Cowon J3 Impressions Thread

[Confispect]

Quote:

Cowon had that feature since their first touch screen player, the D2.
 
 

Fixed.
 
D2>S9>D2+>J3>D3 

 

[basementdweller]

I've been replacing older players lately and while my 6g Nano is great for working out and keeping in my pocket all day, I still wanted something with high enough capacity to carry around my entire library and was honestly curious about jeteffects and BBE+.  I'm a mac user and have read all the horror stories about Apples killing Cowons, but after researching and waiting and researching some more I finally broke down and bought a J3 this week.  I just don't need all of the gimmicky apps that come with Apple's touch and I've forever been cursed with a sense of wonderlust.
 
It is far too soon for me to give impressions regarding durability, or sound quality for that matter, but so far I am liking the player a whole lot.  I manage the Cowon with my netbook, but I am still using files that where originally encoded and transferred from a mac.  I have synced and safely disconnected the unit probably a dozen times, played with files, loaded the internal memory to within 2gb of its' 30.5gb limit, and loaded a bunch of crap onto a 16gb microSD card.  Guess what?  The J3 doesn't show a hint of bricking and since that's what I was afraid it would do, I have been doing everything I can think of to see if it will without actually hooking it up to the mac(won't do that).  For reference I used the MSC transfer method and did use a program called "hidden cleaner" on the external hard drives I had hooked up to the mac...which I, of course, used to transfer files to the netbook.  If any of this helps anyone glean a reason why these players brick when hooked directly to a mac, I hope it helps but it is beyond me since the hidden files obviously didn't piggyback to the netbook.  I'm just glad(relieved) mine seems to be working as advertised.
 
Other than managing the player, I will say that the J3 looks and feels very nice.  The screen is outstanding.  I think it is a pity that I will rarely watch videos on the J3 as it is far and away the best looking small screen I have ever seen.  Speaking of the screen, it is very responsive and at least as usable as my long departed iPod Touch(sold due to small capacity, limited battery, SQ and gimmicky nature mentioned in the first paragraph). 
 
The UI is, for the most part, very well done.  I've managed to, rather intuitively, play some music, start a video, change the back ground, and mess with jeteffects.  I haven't yet figured out how to randomly play files or create a playlist, but in all honestly I really haven't tried to figure it out and, for that matter, don't even know if the player is capable of these features as they weren't deal-breakers in my research.
 
Ummmm....other than all that...the packaging is nice, the manual is crap, and I'm sure the to-remain-unopened stock earbuds are crap.  Have a nice day!

 

[basementdweller]

Put a movie on the J3 today.  Very easy to get it to work once I figured out I had to edit the .m4v extension to .mp4 in order to get the player to recognize it.  Initially, I had the video on the SD card.  Video was very choppy and I couldn't get the device to recognize any of my inputs.  Had to press the reset button.  Everything restarted easily and I moved the video file from the SD card onto the internal memory.  As I suspected, the video played smoothly and the J3 responded to user inputs.
 
Now I didn't buy this thing for video, but with the 16gb expansion card I had laying around I really want to do something with it.  Now I guess I'll move roughly 16gb of music from the internal memory to the external and put a bunch of movies on the internal memory now that I know what I'm doing.
 
Just for fun, I cranked the bass knob on my IE8s, set mach3bass/bbe to max and threw on some techno/industrial rock.  Pretty cool really, the whole short experience reminded me of High School when I crammed two 15" subs in the back of a CRX just for fun.

 

[sz1999]

bought a 32gb J3 to upgrade rockboxed x5 20gb a while ago, i don't like the sound quality, it is dry without good sound stage, kind of like listening a concert half mile away. Comparing to sflo2, i will rate j3 sq 6 if sflo2 is 10, j3 is not even come close to x5 and iriver 120. IEM i used is denon ahc751.
 
Another minor thing is the usb cable is too loose on the J3 side and too tight on pc side.

 

[Golden Monkey]

ROFLMAO

 

[sz1999]

Quote:

ROFLMAO

i assume your post commented on my post above, as a new member here my feeling is it is very unfriendly and lack of courtesy.

 

[violinvirtuoso]

Quote:

ROFLMAO

What is so funny? If you are commenting on "sz1999" 's post, then I don't understand what you are getting at. I happen to agree with sz1999 that the S:Flo 2 sounds better than the J3 (no EQ).

 

[Ripvanlink]

To give the J3 a fair evaluation, a 100 hour burn in needs to be done. Some players sound great out of the box, others need a burn-in to sound good. All would benefit from a burn-in period.

 

[dfkt]

...and the posts are getting funnier by the minute. I hope that "burn in" stuff was meant sarcastically.

 

[Achmedisdead]

 
Quote:

Quote:

ROFLMAO

What is so funny? If you are commenting on "sz1999" 's post, then I don't understand what you are getting at. I happen to agree with sz1999 that the S:Flo 2 sounds better than the J3 (no EQ).

Who uses a Cowon player without EQ? The EQ and other enhancements are their biggest selling point, along with the battery life that S:flo2 and Hifiman could only dream of.

 

[plonter]

I have a question not regarding the last discussion:  If i buy a new J3.  is it recommended to first charge it to the maximum (straight out of the box) before turn it on,  or maybe drain the battery first and only than charge it?     what will be more healthy for the battery?
 
and also..I like the flat cowon sound very much with out the bbe stuff and eq.  I use enhancements only with garbage earbuds like when i am running,jogging,bicycling and such and i have to use low quality earphones,in that case the sound enhancements really help turning a very bad earphone to a normal sounding one..but with good earphones i really like to leave the sound flat.

 

[violinvirtuoso]

Quote:

 
Quote:

Quote:

ROFLMAO

What is so funny? If you are commenting on "sz1999" 's post, then I don't understand what you are getting at. I happen to agree with sz1999 that the S:Flo 2 sounds better than the J3 (no EQ).

Who uses a Cowon player without EQ? The EQ and other enhancements are their biggest selling point, along with the battery life that S:flo2 and Hifiman could only dream of.

 
My point wasn't that the S:Flo 2 was a better sounding player, my point was I could understand someone stating that the S:Flo 2 sounded a lot better than the J3. I still don't get what was funny earlier.

 

[kingpintps]

I'm not sure such short term treatment will affect the battery much (if at all), so just plug them in and start enjoying and recharge when you need to. These days the batteries are quite advanced, and you are more likely to live out the player than kill the battery first, so don't worry about recharging cycles too much. 

What earphones are you using? In my experience, all 3 of the "Good" earphones I used with the J3, sounded world apart with/without the equalizer and BBE, which were all around for the better. I really find it hard to listen to anything without them now.
 
Quote:

I have a question not regarding the last discussion:  If i buy a new J3.  is it recommended to first charge it to the maximum (straight out of the box) before turn it on,  or maybe drain the battery first and only than charge it?     what will be more healthy for the battery?
 
and also..I like the flat cowon sound very much with out the bbe stuff and eq.  I use enhancements only with garbage earbuds like when i am running,jogging,bicycling and such and i have to use low quality earphones,in that case the sound enhancements really help turning a very bad earphone to a normal sounding one..but with good earphones i really like to leave the sound flat.

 

[Golden Monkey]

Why all the butthurt?  I just though it was funny that the J3 was considered to be so bad sounding...fine, the S:flo sounds better than AN UN-EQ'D J3 in someone's opinion...I don't care if someone feels that way or not.  My god, some of you people (violinvirtuoso) need to learn to relax and lighten up.  We're talking about audio equipment, not debating the merits of someone's ancestors. 
 
Oh, and sz1999...your Official Welcome To Head-Fi Welcoming Kit & Official Coupon Book is in the mail...my most heartfelt and sarcastic apologies for the delay of the USPS.  In it, please refer to Chapter 16, paragragh twelve, wherein it states that "all opinions shared on Head-Fi are fair and legitimate, although subject to differing views but under no circumstances is any statement to be found funny.".  I shall call a meeting of all Headphoneus Supremeus members and open an official inquest as to why you have recieved such shoddy treatment at my hands, and I'll accept any punishment deemed necessary for having an opinion differing from yours and/or finding your statement funny..  Please consider yourself fully ensconsed into the rolls of Official Head-Fi Membership, and henceforth granted all the status and respect this title accords.  And sorry about your wallet. 
 
There, do you feel welcomed now? 

 

[plonter]

Quote:

I'm not sure such short term treatment will affect the battery much (if at all), so just plug them in and start enjoying and recharge when you need to. These days the batteries are quite advanced, and you are more likely to live out the player than kill the battery first, so don't worry about recharging cycles too much. 

What earphones are you using? In my experience, all 3 of the "Good" earphones I used with the J3, sounded world apart with/without the equalizer and BBE, which were all around for the better. I really find it hard to listen to anything without them now.
 

yeah..guess you are right,no need to worry about that so much.
I found that audiophile grade headphones like M50, RS1,HF-5 etc.  don't sound so good with sound enhancemets..the sound becomes very unreal and exaggerated.  and some headphones like M50 , AH-D5000 and RS1 already have sound enhancements of their own

but the cowon and BBE enhancements are really cool and the best i heard so far..and they really make rather poor headphones sound much much better.   but like i said,with more high level headphones i usually prefer to leave the EQ flat without any effects.   but every once in a while when i want to spice things a little i use the bbe viva setting which i find very nice sounding.
 
by the way..I am planning on buying a J3 this week.  I am currently using i9 and very pleased with it but the temptation to get the much superior J3 is too hard to resist.  I also need more space and more battery life.  with the I9 you will get through the say easely..but always need to watch out for the bettery life indicator, and i miss a player like the legendary i7 when i didn't have to worry about that.