[Redmetal1897]

Hi there everyone... I thought I pretty much had one of the best players around in the cowon J3 but it seems like the S:Flo2 is considered to be better. I would consider getting one but I have two questions:
 
1) Does the S:flo really offer sound that is significantly better than the J3 eqd? I'm not one of those people who needs to listen on normal and I like having my music be music and not a science experiment - I listen to Heavy metal, rock, instrumental, classical, jazz, blues mainly
 
2) How reliable is it? I see alot of issues with the Sflo crashing and hanging... what is customer support like?
 
The battery life is weak and I'm not too concerned about video playback
 
Would my money be better spent on just getting better IEM's for my J3? Right now I have the HJE900's and the Fischer Audio Silver Bullets. Let me reemphasize that I think the sound quality on my J3 is absolutely fabulous... the Sflo2 has me very curious though lol.
 
It's not too expensive so I wouldn't be too upset if I didn't like it... but I would rather  save up the money towards a pair of customs if the Sflo didn't offer a significant increase in sound quality (which from my research it is the only thing it has on the cowon J3), the impression I get is that people think the Sflo2 is 10/10 on sound quality while the J3 is more like a 7-8
 
Any feedback would be much appreciated!

 

[Achmedisdead]

If you love the sound of your J3 and you use the EQ, then I think you'd be better off sticking with that, and upgrading your IEM's. The SFLO lovers, from what I am seeing here, mostly are no-EQ listeners. And given that your J3 has probably 4 times the battery life of the SFLO, It's a no-brainer to stick with that, IMO.

 

[Will13]

Well I sold my S:Flo2 for a J3, have yet to recive the J3 but from what Ive seen the J3 seems great

 

[Redmetal1897]

May I ask why you sold it? What were your general impressions about the sound quality?
 
Quote:

Well I sold my S:Flo2 for a J3, have yet to recive the J3 but from what Ive seen the J3 seems great

 

[Will13]

Well the sound is pretty good, really brings out how your earphones are styled (my M1's being detail), but it isn't anything super great like some people say, I couldn't tell alot of difference between the Fuze and S:Flo2, but the UI makes you wanna take a hammer to it, the battery life sucks, and it lacks any form of AAC support, album art won't work if the file is above 4mb, and navigating the music sometimes made me mad

 

[stevenswall]

Cowon EQs are pretty much second to none.... So if you plan on using one, there isn't much else to compare to. I went to CanJam 2010, and listened to many setups, some powered by iPods, iPads, or stereos. The sources sounded similar, if not the same, and none had remarkable EQ abilities. I did however hear a $6000 tube amplifier that I would say sounds better with no EQ than my S9 does with... purely for female vocals. And then again, I'm only half sure of this since it could very well have been the Audeze LCD-2 headphone plugged into it.
 
I haven't heard anything flat that sounds better than a Cowon+EQ... I even use the EQ on my Sony stereo, which I can almost guarantee sounds better flat than the S:Flo2 line output.

 

[Redmetal1897]

Cheers guys I think this has helped me decide, I'll spend the $150 on a pair of DBA-02's instead! Thanks!
 
Quote:

Well the sound is pretty good, really brings out how your earphones are styled (my M1's being detail), but it isn't anything super great like some people say, I couldn't tell alot of difference between the Fuze and S:Flo2, but the UI makes you wanna take a hammer to it, the battery life sucks, and it lacks any form of AAC support, album art won't work if the file is above 4mb, and navigating the music sometimes made me mad

 


Quote:

Cowon EQs are pretty much second to none.... So if you plan on using one, there isn't much else to compare to. I went to CanJam 2010, and listened to many setups, some powered by iPods, iPads, or stereos. The sources sounded similar, if not the same, and none had remarkable EQ abilities. I did however hear a $6000 tube amplifier that I would say sounds better with no EQ than my S9 does with... purely for female vocals. And then again, I'm only half sure of this since it could very well have been the Audeze LCD-2 headphone plugged into it.
 
I haven't heard anything flat that sounds better than a Cowon+EQ... I even use the EQ on my Sony stereo, which I can almost guarantee sounds better flat than the S:Flo2 line output.

 

[Will13]

Glad you made the right decision