Cowon or Touch? or are there any new ones?

Patience.

 

Apple to announce new "line-up" in the coming weeks - maybe something you like, maybe not.

 

Wait and see what they release, then decide.

Agreed. Wait until the holidays. New toys are coming and existing products will be cheaper.

Patience.

There's not a lot on the non-iPod DAP radar, with very little noise coming from iRiver and Sandisk.  Cowon just released the C2, but the reviews seem to indicate that the J3 is the better DAP.

Nothing has beaten a Cowon S9 in overall sound quality and it's implemented hardware EQ + BBE in 3 years. As long as no one creates something similar, it will still remain one of the best in sound tweaking. If you want a mini-computer, Itouch is excellent.

Apple will never release anything like a Cowon's audio tweakability. I'll bet on it but maybe they'll offer something weird like a 3-D camera or something.

Nah, J3 beats S9.  It has incremental improvements down the board (better SQ, external SD slot, 64 hours of battery over 55 hours, etc.), which costs about 20% more at sticker.  Both are great.

 

S9 is old (2008), D2-era DAP.  They're still making and selling new ones.

Edited by Elysian - 9/5/11 at 2:01am

You know what, I brought my Denon AH-D 5000 along with me to the office and plugged it into my iPod touch 4. Meddled a lil with the Equalizer application (different from EQu and a lot more tricky and requires some getting used to), played the Dream Theater promo of the new album, A Dramatic Turn of Events that I ripped to 320kbps... No amping no nothing except those and my ears. I had goosebumps on my scalp and the back of my neck, firstly because the music is transcending and secondly because this simple combo delivered far better results than the J3 plus the same Denon cans. I was drooling at the awesome sonic output I got from the J3 with these cans but touch is definitely better.

The Touch is a "Smart" device with WiFi and all that comes with it.  The only real competition will be other wifi enabled devices. MS gave it a try with their Zune brand, but under-engineered and chickened out when it came to going head-to-head with apps and such.   Android devices have shown up from several brands, and for first tries the devices aren't perfect but do bring apps and related distractions.  Cowon's D3, Archos 43, Creative's Touch-2, Latte's Ice Smart, Samsung's 4" and 5" players (not available in the U.S.) and no doubt a few others I've missed.

 

I rank them in this order:  Archos 43 (great codec support, resistive but sensitive screen), Cowon D3 (best sounding), Latte Ice Smart (nice big screen), then Creative for what I have tried.   I suspect Samsung's devices are good, but can't comment on what I haven't personally used.

The Archos 43 is a very solid, if slightly slow, Android tablet/PMP. I own it and am very happy. Sound quality is about that of an iPod, nothing ridiculous but pretty good, and the full android market and ultra-high-quality screen are great. It's also one of the cheapest Android tablets with a MicroSD, about $150 new for the 8GB if you look around.

 

If you want pure sound quality, get a Cowon instead. The EQu is barely adequate as an equalizer. It's linear phase, but not a good one which is to be expected from a $4 software EQ.

 

If you want the best quality sound, go with Cowon.  If I was upgrading my D2, the J3 would be at the top of my list, followed by the S9 or C3.

 

I haven't seen the latest touch so I don't know how the bells and whistles compare vs the J3, but I've never found Cowon players lacking in functionality, and I love the easy microSD expandability.

 

I have the S9 and J3. There's not really too much of an improvement. A little faster and expandable memory. I wouldn't really notice it if I didn't have the J3 and only had the S9. I only have a J3 because it was a present.