Accessories
The S20 came in a compact, reasonably attractive box. The picture that was printed on it was White. Inside was a black model however.


It has an interesting opening mechanism, reminiscient of the iPod's famous packaging.


What's inside the box is more important though. What you get is a pair of earbuds, a usb cable, a USB OTG converter (USB->Proprietary jack on player), a proprietary Line-In cable, Mains charger, Software/Manual CD and a somewhat plasticy carrying pouch.


I'm not sure if this is standard, but DigiArmor also included a generic plug-converter, to allow the S20 to charge on New Zealand-style power plugs.


The included earbuds looks like the Sennheiser MX400's. These are also rebranded by other companies. They came with their foamies already mounted. They sound decent enough for causal use, but I would recommend that you upgrade to something more substantial. This is a recommendation I would make for any player these days, however. They were also made out of light plastic, and thus felt kind of cheap.

The power adapter/charger also felt cheap, but It did the job, so no complaints. It has two LED's, one showing power and the other one showing charging status.

Design/Size
The S20 has a simple, attractive design. The player casing is made out of metal, black, in my case. The area surrounding the screen is mirrored. This is the only area that isn't smudge-resistant.


The top and bottom sides, however, are made out of plastic. They were slightly flimsy on my sample. Its not a huge issue however, as I tend to notice little things like this more than anyone else that I know.

The top side, in order, contains: Headphone-jack + remote-type connector, Usb OTG port, USB transfer port.


On top of the Usb OTG (on-the-go) capability (this means that the S20 can download photos and data off certain other USB devices or cameras), it also has a slot for a CF memory card. This is situated on the bottom of the player. Two rows of somewhat fragile pins are hidden/protected behind a rubber cover.


Once you insert a CF card into the slot, it comes up as another drive in the "Explorer" on the device. There, you can browse and play through files. DigiArmor has notified me that this functionality also works with CF memory card adapters, enabling you to use SD cards, for example.

As for size: It is 1.8" hard-drive based, but it is larger than both the iPod and the Zen (which I had for comparions). In having said that, it wasn't too big. It was still pocketable and manageable. Its larger size can also perhaps be justified considering the many extra features it has over these two players. A picture is worth a thousand words: so check out comparison pics at the end of the review.

Data Transfer
The S20 is MSC-capable. This means that it doesn't need any software to load music, photos and compatible videos onto the player. (Note that your video's are most likely not compatible, and thus need the included Video converter app).

Since the S20 firmware has a cut-down Explorer app, you can organise music in any way you like. You are not limited to certain folders.

Because of this, however, music navigation is done on a file/folder basis. You cannot find tracks via ID3 tags. It is debatable which way is better. Some users prefer this style of navigation whereas others dont.

The supplied Mini-CD includes: A video codec-pack and a video converter (both of which are freely available on the internet), a manual in PDF format, Windows Media Player and Real Player as well.

The S20 is compatible with most music stores (that serve protected WMA) via a supplied plugin for Windows Media Player. Not supported are: iTunes, Sony Connect and any subscription services. Note, also, that I could not test this functionality here in New Zealand.

Lastly, a Windows 98 driver is included.

The S20 is USB2.0 compatible.

Display
The 1.8" color screen is apparently able to display 262K colors, moreso than the Apple iPod color, for example. The resolution is rated at 280*200 pixels. This resolution is higher than that of the iPod (and quite a bit higher than the iAudio X5), but the screen's quality is not of a very high quality. Individual pixels are easily identifyable, and this led to somewhat jagged icons and fonts.

When viewing photos, however, its flaws were less noticable. Surprisingly, in this scenario, the colours were quite vivid.


The menues are somewhat uninspiring, however. This player is not as intuitive as my Creative Zen, which was not as intuitive as the iPod. Nevertheless, I did manage to learn to get around relatively quickly, and without the need for a manual.

The graphics, and menu layout is kind of dull. Also unprofessional was the irregular use of capitalisation throughout the menues. I'll talk more about the interface later on, however.

Navigation
Navigation is done through the 9 buttons on the front of the player. There is the usual directional keys, a select key in the middle, as well as two "function" keys, a "c" (cancel) key and an "m" (menu/power on/off) key.

They keypad also has a backlight -- one that glows an intrigueing blue color. The surface of the keypad is metallic. They keys make a quite loud clicking sound when pressed. The keys are also quite viscous which meant that it could get tedious when navigating through the menues.

The main meny is icon-based. Icons are arrange in a semi-circular order, and you cycle through them via the left/right keys. The currently selected icon is shown in a larger form below the other icons.

When navigating long lists, the directional arrows act in several ways. If course, you can go up and down, one by one. Pressing the left and right keys, however, act as page up and page down buttons. Holding the up/down keys activates accelerated scrolling.

As it is a file/folder based player, you wont enounter huge lists of songs, and so the scrolling solutions are adequate.

It is interesting to note that the player is devoid of a hold switch. The controls are flush with the player, but could still be activated in a pocket.

Functions
I'll go through the several functions of the player, one by one, by describing the different sections of the menu:


Music play: This menu lists protected WMA's loaded via Windows Media Player as well as any songs under the "Music" folder on the drive. Music can also be stored anywhere else on the drive, however. You can use the "Browse file" mode to find and play them.

There are several equaliser presets: "Rock," "Jazz," "Classical" and "Pop." These can be toggled by pressing the "F1" key (the left function key). The Rock and Jazz presets dont only change the frequency characteristics of the music but also add some kind of reverb effect which detracts highly from the soundq quality and makes it quite piercing.

The Sound Quality of this player is ok. My Creative Zen, and the iPod before it both were noticeably more detailed and extended and also went louder. The Sound is fine for casual/portable use with earbuds, and it still goes up loud enough. More than anyone would feel comfortable listening at (tested with Sennheiser PX100's).

There are 3 playmodes, that can be toggled via "F2" (the right function key). These are: "all," "random" and "one."

All in all, this is a quite simplistic player, that lacks some of the customisability of the top-tier DAPs.

Browse file: This is a file browser. It enables you to see any files, including documents, on the player. If you select a supported file type, the player will proceed to play the file.

You can copy/paste, delete files and create new folders.

Photo viewer: This menu lists photos located in the "Photos" folder on the drive, funnily enough." The first photo loads quite slowly, but subsequent photos load within a reasonable amount of time.

There is a random transition between photos, which can be turned off. You can also tell the player to show a folder of photos as a slideshow with an adjustable delay of 1 to 10 seconds.

The S20 is devoid of a video-out however, and the small screen isnt especially suited for watching very many photos. One huge shortcoming of the S20, is its inability to show photos and play music simultaneously.

Setup: Here you are able to adjust the backlight timer, the power-off timer and the language settings. Other settings are scattered around the menu, and are changeable when in the respective mode.

Video play: This menu lists the videos located in the "Mp4" folder on the drive. Videos must be converted to a specific format, the process for which software is included on the supplied CD. The player came pre-loaded with several music videos (as well as songs and photos).

Video playback is, unfortunately, rather choppy. The frame rate is low, and coupled with the small screen, the S20 ends up looking not-so-attractive as a movie/video player.

Fast forwarding videos is done by skipping through several seconds at a time.

The video sometimes pauses while the the player re-buffers.

FM Radio: Well, this one is pretty much self explanatory. The radio has five definable presets, as well as automatic scanning.

What is strange, the player must turn off its screen when auto scanning, which means you are left wondering as to what it is doing for a few minutes as it completes its tast.

Also, when the screen is on, the radio becomes somewhat distorted. When the screen goes off (automatic), the signal is clear.

The radio goes up in 0.1 MHz steps. You must press the left arrow for each step, which can get very frustrating and time-consuming, when browsing stations manually.

OTG backup: If you connect another MSC-capable device via its Usb OTG port, the S20 can copy the data stored on it to the hard drive. This works with some cameras, and can be useful to free up memory cards.

My Canon SD100 digital camera did not work with the S20. I also tested this function with a flash-drive and it worked well.


Once you select "backup," the screen goes blank for a few seconds (depening on the amount of data to be copied over), and returns with a list of copied files. You cannot select which files to copy, or even view files on the other device beforehand.

Game: This menu has two games: "box" and "block." "Box" is a tetris clone and "block" is a breakout clone. These games cannot be played simultaneously with music. And thus their usefullness is about zero.

Record: The S20 can record from its built-in microfone, FM Radio or Line-In.

Recording qualities are defined as "Normal," "Good," "Better," and "Best."

The microphone quality is fine for voice recordings within the vicinity of the player.

When recording the radio, as discussed earlier, the screen must be turned off.

Line-In recording must be done via a special cable that is included.


The connector beside the headphone jack is not for a remote control, after all, but it is used to record an external audio signal. This isn't practical, as you are confined to using the supplied cable, and you must be extra careful not to forget or lose it.

All types of recordings are affected by hard-drive spin-up noise every now and then.

I tested the recording quality using the "Best" setting. The results sounded good, despite the occasional hard-drive noise. This setting produces MP3's of 192Kb/s.

Other: The S20 can also view "e-books" -- plain text files.

Battery Life
Rated battery life is 15 hours according to DigiArmor. Honestly, I didn't do any in-depth battery testing, but having used the player, I can confirm this estimate. The S20's battery life was, in any case, longer than both the 4th Gen iPod (black and white) (quoted 12 hours) as well as my current main player, the Creative Zen (quoted 11 hours). No problems with the battery life, for most users.

I did test the battery life with video files. I played the 1-hour long movie "Paycheck" which was included, on loop. The battery life, in these circumstances, lasted around 9 hours... still quite decent. The video was quite compressed, however.

The battery meter seemed to be relatively accurate.

The S20 can charge via USB as well as the included power adapter. When charging, the center of the keypad glows in a green colour.

Conclusion
I have mixed feelings toward the DigiArmor DMS-S20. The initial experience was very good. The player was packaged in a reasonably classy package. It's metal casing was cool to the touch and looked quite good. The box also listed a huge array of features.

Upon using this player, however, I have found that it is not as fully developed software-wise as it couldve been. Some features arent well implemented, and the interface is not as friendly as possible. It doesn't do anything as well as today's top-tier players can; but it does do everything.

Undemanding users may be pleased with the various functions of this player. The S20 certainly has its appeal in some areas. For power-users, however, I would recommend buying two more specialised gadgets that do each function more thoroughly.

_{No percentual score has been handed out in this review. Pay no attention to the "0%" marker at the bottom.}More comparison pictures on the next page.

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