Creative Travelsound Zen V
See it at Amazon.com for $94.99Average Customer Rating
(5.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First (5 out of 5)Great sound from a small system
No matter how convenient it is to have a portable music player, there are times when you want to be able to listen to music "normally." The Travelsound Zen V is the way to do so with the Creative Zen V and Zen V Plus players.
It's very small, attractive, easy to hook up, and simple to operate. (You may have to update the firmware on your player, but the download is free on Creative's website, and the process takes just a few minutes.) There are lots of nice features. It runs on either 4 AA batteries or an included AC adapter. There's a USB input, an auxiliary line-in input, and a subwoofer output on the back. The manual is pretty minimal, but it covers the basic operation. The remote control is surprisingly convenient, but it is very small, and there's no on-board storage pocket or clip for it.
Of course, the most important aspect of any speaker system is the sound quality. The Travelsound Sen V is outstanding! It's amazing to hear the crisp sound from such a tiny system fill up a room. Obviously, you don't get booming bass from such small speakers, but the bass is very good nonetheless. The "wide stereo effect" button really works on this system; it creates an amazingly good stereo separation effect even though the speakers are actually less than six inches apart.
The Travelsound Zen V isn't cheap, but I think the convenience and quality are worth the price. I'm happy I bought it, and I'd do so again.
(5 out of 5)Great System
I just recieved this for my birthday I love it. At first when I hooked up my zen I got a buzzing noise out of the speakers while the music was playing but it was just a matter of turning the volume down on the zen which fixed the problem right away since were getting feedback. I've had all different types of speakers these are great love the sound on them and so portible I can bring in to my office to listen to music instead of using my crappy speakers on my work comoputer. Another great feature is on the back it does have a place for the usb tranfer cable, line in so you can hook it up to you computer and plus a sub out input which is great. I love it so small but great sound I can take them with me. The only thing I wish was that it had built in batteries instead of putting in 4 aa batteries which it still gets the same sound quality
(4 out of 5)Nice Docking Station
Sound quality is great with the Wide Stereo Effect. Volume has a nice range and there is low to no distortion at higher volumes. My only complaint would be that the volume control does not remember last setting, must reset volume each time i turn on. Having a remote control is nice, only i would like a pocket or some way to store remote in the station. Remote has a mute button, on top of standard controls, very nice, ON/OFF Button on remote is not clearly explained "Press and hold of Play/Pause Button is ON/OFF switch". On Docking Station itself controls are clean and straight forward. Overall i would give it a high rating. I bought it at the beginning of January.
Feb. 2008
Update to my orignal review: with a clock in the Zen, it would have been real nice to have the added feature of an alarm clock in the Travelsound. Sill would like to have a pocket for the remote for travel. Per other reviews most missed the ON/OFF instructions for the remote.
(5 out of 5)Makes a great MP3 player even better
After researching and finding good reviews for the Creative Zen V plus (at the time I bought it an iPod with similar features and size cost twice as much) I bought one and have loved it.
A portable MP3 player is great if you're in a position where it's convenient to wear earplugs/phones, but the Travelsound makes the Zen V great pretty much all the time and everywhere.
The sound from this little system is fantastic for 4W. You're not going to rattle the windows at those decibels, but if you need your music that loud you've already suffered hearing damage!
The Travelsound makes me able to carry our music on cookouts, tailgating, to the pool. I play it in my office and I bring it with me when I do surgery in the O.R. (At my facility a "permanent" stereo set up in the OR will be quickly stolen - the Travelsound with my handy little Zen makes me able to set up good sound, then carry it with me for safekeeping.)
The Zen is a little inconvenient to charge in that it would only do it when connected to a computer or their $30 adapter. THIS fixes that - it charges while attached!
There's also a connection (with included male to male cord) so that you can connect non-Zen sound devices to it. It sounds twice as good and is as loud as the Altec-Lansing speakers on my computer, and they're not portable or battery-powered.
It all fits in a little, included, velvet bag. It'll run 25 hours on alkaline batteries, but you can also plug it in with the little (included) AC adapter.
The Zen has an FM receiver, but doesn't get great reception by itself. The Travelsound fixes that - it has a retractable antennae that makes the reception crystal clear!
The Zen is easy to use, but I would have been happy for a remote control... with the Travelsound, wish granted - it comes with a remote that adjusts volume, allows you to navigate between tracks, lets you flip back and forth between MP3 and FM radio.
I haven't used it yet - but there is a connection for a self-powered sub-woofer, presumably if you can't live without the window rattling.
In short - if you want a device that you can load thousands of tracks onto, then carry with you and provide wonderful sound that will fill a room - THIS is the system to get.
(5 out of 5)Great small system
I ordered this for my niece and she loves it. For how small it is, it produces great sound and charges her Zen, which is great.