[Audiophile1811]

There are many great Audiophile MP3 Players like the HifiMan HM-801/HM-602, Cowon J3/S9, Nationite s:flow2, Zune 120, etc. in the market but are there any new Models from the same or similar manufactures to be released before 2011?
 
The HifiMan HM-801 and HM-602 are great on audio reproduction but are too expensive for me.
The S:flow2 is brilliant in every way but the UI is said to be too terrible.
The Cowon models have JetEffect 3.0 and BBE+ for great audio reproduction but I can recall someone saying that it lacked life, feeling, fullness, etc. and completely draws me away from it.
The Zune 120 seems very promising but lacks an EQ, which ruins it for me.
 
So as you can see, I need to find a new MP3 player that doesn't lack as much in the given areas. I also need to find one before this Christmas. Any suggestions?
Thank You, A1811.

 

[Thecoolguy]

Isnt the Little Dot player going to be released soon? I don't know how good the UI is or how expensive it is though

 

[Digital-Pride]

I would highly recommend the upcoming Cowon X7.  It has large capacity options(80, 120, 160gb repsectively), a ridiculous battery life at 103 hours for music and 10 hours for video, a large screen at 4.3 in.(although the resolution a bit modest at 480X272), radio and bluetooth connectivity,( no WiFi though) and most importantly Cowon's oustanding audio quality.  It looks like a mid to late november release for that particular DAP.   As a avid Cowon user I would have to disagree with the opinion that JetEffect 3.0 or namely BBE+ takes away the life or fullness of music.  In fact it's quite the opposite!  I have both the Cowon O2, S9 and BBE really adds detail and life to my music collection, you really hear a lot the nuances that you might not have noticed in you music.

 

[Antony L]

wish the x7 had a line out (or does it?) im more than happy with my sflo2 sound via neco and ultrasones but i loved my d2  ,and the battery life is pretty poor on the sflo ,it just sounds so damn good ,why cant they give us more decent line outs on mainstream players?

 

[Inks]

BBE sounds nice in comparison to no EQ because the Cowon's HO sounds poor as is imo. It does improve things but it's too colored...

 

[Digital-Pride]

I'm going to have respectfully disagree with you.  Cowon players have generally had the highest heaphone outputs compared to other mp3 player brands.  As result they drive high end headphones better than any other brand.  Exp. the Cowon S9 output is 29mW per channel where as a Sony X1050 has a output of just 5mW per channel.  And the base flat sound of the S9 is pretty good too.

 

[Lex]

Quote:

BBE sounds nice in comparison to no EQ because the Cowon's HO sounds poor as is imo. It does improve things but it's too colored...

Quote:

I'm going to have respectfully disagree with you.  Cowon players have generally had the highest heaphone outputs compared to other mp3 player brands.  As result they drive high end headphones better than any other brand.  Exp. the Cowon S9 output is 29mW per channel where as a Sony X1050 has a output of just 5mW per channel.  And the base flat sound of the S9 is pretty good too.

Highly subjective argument but wattage does not equal sound quality.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

I'm going to have respectfully disagree with you.  Cowon players have generally had the highest heaphone outputs compared to other mp3 player brands.  As result they drive high end headphones better than any other brand.  Exp. the Cowon S9 output is 29mW per channel where as a Sony X1050 has a output of just 5mW per channel.  And the base flat sound of the S9 is pretty good too.

I can only speak from my experience with a couple of older (but well-regarded) Cowon models, several iPods, a couple of Samsung/iRiver etc and the X1060 - nothing came close to the power of the amp in the Sony, including the addition of the iBasso T3 to the iPod Classic. That said, I dont try to drive anything beyond Grados from the headphone out of any DAP - based on my time with the K601, it simply isnt worth trying. 

 

[Inks]

Quote:

Highly subjective argument but wattage does not equal sound quality.

x2

 

[Somnambulist]

I would describe the UI of the S:Flo2 (using a non-default skin and the latest firmware) as acceptable rather than terrible. As a touch screen device it feels some way behind an iPod/Phone but it's not unusable. The main cons for me would be the battery life if you were intending to use it for long periods every day, having to organise your music into a neat directory structure as browsing by anything other than directory on the player tends to put things out of alphabetical order, and it being the least troublesome to update and change the front-end of the player on XP, which is obviously an older OS now which you might not have immediate access to.
 
As an S:Flo2 owner though, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't on the lookout for a future replacement, but my requirements for upgrading would be nothing less than larger capacity, either via internal flash or expandable SDXC cards, a bit more flexibility for things like playlists and obviously equal or better SQ. Oh and gapless too. Ideally something like a Rockbox for Android as the front end (how's that coming along at this minute???).

 

[moodyrn]

Quote:

Highly subjective argument but wattage does not equal sound quality.

x3