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SQ: Cowon D2 vs Meizu M6SL

post #1 of 22
7/26/08 at 6:41am
Thread Starter 
hi all!

Searching for a small and good sounding flash player (limit USD200) ended with these two devices. Even if SQ it top priority a slim form factor (nano class) is also appealing ;-). It shall drive my q-Jays properly (my 3G ipod does this job "non sufficient")

My question is, had someone the chance to compare the sound quality of these units side by side?

Here is some more data I collected:

Facts:
-------
Cowon D2:
COWON America
78 x 55.4 x 16.6mm / 91g
52h audio, 10h video
DAC: WM8985

Meizu M6SL
MEIZU MP3 PLAYER
78 x 46.5 x 7.3mm / 48g
26h audio, 4.5h video
DAC: WM8987

pro/con:
----------
Cowon D2
+ longer batt live
+ SD expansion slot (up to 32GB)
+ option for DAB
+ touch screen
+ better firmware

Meizu M6SL
+ smaller (slim), ligher
+ records in MP3 (not wma)
+ cheaper

thank you,
cspot
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post #2 of 22
7/26/08 at 7:11am
You'll find that the Meizu has a boatload of audio options and menu items from music to games and nearly everything else. I have about 5 of them, 4 slims (SL) and 1 original, the (SP) and there's no difference in sound quality between each version, they have the same spec.. And they are better sounding than my D2 and iAudio 7. They are better sounding than any other DAP I have heard.

With viDrop video converter, they will play movies better than the D2.

The menu items are:

Music
All Songs
Playlists
Artists
Albums
Song Order
Random
Repeat
Sound Effects
Bass Boost
Treble Boost
EQ
Photos
Videos
FM Tuner
Listen In
Station List
Record
Record Filelists
Start Voice Record
FM Tuner Record
Now Playing
Games & Tools
Hua Rong Dao
Box Man
Stopwatch
Calculator
Backlight Timer

Under Sound Effects:

Bass Boost
Treble Boost
Spacializer
EQ
Restrict Volume

Under Spacializer:

Spacializer Mode : Normal, Natural Headphones, Virtual3D
Virtual3D slide scale
Phase Corrected EQ slider scale
Virtual Bass Enhancement slider scale
Speaker Type: Headphones, Speaker

Under EQ:

Pop
Classical
Rock
Jazz
Live
Bass Booster
User Defined
Load Default

Under FM Record:

Record Filelists
Start Voice Record
FM Tuner Record
Record Quality
Auto Gain Control

Under FM Tuner:

Listen In
Station List
Update Station List
Select Station List: Int./Ext.
Sterio: On/Off

It has a browser, USB mode selection: MTP/MSC, Sleep Timer and other stuff that I'm too tired of listing.
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post #3 of 22
7/26/08 at 8:54am
SP and SL use different DAC. They do not have the same spec.
-SL use Wolfson WM8987
-SP use Philip UDA1380HN

For me, I do not prefer both.
D2 sound is digitalized.
meizu lacks definition.

Good Luck!

Quote:
Originally Posted by lewislink View Post
You'll find that the Meizu has a boatload of audio options and menu items from music to games and nearly everything else. I have about 5 of them, 4 slims (SL) and 1 original, the (SP) and there's no difference in sound quality between each version, they have the same spec.. And they are better sounding than my D2 and iAudio 7. They are better sounding than any other DAP I have heard.
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post #4 of 22
7/26/08 at 9:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by faichiu View Post
SP and SL use different DAC. They do not have the same spec.
-SL use Wolfson WM8987
-SP use Philip UDA1380HN

For me, I do not prefer both.
D2 sound is digitalized.
meizu lacks definition.

Good Luck!
Unfortunately there is nothing on the manufacturer's website that give such details, so it can't be verified whether what you are saying is true or not. I will say I saw some specs of both models at an importer website, which I can't seem to find now, that showed both to have identical spec. And Engadget says the SP uses a Samsung chipset.

I'll keep searching, though.
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post #5 of 22
7/26/08 at 9:33am
It's a shame the Meizu has no SDHC support.
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post #6 of 22
7/26/08 at 11:01am
I much prefer my D2 with q-Jays than the Meizu in fact I can't remember when I last used the Meizu. I originally bought the D2 because of the annoying skipping problem the Meizu has with high bitrate MP3's. IMHO the D2 is a far superior player in all aspects.
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post #7 of 22
7/26/08 at 11:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tadad1 View Post
I much prefer my D2 with q-Jays than the Meizu in fact I can't remember when I last used the Meizu. I originally bought the D2 because of the annoying skipping problem the Meizu has with high bitrate MP3's. IMHO the D2 is a far superior player in all aspects.
I had the same skipping issues with OGG files but the latest firmware update solved it. My D2 has A/V sync issues, bad issues and i tried every possible converter and compatible format to overcome it but with no success. The Meizu, if not using viDrop to convert the video files, will exhibit A/V sync issues, also. And I find the Meizu more friendly with OGG/Vorbis files. However, no player I've used is as friendly with OGG files as the Sansa Clip is. That little bugger acts like it was made for OGG.

The navigation of the D2 is its biggest drawback. there are so many icon presses to get to the music menu from startup or from a playing song. In order to get anywhere, you have to press one thing, then another thing, then still another and so on.

There will be people who say they don't have issues with their D2 but they are fortunate. Every D2 I've played with has exhibited the same issues.

To each their own.
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post #8 of 22
7/26/08 at 12:03pm
The Meizu has wayyy better bass in nigh all aspects (depth, definition, punchiness) and a slightly wider soundstage, but the amp stage of the player is horrible. Whereas the D2's headphone-out makes a decent enough input for an amp, the M6's is terrible due to this ever-present mid-frequency hiss that persists when amped from the headphone-out.
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post #9 of 22
7/26/08 at 3:49pm
Thread Starter 
thank you all.

@faichiu: so what's your favourite player in this class?

@lewislink: good hardware information about the M6SL is here:
MeizuM6Port < Main < TWiki
(linked on this page ÷È×å×·×Ù MEIZU ÷È×å - רҵ MP3 PLAYER)

a weird detail: the photo of the chip says WM8987G but the only available datasheet says WM8987L.

another question: is there a non-wolfson dap?
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post #10 of 22
7/26/08 at 4:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cspot View Post
another question: is there a non-wolfson dap?
A non Wolfson DAP? Are you asking if there are players that don't use a Wolfson audio chipset? According to that data sheet you provided, the SP version does, indeed, use the Philips audio chipset. But strangely, I found my SP version to have just as good of quality audio as my SL versions. Go figure.

The Zune doesn't use a Wolfson chipset. iPod doesn't use one and there are quite a few that don't use it. However, the Wolfson is supposedly the best there is. The Cowon players use a Wolfson chipset but it's a lower version than the miniPlayer.
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post #11 of 22
7/26/08 at 4:49pm
There's NOTHING wrong with the Philips DAC chip.FYI it's used in the iRiver H1x0 and H3x0 series.

But yeah, overall sound impressions are less affected by the DAC used than most people seem to expect, hence why the two major iterations (TP/SP vs. SL) of the player sound very alike.
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post #12 of 22
7/26/08 at 5:45pm
You don't think there's anything wrong with the Philips audio chipset? I think there's a lot wrong with it. Philips is some of the worst products on the market. Check my profile, see if there's any intentional Philips DAP purchases. Philips cannot make a quality product.

Ever get to experience the Digital Audio Cassette Philips co-engineered with Sony? Sony's fruit was the MiniDisc format and Philips was the Digital Audio Cassette format. I owned one and I can say it was the sorriest piece of work I had ever used. Look at review after review of their DAPs, see how low they rank and how troublesome they are. Their Magnavox and Philips line of Televisions are some of the most faulty on the market. Breaking down all the time.

I can no longer recommend an SP miniPlayer. But I can continue to recommend the excellent SL version. I expect to begin having trouble with my SP maybe within 6 months or so, if I continue to use it like I have been lately.

Nah, not Philips. I'll pass.
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post #13 of 22
7/26/08 at 6:18pm
I haven't lived long enough to witness this apparent sadness of Philips products, but FME the iRiver H120 I used for a few months (I only used TOSLINK in the later month) and the Meizu M6 SP I've owned for almost two years now perform admirably. I'm not sure if the UDA1380HN could really be that bad since many people still swear by their H1xx/3xx series from the HP-out alone, and many find the Meizu SP/TPs (and SLs alike) to be strong performers.

And isn't that a little, I dunno, unfair? You yourself found the SP to be about as good as your SL. It's kind of like saying that all Koss products are bound to be complete crap because much of their HP lines (save the KSC-75/PortaPro driver series, the A/xx0 series, and perhaps the ESP series) are lemons.
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post #14 of 22
7/26/08 at 6:57pm
Zune use Wolfson chipset.
Zune 2 use WM8350G
Zune use WM8978.




Quote:
Originally Posted by lewislink View Post
A non Wolfson DAP? Are you asking if there are players that don't use a Wolfson audio chipset? According to that data sheet you provided, the SP version does, indeed, use the Philips audio chipset. But strangely, I found my SP version to have just as good of quality audio as my SL versions. Go figure.

The Zune doesn't use a Wolfson chipset. iPod doesn't use one and there are quite a few that don't use it. However, the Wolfson is supposedly the best there is. The Cowon players use a Wolfson chipset but it's a lower version than the miniPlayer.
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post #15 of 22
7/26/08 at 8:12pm
I always thought the ipods did use the Wolfson...
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