Cowon J3 Discontinued
May 18, 2012 at 12:29 PM Post #31 of 75
Quote:
bah... the same EQ settings sound different on my new D3 which arrived today.  Also, out of the box at least it's not sounding nearly as clean as the J3 did in my car. 
 
Wifi was on....but could that be why it was so much more fuzzy sounding through my car stereo?  D:

Different hardware, so naturally the EQ settings wouldn't sound the same. 
wink.gif

 
May 18, 2012 at 7:36 PM Post #32 of 75
hmm...maybe i just never plugged my J3 to the car stereo with EQ settings on.  with EQ this time, D3 sounds the same to my memory....
 
there are people who are saying the hardware is the exact same and the sound is exactly the same.  Perhaps I'll be able to do an actual A-B if I get a J3.  For now I think I'm satisfied with the D3---with my main frustration being that it reads microSD cards extremely slow.  And music folders with album art excruciatingly slow--
 
May 20, 2012 at 4:47 PM Post #33 of 75
I'm glad I found this thread .... I'm looking for a versatile "audiophile" or just "sub-audiophile" quality DAP now and after some very brief research, was going to pull the trigger on a J3 ... and now I see it's discontinued.
 
My background --- I've got a sansa fuze (it's alright), and an iPod Touch 32Gb.  I really don't care for the quality of sound out of the iPod Touch, and the built-in EQs are few and crappy.  I don't mind spending a few hundred dollars for something that will really satisfy me.
 
I'd like to have the versatility to easily change EQs (if necessary) to accomodate different genres (though I mostly listen to jazz), but really to handle the different ear/head phones I use --- at this time mainly atmh50, koss portapro (for fun), and for IEM land, the Westone 4, the VSonic gr07 and the Sony mdr-ex1000.  I sometimes use headphone out, sometimes LOD into a JDS Labs Cmoybb.
 
I'm really looking for line out, eq versatility , and generally acknowledged good sound quality.
 
Looking for recommendations, I'm itching to buy --- do I want J3 or D3? (I already have an android pad and an htc rezound phone, both android but hardware not really optimized for sound).  I was also looking at the Sonys ..... X is discontinued, Z is android? and kind of expensive. 
 
May 20, 2012 at 5:10 PM Post #34 of 75
Quote:
I'm glad I found this thread .... I'm looking for a versatile "audiophile" or just "sub-audiophile" quality DAP now and after some very brief research, was going to pull the trigger on a J3 ... and now I see it's discontinued.
 
My background --- I've got a sansa fuze (it's alright), and an iPod Touch 32Gb.  I really don't care for the quality of sound out of the iPod Touch, and the built-in EQs are few and crappy.  I don't mind spending a few hundred dollars for something that will really satisfy me.
 
I'd like to have the versatility to easily change EQs (if necessary) to accomodate different genres (though I mostly listen to jazz), but really to handle the different ear/head phones I use --- at this time mainly atmh50, koss portapro (for fun), and for IEM land, the Westone 4, the VSonic gr07 and the Sony mdr-ex1000.  I sometimes use headphone out, sometimes LOD into a JDS Labs Cmoybb.
 
I'm really looking for line out, eq versatility , and generally acknowledged good sound quality.
 
Looking for recommendations, I'm itching to buy --- do I want J3 or D3? (I already have an android pad and an htc rezound phone, both android but hardware not really optimized for sound).  I was also looking at the Sonys ..... X is discontinued, Z is android? and kind of expensive. 

I may be a little biased b/c I'm selling a D3 right now.. but I just had the J3 and sold that already.  I am convinced they sound the same.  and they are supposed to have the exact same hardware also as this admin on iaudiophile.net says:  Anyway, the D3 has a bigger screen by quite a bit 3.7" vs. 3.3"..  the drawback is battery life.  20 hours vs 60 hours.  J3 does not have line out, but D3 has digital out for audio and video ($13 cable on amazon), so you can bypass it's amp and dac if you wanted to.  The headphone port is super super clean.  Most people say these players don't need an amp and I would agree ( i own the fiio E17)...it does add to it a little bit--more full bodied sound.  Both use the same EQ/jeteffect...and it is marvellous.  Really can make your music sound like it's alive.  D3 seems to have slightly slower sd card reading speed, but that may be b/c i have a slow microsd card.  I've had both J3 and D3 in the 32gb models.  I would say I recommend that since it reads the internal memory the fastest.
Any complaints you've heard about sluggish UI about the D3 has been fixed...with Gingerbread update and the latest 3.55 update.  
there is a link to my ad on my signature, where you'll find an honest description in there as well :) 
 
Oh yeah, my biggest gripe about the J3 is it's small screen and somewhat unintuitive UI--so it's very hard to use/navigate while driving (car)
 
 
This tired old placebo topic seems to crop up with every new player being released, just the people claiming to hear "huge differences" are changing...

The J3 and D3 sound exactly the same - which also is exactly the same as any other modern Cowon (or any other non-broken player, for that matter). People claiming they hear a difference are talking complete nonsense. Or maybe they indeed have a broken player - or don't know how to volume-match two players for a honest AB comparison.

I did a lengthy volume-matched AB test between the D3 and J3 (both matched to within 0.5dB SPL), with both dynamic driver (Sennheiser IE8) and multi-armature (Earsonics SM3) IEMs, and there is not even the tiniest noticeable difference to be heard. Besides flat output I also tested various BBE settings on both players, and they also sound exactly the same.

I wish this spreading of lies and placebo preconceptions about differences in sound quality where there are none would stop. But some people like to believe in fairy tales, it seems.

Besides listening tests, here are the RMAA measurements for the D3, compared to other players: http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=39607
 
http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=39305

 
Jun 27, 2012 at 9:36 PM Post #35 of 75
I have a Sony 16 GB Series S Walkman and I'm planning to buy the Cowon J3 or C2. I prefer the J3 one since it has a very long battery life and I red many review on it. Since Cowon stop producing. Does that mean than the price would go up or maybe down. I'm Canadian and I only found 1 website that still sell it and it is 200$ .On the other hand the C2 is 150$. I plan to sell my Sony walkman so I can have so money to buy the J3. Anyone know a place where I can buy the 16 GB version. I choose the 16 GB because the micro SD is now 25$ for 16Gb and in addition I don't use my mp3 to watch movies but just for listen some good music. Anyone know good MP3 that don't have Android because I notice that Mp3 that have Android is cut in half on the battery compare to MP3 that doesn't have android..
 
Jun 27, 2012 at 11:20 PM Post #36 of 75
Quote:
I'm glad I found this thread .... I'm looking for a versatile "audiophile" or just "sub-audiophile" quality DAP now and after some very brief research, was going to pull the trigger on a J3 ... and now I see it's discontinued.
 
My background --- I've got a sansa fuze (it's alright), and an iPod Touch 32Gb.  I really don't care for the quality of sound out of the iPod Touch, and the built-in EQs are few and crappy.  I don't mind spending a few hundred dollars for something that will really satisfy me.
 
I'd like to have the versatility to easily change EQs (if necessary) to accomodate different genres (though I mostly listen to jazz), but really to handle the different ear/head phones I use --- at this time mainly atmh50, koss portapro (for fun), and for IEM land, the Westone 4, the VSonic gr07 and the Sony mdr-ex1000.  I sometimes use headphone out, sometimes LOD into a JDS Labs Cmoybb.
 
I'm really looking for line out, eq versatility , and generally acknowledged good sound quality.
 
Looking for recommendations, I'm itching to buy --- do I want J3 or D3? (I already have an android pad and an htc rezound phone, both android but hardware not really optimized for sound).  I was also looking at the Sonys ..... X is discontinued, Z is android? and kind of expensive. 

I'm in the boat with you. I currently use a Clip+, iems: ex1000, fx700, um3x and sm32 on the way.   I'm leaning toward either buying a Sony E465, 16 gb, $100 first or J3.  I am concerned if I will have a hard time with J3s UI. 
 
Jun 28, 2012 at 2:05 AM Post #38 of 75
Quote:
whats wrong with the j3's UI? i think the j3 is a great device.  the sound is good, EQ is good, battery life is amazing.  

Is the J3 as easy to use as the Sony? 
I've read some think the J3 UI is counter intuitive. One person who knows all the workings of RB had to resort to the manual after coming back to using the J3 after periods of using another DAP.   
 
I'm convinced the J3 is top shelf, just not convinced it's easy to learn to use.
 
Jun 28, 2012 at 9:46 AM Post #41 of 75
Quote:
Is the J3 as easy to use as the Sony? 
I've read some think the J3 UI is counter intuitive. One person who knows all the workings of RB had to resort to the manual after coming back to using the J3 after periods of using another DAP.   
 
I'm convinced the J3 is top shelf, just not convinced it's easy to learn to use.

Kizune makes great UIs for the j3. i think its pretty straight forward. its light years ahead of where the hifiman or s:flo2 players were (or still are, i havent had one of late)
 
Jul 6, 2012 at 9:46 AM Post #43 of 75
Just noticed Amazon doesn't have 32GB ones left...and ebay's new ones look to be done too...seems like stocks might be winding down...glad I picked one up, will be my first experience with them.
 
 
Oct 1, 2012 at 8:47 AM Post #44 of 75
Selling my J3 32Gb in black, see link below.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/629840/cowon-j3-32gb-black-for-sale
 
 
SOLD.
 

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