W
e’ve used too many Jack Bauer references lately, but c’mon, how could
we review this key and not say it’s the one Jackie boy would use?
The 8GB Flash Survivor GT, after all, is shock and water resistant—
and if your service automatic runs out of ammo, you can even fling its hard
aluminum body at someone’s head. But how does it perform?
Quite well, actually. Older keys can deliver great speeds with medium
and large files but are painfully slow when transferring small ones. The
Survivor GT, however, is speedy with all file sizes in both reading and
writing tests. So if you need to copy that PowerPoint presentation off of
Salazar’s laptop before the building explodes, this is the thumb drive for
you. The Survivor GT handily beats the original Flash Voyager GT in all our
read and write tests.
We also tested the Survivor by dunking it in boiling water, freezing it,
flinging it against a concrete wall, burning it with a butane torch, dropping
it down four flights of stairs, and attaching it to a car muffler during a lunch
outing, and it, well, survived. It didn’t look pretty in the end, but the data
was still intact.
Not all is perfect with the Survivor though. Our unit, like others from
Corsair, didn’t include any bundled encryption software, although it is sup-
posed to ship with TrueCrypt freeware. Other small problems: One rubber
grip wasn’t glued on the unit, and the device made an annoying squeaking
noise when closing—not good if two dozen ninjas are parked inside theroom you’re about to enter. Still, if speed and durability are your
top concerns, we can’t imag-
ine getting a key that’s any
tougher than this baby.
—GORDON MAH UNGCorsair Flash Survivor GT
This is the USB key CTU agents would use, if they weren’t
fictional, that isW
e received a ton of feedback on our reviews of Audio-Technica’s
AT-PL50 and Ion Audio’s ITTUSB turntables in our May 2007 issue,
but since we concluded that neither of those products was fabulous, we
brought in this more upscale Stanton model for a look.
We’re happy we did. The Stanton T.90 USB costs $100 more than the
Audio-Technica and is nearly twice as much as the Ion, but it’s jammed with
features you won’t fi nd in either of those products. It’s evident that very little
plastic is used in this beast, which had us humming the Commodores’s “Brick
House” as we hefted it onto the test bench.
The table has a USB interface, so you can digitize tracks in real time and
transfer them to your PC in the digital domain, but it also includes an S/PDIF
output. If you’d rather perform the analog-to-digital conversion on your PC,
there’s both a phono output and a built-in RIAA pre-amp with line-level output.
The T.90 features an S-shaped tone arm with an adjustable counterweight
and an antiskate dial, which will reduce record and cartridge wear. Stanton
includes its own model 500B cartridge in the removable headshell. A direct-
drive motor spins the platter at speeds of 33-1/3, 45, or 78RPM, and a pitch
slider enables you to bring the platter to a precise speed (using the strobe dots
on the platter, illuminated by a light in the on/off switch, as a guide).
Many of the T.90’s other features reveal its DJ table genes, but we’dgladly trade them for tools that render the recording process easier. A simple
cueing lever, for instance, would make it much easier to record individual
tracks, and an automatic tone arm would simplify the process of recording
entire album sides. Dual start/stop buttons, an electronic brake, reverse play,
and pitch-select are attractive to DJs, but they’re not of much value if you just
want to archive your vinyl.
Those criticisms are more than enough to withhold a Kick Ass award, but
this is the best-sounding turntable we’ve auditioned yet.
—MICHAEL BROWNStanton T.90 USB
Turntable
This table is a built like a brick... house!
MAXIMUMPC SEPTEMBER 2007
reviewsTESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED
We burned it, threw it, and froze it—and the Corsair Flash
Survivor GT survived.We’d happily trade some of the Stanton T.90 USB Turntable’s
scratch-oriented features for a cueing lever.9
STANTON T.90 TURNTABLE
$300, http://www.stantondj.comCORSAIR SURVIVOR
$140, http://www.corsair.com9
MAXIMUMPC
KICKASSCorsair Flash Survivor GT