Customer Reviews

Philips EXP503 eXpanium Personal CD Player with CD-MP3 Playback and Car Kit

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a well-designed, sturdy and versatile player. It can play MP3s encoded up to 320 KBPS (which was a major buying factor for me)
It has a relatively large, legible LCD display with good contrast and backlight. The headphones are OK if you like the in-the-ear design.

Display has three modes: album, filename and ID3 tag.
If you burn a CD with folders for individual artists (or styles) the album mode will display the name of the selected folder on your MP3 CD.
The filename mode will scroll the individual filenames but only the first 40 characters. I really like this feature since a lot of my MP3s do not have decent ID3 tag info and I was dreading the prospect of having to go in and update them all.
The ID3 tag mode is just what it implies but I found myself not using this feature at all since I can just look at the filenames instead.

I was impressed with the EXP50317's speed in reading and searching MP3 CDs; a friend of mine has an older Philips model which is a lot slower than this one. Also, I haven't experienced any skips or hangups during play or while changing tracks.

Sound quality of the player is very good for both CDs and MP3s and the car accesories make it a very nice addition to your car's stereo system. Plus now I can finally listen to all my MP3 while I'm driving.
The only thing I don't like about the EXP50317 is the fact that the control buttons have a chrome finish which makes fingerprints and smears on the buttons very visible. A matte finish for the buttons would've been better.
Overall, I think this is an exceptional player and, although it wasn't cheap, I'm glad I spent the extra money. It was worth it.

I've always liked the idea of an Mp3-CD player. I first bought one around 3 years ago back when the only modles were cheap no name brands, they played alright and were very durable but that was all to them. Then the market opened up and I bought a new Rio Volt... which broke the first two weeks I owned it. This verion made by Philips is much better then anything I've seen. The controls are easy to deal with, centering around a very nicely placed back-lit window that tells you the name of the tag of the song your playing (The real difference between this and the 300 modles). Another great feacher is the ablity to skip between folders in the CD, something I havn't seen in any player before the Expaniums. Before I played with Mp3-CD players I bought Philips CD diskmans and now that they have made a player that is up to snuff I finally don't have to resort to cheap noname player (or even worse, there more expensive cousins **Don't buy a Rio Volt**). This is a true Mp3-CD player, the difference is comparable to the first clunky diskmans for the early 90's to the sleek ones we have now. Thank you Philips.

When I first heard about MP3 CD players a year or two ago I knew that I had to have one. But as with all technology sometimes it's best to sit it out and wait for it to mature. Thank you Philips for the first grown-up player!

This thing is great. I am quite familiar with MP3 and I try to keep up on the latest technology and I must say that the one most important feature of this player - sound quality - is extremely excellent. All of my MP3s are "archive quality" (IMHO!) and the Philips does an admirable job of reproducing them. Most of my MP3s are variable bit rate, many with BRs ranging from 12 - 320, and I have had no problems there. Needless to say this was a big selling point for me. The ID3 feature (which recognizes artist & song info) is also excellent, as well as the interface, backlight, speed of song title recognition and startup, and included accessories. It is also very compact and light. About the only complaint I can come up with is that it does not include a case... personally I'd like to see a small case befitting this beautiful little player. Needless to say most of the CD player cases out there are bulky and ugly, so I had to create one out of a CD disc case. Ah well, one can dream...

As far as the color, as others have mentioned it is not black, but more of a purple color. However, I like it! Black is so... black. The purple is something of a pleasant change and has a nice iridescence to it.

There are only a couple of high end cd/mp3 players out there now--Exp 503 and Sony DCJ01. The sound quality of both players are really good (I got the DCJ01 from my friend to test it). These 2 players excel (and almost identical) in features. With the exception of the lack of car kit and an extra carrying case for the DCJ01, both players' antishock are very well done. I once drop my EXp 503 onto concrete and it's still fine (except for a few scratches). Jogproof is comparable with G-protection (they are very similar).
I choose this over sony is because Philips has a history in making mp3 players already, while DCJ01 is only the first one out for sony.
BAD STUFF: the in-ear phone is not too good in my opinion, as well as the dark purple color too.
Caution: the Exp takes up quite a lot of battery, so I suggest getting the rechargeable ones, they would proof to be economical very soon.
Overall, I think this is the best cd/mp3 player out there. I would also advise against getting the Riovolt SP 200 because I don't think more features(such as remote and rechargeable capability ) can counterbalance the poor sound quality it offers. Afterall, we buy these stuff to enjoy the sound and music, right?

Pros: Lots of accessories, backlit lcd, reads ID3 tags, great ESP.

Cons: Backlit lcd, no line-out, hardware glitches, lack of quality control.

Summary: I have owned this unit roughly a month. It has wayyy too many things wrong with it for me to justify the price. One, it has no line-out, which is unforgivable, and the headphone jack is on the front which makes it impossible to mount in a car and make it look good. It also gets really hot underneath when the dc power supply is used. The LCD is backlit blue and looks good, but is really hard to read off-axis. The backlight turns on for about 4 seconds when you push buttons, and then turns off. I think they should have a backlight switch so you dont waste battery this way. The backlight quit working a week ago, so its a moot point anyway. The buttons also beep when you push them, something I find annoying, and the unit beeps when you pause it, something I also find aggravating. The point of pausing it is to NOT hear anything. The unit's headphone jack is also incapable of driving higher-impedance headphones like my Sennheiser 535s, so you are forced to use more efficient ones (like the crappy supplied earbuds). One of the most aggravating things wrong with it is this glitch in the ID3 reader that takes the last part of whatever the artist's name was before the artist name that you are viewing, and tacks it onto the one you are viewing; if the first artist you viewed was Matchbox 20, and the current one is REM, the ID3 readout will say REMchbox 20. The unit also has a display switch, but it doesn't remember your choice, thus, it displays this unneccessarily long filename whenever you switch tracks. The ergonomics are poor, and are hard to use if you use the belt clip. The ESP also turns on whenever you turn the player on, which wastes batteries if you forget to turn it off. The volume control is also recessed, which makes it hard to adjust, and the thing blows through batteries like nobody's business. You can expect maybe 6 hours on standard alkalines.

So what's good about this player? Not much. The backlight looks cool (when it works), and the player has good skip protection even when the ESP is off. It does read ID3 tags, and the belt clip is cool. Since I am currently on my second player, which also does not function properly, there is no way I can recommend this unit. I actually liked the player when it worked, but it has too many unforgivable flaws to be sold as a production unit.

I got the EXP503 to replace my bothersome MPTrip player. So far, I couldn't be happier. A display that actually tells you the artist who plays that song #149 that you didn't know you liked so much. A resume feature that will pick up where you left off yesterday (caveat: batteries or power source must be connected for resume to function). Plenty of buffer storage. I ran 3 miles with it this morning with nary a skip.

Bonus points for some rocking in-ear headphones that have some new BASS technology. Batteries are NOT included contrary to product description. I'm using NiMH rechargeables. The included car kit works as expected.

Thanks Philips!!

Update in Feb. 2002: The MP3s stopped working. Music cd's still play but the mp3 discs just sit there. So I've returned the player to Phillips for warranty replacement. Currently awaiting the new one. Rating dropped to 4 stars.

Got the replacement model from Philips after a couple of weeks. So far so good.

I have been using my EXP503 for a couple of weeks, and am very pleased with it. My observations:

* The unit is thin (a little over an inch) and light, unlike most of the MP3 units I've looked at.

* I have had no problem with the "Resume" function on MP3 files; however, if the unit "goes dark" the "Shuffle" indicator doesn't come back when you start it up again. It seems to lose the Shuffle setting. If you hit "Start" and then immediately press the Mode button to choose Shuffle, the unit changes the mode but then does not start. Just press "Start" again, and you'll resume where you left off.

* The unit does recognize ID3 tags, but only some kinds. The files I got from mp3... work with the "Artist+Title" function, but the files I have converted with MusicMatch do not. Maybe it recognizes ID3v1, but not ID3v2. I haven't been able to get to Philips' web site ...to find out.

* I haven't found software to create AAC files yet. MusicMatch is supposed to have a deal to add it, but I can't find anything on it on their web site.

* The "fast-forward-within-track" also works on MP3s, but it doesn't seem to speed up; it runs at about 6x normal speed.

ADDENDUM: ID3 tags seem to work on my unit now, but with an amusing bug. The tail end of the tag does not fill the remainder with spaces; the old characters stay. So right now I am listening to General Public's song "Tenderness", but the artist tag is "GENERAL PUBLIC ND", and the title is "TENDERNESS 90, GO OU" (the last song played was "C30, C60, C90, GO", and there must have been an earlier song with "OU" at the end.) Kajagoogoo's "Too Shy" is now "KAJAGOOGOO LIC ND" and "TOO SHY SS 90, GO OU". Not a big deal to me, though.

This MP-3/CD player is great. The sound quality is tremendous and includes many different functions for MP-3 playback like shuffle (within an album), shuffle all(the whole cd), shuffle repeat and shuffle all repeat. The seak time for song to song in shuffle mode is about 1 second or less. To me very reasonable. The color of the lid is very dark almost black metalic color. It actually looks better than the picture shows.
I am very pleased with this player and would reccomend it to anyone looking for a quality portable MP-3/CD player.

Before I complain about this unit's shortcomings, I'd like to point out what it has going for it. The Expanium 503 is like Marlon Brando -- "I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody!"

This unit has GREAT sound quality. Rich, warm sound. The build quality of the unit is great, compared with others like the Rio Volt -- very sturdy. It supports AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) files, of which I made quite a few with the Psytel AAC encoder. AAC sounds FAR better than MP3, even at low (128-160) bitrates. I was really shocked and surprised. It's also a rather attractive unit -- nice deep burgandy color. Folder and file navigation is also very easy and intuitive.

Now... what's wrong with it?

Resume doesn't really work. With MP3 CD's, it only works if you turn it back on within about a minute of turning it off. And it does work -- it goes back to the precise spot in the song you left off at. However, if you turn it back on longer than a minute after, it starts back at the first song on the first album. With AAC-CD's, it goes back to the same song, but at 0:00. And after a minute it goes back to the first song on the first album. This is a fatal flaw, as far as I'm concerned.

Between-track gaps: with AAC CD's, it's actually quite minimal, like 1 second or 2 between songs. With MP3 CD's, especially if you have 200+ songs, it can be as long as 5-8 seconds. Completely unacceptable, as far as I'm concerned.

Seek times: with fewer than, say, 100 files, it's quite quick. After that, though, it can take forever to find certain folders.

Filename display is very buggy. I rarely use ID3 tags on MP3's I make myself, so I've not seen the "overwrite" error that a lot of people talk about in their reviews. But the filename display is buggy as well -- let's say a track is called "01 - Five years.mp3": the Expanium will display "01 - Five years 3456789012345678901234567890". Even if you have, like the manual suggests, short filenames (even DOS 8.3 names!), it will still display the numbers. Not a big deal, but it does detract from the aesthetic appeal of the unit.

In short: I think this unit has too many shortcomings to be recommended. I give it 3 stars simply because of its potential (AAC support) and the superb sound quality. Sonic Blue/iRiver: are you listening???

I bought this MP-3 player to use to listen to audiobooks that
are being transferred from tapes or CD's to this format. This
allows the publisher to put up to 14 tapes on one MP-3 recording.
When you use this player to listen to these audiobooks, there is
a slight hesitation between tracks even if it is in the middle of
a sentence. By a slight hesitation, I mean up to 3 seconds. Some
of these recording have as many as 70-80 tracks! So this can be
irritating! Obviously music isn't a problem as each song completes a track!