 Posts

February 07 2010 05:17 GMT

I've own a few DAPs: ipod mini, classic, video, touch, Cowon S9, and now the S:FLo2. The S:flo2 is my favorite player by far. It has the dual DAC for each channel. The opamps on the player drives my Yuin PK1s (150ohm) and Sennhesier HD600 (300ohm) decently.

I'm currently using the sflo though the line out to my tube and solid state amps to my HD600. Eargasms =D. I haven't crashed with it once, though compared to my S9, the battery is low. That is to be expected with the amount of hardware in the player (rockchip, DAC, ompamp, and LCD screen).

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