We tested the XFi2 and were impressed with its audio performance. It has EQ settings, which work quite well but without them it still sounds excellent. The XFi sound processing needs to be turned on and can be adjusted to boost the music and make it feel more robust. However, while it did make it sound better at mid volume, when the player reached the higher end of its volume range, having the XFi features switched on created some distortion and hiss. The Zen is capable of extremely loud volume though and most normal people that respect their eardrums probably won't sit on the highest setting very often. If you do listen to it at that volume, we recommend you turn the Xfi features off.
Like previous Zen players, there are quite a lot of features crammed into one tiny package. The player can display videos and images in addition to audio files. The video formats supported are Windows Media 9, MPEG4, Divx and XViD. The audio codecs include MP3, WMA (DRM9), WAV (IMA-ADPCM) Audible4, AAC and FLAC.. It is rare to find an MP3 player that will support lossless formats like FLAC, which is likely to make audiophiles quite happy. The image formats are limited to JPG and BMP although the bundled software will convert TIFF, GIF and PNG files. There is no RAW support though. The player also has an FM radio and voice recorder feature which works quite well. The microphone picked up a little background noise when recording but it wasn't too bad.
The interface is similar to previous Zen players but has had a few minor tweaks that are vast improvements. However, like previous models, it is a little cumbersome to use and will take some getting used to. In a market dominated by the iPod, the way to a customers heart is a slick and easy to use interface and in that regard, the Zen falls down. The biggest issue with the interface is that it isn't as responsive as it needs to be. The touch screen picks up the user interaction easily enough but the operating system is a little sluggish at times diminishing the enjoyment of the player. For example, scrolling through lists quickly is difficult as the list tends to scroll too fast or too slow. You are constantly having to go back through as you miss what you are after. Another example is the way you unlock the device which Involves dragging an icon off screen to unlock. This is slow to move and often has to be done more than once to be effective. It seems like a minor issue but it is things like this that Apple does well and what customers respond to.
