iRiver H320 review

iRiver claims up to 16 hours' battery life from the integrated lithium polymer battery. As ever, this is unrealistic in practice - if you skip tracks frequently the hard disk needs to spin up, sucking a lot of power. In use we got around seven hours from the device - still a pretty long way ahead of the iPod.

One of the most tempting prospects when you transfer practically your entire music collection to a device is to take it off on your round-the-world trip, but recharging the battery is a constant obstacle. iRiver has provided an answer in the form of an external battery box. It's not elegant, taking four AA batteries and piggybacking on the main body, then connecting by a short cable to the 5V DC input rather than a discreet set of dedicated contacts. But it works; we got about six hours use out of it using standard alkaline batteries, and it's a lot more convenient than lugging a backpack full of CDs around.

Headphones are the usual iRiver Sennheiser units. They don't live up to the expectations you might have of them if you're familiar with Sennheiser's full-size headphones, but their sound is well balanced. Quality from the H320 itself is great, and the headphone amplifier has loads of power; with the Sennheisers plugged in you'll rarely need to go above 50 per cent on the volume control.

The H300 series is no revolution; we still think it's better overall than the iPod, but were expecting a little more. We're not totally convinced of the merits of the colour TFT, especially given the limits on image viewing. But its improved styling is a welcome addition, and the battery pack and ability to upload your digital photos make it by far the best hard disk player for those who'll be away from civilization for any length of time.

Author: David Fearon