What's better the Cowon J3 or X7?

The X7 and the J3 sound virtually the same because they both utilize the same DAC as well as BBE enhancements.  Your decision comes down which player has features that appeal more to you.  With the X7 you get massive storage space as well as a ridiculousily long battery life, it's a bit on the chunky side though.  With the J3 you get a slim, sleeker form factor, a super slick screen, and probably the best user interface Cowon has ever developed and memory expandabilty through micro sd cards.  Hmm, tough choice.  I use Fiio's E5 with my S9 and O2 and get excellent results.

the j3 has no line-out option, best not to add a portable amp to a cowon j3 set-up if your source to your amp is through the j3's HPO. most of the time its good enough to drive most phones (i have sm3's)

the largest hdd it comes with is 32 gb and ditto for the micro sd card making it a 64 gb player

can't comment on the cowon x7

if you're looking to utilise a portable amp, might want to check out some other players that do have a line out option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cloudq 

the j3 has no line-out option, best not to add a portable amp to a cowon j3 set-up if your source to your amp is through the j3's HPO. most of the time its good enough to drive most phones (i have sm3's)

 

the largest hdd it comes with is 32 gb and ditto for the micro sd card making it a 64 gb player

 

can't comment on the cowon x7

 

if you're looking to utilise a portable amp, might want to check out some other players that do have a line out option.

That's not always the case.  In fact, I'm having excellent results pairing my S9 and O2 players with the E5.  While Cowon's players have some of the strongest power outputs of any portable media, they still benefit from some amplification, especially if you're using higher impendence headpones or very sensitive iems.

FWIW, I use a Cowon D2+ and it powers HD 600s with no difficulty at all.

This is what I said of the two in another thread.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by mp3 

I have tried them both for two weeks, not at the same time though, so I couldn't do any A-B testing. Using the BBE hardcoded enhancements the X7 has a slightly more powerful sound with fuller sounding (lower) mids, this is only slightly but still quite noticeable with high end earphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cloudq 

the j3 has no line-out option, best not to add a portable amp to a cowon j3 set-up if your source to your amp is through the j3's HPO. most of the time its good enough to drive most phones (i have sm3's)

 

the largest hdd it comes with is 32 gb and ditto for the micro sd card making it a 64 gb player

 

can't comment on the cowon x7

 

if you're looking to utilise a portable amp, might want to check out some other players that do have a line out option.

Not true,...


 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digital-Pride 

That's not always the case.  In fact, I'm having excellent results pairing my S9 and O2 players with the E5.  While Cowon's players have some of the strongest power outputs of any portable media, they still benefit from some amplification, especially if you're using higher impendence headpones or very sensitive iems.

I agree, as the HP out on a Cowon DAP is as clear as a line out and works perfectly well w/an amp. You beat me to the punch BTW!!! 

If you playing FLAC files then Cowon X7 willbe better overall DAPs and it's also has bigger screen than J3 to play videos on it. The battery life is also great on X7 for both audio and video with lots of useful apps. It may takes some benifit from external AMPs use but it's also depend on AMPs and IEMs synergy with it. The S:FLO2 is known for it's great sound quality and it has line out for external AMPs use.

interesting.

unfortunately, my primary method of listening probably excludes me from using an amp anyway since reportedly sm3's don't benefit very much from amping.

I bought an itouch 4g skoob from bic camera last saturday, its quite good, i use the equ and equalizer apps to tweak it, and another app to watch avi movies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skoog5600 

On a side note I went to Bic Camera today in Tokyo. I checked out both the X7 and J3. The X7 is better by a long shot. And to top it off the 32GB J3 is selling for 29,000 yen and the 160GB X7 is selling for the same price.

 

Better how, exactly?