I am rather interested in cowon players, I got the money and would at least want to try a cowon player , so my question would be
does cowon player read tags? as in you can browse your music library by using the tags features? my N1 can't so I want to have a look see on one of those better than the ipod touch player, and which of the cowon do you reccomend to get? None of the android based on though I got my galaxy note 2 for my android need ( I am also curious of the infamous cowon ui)
my choices
Cowon C2
Cowon X9
or  the infamous
J3
the first two I would be getting from Jaben , the J3 prolly from the Head fi market

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retrias said:

I am rather interested in cowon players, I got the money and would at least want to try a cowon player , so my question would be
does cowon player read tags? 
 

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I have a J3, but I never bother browsing by tags on any player. However googling "cowon J3 browse by tags" should tell you what you want to know.
 
Aside from that: BBE works really well, the J3 has huge battery life, it drives serious portable headphones as well as it does IEMS with no need for an amp, and neither friends or I have been able to tell it from a $400-$500 DAC/amp combination when blind testing with good portable phones (the HD25-1-ii.) 
 
Otoh, a Sansa Clip+ with Rockbox sounds just as good and can still drive phones like HD25s brilliantly, albeit with less battery life. You lose BBE but gain some other stuff like Rockbox's crossfeed settings and have an awful lot of money left over for buying decent iems/headphones. Unless you want the screen for watching movies, I'd strongly consider the Clip with a 32GB card and saving a lot of cash.
 
If you do get a J3 - and it is an extremely nice piece of hw - or another Cowon player, then do NOT risk using it with a phone USB lead even if has the same connector: there seems to be a voltage incompatibility problem that can damage players.

The clip+ is not exactly what i want, i dont really want tiny screen and i get this headache looking at oled screen( i did try the clip + like when i was 18) , just want to see if something could offer the same stellar no just barebones ui and still have a good sound
[

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retrias said:

The clip+ is not exactly what i want, i dont really want tiny screen and i get this headache looking at oled screen( i did try the clip + like when i was 18) , just want to see if something could offer the same stellar no just barebones ui and still have a good sound
[

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Then, unless maybe a NOS old model Sansa Fuze would do (the new model's trackpad is widely loathed) a Cowon sounds like the way to go - they do sound absolutely as good as anything I have heard. Just stick to using a Cowon usb cable and don't borrow one from a phone!

I have the Cowon J3 (2 units) and my wife has a Cowon J3 as well....
 
No complaints and no regrets
 
Huge battery life and can power IEMs with a nominal impedance of 90 ohms with ease
 
Wizard

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fullcircle said:

I have the Cowon J3 (2 units) and my wife has a Cowon J3 as well....
 
No complaints and no regrets
 
Huge battery life and can power IEMs with a nominal impedance of 90 ohms with ease
 
Wizard

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Don''vet have experience with any of the other Cowon players, but I love my J3 above every player I've had.

I recently sold my J3 after having it for 6 months during that period I had probably listened to it for less than 6 hrs. Personally it has a colored sound without the clarity and details I want for my music (primarily classical).

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dminor said:

I recently sold my J3 after having it for 6 months during that period I had probably listened to it for less than 6 hrs. Personally it has a colored sound without the clarity and details I want for my music (primarily classical).

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The Cowon players can sound really nice, but it can take some tinkering with the many sound tweaks. Once you find the right mix, they're very entertaining, but it can take some work because they aren't the most intuitive in the UI department.

Ah my musical pref doesnt exactly include classics, i listen mostly to jpop, jrock pop, rock, i also listen to whatever genre two steps from hell is

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achmedisdead said:

The Cowon players can sound really nice, but it can take some tinkering with the many sound tweaks. Once you find the right mix, they're very entertaining, but it can take some work because they aren't the most intuitive in the UI department.

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I guess by tinkering you meant EQ'ing. Yeah played around with those but didn't find them very usefully to my taste. The UI is fine though.
 
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retrias said:

Ah my musical pref doesnt exactly include classics, i listen mostly to jpop, jrock pop, rock, i also listen to whatever genre two steps from hell is

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Haha, then the J3 may be the perfect fit for you.