Discussion Forums > Technology
Cowon peeps unite. Let's recommend a music player, learn, testimonials...
fohfoh:
So... after a long struggle tonight with Tcctool for my bricked S9... I've finally decided to throw in the towel on my S9.
*Tears* It's like, soooooo damn close to being restored, but DAMN!!!! Failed firmware upgrade... feh.
So now, after an official 5 months of death or maybe 6 months, I've decided to find a way to replace my music needs.
I dislike using my iphone4 for music.
So... running from the past experience of 55 hours music playback and 11 hours video... (not that the latter really matters)... I need to make a decision. Seriously, Cowon and flac playback has made it essentially the only brand choice for me.
Choice A
Buy in Canada.
Choice B
Buy in Hong Kong
Reasons for A and B:
A: I'm looking at prices of about
$300 + 5% tax + $10 shipping for the X7
$219/279 + 5% tax + $10 shipping for J3 16/32GB respectively (8GB is $15 less than the 16, not worth looking at)
$370 + 5% tax + $10 shipping for the D3 Plenue
B: Price possibly cheaper? Test it out in person?
A/B: I'm leaving for Hong Kong May 1. So shipping to myself is likely not an option. But if it's really that much cheaper, I'll go for it in Hong Kong. However, if greed gets the best of me, Hong Kong and price really isn't an issue. I'll pay a slight premium so I'm not bored out of my mind in HK.
TRUE ISSUE:
Let's say for a moment that battery life and durability is an issue. S9 durability is fine. I dropped that shit many times and it never broke. (PS: Who was the person who blew up their S9 screen in a thread here but said it worked fine?) The buttons on the outside is a MUST. Holy shit I missed those so fucking much. I think almost all of the cowons have those, so it's not really an issue.
I LOVED the battery life of the S9. You can listen for 2 WHOLE DAYS without needing a charge. Seriously. I trekked that S9 to several continents, many countries, for 2 years before the failed firmware update fiasco.
Rankings:
X7: 103 hours
J3: 60 Hours
~~S9 55 hours
D3: 21hours
Each are still respectable times for music playback. (Which is likely the ONLY thing I want to use my pmp for). D3 is cutting it close, but if somehow the android OS makes it worthwhile... I'll consider it. But I really doubt this will occur due to me owning an iphone4.
Durability:
Honestly? No idea. But as long as it's not as fragile feeling as the iphone4, I'm happy.
Price:
D3: $370
X7 $300
J3: $220-280
Seriously though, money isn't a huge issue and I'm comfortable with spending a nice $300 ish. X7 and J3 are easy choices and I'm willing to choose one over the other based on usability, I don't care about cost per performance. D3 would need a hell of a lot of persuasion. I also own some pretty good cans already, so saving the money to go towards a good set of headphones is a null argument.
So what is the point of this thread? I want to hear what you guys think from either a Cowon user yourself, or someone unfamiliar with PMPs willing to take a glance and see if it's for you. I've already done quite a bit of reading at ABI forums and stuff like that. Feel free to toss in your "noob" questions or comments. That's fine too. "Is amoled really that much nicer on the eyes?" "Do you REALLY need 50+ hours of music playback?" "Based on your guys' knowledge, is it easy to convert and play anime on these PMPS?" (I personally don't like video on small screens) "Is built in memory good enough? Or should expandable memory be considered as well?" etc.
Noted Cowon users:
Myself (duh)
mgz
Proin
Psyren (god bless his soul)
and a few others as well.
As a bit of an other side... The things I loved about the S9 were the following:
Buttons on the outside for play/skip/volume. Shit is cash for changing on the fly.
Playing .flac
Drag and Drop
Sound quality
Cost (At 250 back in the day for my 8GB, it was a nice cheaper alternative to iTouches)
Weight (It was light, but felt sturdy. But I also don't mind heavier in general)
Eye catching ("Holy shit, is that a phone?" was not uncommon)
Battery life (Weeks without charging it is awesome)
Easy on the go. (buttons on outside. Don't have to pull it out and touchscreen everything like a retard every few moments)
Flaws:
Playlist function was lacking (but it's not as nice as the ones I used to have on my nano, but I'm having issues with the iphone4 for setting up good playlists nowadays too)
Firmware (seriously, next one, if it aint broke... don't update it)
Proprietary cable (not so much an issue than just the hassle of "if" you lose it)
NOTE: I wasn't sure whether to put this in music or Technology. Prior Cowon threads have been in technology so I chose here. I also want to sort of go beyond just the chatter about the music aspect and into functionality.
I know of the samsung, archos, Sony etc. players. But they don't really impress me at the moment.
zat0x91:
I was looking for a new media player since I left my Zune HD 32GB in my pants pocket and it went through the washer... It still works and doesn't look like there's any water stuck underneath the screen, but I'm still worried that it may shit out in the future.
I do love the interface and how smooth it is, but that isn't without some downfalls for me. First off, there's no line-out adapter if I wanted to use a portable amp for my headphones (Denon AH-D5000s, soon to be replaced by Ultrasone Pro 900s) it'd sound like shit with the default 3.5mm cable. Second is how the software fucking compresses almost anything you put on it from music, images, and videos so quality is sub-par. I'm currently using Monster Turbines, but they aren't anything special since I didn't want to spend more than $70 and I got them on sale; I do have buyers remorse since it didn't have enough bass (I'm a basshead; 5 12" subwoofers @ 3k watts still aren't enough for me) for me compared to other cheaper IEMs like the Eternas or Hippo VBs.
So right now, it'll do, but once I get my Ultrasone Pro 900s since they're much easier to carry around and durable, I'll probably buy a portable amp for them and possibly get a new media player since this thread sparked my interest. Sadly most of my music collection is in V0 MP3's because of how I can't be assed to convert flac to mp3 just to play on my media player.
I've been looking at both the Cowon J3 and X7, but I can't seem to make a decision on which to get. Money isn't an issue, but more of just overall performance and responsiveness of the touchscreen.
Lavo_2:
--- Quote from: zat0x91 on April 28, 2011, 08:07:14 PM ---Second is how the software fucking compresses almost anything you put on it from music, images, and videos so quality is sub-par.
--- End quote ---
Not to derail, but this is due to Zune's default software settings, these can be disabled. I add and play WMA lossless on my Zune 120 just fine.
Also these Cowons sound interesting. Any external links perchance?
mgz:
i vote for j3 because everything ive read says its the s9 but better in nearly every way possible. Unless you are retarded and gay (using a mac)
x7 and v5 and the likes suffer from the cowon evil firmware doom evil badness awful mediocrity personified firmware gui for what could and would be awesome players
Your other option is the d2's successor which im not sure is available stateside yet.
I dont remember the name of it but its not the d3
zat0x91:
--- Quote from: mgz on April 29, 2011, 03:10:06 AM --- Unless you are retarded and gay (using a mac)
--- End quote ---
lolno.
Yeah, after looking around some more the J3 seems to be the better option if I do happen to replace my Zune HD.
--- Quote from: Lavo_2 on April 29, 2011, 02:11:59 AM ---Not to derail, but this is due to Zune's default software settings, these can be disabled. I add and play WMA lossless on my Zune 120 just fine.
--- End quote ---
Alright thanks, but apparently it didn't compress anything unless it was above a 320kbps MP3, so nothing should of been compressed for my music... I was more concerned about how it does it to images and there's no real way to stop it; making the images even more low res than the 480x272 screen sucks.
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