Cowon J3 Impressions Thread

[Navyblue]

Quote:

It depends on how you organize your album. You could just use the folder browsing option. I don't think the J3 supports albums sorted by album artist, like rockbox. I was able to do that on the ipod though using foobar to transfer files.
 


 

I didn't know Foobar does iPod, thanks.
 
Do you mean that you can alter the album sorting when using Foobar to transfer to a regular iPod? Or is it a Rockbox feature?
 

 

[Navyblue]

 
Quote:

 


the J3 has the same compilation problem as the iPod; i think the Zune is the only player that groups compilation albums under Various Artists. Does browsing 30 artists really make it much harder to go through? I have hundreds of artists on my J3 and I find browsing to be easy. Also album view is sorting alphabetically, not by artist.
 
If you think the iPod "fails in UI" and you have 10 artists all in ALAC, you might as well get the 8GB/16GB J3 and convert them to FLAC. The J3 will definitely satisfy you with SQ, as long as you get a decent EQ which can take time. However, I would say that the J3s UI is slightly worse than the iPod's.
Its best to get a J3, as it has unrivalled battery life, and has great SQ. I think the fact that it doesnt recognise album artist tags is relatively minor, and for me, is definitely not a reason to buy an iPod instead.
 
 

Those numbers are just an example. I don't know how many artists are there in my library, but with my relatively little proportion wise on compilations, they are enough to overwhelm the artist list with a 1 album 1 song entry. This made the artist sorting view a pain. Zune can handle it with the various artist thing but I still consider it a work around, IMO Sony does this best with their album sorting according to artist and they lump all the compilations together. Alphabetical sorting of album doesn't really do it for me as often I don't remember the album name.
 
I even thought about using an iPod Touch/Classic as my main player and get a separate Nano for compilations. Or store the whole of my library in multiple MIcroSD and get multiple cheapie 2GB Clip+ (and still be cheaper than other DAPs) so that I can swap to another player when one goes out of juice. For DAP with external storage like J3, I can also put the offending albums in a separate MicroSD card. The downside is load time when cards are swapped and boot up.
 
Btw, can J3 play lossless WMA?

 

[169380]

^ - A less troublesome alternative would be to buy the J3 and tag all your compilations under Various Artists. The artist name could then be inserted into the Song Name so you know which song is by which artist.
 
However, with the J3, you can browse through folders stored on the device (I have a folder for each album). It is not like an iPod where you can only browse through artists, albums...etc. This also solves you problem, but it makes it difficult if you want to have integrated access with an SD card.
 
There is probably a way to solve both of your problems somehow; you might as well check anythingbutipod.com
I found this thread about your VA problem: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57731
 
And yes, it can play WMA.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

 
Btw, can J3 play lossless WMA?

I don't know about lossless WMA.....it will play lossy WMA. You might better convert your lossless WMA to FLAC......almost nothing besides a Zune will play lossless WMA, FLAC support is much more common.

 

[Navyblue]

Quote:

^ - A less troublesome alternative would be to buy the J3 and tag all your compilations under Various Artists. The artist name could then be inserted into the Song Name so you know which song is by which artist.
 
However, with the J3, you can browse through folders stored on the device (I have a folder for each album). It is not like an iPod where you can only browse through artists, albums...etc. This also solves you problem, but it makes it difficult if you want to have integrated access with an SD card.
 
There is probably a way to solve both of your problems somehow; you might as well check anythingbutipod.com
I found this thread about your VA problem: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57731
 
And yes, it can play WMA.

I guess that is one way, but at this point it wouldn't matter which player then. Although when considering battery life and format compatibility J3 probably ranks on top, just that it cost more.
 

 

[Navyblue]

Quote:

I don't know about lossless WMA.....it will play lossy WMA. You might better convert your lossless WMA to FLAC......almost nothing besides a Zune will play lossless WMA, FLAC support is much more common.

There seem to be people reporting that it plays WMA lossless (I know Sony does WMA but the lossless WMA), although I have no means of verifying the information. But then one of the pro for getting the J3 is that it is platform independent, but using WMA lossless mean 64 bit Linux is not able to play it so...
 

 

[dopeboyfresh]

I kind of want one as a dedicated music player to plug into the car speakers because that's when I listen to the most music... but... eh :/

 

[Griffinhart]

Quote:

^ - A less troublesome alternative would be to buy the J3 and tag all your compilations under Various Artists. The artist name could then be inserted into the Song Name so you know which song is by which artist.

 

 
You could also do proper APEv2 tagging - "Various Artists" would go in the Album Artist tag, with the specific song's artist in the Artist tag - that way you don't pollute the Title tag with the artist's name.
 
(ID3v2 supports this as well - except instead of Album Artist you have BAND. I forget what that is exactly in the frame spec, though - TPEsomenumber, IIRC.)
 
-- Griffinhart

 

[Navyblue]

Self correction:
 
iTune can mark albums as compilation and the individual artist name won't show up in the artist list. The album would also appear under "compilation". Problem solved.

 

[Tmaster100]

Quote:

Mine too..I don't bother, maybe it's the entire case of battery inside. Do anyone here tried to opened their unit and specify what that moving part is?

It is the battery thats rattling around. I had the same problem with my older J3 and found the battery is stuck in place by two pieces of thin double sided tape. A shocking way to hold such a large battery inside the J3.
 

 

[Optimus Praim]

Does anybody using Ultrasone have any good EQ settings?

 

[macrocheesium]

For my HFI-580's I use:
 
80Hz, Narrow, +1db
500Hz, Wide, +5db
780Hz, Wide, +3db
4.1kHz, Narrow, +3db
13kHz, Normal, +6db
BBE, 10
3D Surround, 4
 
Occasionally I'll make a small adjustment but for the most part it stays like that.

 

[Optimus Praim]

Quote:

For my HFI-580's I use:
 
80Hz, Narrow, +1db
500Hz, Wide, +5db
780Hz, Wide, +3db
4.1kHz, Narrow, +3db
13kHz, Normal, +6db
BBE, 10
3D Surround, 4
 
Occasionally I'll make a small adjustment but for the most part it stays like that.

Thanks man,i will give them a shot tomorrow,but i am surprised that you don't mention mach3bass..
You don't use it?
I have the DJ1,basically same like your 580...
 

 

[macrocheesium]

 
Quote:

Thanks man,i will give them a shot tomorrow,but i am surprised that you don't mention mach3bass..
You don't use it?
I have the DJ1,basically same like your 580...
 

Nope. It does do a very good job, and a few months ago I had it pretty high up, but I've gradually become less and less of a basshead.
 

 

[Catan]

Man, I carry my J3+SE535 combo everywhere...such good sound that fits in my jeans