One may grapple with the slew of impersonal model names assigned to Samsung's various MP3 players, but to know the YP-T9B is to remember its arresting design and impressive functionalities.

Design

The YP-T9B is a classy little number, with its petite profile and glossy black case rivaling that of the iPod nano. Its curved corners are unmistakably Samsung and undeniably sensual.

Weighing in at a barely-there 49g, the YP-T9B is the perfect pocket companion at a sleek 42.6 x 83 x 11mm. Its sturdy case feels unlikely to crack under pressure or unsuspecting buttocks as the case may be.

On the front of the device sits a 1.8-inch screen and five-way directional joypad for quick and easy control selections. The earphone connection jack, a lanyard eyelet and microphone are aligned at the top of the casing, while the main function buttons (recording; A-B section repeat; back; menu; play/pause; power) fall into line on the right. The hold switch is thoughtfully positioned on the top left side to avoid accidental tripping.

On the surface, the YP-T9B is pure eye candy. Bite into it and taste the burst of vivid color pools on its beautiful, brilliant screen. Powering up the YP-T9B brings forth a flamboyant navigation menu with crisp display fonts and circular graphics, outfitted with Flash animation.


Visualizations on the YP-T9B's music mode are downright gorgeous. A psychedelic mirror ball of animated shapes, the sharp juxtaposition of the neon colors against the player's black casing is nothing short of alluring.

Users will delight in the YP-T9B's vibrant and intuitive interface while delving into the player's plethora of features (music player; file browser; FM radio; text viewer; photo browser; video player; games; sound and FM recorder; Bluetooth connectivity; player settings).

Navigation and audio volume are controlled mainly with the five-way directional joypad, while the Back and Menu buttons on the right shuffle between additional mode settings and the main selection menu. The Macromedia Flash interface is generally fast-loading, though it tends to slow down a notch when it is connected to a Bluetooth headset.

The navigation is organic, right along the lines of the YP-K5 and iriver's D-Click menu, which means new users can jump right in. The menu button also serves up a sub-menu which pulls up contextual options relevant to the active menu such as play mode selection and sound equalizer controls.

Though responsive and satisfyingly tactile, the small joypad buttons are at times stiff under big thumbs. Regardless, the organic and organized nature of the player's interface will have any tech neophyte grooving in no time.

Features

Demure device, monster features. The YP-T9B is as souped-up a multi-functional MP3 player as most users could hope for.

Tangled wires are the bane of road warriors who take their entertainment wherever they go, so the YP-T9B's implementation of Bluetooth connectivity will enable users to pair a Bluetooth-compliant stereo headset with the player wirelessly. Both the A2DP (stereo audio streaming) and AVRCP (remote control) profiles are supported, so the user can control playback and listen to the YP-T9B while it sits in the pocket.

This function is what sets the YP-T9B apart from its predecessor, the YP-T9.

Also unique to the YP-T9B is Samsung's Digital Natural Sound Engine (DNSe), a cool feature that attempts to recreate stereo musical environments (user; studio; stage; club) for the rich enhancement of sound. Users are spoilt for choice with a bevy of other equalizer selections (rock; house; dance; jazz; ballad; R&B; classical). The player also boasts a Street Mode that amplifies music playback for sharp and clear outdoor listening.

In music player mode, the YP-T9B also serves up an array of colorful visualizations to accompany tracks, making for a merry marriage of aural and aesthetic pleasure. Other quirky functions include the play speed and skip interval settings, best suited for control freaks perhaps?

The YP-T9B comes bundled with the Samsung Media Studio, an uncomplicated software that's a snap to use. The application allows users to transfer data to the YP-T9B, organize their media libraries, create personalized albums and write audio CDs. Do note that YP-T9B units in Asia are UMS (USB mass storage) devices, so users can choose to drag-and-drop files without going through the software.

The Samsung Media Studio also grants direct access to the online Samsung music store, which may be available to Singaporeans at a later date.

Users can create playlists with the software's My Album function and assign special cover art to each album. Playlists can be reviewed through the YP-T9B's file browser and tracks can be added to the default Favorites track list on-the-fly with a touch of the A-B switch button.

File formats

The Flash-based YP-T9B supports MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis and ASF music files, though no conversion features are provided for other file types. Users can take a break from their music libraries and tune into the airwaves with the YP-T9B's FM radio function. While the FM radio may lack the visual embellishments of the music player mode, it remains a timeless feature and even allows users to save up to 30 frequencies with the auto preset and FM region functions.

Users can also record radio tracks and store them as files with the YP-T9B's voice and FM recorder. The latter records high-quality MP3s of up to 192Kbps.

The YP-T9B also supports video playback for the SVI video codec, but users can convert their AVI, WMV, ASF and RMVB video files with the Samsung Media Studio application. The software, however, lacks the appropriate codecs to convert MOV and MP4 video files.

Videos are automatically played in landscape mode upon selection, to make full use of the player's miniature screen. Another click of the center button hides all window options for a full-screen viewing experience.

Photo display and browsing take an innovative turn on the YP-T9B as well. Instead of the standard lineup of indecipherable thumbnails, the player displays a large photo preview box, outlined by three thumbnails for better organization and easy viewing. Uninterrupted music playback adds a nice touch when going through the images in a slideshow. The YP-T9B supports only JPEG files of less than 3MB in size.

In text viewer mode, display text on the YP-T9B's screen is astonishingly bright and clear for tireless reading. The text viewer supports only TXT and XOV files, but is a nice feature for stashing bits and pieces of information for quick reference. Anything lengthier will have users scrolling through the screen display till kingdom come.

If this lineup of features thus far is still insufficient entertainment, the YP-T9B also offers two simple Macromedia Flash games (Baseball and Pizza Delivery) with the five-way directional joypad as the main controls. While the titles are visually more stimulating than Solitaire, users may experience a frustrating lag in between frames that affects overall gameplay.

Data transfers are performed via USB 2.0 through the Samsung Media Studio. The YP-T9B has no expandability options, but our 2GB review unit was able to stomach over 400 MP3s with five videos and over 20 photos to boot.

On the accessories front, the outdated design of the YP-T9B's stock earphones fall short of the player's stylish quotient. The absence of a fancy carrying pouch is also a shame, as you will want to take this beauty everywhere you go.

Performance

Audio playback on the YP-T9B exceeded expectations with its pristine clarity and depth. Auditioned with the player's stock earphones, the vocals on Jason Mraz's Life is Wonderful brimmed with presence and fullness. The strains of Christina Aguilera's Hurt were chillingly detailed with adequate response in the highs and upper mids.

While the player's in-built DNSe took a stab at recreating different 3D musical environments to suit different genres of music, these modes sounded excessively noisy and artificial. To be fair, the playback of Evanescence's Call Me When You're Sober in 3D-Stage mode yielded the muffled impression of bad seats in a crowdy, sweaty concert hall.

The YP-T9B's FM radio function impressed with its accurate, automatic detection of the strongest radio stations. FM playback was crisp and clear with little feedback. While the FM record function produced high-fidelity recordings from the radio, the playback of the voice recorder was less distinct.

Video playback on the YP-T9B was strikingly clear as well, despite the stingy 1.8-inch screen. Drop frames were obvious during the playback of the bundled 3D animation clips, but the YP-T9B handled other test videos seamlessly with clarity and brightness.

Photos looked well-defined and vivid on the YP-T9B, though certain shots were skewed to fit the screen's 208 x 176-pixel resolution.

One downside is the YP-T9B's use of a proprietary USB cable, although the above-average transfer speed atoned for that limitation. Using 240MB worth of MP3 files, the YP-T9B clocked a transfer rate of 3.21MB per second.

Battery life was very good. Playing 240MB worth of MP3 files on a loop, the YP-T9B lasted 29 hours 24 minutes.

We took on the YP-T9B's Bluetooth capability by pairing it with three different headsets: The Samsung SBH-100, the i-PHONO mini and the Oakley O ROKR. The YP-T9B played well with all three. From discovery, to pairing, down to actual usage, operation was seamless without a hitch.

Audio quality, while the player is in the user's pocket, was acceptable. With AVRCP, basic playback controls can be effected from the player as well. But as we mentioned earlier, the menu navigation on the player suffered from a slight lag when Bluetooth connectivity was on.