Cowon PLENUE M2 (Current Firmware and Manual Links in 1st post)

[jmills8]

PM2 , 12 hour battery pack , Arrow amp , TH900.

 

[pholcus1975]

If anyone has both, how would you compare Pm2 to Fiio m11 plus Ess?

 

[dsrk]

I have PM2 and M11 Pro, I use both daily. Both are different sounding from each other. M11 Pro with THX amp sounds a touch analytical and forward sounding where as PM2 sounds neutral but analog and musical. It has more bass in quantity (M11 pro bass is lean and tighter) and treble is much smoother in comparison.

PM2 has excellent JetEffects to play with if you are into EQ and you can play with it to sound so much fun and different.

 

[pholcus1975]

Ok thanks, I'd better stick with PM2 since I have a4000 iem that is on the bright side

 

[Soundtrap]

Ok thanks, I'd better stick with PM2 since I have a4000 iem that is on the bright side

After having FiiO X5 failed scroll wheel and recently FiiO X5III that won't wake up at all (backlight lights up but nothing on the screen and response, on hard reset, wipe etc.) I would not spend another penny on FiiO junk. They sounded good but even my Cowon S9, J3 and X9 still work all these years later. My PD and PM2 run strong as on the day I've bought them and sound just like Cowon always does - sublime.

 

[pholcus1975]

Well, Cowon quality is top notch, I have an Iaudio 7 from year 2008 that still works as day 1!

 

[tex thai]

Yes, I am trying to replace my PM2 with the Fiio M11 Pro Ltd with the AMD chips. Because I wanted to go balanced and have lots of power. But as good as the AMD chips are, they do not compare well with the TI chip of the PM2. Powerful amps but harsh compared to the buttery PM2.
With all the new phone stuff on the Fiio, the interface of the PM2 is a clear winner if you don't use the Android crap, streaming and BT, etc. which I do not.
I thought the Fiio would be a step up, it sure is price wise.
Cowon, you had a winner there, sure wish it had balanced outputs.
God Bless,
Wayne

 

[Soundtrap]

Yes, I am trying to replace my PM2 with the Fiio M11 Pro Ltd with the AMD chips. Because I wanted to go balanced and have lots of power. But as good as the AMD chips are, they do not compare well with the TI chip of the PM2. Powerful amps but harsh compared to the buttery PM2.
With all the new phone stuff on the Fiio, the interface of the PM2 is a clear winner if you don't use the Android crap, streaming and BT, etc. which I do not.
I thought the Fiio would be a step up, it sure is price wise.
Cowon, you had a winner there, sure wish it had balanced outputs.
God Bless,
Wayne

It is remarkable that after all these years Cowon's reliability and overall usability are undefeated. My last purchase was Hiby R5, sounds good but not special (R3 Pro sounds better to my ears) but that android crap and unresponsive screen drive me insane. I can't for the life of me find the way how to go straight to play now screen when turned on. Instead, had to through dozen clicks and screens just to get the damn music playing. Even smartphones can speed up this feat but Hiby decided that someone needs android crap on the music player. As I've said, Cowon rules, no-nonsense - pure music, that's it.

 

[pholcus1975]

Sometimes I'd like to change DAP, but I don't need Android, and I cannot find anything that plays .cue, ISO SACD, and supports lyrics. Even wm1a has its limits (no .cue, no ISO)

 

[dsrk]

Hi Guys,

I have read on another thread that Cowon has stopped making DAPs, how sad. Do you anything about this?

 

[jmills8]

Hi Guys,

I have read on another thread that Cowon has stopped making DAPs, how sad. Do you anything about this?

Not good news , my first Cowon I bought in 2007 still works.

 

[dsrk]

Not good news , my first Cowon I bought in 2007 still works.

Yes, Cowon used be such a major brand for audio back in the day. It's really sad that they gave up on DAPs.

The build quality and life of their products is unbelievable.

 

[taffy2207]

I suspected they had stopped making DAPs when I noticed their lack of firmware updates. I hoped it was because of COVID but my Spider sense was telling me otherwise.

EDIT. Updated links in first post.

 

[someyoungguy]

I haven’t seen any official word but noticed they haven’t had a new one since PD3. I still love their custom UI and pocket friendly sizes. I think it would be crazy for them to stop altogether. I wonder if it is just COVID delays - Dignis, another South Korean brand, was very quiet for the last few years and just coming back to life over the last few months.

 

[Raketen]

I haven’t seen any official word but noticed they haven’t had a new one since PD3. I still love their custom UI and pocket friendly sizes. I think it would be crazy for them to stop altogether. I wonder if it is just COVID delays - Dignis, another South Korean brand, was very quiet for the last few years and just coming back to life over the last few months.

Yeah, hope they don't stop w/ DAPs completely- especially w/ Sony moving to Android even w/ the A-series. At least there are still non-android DAPs being made but Sony and Cowon always had the most tolerable UIs outside of Rockbox IMO.

I think in the US their DAPs hve been more or less out of stock for quite some time, though their distributor had some open box sales at the end of 2021. Pretty big change from pre-pandemic when there was seemingly a new Cowon dap every few months.