With the same 240MB worth of assorted MP3 files, the shuffle clocked in a transfer speed of 1.83MB per second while the Tangent was slightly speedier at 1.89MB per second. For comparison's sake, transferring the same files through iTunes took 1.41MB per second.
To test how the players fared with huge chunks of data, we used a 283MB installation file. The Tangent turned in a time of 2.41MB per second while the shuffle completed the deed in 2.43MB per second. As the Tangent does not require any software, we are not comparing the software installation speed for iTunes in this case.
On the sonic front, the Tangent disappoints though it has a bass boost equalizer. We noticed that vocals are disconcertingly muffled unless the bass boost (kind of ironic) is turned on. When this is activated, rather than having the low end of the song track enhanced, equalizer settings are set on a harsh high overall. The shuffle instead turned in a decent performance with a good balance of mids and bass.
Since there is no major difference in transfer speed, the shuffle takes the performance stakes with a more winning sound.
