It's been a while, dear Zen

Being the not-so-early adopter that I am, I'm only just now starting to really test what my Zen Micro can be, beyond a book-on-audio replay device. And I came across this interesting bit. Well, interesting once you get past the blah blah about Hzzzzzzzzs.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1860119,00.asp

(From PC magazine's rave review, circa last summer)

Frequency response is flat across a broad range, down only 3 dB at 40 Hz and 6 to 7 dB at 20 Hz. Harmonic distortion at the standard 1 kHz measurement point is less than 0.1 percent.
When we turned on the EQ, however, we found the same flaw that bedevils many other players: large amounts of harmonic distortion, clearly audible and clearly visible on our spectrum analyzer. But the Zen Micro has another audio trick up its sleeve: Smart Volume. The manual describes Smart Volume as an automatic volume manager that keeps the volume uniform from song to song, so you don't have to adjust it. In practice, it does much more than that. It removed virtually all of the harmonic distortion from the EQ settings. It also reduces the maximum loudness of the player, but that's no sacrifice—we went from a measured, ear-damaging 115 dB with the provided earbuds down to 101 to 103 dB, which is plenty for the loud passages, bass, and percussion. This gives the Zen Micro a slight edge over its competitors. As long as you keep Smart Volume on, distortion is not a problem, but it may reduce battery life.