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Zune HD or Cowon S9

post #1 of 19
3/1/10 at 8:13pm
Thread Starter 
I have been debating whether to get a 16gb Zune HD at 180 brand new or a Cowon 16gb for 200 brand new. I have heard excellent things about them both but had a hard time deciding. Regardless of price i am swayed toward the Cowan because of its wide format and what i heard about its EQ. Is it worth the money over the HD zune
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post #2 of 19
3/1/10 at 8:32pm
The Cowon has better SQ, but the Zune HD is more versatile. It depends on what you already have. If you have a wifi-equipped smartphone, I would go with the S9, but if you have a "dumbphone", I would pick the HD simply because it is capable of more.
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post #3 of 19
3/1/10 at 8:50pm
Cowon supports flac I think. Wish I got that instead because of that.
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post #4 of 19
3/1/10 at 10:25pm
Thread Starter 

I just ordered the S9

I got the 16gb S9....i was thinking of the 8gb S9 for 30 dollars less but because of FLACC. I am getting a smart phone this month i was told that the nexus one is coming out soon for verizon it has all the other bells and whistles. I just want excellent sound quality.I sold my ipod for to get this mp3 player....i really never used the games apps and wifi anyway. I figured because of the formats i would have an easier time not converting files to the format compatible with the mp3 player which is huge to me and the battery life is far better that the ipod. Every time i went to go to the gym it was never charged...by the time it was i just my desire. But thanks for the info.
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post #5 of 19
3/1/10 at 10:26pm
If you're getting a Nexus One then the S9 is definitely the better choice.
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post #6 of 19
3/1/10 at 10:48pm
I'd do the S9 as well. Do you use windows as your operating system? if not.. you definitely want to stray away from the zune..
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post #7 of 19
3/1/10 at 11:18pm
Thread Starter 

Yeah i have Windows

The Zune has come a long way form the plastic brick which was a joke but it does not cover the formats that the S9 covers. It is a pain for me to use loopholes to hear other formats. I ordered it today and it is at my doorstep tomorrow with a trial of amazon prime for 3.99 shipping. I just have to cancel my membership before they start charging me. The Nexus One is rumored to be coming to Verizon March 23 the same day my contract is up and i get a new every two. I hope the Nexus One lives up to the hype it looks promising i just like the qwerty keyboard that is not digital.
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post #8 of 19
3/1/10 at 11:18pm
overall S9 is better than zune HD , if only S9 has wifi...
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post #9 of 19
3/1/10 at 11:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by radiohead7 View Post
The Zune has come a long way form the plastic brick which was a joke
If you're referring to the 1st Gen Zune 30 (which was really a Toshiba Gigabeat S with a new shell and better firmware), I still use and love that brick. As far as just playing music goes, it's still hard to beat IMHO.
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post #10 of 19
3/2/10 at 1:34am
IMO zune needs to improve sound quality, i just compared it to a cowon and the quality beats zune.
Zune needs to update their audio quality.
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post #11 of 19
3/2/10 at 10:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanafuda View Post
If you're referring to the 1st Gen Zune 30 (which was really a Toshiba Gigabeat S with a new shell and better firmware), I still use and love that brick. As far as just playing music goes, it's still hard to beat IMHO.
Yep I still use my Zune30 brick to this day, I slapped a 100Gb hard drive in it as well. I never thought this would be my main dap for almost 4 years now but nothing has come out that meets my needs of a high capacity player with excellent SQ. The zune30 with the Acoustic EQ preset sound early perfect to me.

That being said the ZuneHD does sound very good in some ways better than the Zune30 but it needs more EQ options as the bass is a tad weaker then my Zune30. If it was high capacity and my zune30 died I could very comfortably live with it as my main DAP.

I got my wife the ZuneHD and played around with it for awhile and it is no slouch in the SQ department
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post #12 of 19
3/2/10 at 10:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by classakg View Post
IMO zune needs to improve sound quality, i just compared it to a cowon and the quality beats zune.
Zune needs to update their audio quality.
The base SQ of all the zune models including the ZuneHD is very good, better than most of the mass produced DAP's out there. The Zune models just need more EQ options.
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post #13 of 19
3/2/10 at 4:11pm
I'm using a Z120 ATM, and all I feel it requires for an improvement in SQ is a bass boost option. Paired w/my ATH-M50's, or MDR-V900HD's it sounds wonderful. Really, it's quite a nice pairing.

As for the Z:HD, I tried it (returned it that same week), and MS tweaked the SQ for the worse IMO. The Mids sound hollow, and the EQ really detracts from the sound (think the volume-robbing EQ ala' Sansa clip/Fuze). If they adjust the EQ it would be better, but it needs a custom EQ - no doubt about it.

The S9 is the better sounding player, hands down,.........but the UI is better on the Z:HD. Still,......UI aside, I'd say the winner is the S9 for SQ and video drag&drop alone,..IMO - YMMV.
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post #14 of 19
3/2/10 at 8:52pm
Thread Starter 

OMG I Just got my Cowon S9

This beats up an ipod for sound quality big time. My ears have been missing out all these years. The BBE and EQ are Unbelievable. I am using a pair of Bose earbuds. This sound system will make George Lucus cream his pants. The Ipod was flat with all the music i listen to on it.
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post #15 of 19
3/2/10 at 11:32pm
I owned both, for a short time. Pros and cons:

- S9 SQ is superior, due to the EQ / BBE settings. When played flat, the ZuneHD and the S9 sound similar (to my ears).
- ZuneHD has the better interface, out of the box. But, you can theme the S9 to your liking, which is a plus.
- I can play my Xvid / AC3 AVI's on my S9 without any transcoding (even if the rez is higher than 480x272). The ZuneHD didn't support Xvid last year at all, but I believe that's changed or will change with a firmware upgrade.
- Zune Pass is a great subscription service, if you are into that "all you can eat" mentality.
- S9 can do MSC or MTP, whichever you prefer. ZuneHD needs the Zune software.
- S9 works on non-Windows systems.
- ZuneHD has Wifi, a browser and an App Store which should hopefully grow over time.
- S9 supports more audio codecs, including FLAC.
- S9 has tactile buttons for volume, pause, FF/RW. ZuneHD does not.
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