Cowon D2 without a Rival?

[bubbagump]

The dust has settled over here -- my conclusions:


For the feature set offered, the Cowon D2 is unbeatable. Period.


Comparing its feature set to the runner up device, the Insignia NS-8V24 (big brother to the NS-DV) it has:

-best of breed sound quality
-best of breed battery life
-best of breed screen: 2.5" 320x240 16mil colors TFT-LCD
-paint app
-text support
-FLAC support
-internal MIC
-skins
-flash games
-touchscreen
-move around picture via touch
-picture slide show
-alarm clock
-tv output

Compared to the NS-8V24 It lacks:

-bluetooth support



Joytoto makes the Iriver X20 and Insignia players, but it seems universal that they lack audio fidelity in multiple categories. Chanes are the Iriver X20 suffers from the same fate a little.

In time maybe Creative or Archos will be able to compete with Cowon on this field. Archos PMPs don't even has any recording features so they weren't considered. The Creative Zen has a crippled SDHC slot, no line-in and no MSC support.

Time to go shopping!

 

[Jimbo3b]

Yup. Those are the features that sold me. I also like the ogg support--I use ogg more than I use flac, and lately I've been playing a bunch of old holiday music mp3s--they all sound great on the D2.

I have a line-in cable, but haven't tried it out yet. However, I've been pleased with the sound recorded by the internal mic. Works great for meetings.

 

[shigzeo]

i was sold on the pushing the picture with my thumb feature. the rest were all lies

 

[bubbagump]

Pulled the trigger on a 8GB from newegg. Time to get this show on the road

When browsing newegg, I noticed an Archos AV480 for 189. Possible theres a couple Archos models hiding in their history that have almost all the features. I'm done with spinning things inside my portable DAPs, however.

 

[LostPhil]

Apparently, the sound has improved in the latest firmware.

Not sure myself as I haven't had too much of a critical listen but thought I'd let you guys know of the rumour.

Oh and the Flash UI is quite nice!

 

[DominicKarma]

congrats bubbagump, you've bought the best flash DAP I've used to date.!.

 

[shigzeo]

yeah, what he said, but with much less enthuse.

 

[DominicKarma]

yeah you really like to hammer home the fact that you don't like your D2 that much, seems to me like you step over the line of helpful criticism.

 

[Kees]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif i was sold on the pushing the picture with my thumb feature. the rest were all lies

Man, do I feel sorry for you....

 

[sigsegv0x0B]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DominicKarma /img/forum/go_quote.gif yeah you really like to hammer home the fact that you don't like your D2 that much, seems to me like you step over the line of helpful criticism.

No he just points out that the player isn't as great as the rabid fanboys like to make it seem.

 

[DominicKarma]

If that's what you believe then my respect for you has plummeted tenfold.

 

[tjweaver]

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.

 

[shigzeo]

well the thread is called is it without rival? there is either love or hate. i do not hate the d2 but it is certainly not without rival. i think it is quite obvious that i point this out. it has come cool things like expandability for sacrifice of battery. it has gained some okay id3 tag support but was with nothing in the beginning if you did not make folders or use windows. it is clean sounding but harsh slightly. it has an excellent screen but poor codec support and heaps of artifacting unless you use iriver software.

it does many things but nothing excellently. i think that is obvious that i am pointing this out and ... if it needs be hammer it home. i was enthralled for a few months, maybe even half a year when i listened lightly and did not care about how i used it but... it is certainly along lines of ease of use and specialisation quite far from perfect or without rival.

 

[bubbagump]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif it does many things but nothing excellently. i think that is obvious that i am pointing this out and ... if it needs be hammer it home. i was enthralled for a few months, maybe even half a year when i listened lightly and did not care about how i used it but... it is certainly along lines of ease of use and specialisation quite far from perfect or without rival.

I noticed that you don't use windows. I'm not a windows user either. Reading your notes, I'm hedging myself to avoid disappointment.

For video conversion I'll be using standard ffmpeg to convert stuff -- do you have any experience with which bitrates or formats to use when converting dvds or other common show formats?

In terms of audio quality, its not hard to search at a couple forums and find that there are players that seem to have better sound quality. I'm hoping that with all the audio options the player has along with a impedence adapters I'll be able to find something I can enjoy. I'm using crap buds (koss plugs) at the moment (stolen E3s).

Looking forward to doing audio tests with it compared to other players when I get it no-less.

I'm planning on using this player with eq on and a SD card installed at all times. Even if I get 30 hours in that setup, its better than anything on the market that I know of.

Martin at iaudiophile has sample line-in, fm and mic recordings. I couldn't tell a difference really between the line-in recording and the original. I want to say I can hear something, but couldn't find a critical difference.

iAudiophile.net: Content / iAudiophile Reviews / Cowon D2 Review

 

[eduj]

I'm so happy with my D2 that i'm actually thinking to buy a second one (a black 8GB ,i have a red 4GB).It sounds better than i ever though it would with my ER4 (with APS "P" cable).Very good combo.