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Cowon Iaudio Hifi
Sep 6, 2019 at 4:10 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 37
Aevum

Aevum

Headphoneus Supremus
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Has anyone seen this ?
http://www.cowonglobal.com/product_wide/iAUDIOHiFi/product_page_4.php

https://www.advancedmp3players.co.u....15385.html?am3sid=c5cas88ck5mjt4oaro7co435u5

It seems like a Reworked Iaudio 9+ that comes in 64 or 128GB storage (unsure if it has expandable memory, dosnt seem like it)

Carries a Cirrus Logic CS43131 chip and claims a 130dB SNR ,
Claims to support native DSD64/128 5,64Mhz

The bad part is that they dont specify if its Micro USB, USB C or the proprietary cable the original had.
and battery life is 14 hours playing normal lossy formats and 10 hours playing lossless.

Price is around 110 GBP for 64gb and 140 GBP for 128GB


Anyways... Anyone bought one or maybe theres already a thread ?
 
Sep 6, 2019 at 4:45 PM Post #2 of 37
I think the connector is proprietary. Otherwise, the specs are not just claims. The guys at naver.blog posted a review with measurements https://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=gre_nada&logNo=221631058482. I'm always on the lookout for super small DAPs that sound great, so I'm definitely getting one. This thing measures better than a lot of flagship DAPs at a fraction of their size and cost.
 
Sep 6, 2019 at 5:08 PM Post #4 of 37
Aevum said:
thats the thing, DSD and propietary connector, maybe the Sony A45 or A55 is a better choice.
Click to expand...
The sony also has proprietary connector. Only for the battery life, microSd cad slot and the UI. I am 100% sure the cowon will destroy my nw-a35, so essentially all sony nw-a models. Hell, the cowon measures better then the sony WM models. Hell, it measures better than the DMP-Z1
 
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Sep 26, 2019 at 2:28 AM Post #5 of 37
kova4a said:
I think the connector is proprietary. Otherwise, the specs are not just claims. The guys at naver.blog posted a review with measurements https://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=gre_nada&logNo=221631058482. I'm always on the lookout for super small DAPs that sound great, so I'm definitely getting one. This thing measures better than a lot of flagship DAPs at a fraction of their size and cost.
Click to expand...
Any impressions so far ? Maybe a short review ? Saw your reply about it's battery life and the transfer speed in another thread.
 
Oct 6, 2019 at 5:57 PM Post #8 of 37
Mine just arrived this morning and I collected it on my way home from nights. Loaded it with 54GB of Ogg-Vorbis (499kbps) music as I was sleeping and am currently enjoying it through my Philips Fidelio X2's on a break here in work.
No problems powering the X2's at about 85/140 on the headphone(as opposed to iem) setting. Heavenly..........
 
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Oct 14, 2019 at 12:55 AM Post #10 of 37
Aevum said:
Any reviews of this player ?

Also can someone confirm it has a proprietary connector ?
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's proprietary. Sorry, I had my PhD thesis defense the other day, so I was quite busy but finally got my PhD In Law - yay!

Anyway, I like the iaudio hifi. The UI and touch controls can be a bit finicky and definitely require some time getting used to, but overall the software is pretty solid and I haven't had any hiccups or issues. The DAP doesn't have dedicated hardware playback buttons but it provides two option when the screen is off or the touchpad is locked: the menu button on the right side is always play/pause, while the volume buttons on the left can be either just volume buttons or previous/next but then you need to turn on the screen to change the volume. It's not a perfect solution but personally I don't change the volume that often and would rather have a way to quickly change the tracks on the go.

It has a neutral and smooth sound - kinda reminds me of the recent sony walkmans but less warm. So in that regard it goes for a more relaxed presentation. I wouldn't call it laid back or something as the highs are well-extended and present - it's just going for smoothness instead of aggression. There are jet effect, which I wasn't too impressed with but I haven't played around with them much. There are also 5 digital filters - I liked the least the standard fast/low latency and the non-oversampling the least and IMO the fast/phase-compensated provides the best balance although the slow ones are also good.

Like I said before the battery life is nothing to write home about and if you're coming from a sony walkman it can even be underwhelming. With a mix of standard flac and hi-res files I get an average of 7-10 hours out of it, but given how small and thin this thing is it's hard to fault it for that as for instance the activo c10 lasts less than that and is quite a bit chunkier. It is something to note though. Also, like I said before the proprietary cable transfers data pretty slow at about 6Mb/s, which is exactly 4 times slower than a sony walkman for instance. I don't alter my music library very often - just add the occasional new albums every now an then, but some people might be bothered.

So in conclusion, it is a very good DAP for the size and price and I'm definitely not disappointed but I think I'm a bit too used to sony as a daily driver due to the huge battery life, the touchscreen and the proper dedicated hardware playback controls, so I see the iaudio hifi as something that I'll stick in a small case with a pair of iems and use it as a backup, but that's just me
 
Oct 21, 2019 at 12:40 PM Post #12 of 37
Aevum said:
Thank you for your reply and i hope your thesis defense went well.
Click to expand...
Yes it did, thank you!

Btw, the iaudio fits perfectly in the wide brainwavz iem case and it's perfect for it and a pair of iems.

IMG_20191021_173649.jpg
 
Oct 31, 2019 at 9:17 AM Post #13 of 37
New Firmware V1.01 is on :-

http://www.cowonglobal.com/zeroboard/zboard.php?id=C08&no=632

Warning/Caution

  • The battery must be fully charged before firmware upgrade.
  • Do not reset iAUDIO HiFi during firmware upgrade.
  • Backup any important files in iAUDIO HiFi to your PC before firmware upgrade.
  • Please use firmware that COWON authorizes only.
  • JetEffect values might be initialized after firmware upgrade. Please record any important values.

New Features

  1. Improved Matrix Browser album image display
  2. Improved FLAC file compatibility
Link to Cowon product page :-

http://www.cowonglobal.com/product_wide/iAUDIOHiFi/product_page_1.php

Link to Manuals :-

http://www.cowonglobal.com/zeroboard/zboard.php?id=C09&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&bmenu=M&category=72&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&bmenu=M&desc=asc&no=92&bmenu=M
 
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Nov 1, 2019 at 10:07 AM Post #14 of 37
taffy2207 said:
New Firmware V1.01 is on :-

http://www.cowonglobal.com/zeroboard/zboard.php?id=C08&no=632

Warning/Caution

  • The battery must be fully charged before firmware upgrade.
  • Do not reset iAUDIO HiFi during firmware upgrade.
  • Backup any important files in iAUDIO HiFi to your PC before firmware upgrade.
  • Please use firmware that COWON authorizes only.
  • JetEffect values might be initialized after firmware upgrade. Please record any important values.

New Features

  1. Improved Matrix Browser album image display
  2. Improved FLAC file compatibility
Link to Cowon product page :-

http://www.cowonglobal.com/product_wide/iAUDIOHiFi/product_page_1.php

Link to Manuals :-

http://www.cowonglobal.com/zeroboard/zboard.php?id=C09&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&bmenu=M&category=72&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&bmenu=M&desc=asc&no=92&bmenu=M
Click to expand...
Thanks, just updated it. I didn't expect any updates, so I would have never check for one myself.
 
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