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Philips’ GoGear Muse looks and feels classier than older models thanks to its brushed metal back. The right-handed design is unchanged, which will put off left-handed users. It’s one of the few players we’ve seen with built-in noise cancellation. This blocks out background noise in places such as a train carriage or aeroplane so you can listen to music without raising the volume to dangerous levels. It works surprisingly well and is almost as effective as third-party noise-cancellation and isolation earphones we’ve tried, but the circuitry works only with the included earphones. Thankfully, these sound detailed and clear with enough bass, although some instruments, particularly brass and strings, don’t sound as rich as we’d like, so you may still want a third-party set. If you tire of your own music, you can use the built-in FM radio. Reception in our central London offices was free from static and sounded clear and crisp. Saving a station as a preset or recording a broadcast is quick and easy thanks to the options button and the logically organised menus. We were also impressed with the quality of the 3in screen. Videos looked bright and sharp, with plenty of detail and contrast. The Muse can play H.264 as well as DivX and XviD files, but it insists on stretching videos with a 4:3 aspect ratio to fill the screen. Sadly there’s no option to override this, but videos with a 16:9 or an anamorphic aspect ratio look fine. Battery life is impressive. The Muse lasted just under 35-and-a-half hours when playing music with noise cancellation deactivated. When playing videos, it lasted just over four hours. These are good times compared with portable players from other manufacturers, but previous GoGear players have lasted over 48 hours when playing music and over six hours when playing video, so owners of existing models may be reluctant to upgrade.
Nevertheless, Philips’ 16GB GoGear Muse is an excellent portable audio player in almost every respect. It’s a little expensive, but it’s worth every penny.
