Digital Trends

Digitalway MPIO FL100 256MB

January 28th, 2004 | by Brian Bordenave

The relatively small three-line LCD display is packed with a wealth of information such as scrolling ID3 tags featuring artist/song/album name, battery status, track duration, settings and more. The cobalt blue LED backlight comes in handy in dark or poorly lit surroundings and enhances the overall look of this device. The characters on the screen are clear and easy to read. By pressing the Menu button during playback, the user can change the bottom of the screen from info about bit rate and duration of the song to one of two types of graphic equalizers.

This device was built with flexibility in mind. While it was mainly designed for MP3 files, it can also play WMA files, MPEG-2, MPEG-2.5 and ASF files. It can also be utilized as a portable storage device for virtually all kinds of files. The unit can be obtained in a variety of memory sizes, usually found in the U.S. in 128MB and 256MB versions. While that might seem like a respectable amount of storage for some,

Digitalway incorporated an expansion slot for SD/MMC memory that in effect can increase the unit's memory to 384MB and 512MB respectively. The firmware for the FL 100 can be upgraded as well, effectively enabling it to become better as fixes and improvements are released.

Tucked away, behind a flip-out door, is the USB port and on the side of the device is the SD/MMC memory expansion slot. One perplexing design flaw is the color of the USB port. Digitalway managed to closely match the color of the plastic for the door to the memory slot and the battery compartment, but used a dark grey plastic for the USB port door. Though very minor in its impact, from a design perspective, it's like inclusions in a diamond. It's the little things that make all the difference. The doors also seemed a bit delicate and we were concerned that we'd eventually break them with constant use.

Angle view of the Digitalway MPIO FL 100.

Audio Performance

The unit's pre-configured equalizer sound settings are a nice function, but left a little to be desired in the overall sound quality. There is a nominal change in sound quality from setting to setting. Of the 7 preprogrammed settings, the “Pop” and “Dynamic Bass” settings provided the richest, most full-bodied sound. For our ears, the best sound quality was obtained by tweaking the “User Defined” setting. It provides a five-band adjustment that when adjusted provided more than decent sound quality. However, the bass still lacked a certain amount of depth to the playback and seemed slightly underpowered. Overall, the sound quality was quite acceptable but did not measure up to the likes of other devices with bass enhancing circuitry.

One recommendation to perspective buyers is to invest in a decent set of headphones. Though the included headphones provide decent sound, the weakest link in many portable audio devices, is often the headphones. The foundation of any good portable player is a set of good headphones that can accurately reproduce audio recordings. It is rare to find a great set of OEM headphones. Most manufacturers save their best headphone models for sale separately. 

One function we really liked was the ability to navigate through tracks without having to stop listening to your current track. Many devices on the market only allow you to view the current song you are playing.