Hisound audio N1

Special thanks to emOkia of lowyat.net forum:  http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2669159/all for this unit N1 sample.This is a sample unit offered by N1 that has the label on it. So, since there is no packaging, it will be omitted.

SD Memory card expandable: yes
Internal Capacity: 4 GB

Display and Looks

HiSound Nova N1

Navigation

Navigation could do some serious getting used to. There isn't any label stating which button does what, not even a graphical indication. All they give is a red light. That is confusing. We need at least an indication of what all the buttons do, instead of reading the manual, if there is one. I constantly mispressed here and there, and sometimes can say that i got lost in the navigation.

Power button is also something that might need reworking. The spring load button, if got caught on a knit in the trouser while you put it into one, might hook on the N1 and turns it off. 

Screen 

Have you ever seen a red text on black and white chequered background? Neither did I, go try it out on some graphic tools you have, and you will understand the difficulty level to read on this thing.The background and the text mix so well that it is eye-irritating to read it in one go. I did my navigation based on guesses as I couldn't get what is it in there. Once you get pass that, reading becomes so much easier, like the bottom image indicated above.

Audio Quality

Bass

To be frank, the bass N1 gives is actually quite flat. Not much pronounced nor accurately beaten bass. It is just a good mixing, and nothing too special to mention about.

Vocals + Mid

N1 does better in the vocal section, singer is quite forward and the pronunciation can be well listened to. Background vocal seems weak, and couldn't be separated clearly with the main vocals. 

Treble

Treble is quite weak as i chosen songs that rely a lot on treble + cymbal hitting to spice the music. There isn't much around, and so i can confirm you, imagine an eq with everything at zero. That's as closest sounding to N1 you can get.

Soundstage

Not much to talk about, it is quite a studio like staging effort. Even in hall mastered music, it does feel that way. 

Conclusion

What can I say good about N1 since I critic almost everything about N1? Well, flat sound lovers will certainly love this N1, and also believers that headphones will change the music signature. Consider this as a raw output for music, and let your headphones do the music changing trick. For portability, with that much drawback, I might think this is more for the specific taste. That's all for N1, and as always, test everything, leave nothing behind.