[dfkt]

Quote:

Thanks for the links guys.  So, ViVA is a soundstage widenening effect that focuses the center channel, so I assume that's good for video/movie playback?  I'm assuming ViVA2 is just an increase in the effect, and not a different effect altogether?  What about BBE Headphone, 2, & 3?  To my ears they do different things, and not just more or less of whatever it is it's doing.
 
Some of the effects are weird, like Feel The Wind and Crystal Clear...they are neat exercises in playing around with sound, but I'd never listen to music that way.  Most of them I just don't use, and the custom EQ has so much variability that I haven't even started playing with them.  I pretty much just try to find a setting based on the music and phones that gives me a natural or "fun" sound depending on the mood, so I just stick to any of the BBE's. 

 
ViVA/ViVA2/BBE Headphone seem to be a mix, hardcoded presets that combine the effects of BBE, M3B, Stereo Enhance. It's almost possible to get the same sound when tweaking these separately, but not quite.
 
As far as the presets go that don't have a BBE prefix, they're something Cowon came up with, and are IMO far from the quality of the BBE algorithms. The 3D Surround setting is again another thing, it's a hardware effect of the Wolfson DAC, AFAIK (and it's no good either, IMO, very muddy - Stereo Enhance is similar, yet better). Personally, I only use the EQ, BBE, M3B, MP, Stereo Enhance. I don't use 3D Surround, Reverb, or the non-BBE presets.
 
Here's a few RMAA tests of the ViVA presets (tested with the S9, but the J3 is the same anyways): http://rmaa.elektrokrishna.com/Comparisons_%28No_Loads%29/Cowon%20S9%20-%20BBE%2B%20ViVA%20Test.htm
 

 

[rawrster]

Quote:

I'm not the one paying the J3 though, so I don't really mind it being expensive. But since the player's expensive, is it a must to have expensive headphones/in-ears, at least if you don't have an amp? 'Cause from what I've gathered you won't need and amp for the J3 even if you have more expensive phones.
 
If so, what's recommended? My experience consists of CX-300 and Denon's AH-C360 and Goldring DR150's at the PC, so I can't say I've had something really expensive.
 
Or is the J3 just too much for a rookie like me, should one maybe start with the Sansa Fuze?
Although Fuze and J3 seem to have the good sound quality in common, the J3 clearly has the superior EQ here with the BBE and all that. But I can't say I prevailed the E30's EQ, and it was a really simple one. After each resetting I'd always change it a couple of days or weeks later, so I'm really worried what I'll do to my J3 once I start to mess with the BBE/whatever.
On the other hand, this opportunity seems to be one of the very big reasons to get the player, and that's probably why I'm unsure...

Also I doubt I'll have use of all the features. But from another point of view I could start to use the features instead of ignoring them just because I haven't used them before.

 
As for the amp it depends on the phones. Most earphones are fine with the J3 and portable headphones should be fine. If you are planning to use some hard to drive then an amp would probably be desired but those phones that you listed are not hard to drive as far as I know. I did have an amp connected to my J3 and there were some differences and whether or not it's worth it would depend on the user.
 
As for whether or not you should use the J3 I say go for it. You are not paying for it so you don't have to worry about cost. I've used various earphones both cheap and more expensive and they all sound good out of the J3. The main reason I got the J3 was because of the battery and it easily is better than the battery of any sansa and I usually get over 55 hours or so from my guess.
 

 

[aleex]

Thanks for the feedback!
I don't want to hijack this thread completely and disturb your chat, but if anyone knows any good places to order J3's in Europe I wouldn't mind, since the only store with a fair price in Sweden was fiercely critized for not handling returns/etc well.
Regarding phones I'm thinking AKG K518's or Sennheiser HD25's, where the first is almost "too cheap" and the second is too expensive, lol. In-ears I don't know..

 

[fuzzy1969]

I would use amazon.eu if thats possible from where you are, they have a good price and excellent returns policy. I ordered one which didnt have the bottom of the screen seated properly sent them an email and a replacement arrived the next day.

 

[Sorensiim]

Quote:

Thanks for the feedback!
I don't want to hijack this thread completely and disturb your chat, but if anyone knows any good places to order J3's in Europe I wouldn't mind, since the only store with a fair price in Sweden was fiercely critized for not handling returns/etc well.
Regarding phones I'm thinking AKG K518's or Sennheiser HD25's, where the first is almost "too cheap" and the second is too expensive, lol. In-ears I don't know..

www.advancedmp3players.co.uk - in the EU, so no tax and customs to worry about and they have a good reputation  
 
Try looking at www.hifi4all.dk if you're considering used cans, I'm sure there must be similar forums in Sweden. (Hej fra Danmark forresten!)
 

 

[Catan]

hey guys,
 
I just got my Cowon J3...not very picky about the UI other than the fact that everything (annoyingly) has brackets around it which i suspect is the reason why it doesn't ignore "The" prefixes. Is there any way to fix this using the current UI? (I used MediaMonkey to transfer the files).

 

[Fantoon]

Which store?
Quote:

Thanks for the feedback!
I don't want to hijack this thread completely and disturb your chat, but if anyone knows any good places to order J3's in Europe I wouldn't mind, since the only store with a fair price in Sweden was fiercely critized for not handling returns/etc well.
Regarding phones I'm thinking AKG K518's or Sennheiser HD25's, where the first is almost "too cheap" and the second is too expensive, lol. In-ears I don't know..

 

[Danneq]

@aleex: are you talking about MP3shop? Yep, I'm Swedish as well.
 
Last year in May, I bought my 32GB S9 from MP3-player.de. However, they do not sell the J3. The prices for Sennheiser HD25 1:II and AKG K518 are quite good, though...
 
Edit: apparently MP3-player do sell the J3. It is not in stock, though, so you have to wait up to 2 weeks for them to get it. MP3-player have had good reviews at prisjakt.nu before and that is why I bought the S9 from them. The last three reviews have been bad, though. I did not have any bad experiences when dealing with them. I have not had any problems with the S9, so I cannot say anything about how they deal with returns...

 

[aleex]

@Fantoon, @Danneq: Yes, I'm talking about mp3shop. As long as you don't need to return anything they seem totally okey, but if the product's broken or something once it reaches me I'm afraid the chances of me being reimbursed aren't quite as high as you'd like.
In general german stores seem to have fair prices and good handling of non-domestic customers. I checked thomann.de and even with shipping you can save like 200 - 400 SEK if you buy a pair of expensive headphones from them, at least if you live here in Sweden where some things are clearly overpriced (Grado SR60/80 is a good example, though they don't have them). I'll check MP3-player.de out since I don't mind waiting if they really are cheaper when you add shipping.
The price of the H25 does however seem to be the same no matter where you buy 'em, at least when shipping's added. If I'm gonna get one of those, it'll be used ones, but I've failed to find that so maybe K518 will have to do for now.
 
Also, are there any cons with buying an 8GB version and add a 16GB microSDHC card? That sums up to about the price of the 16GB alone, but I get 8GB more. Apparently the J3 merge the two cards/drives(well, in the interface) so that shouldn't be a problem?

 

[Achmedisdead]

 
Quote:

 
Also, are there any cons with buying an 8GB version and add a 16GB microSDHC card? That sums up to about the price of the 16GB alone, but I get 8GB more. Apparently the J3 merge the two cards/drives(well, in the interface) so that shouldn't be a problem?

That depends on the size of your library, and how much of it you like to carry around with you. Buying the 8GB model limits you to a maximum of 40GB(if you were to buy a 32GB card, the biggest available) unless you feel comfortable carrying around multiple cards. I personally like to maximize my internal memory, and then add cards,  because I have more music than my DAP's can hold....but to each their own.

 

[aleex]

My library is pretty small, especially the portable one. 16GB will probably be more than enough for music alone since I mainly have 320 rips and I don't feel like I need to have all albums of an artist just because he's good, I rather pick out the really good ones or even delete some tracks if I feel I really don't need them, at least when it's portable.
I'm thinking I can have all the music on the 16GB card and all the other stuff on the 8GB or have that as extra space just in case I need it.
But just the be sure, there are no 'hidden' cons which can affect the player in any way?

 

[Unfie]

So the problem with the playlist files went away by magic. I reinstalled the firmware and did a database update didn't fix it. I guess it just magically felt like going away after I messed around in the other folders. I also had that problem with the clock not working when the J3 was turned on, but going to the radio somehow fixed it.
 
This is such a clunky player. I wouldn't recommend it to a casual, non-audiophile user. But I like the battery life and the BBE settings. I've tried listening to music on Westone 2's on normal settings and on other devices. Maybe it's just the sound signature, but I don't like it. But with the BBE options, the Westone 2's sound amazing. That's fine with me since I only plan to use these IEM's for my J3.

 

[rawrster]

clunky? I have no issues with recommending the J3 to a casual non audiophile. In fact I like the UI better than any other dap I've tried or tested.
 
Now the HM601 I have is an entirely different story..

 

[smokey616]

Anyone know if I can get the J3 to resume playback at the point in the song at which it was shut off? Or will it only resume at the beginning of that track?
 
Besides that I'm loving this player so far.

 

[dfkt]

Turn on resume in the system options.