[davidcotton]

Plenue R, incoming very soon for Review!

Fixed!

 

[cj3209]

Well, just got it last night. Initial impressions: feels a little light, has that rubbery texture on back, the blinking light indicating type of file is pretty but pretty useless and slightly annoying, and there is no stand by or I need to read the manual.

Important stuff: typical Cowon sound, rich and warm. Will compare to my onkyo do-x1a.

 

[twister6]

Well, just got it last night. Initial impressions: feels a little light, has that rubbery texture on back, the blinking light indicating type of file is pretty but pretty useless and slightly annoying, and there is no stand by or I need to read the manual.

Important stuff: typical Cowon sound, rich and warm. Will compare to my onkyo do-x1a.

Don't jump into sound analysis until about 100hrs of burn in, just let it play in the loop for a week

I have about 50hrs of playback time and to say that I'm impressed is understatement.

Just imagine PM2 design with a sound sig close to P2, with Bluetooth and 17hrs of battery life (confirmed playing 320kbps mp3 in a loop).

I will have first impressions soon, but we are talking about a sound sig very close to new Plenue 2, neutral revealing sound, maybe with PR a touch brighter, but still close to neutral sig. Technically, P2 has an advantage, blacker background, a little more dynamics and transparency. PM2 is noticable warmer, the same as the original Plenue should be. Also, PM2 has more hissing and not as resolving in comparison to PR.

PR is very light, slim, and definitely should benefit from a leather case since lower right corner has a few sharp point.

The LED will change the color depending if you are playing lossey mp3s or lossless FLACs, or high res DSDs. You can disable led in System settling (should save battery).

Other than that, the same fast responsive touch screen and OS, as P2, the latest JetEffect dsp effects, 128GB internal storage, bal and unbal ho, optical digital out, microSD expansion, newly added BT, and seriously good battery life.

 

[gordolindsay]

Does it have line out, or just crank volume all the way up?

 

[davidcotton]

Don't jump into sound analysis until about 100hrs of burn in, just let it play in the loop for a week

I have about 50hrs of playback time and to say that I'm impressed is understatement.

Just imagine PM2 design with a sound sig close to P2, with Bluetooth and 17hrs of battery life (confirmed playing 320kbps mp3 in a loop).

I will have first impressions soon, but we are talking about a sound sig very close to new Plenue 2, neutral revealing sound, maybe with PR a touch brighter, but still close to neutral sig. Technically, P2 has an advantage, blacker background, a little more dynamics and transparency. PM2 is noticable warmer, the same as the original Plenue should be. Also, PM2 has more hissing and not as resolving in comparison to PR.

PR is very light, slim, and definitely should benefit from a leather case since lower right corner has a few sharp point.

The LED will change the color depending if you are playing lossey mp3s or lossless FLACs, or high res DSDs. You can disable led in System settling (should save battery).

Other than that, the same fast responsive touch screen and OS, as P2, the latest JetEffect dsp effects, 128GB internal storage, bal and unbal ho, optical digital out, microSD expansion, newly added BT, and seriously good battery life.

Any bookmarking facilities at all and does gapless work?

If yes to both could be in.

Thanks

 

[twister6]

Any bookmarking facilities at all and does gapless work?

If yes to both could be in.

Thanks

Gapless works fine, just like in other Plenue DAPs. You get an identical GUI with all the bells'n'whistles and functionality of other models.

With bookmarking, I reviewed a few dozen of DAPs and I never came across this function. Is this for audio books? Maybe if it's a real must have for you, find an app that supports it, thus a need for Android based DAP?

 

[twister6]

Does it have line out, or just crank volume all the way up?

They don't like to officially advertise the "line out", but like in all other PM2 and P2 it's probably the same when you crank the volume all the way up. I didn't test it here, but in other two DAPs I did, and it sounded like a LO to me, not like a saturated output cranked to the max.

 

[Sound Eq]

i owned pm2 and heard the p1 for quite some time, and heard the p2 but still i find the cowon plenue s the best sounding among all.

Wish cowon could be more present on head-fi, this lack of care from their side is kind of a bummer

but all in all, cowon daps are very reliable and issue free, unlike some other daps on the market

 

[davidcotton]

Is this for audio books? Maybe if it's a real must have for you, find an app that supports it, thus a need for Android based DAP?

Pretty much. Nothing more frustrating to be half through a long book and lose your place. Apple players are great for this, but as I work in an area where camera's are banned that pretty much rules out everything from apple from 4th gen onwards otherwise I would have got a 128 gig touch and been done with it. Don't really fancy getting a 3rd gen 64 gig at this stage, plus I can't stand itunes either!

With android I've recently tried the current darling of the scene in the Fiio x5III (twice) and pretty much hated it both times. After the first time I'd returned it I was wondering if I had been a bit hasty given all the praise it had been getting, so when a very good deal came up on amp3 I jumped at it. Gave it a few days this time but the reaction was still pretty much the same. Just didn't like it one bit, so back it went.

Based on price I've been giving a serious look at the pioneer xdp100r, but given my reaction to the fiio I'm not sure if it was the fiio I didn't like or android to be honest.

Atm I am using a sony nwa35 which sounds great and ticks all the boxes apart from bookmarking (bloody irritating that the previous generation the a15 had it, but sony being sony took it out), hence why I'm looking around again.

Someone did suggest grabbing a 16 gig nano whilst they are still around, but a)it's only 16 gig (if only apple would include a microsd slot ) and b)would mean carrying two devices around.

Any thoughts or android players to look at that aren't fiio? Ballpark around £500 (preferably much less!).

Thanks (and sorry for the waffle).

 

[Gilles De Rais]

Pretty much. Nothing more frustrating to be half through a long book and lose your place. Apple players are great for this, but as I work in an area where camera's are banned that pretty much rules out everything from apple from 4th gen onwards otherwise I would have got a 128 gig touch and been done with it. Don't really fancy getting a 3rd gen 64 gig at this stage, plus I can't stand itunes either!

With android I've recently tried the current darling of the scene in the Fiio x5III (twice) and pretty much hated it both times. After the first time I'd returned it I was wondering if I had been a bit hasty given all the praise it had been getting, so when a very good deal came up on amp3 I jumped at it. Gave it a few days this time but the reaction was still pretty much the same. Just didn't like it one bit, so back it went.

Based on price I've been giving a serious look at the pioneer xdp100r, but given my reaction to the fiio I'm not sure if it was the fiio I didn't like or android to be honest.

Atm I am using a sony nwa35 which sounds great and ticks all the boxes apart from bookmarking (bloody irritating that the previous generation the a15 had it, but sony being sony took it out), hence why I'm looking around again.

Someone did suggest grabbing a 16 gig nano whilst they are still around, but a)it's only 16 gig (if only apple would include a microsd slot ) and b)would mean carrying two devices around.

Any thoughts or android players to look at that aren't fiio? Ballpark around £500 (preferably much less!).

Thanks (and sorry for the waffle).

The Cowon Plenues are all linux based, not android. This explains why they are fast to start up, read files and load them. Everything is optimised for music replay. Prior to this model, none of them had bluetooth. Third party software is a no-no.

regards,

Giles

 

[TAsme]

Hey guys!

Do you guys know when the R is available in EU?
And is a leather case included?

Best,
Steve

 

[cj3209]

Sadly, no leather case. Official Cowon case costs USD $70.

 

[jmills8]

Why hide it in a case? I have been using various expensive daps on the go since 2005 and not one scratch

 

[davidcotton]

Hey guys!

Do you guys know when the R is available in EU?
And is a leather case included?

Best,
Steve

Available at amp3 in the uk atm.

 

[TAsme]

The case makes it even more beatiful

I was hoping for an amazon germany listing. I hate buying in the uk or elsewhere..