[Kerouac]

Today, I just bought the Cowon P1. I was considering Onkyo dpx1 and P1 but decide to go for Cowon P1 as I had the chance to test it while Onkyo no chance. Hopefully, i will regret my purchase. I will selling away my combo of ak100ii and mojo to get some funds back for this purchase.

 
Congrats on your new P1 => hope you will enjoy it

 
Before selling the Mojo I should definitely try it with the P1 if I were you. Although I don't know if the Mojo (never tried it) will make much of a difference in sq, I can assure you that the Hugo certainly does.
 
I use my P1 as a stand alone dap most of the time (90%) anyway, because the ''P1 optical => Hugo'' stack isn't that portable (you really have to sit down and don't walk around for that) imo.
Mojo is smaller though...

 

[phase0]

I'm a a fairly new P1 owner (3 or 4 weeks?). I'm really happy with it. It sounds great. I love that it is fast to index and the UI is fast. I don't have any other DAPs to compare to. I've been using my iPhone for portable music.
 
At one of the CanJams I did get to touch some Astell & Kern units that were used in some booths for demos. I hated the UI. One of them even crashed on me once or twice. It was horrible. I don't care how good they supposedly sound. If the UI sucks and the whole interface is slow and clunky why suffer?
 
At least for my brief experience the Cowon is a clear winner. The UI is really responsive. It's not as smooth as the iPhone IOS but I don't really care. It sounds good. I get folder browsing/navigation as well as tag based. It sounds awesome. I have all the file format support I think I'd ever want. For comparison I have a fairly expensive desktop setup (Mytek + WooAudio WA5). The Cowon makes me second guess that whole purchase a little bit. I think the desktop setup sounds a little bit better but the Cowon may be good enough...

 

[AudioMan2013]

That is the reason I also love the Cowon audio players.  The UI is very fast to index and has a quick response.  They are virtually crash proof as well.  I also loved this on my original s9 which I still have and use from time to time. 

 

[Kerouac]

Hey, you're avatar twins => that must be the reason why you share the same thoughts / opinion on the P1

 
Just kidding

Glad you like your P1's both and I totally agree on the (super) fast index and great (responsive) UI. P1 beats all my former and current daps on that without a doubt!

 

[phase0]

I used to have an old Cowon X5L back around 2005-2006. That was a good portable player for its time. I always kind of missed it as the Apple phone route always left something to be desired. I'm glad to be back on board with Cowon. I feel like I endured years of hell (or maybe just purgatory) living with iTunes to sync music to the Phone. I figured if I just stick with it I'll adjust. Now I realize even though yes I technically know how to operate iTunes I always loathed the process and leaving it is like removing a burden that I was carrying on my back for years.

 

[rq1111]

Hi Kerouac, I had tried with mojo when testing out. I did not find much different in sound in ak100ii or P1 when stack with mojo. I did only a brief listening. My purpose of getting P1 is more for stand alone rather than stacking. I have a hugo so even when i sell away my mojo, I still have hugo to standby if needed. Personally, i prefer hugo than mojo sound even though it seems not much different sound but there is.

I also thinking of Cowon D player before i buy but i still like the sound of P1 compare to D. Without eq, P1 sounds better than D.

 

[AeroSatan]

Hi Kerouac, I had tried with mojo when testing out. I did not find much different in sound in ak100ii or P1 when stack with mojo. I did only a brief listening. My purpose of getting P1 is more for stand alone rather than stacking. I have a hugo so even when i sell away my mojo, I still have hugo to standby if needed. Personally, i prefer hugo than mojo sound even though it seems not much different sound but there is.

I also thinking of Cowon D player before i buy but i still like the sound of P1 compare to D. Without eq, P1 sounds better than D.

If you stack with the Mojo, wouldn't the sound be the same since the Mojo would dot he sound processing through its DAC leaving the AK100ii and P1 to act as a transport?

 

[flinkenick]

Hi Kerouac, I had tried with mojo when testing out. I did not find much different in sound in ak100ii or P1 when stack with mojo. I did only a brief listening. My purpose of getting P1 is more for stand alone rather than stacking. I have a hugo so even when i sell away my mojo, I still have hugo to standby if needed. Personally, i prefer hugo than mojo sound even though it seems not much different sound but there is.

I also thinking of Cowon D player before i buy but i still like the sound of P1 compare to D. Without eq, P1 sounds better than D.

I totally agree with you. The Mojo sounds almost exactly the same as the P1, there's no advantage in stacking them. I heard from a friend that it is around the same level as AK100II, though I never heard that one myself. I only tested Kerouac's Hugo briefly, but I found the difference with Mojo quite big (from memory). Hugo has a higher resolution, better dynamics and a more 3D stage.

 

[rq1111]

Hi AeroSatan, yes, the sound is the same as ak100ii or P1 become transport for mojo. Therefore, no point for me to keep ak100ii.

@flinkenick, your hearing is very good! I agree for the difference between hugo and mojo. Although it may seems to be the same sound between the hugo and mojo but there are differences in sound if listen for a longer period.

 

[rq1111]

Just to check with any of you,

1) i had notice interference sound on my iem from my cowon p1 when my handphone is near to the jack.

2) I also hear buzzing sound when charging the cowon p1 while hearing music.

Any one encounter these 2 issues? I wonder if it the problem of my iem sensitivity or issue with my cowon.

 

[jmills8]

Just to check with any of you,

1) i had notice interference sound on my iem from my cowon p1 when my handphone is near to the jack.

2) I also hear buzzing sound when charging the cowon p1 while hearing music.

Any one encounter these 2 issues? I wonder if it the problem of my iem sensitivity or issue with my cowon.

So as long as you are not listening to the P1 near a jack and not also charging it then its perfect? 95% perfect?

 

[flinkenick]

Just to check with any of you,

1) i had notice interference sound on my iem from my cowon p1 when my handphone is near to the jack.

2) I also hear buzzing sound when charging the cowon p1 while hearing music.

Any one encounter these 2 issues? I wonder if it the problem of my iem sensitivity or issue with my cowon.

Sounds like something you can easily test with a different iem? You probably have a cheap pair of buds that came with your phone or so?
 
I don't have any issue with either though, and some of my iems are very sensitive.

 

[ozziecook]

I totally agree with you. The Mojo sounds almost exactly the same as the P1, there's no advantage in stacking them. I heard from a friend that it is around the same level as AK100II, though I never heard that one myself. I only tested Kerouac's Hugo briefly, but I found the difference with Mojo quite big (from memory). Hugo has a higher resolution, better dynamics and a more 3D stage.

So is this correct?:
1. No point in getting Mojo as same sound as P1 pretty much (plus you don't get to use the p1 eq)

2. If Hugo is better than Mojo then is it worth stacking that with P1...or would it again mean no P1 Eq as essentially the Hugo takes over the P1 DAC? (Hugo is a lot of £$€ to pay for what is maybe a minimal increase in SQ and losing the EQ, right?)

 

[flinkenick]

So is this correct?:
1. No point in getting Mojo as same sound as P1 pretty much (plus you don't get to use the p1 eq)

2. If Hugo is better than Mojo then is it worth stacking that with P1...or would it again mean no P1 Eq as essentially the Hugo takes over the P1 DAC? (Hugo is a lot of £$€ to pay for what is maybe a minimal increase in SQ and losing the EQ, right?)

1. IMO: Correct
 
2. Mojo/Hugo have a strange interaction with the P1's EQ. Normally the EQ settings make it louder and livelier, but the opposite happens when connected to the Chords. So basically, no EQ is better. I wouldn't say the increase is minimal; Hugo is a tier above the P1 in resolution, transparency, dynamics and soundstage (this is partially from what I heard, and from what I know from friends).

 

[Kerouac]

Yep, P1 with Hugo absolutely sounds better (on the points that Nic mentioned above) than the P1 as standalone to my ears, but:
 
- Hugo is very expensive imo and I would never had paid the full (€1799 over here atm) retail price for it myself to be honest
- The stack is semi-portable imo => easy to bring with you to other places, but not very pocketable (is this a word at all?

) for walking around with it, due to it's size and because of the optical cable (but maybe I should look for a shorter on)