iriver T7 Volcano Review

The iriver T7 Volcano is a very basic DAP (Digital Audio Player) with decent specs but nothing remarkable. It does however offer decent features in a tiny form factor and is inexpensive. It could be the perfect choice for those looking for a cheap, no-frills MP3 player which can do play MP3′s without any problems with good sound quality and don’t care much about the features. In this review, we check out if it does manage to do that.

iriver T7 Volcano Specs:

• Size: 83.8 x 25.4 x 10.1 mm
• Capacities: 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB
• Display: 1″ OLED (64 X 128 px) Display
• Audio: MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG
• Battery: 200mAh Li Poly Internal with 10 hours audio playback (rated)

Other Features: Voice recording, FM Radio, 7 Preset Equalizer

Design:

The iriver T7 Volcano’s design is not much to speak of, it is just a simple flat stick like design similar to the Samsung U3. It is just slightly bigger than a pen drive. On the front face is the 1″ OLED display supporting a resolution of 64 x 128 pixels along with the playback control keys. The headphone jack and USB plug are located at the left and right end respectively. There is a small button on the back to pop out the USB plug. On the top there is a power button and a UP button and on the bottom is the hold switch and the DOWN button. The UP and DOWN buttons can be used as volume controls or for navigation.

The player has a plastic quality to it which means that while it is durable and has decent build quality, the feel is not very desirable. The buttons are small and hard to get used to. The click mechanism is well implemented though. Also as the player is very light weight and has a OLED display, it can easily withstand moderate falls.

Interface and Sound Quality:

The interface is very intuitive and can be easily operated by beginners. It is mostly text based and has simple animations and menu transitions. The player is a bit buggy and random lags can occur when navigating through the interface. The main menu offers the Music, FM Radio, Recording, Browser and Settings options to choose from which are pretty self explanatory.

Music can be transferred to the iriver T7 Volcano through the USB cable. It supports both the MTP and MSC modes which can be selected through the settings menu. MTP ensures advanced media transfer features on Windows XP and Vista while MSC ensures compatibility with all OSes.

The sound quality on the iriver T7 is good and possibly among the best. It will suffice for most casual users but it ain’t no audiophile material. The volume levels are superb. It is comparable to the Creative Zen Stone, slightly better. It also has 7 EQ presets, a custom EQ and SRS WOW HD.

Other Features:

It also has some other features like FM Radio and Voice Recording. The radio reception is good and the sound quality is above average. The voice recorder is very basic and has a small range. You can also record FM with it though.

The battery life of the iriver T7 is rated at 10 hours. This isn’t much to speak of but does suffice for about a day of music.

Pros:

• Rugged and Portable
• Good sound quality
• USB Compatible
• MSC and MTP modes

Cons:

• Plastic feel
• Small buttons

Conclusion:

There isn’t much to speak about the iriver T7. It doesn’t offer anything new which other players in it’s range don’t. At this price point, we would rather suggest you the Sandisk Sansa Clip. However if you are looking for a rugged player with good sound quality and a simple interface, you can also consider the iriver T7 Volcano.

Our Rating: 2.5 / 5.