Never turn on your MP3 and portable media players (PMP) in full blast. The loud volume of music through the headphone may impair your hearing.
As shown in a Consumer Council comparative test on 37 MP3 and PMP players, seven of these players were measured to be slightly above the maximum listening level of 100 dB, a statutory limit imposed in France (but users can reduce sound level by the volume control).
Recent research has cautioned that prolonged listening to loud music might impair hearing.
So, it is recommended that consumers should keep the volume down to 60% of full scale when listening to music via the headphone on these players. Further, consumers are advised to limit it to not more than 60 minutes a day.
Consumers should also pay heed to the boost in audio performance that could result from the use of a higher quality headphone instead of the accompanied earphone, and adjust the volume accordingly.
The latest tested models are generally equipped with higher memory capacities: 1GB for flash-type players, up to 60GB for players with hard disc. Colour monitors are featured in some models to enable an additional variety of applications like photo and video viewing. For portable media players, USB host or card reader is sometimes provided to access digital photos and music/video files directly without connection to computer.
In the test, the samples, ranging in price from $380 to $5,280, were tested and rated according to their audio performance (30% of weighting), ease of use (28%), battery performance (15%), portability (10%), versatility (10%), durability (5%), and software provision (2%).
On battery performance, the maximum listening hours were measured with the players delivering identical volume of music. The best performers with built-in rechargeable battery could run for over 50 hours continuously. In general, flash-memory players using AA battery usually run longer than those powered by the smaller AAA battery.
Overall, five audio players and five PMP received a good score of four points out of a 5-point rating.
In the latest comparative test of mobile phones, a total of 30 new models were compared for performance in ergonomics, battery, portability, durability, sound quality, sensitivity, convenience, SMS and picture functions such as camera, display quality and data transfer.
Most samples have built-in digital camera function, and can support MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) function, allowing users to send messages containing sound or image. Six are 3G phones with video call and video streaming features.
For full details of the test results, consumers can consult the two reports in this January issue of CHOICE.
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