Cowon Plenue D [Help Before I Buy Request]

[Tottenham1962]

This is my first posting on the forum and I'm hoping someone can offer me some advice.

I've read most of this massive existing thread on the Cowon Plenue D DAP. I've decided to buy this unit. The reasons are as follows :-

a) Battery life (very important consideration)
b) Good/Great sound
c) No bells and whistles IE no Wifi, no Bluetooth no Android OS. It's just a plain music player.

I'm upgrading from an old 80GB Ipod classic and I listem to mainly Rock music with some elecrtonic based music thrown in for luck. I am not a massive thumping bass sound man. My current headphones are my Koss Porta Pro's that I've had for nearly 10 years, and they are wonderful, but they will also be upgraded.


I wonder if anyone can help me with a few points that I am unable to track down an answer to, please ?

1) I have 200GB of music I wish to transfer onto the device, but I am aware of the 128Gb Micro SD card limit. I am thinking of the possibility of splitting my music onto 2 seperate cards. IE artists A to N on one card and O to Z on the other. Would this device be able to accept swapping of memory cards, or am I asking for trouble here ? If I am able to do this I wonder if anyone could let me know (approx) how much time it would take for the device to build the database of music when I swap the cards ?

2) To follow on from the above question. I am also thinking of putting my favourite albums on the internal memory of the device, just so they are always available. I have my music carefully organised IE Artist/Album/Track etc. All tagged. This will lead to duplicates in the folder structure on the device. IE I would have an artist folder called "R.E.M" on both Internal memory and external SD card. Would this lead to issues when using the device in "Folder Mode" ?

3) I understand that this device certainly can deliver a wallop on sound volume. It doesn't appear to have any EU safe sound limiting cap etc. Does the newest firmware still have the volume un-capped ?

4) The only features, that I'd like, that don't appear to be present on this device are 1) Sound normalization and 2) Cross-fading of tracks. Am I correct in these two assumptions ?


Now my final question, I appreciate is subjective, depending on individual taste. I am heavily considering buying Grado SR80e's to pair with this device, as they appear to have the characteristics I seek. IE good for rock music and not bass heavy. Do you think they would be a good choice ? If anyone has a similar music taste to myself I wonder if they could share their own preference for headphones. I am prepared to pay anything upto £200 on a decent set of phones.

I apologise for my rambling.

Any advice here really would be hugely appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Dulalala]

1) I have 200GB of music I wish to transfer onto the device, but I am aware of the 128Gb Micro SD card limit. I am thinking of the possibility of splitting my music onto 2 seperate cards. IE artists A to N on one card and O to Z on the other. Would this device be able to accept swapping of memory cards, or am I asking for trouble here ? If I am able to do this I wonder if anyone could let me know (approx) how much time it would take for the device to build the database of music when I swap the cards ?

2) To follow on from the above question. I am also thinking of putting my favourite albums on the internal memory of the device, just so they are always available. I have my music carefully organised IE Artist/Album/Track etc. All tagged. This will lead to duplicates in the folder structure on the device. IE I would have an artist folder called "R.E.M" on both Internal memory and external SD card. Would this lead to issues when using the device in "Folder Mode" ?

I don't own the device, but as far as I'm aware, the Cowon Plenue D supports SDXC based micro SD cards. What probably happened is the "limit" they stated, was the capacity limit of micro SD cards at the time Cowon made the spec sheet. Currently, the highest capacity micro SD card is 400 GB (I think?), which should work on the Cowon Plenue D unless they for some reason capped it through software.

 

[Tottenham1962]

I don't own the device, but as far as I'm aware, the Cowon Plenue D supports SDXC based micro SD cards. What probably happened is the "limit" they stated, was the capacity limit of micro SD cards at the time Cowon made the spec sheet. Currently, the highest capacity micro SD card is 400 GB (I think?), which should work on the Cowon Plenue D unless they for some reason capped it through software.

Many thanks for the reply. I have researched this device quite a bit and I do think the device is actually limited to the 128Gb card..although larger ones are available, as you quite rightly stated. I think Cowon have capped it to be honest.

Many thanks again.

 

[audioaudioaudio]

I had nearly identical questions to you on it (replacing a dying 160gb ipod), anyway I went ahead and bought it and really like it. Currently slowly re-ripping to flac but will post back when I've tested it properly and let you know how quick / reliable it is to keep swapping cards out and also if there are any issues with duplicates across cards.

This device is nearly perfect for me, I'm loving the sound, the size, the battery, the speed, the UI isn't great but more than useable (Cover view + searching the worst bits). The only real stumbling block for me is the SD size limit, what a shame that it's a forced limit at 128gb. After I re-rip everything and throw in all mp3 radio shows, audiobooks and dj mixes I have, I'll have about 700 - 850gb, could easily cut some chaff and get it down to 500gb. Give it half a year and a 512gb micro should be much cheaper, I'd be sorted - 32gb for favourites, podcasts and new bits, 500gb for archive.

Having a device as a USB DAC plus an optical out would be great but not at the expense of the battery or size for me (not to mention the crazy prices), I'd happily buy a separate item. These SD card limits are really frustrating though, I'm not spending close to £1000 just for that.

 

[PaganDL]

Hi Tottenham1962,

As was already pointed out, 128 gb is the memory card cap & there is no way around this.

I have the Plenue D & can confirm your other questions.

Sound normalisation is automatic though keep in mind if the track was originally quiet, there is an average of 2 to 3 db increase so if playing at low volume, it might not be noticeable.
Cross fade can be selected on & off.

By the way, for a little thing, the Plenue D has a lot of volume so it gets loud quite easily & any sensitive iem or headphone will really amplify this.