Cowon iAudio 7: A Review

At First Glance:

It's smaller than I thought it would be & very light for its 'thickness'. The mini USB is a nice plus, as all my other USB devices use mini USB. All my 3.5mm cans were a nice very snug fit in the jack (we'll see in time if thats always true).

Plug it in, XP sees a new device: iAudio 7, new USB Mass Storage Device, new Drive H: .. yadda yadda yadda .. simple, effortless setting up in XP.

GUI/Controls:

The slider thingy took afew mins to get used to, but after awhile it was pretty intuitive. At first I wished there was a 'back' button, and I was pressing the top M (menu) button for going back. But then I pressed the Red (record) button and it IS the back button when in menus!

You could slide all you want in the menus, or just tap up or down buttons. It's very EZ to do it both in menus, Slide to were you need to go, and tap for fine adjustments.

Auditioning:

The default settings give you JetEffect

- EQ of POP: +7@80, +6@220, +0@780, +6@3.0k, +12@13k
- BBE of 2
- Mach3Bass of 3

I'll set everything to 0 or flat to do all my auditioning.

I am mostly auditioning it with the Ultrasone S-Logic CD (LAME -V0 -q0 -k -mf) with my HA-FX66's w/OEM Medium Cushions & PX100's. I'll audition it with my other cans..but for now I'll focus on my main portable cans (FX66's & PX100's) since I listen to them most of the time. I chose the Ultrasone S-Logic CD, because I've listened to that CD many many many times over the months since I've joined HF, and I feel I know it very well.

I'll have to give my Auditioning review later ... as I have a head cold, which could skew my results. What with the plugged up & runny nose, wacky ear plugged feeling & my hearing sounds like I am in a Airplane pressurizing the cabin.

GUH I hate COLDS!!

Oh yes, there are 100's of settings you can play with on the iA7, every EQ setting can be customized, you can edit the individual +/-db settings and even change the frequencys of your EQ's too. I have not changed much in the Mach3Bass or other BBE stuffs, but so far with my cold infested head & FX66's .. the iA7 is a great sounding DAP.

Again, I'll do some serious auditioning when my cold goes away & give a full review then.

I still gots the cold but I think I am on the recovery side, today I just hocked gobs of flem, instead if it filling my head & staying there.

Sorry, this has turned into my Cold status thread...now my cold is going into my chest.

But preliminary auditioning...I am uncertain of my findings because of this cold. Listening with my FX66's and PX100's, the iA7 sounds dark..but that could be the: cans, cold, or the DAP, or combo of the 3. Also it doesn't seem to have much 3D soundstage .. again this could be the cold in my head messing with my ears.

Reminder this is with all JetEffect settings to Off, Zero, Flat..etc

Well today is a better day, I am on the road to recovery. My head is almost cleared of mucus, and my ears are 'feeling' & 'sounding' normal. I have the occasional cough & little run in the nose.

I've been listening to my iA7 w/PX100's .. They still have a warm/rolled off highs sound, but that's the personality of the PX100's. I have not listened to the FX66's much lately, I'll try them out when I get back home after work.

Anyone know exactly what the mp3 Enhance setting does? To me it brightens the sound with mids & highs, which helps the PX100's IMHO. I've also set the 3D Sound to 3, otherwise it sound too flat.