Cowon DAP's - Question

Black_Hawk

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Hello,

I was thinking about getting a new DAP for my portable audio setup which consists of the following components presently:

Sansa Clip Zip (20GB, Rockboxed)
FiiO E11 Amplifier
Audio Technica ATH-M50 / Sony MDR-XB90EX

Now, I've been using the Clip Zip for quite a while now and the audio output is fantastic. I rarely play around with the sound settings which Rockbox has to offer (and it offers a lot of customization options!) since I like to have a flat EQ setting on the Clip Zip and leave it at that.

Now, I have always heard great things about Cowon DAP's having great audio quality and thus was thinking of buying a Cowon i9+ (16GB variant).

But before getting it I wanted to know from any fellow Cowon player users how much of a difference will the i9+ make over a Clip Zip's audio output? Will it be worth the expenditure?

Also, the larger screen on the i9+ is also a good thing as compared to the small screen on the Clip Zip which has always been a dampener for me.

Looking for some insight regarding this.

Regards,
Black_Hawk
 
Hello,

I was thinking about getting a new DAP for my portable audio setup which consists of the following components presently:

Sansa Clip Zip (20GB, Rockboxed)
FiiO E11 Amplifier
Audio Technica ATH-M50 / Sony MDR-XB90EX

Now, I've been using the Clip Zip for quite a while now and the audio output is fantastic. I rarely play around with the sound settings which Rockbox has to offer (and it offers a lot of customization options!) since I like to have a flat EQ setting on the Clip Zip and leave it at that.

Now, I have always heard great things about Cowon DAP's having great audio quality and thus was thinking of buying a Cowon i9+ (16GB variant).

But before getting it I wanted to know from any fellow Cowon player users how much of a difference will the i9+ make over a Clip Zip's audio output? Will it be worth the expenditure?

Also, the larger screen on the i9+ is also a good thing as compared to the small screen on the Clip Zip which has always been a dampener for me.

Looking for some insight regarding this.

Regards,
Black_Hawk
Well I am no audiophile however Yes i can make out differences between players.. I have sansa clip+, Cowon D2+ and Ipod touch. However clip+ is he only player which i use to listen without changing any soumd settings. However on all others I have to tweak settings..
As for now I cannot find a match compared to Clip+..
 
I used to have a Cowon D2. The sound quality was good, there were a lot of features to tweak and it could go real loud. But the UI was not the best, nor was the resistive touch screen.
I have been using the Clip Plus and Clip Zip for the last 4-5 years. The only thing I miss with the Clip is loudness/ juice when using less sensitive earphones.
Personally I would recommend spending your dough on a headphone/ IEM upgrade rather than the DAP.
 
My two cents

Have you considered the Sony A17 ?
Or the Sony F886 ?

I know audiophiles usually stick to brands like Fiio or Astell & Kern
But the interface of Fiio X3 sucks big time (esp if you have a big music collection). And from what I can read in reviews, none of the audiophile DAPs excel in user interface. There are many times when I wish for better interface, even at the cost of slight dip in quality
(of course then a particularly awesome song starts playing and I forget all about the interface :eek:hyeah:)

I believe these two Sony players are better sound quality than mainstream players, while having the 'creature comforts' of good interface. Worth checking out
 
xDuoo X2 is in my next to buy list, Sound quality better than Clip+ and about same form factor. No FM is a let down though.
 
Logged in after almost a year to post this :)

Couple of years ago I bought into Cowon hype and got myself a J3. It was not cheap, I paid around 11k for it. It sounded good (after tweaking EQ heavily, and 5 band PEQ didn't help much) compared my Galaxy Nexus but then I bought a new phone Galaxy S3 shortly after. It hurts me to say the S3 sounded much better to my ears. Even after fooling around with EQs for hours/days, the bass on J3 didn't go as deep and I feel the overall tonality in S3 is much better. I could live with clunky UI, full of unintuitive icons but I expect a better audio quality from a dedicated music player. I rarely take out my J3 anymore; In fact I gave it to my 2 year old son, he plays with it as if it is a phone.

Having said that things might be different for current gen players, but I am not willing to try another one myself... BTW, the earphone I used with it was Shure SE420. Also, as mentioned above, Sony products might be worth checking out. Had couple of Sony Ericcson Walkman phones and they sounded fantastic.
 
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Sound quality better than Clip+ and about same form factor. No FM is a let down though
 
Cowon used to be pretty good for its time. But in today's age you have better options like Fiio, Ibasso and Astell Kern. I have the Ibasso DX50 but interface is best in astell kern from what ive heard. I suggest you stick to these as more of a long term choice, sq is most important.
 
+1 for sansa products. I know this doesn't exactly answer your question but I hope it helps in reinforcing what others have to say about the tiny wonder of a player. Used two and I would happily pay for another if I have to but these days, I'm dying to use daps with uncomprimised (read: intuitive and gorgeous) UI.

This might be slightly off-topic but I believe these factors too should be considered while selecting a dap. I think I'm done sacrificing ui experience for SQ. Although, I have to admit, I have experience using only Sansa and few smart-phones as daps so far. And a brief stint with Ipod Nano for a week. I'm a stickler for button controls which afford you the luxury of not having to fish out the dap out of your pocket on say, a crowded metro and still let you control it. For that, I love the players with buttons. However, I HAVE to HAVE scroll-wheel or touch-screen to quickly scroll through the huge list. So, I should stick to either ipod classic (esque? great ui in a non-apple product with scroll-wheel??) - both for the wheel, fantastic UI and touch-less controls or ipod touch for the amazing visual experience. But they are pricey. Even if you pay up you still don't get audio quality that is close to fiio and the likes apart from fixed storage capacity. Torn between two classes but some might suggest get both. I say, if only.... :)
 
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