[CaptSnuffy]

I've been reading reviews of this DAP, but I still feel like I don't have a solid impression of it. Does anyone who's owned it at any point have any opinions on this player?

 

[okinawa_joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptSnuffy I've been reading reviews of this DAP, but I still feel like I don't have a solid impression of it. Does anyone who's owned it at any point have any opinions on this player?

Hello there, I got the iAudio U3 (2GB in black) off of eBay about 2 weeks ago. So far so good, I'll try to break it down as good as I can, pardon my english, it's lacking a lot in the way of spelling, etc.

The UI is very intuitive and easy to learn and get used to (similar to that of the iAudio 5). Also, the LCD screen even though it's pretty small, it's got very good quality and crisp colors, I am confortable even when using it under sun light outdoors. You can set a wallpaper from your images when in Music mode, video plays well too, after and easy convertion process using jetAudio (which I don't really like much having to install, only use the conversion app) I just drag the file and drop it into the U3 as it mounts as a removable drive in XP, videos are 15fps xvid of some sort, the app has been able to convert everything I've thrown at it so far, and quite fast aswell.

You can set it to use it as Media Player device aswell (doesn't mount in XP as a drive but you can sync and whatnot with Win Media Player and other software).

I has a lot of options to tweak, EQ is OK it comes with the usual presets and a USR customizable one, the other digital audio enhancements such as BBE and MP are alright depending the type of music you listen to, some tunes sound better than other, I tend to leave these off when possible and only use some EQ. Overall the sound quality is quite good. I can't make many comparisons since my last unit was an iAudio 5 player, but compared to this one I think they are on par, the U3 doesn't make many digital noises that I could hear with the iAudio 5 (like when changing tracks, and other operations inside the menu).

I am using firmware 1.21 off the iAudio.com site, no crashes or unusual behaviour whatsoever, USB transfer speed is quite good, battery life is nice aswell to me, lasts over a week of daily commute and light use at home, it charges only via USB (although you can buy an AC to USB converter almost anywhere) the internal battery charges pretty fast too, in about one hour is about 80% charged.

Picture viewing is kinda weird with such a small PMP, pictures show rather fast under the explorer interface, you can zoom one level and i think you can't pan, or I haven't had enough interest to find out, I really don't have much use for the picture viewing feature, nor the text or lyric viewing, but it's there and it works.

It also has quite a lot of extra features, voice recording with internal or external mic (though I think theres a bug in the current firmware that when recording with an external mic both mics are active and a weird effect ocurrs), line in rec (limited to 128kbps mp3), radio rec (limited to 128kbps), radio reception could be improved but it's OK.

I have been playing all kinds of MP3s, be it VBR EAC encoded by me, downloads, etc, and they all play without a hitch, I tried the FLAC support and works, not much logic using FLAC in a 2GB portable player with all of the street noise and all, but it's there, have also tested WMA, have not tried
with OGG.

I've played the unit connecting it to my stereo, setting all audio enhancement off and eq to normal, volume to 38 and it doesn't seem to distort to my judgement, sounds pretty good.


The build quality is really good, sturdy and well built, the joystick thing doesn't look fragile at all.

I use the U3 coupled with Shure's E2Cs and I am really happy with the purchase, it's really very small and the screen is quite bright so I often get stared at when at the bus, pretty cool little unit.

I would advise you to get it, I think I payed about 180USD for it at some eBay auction, brand new.

 

[sayrum]

i like my u3!
nice review okinawa_joe.
my quick sum up:
good sq, sturdy, great size (just pop it into your pocket, u can also change songs one handed in pocket (gym...)), ogg files work fine, sometimes i had problems with xp crashing when i hooked it up, 2gb is to little!!!

get good headphones - makes all the difference

have fun!

 

[okinawa_joe]

I've been playing a little more with the U3 and I figured that it does have a pan feature when in Picture mode that allow you to navigate the image, I also tried encoding a CD to -q4 ogg and it plays perfect + tag displays ok.

Regards,

 

[CaptSnuffy]

I have 2 more questions:

1. Can it do gapless playback?

2. Is there a way to get line-out from it?

 

[Gene]

Does it have non replaceable batteries like the iPODS?

 

[dannay337]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gene Does it have non replaceable batteries like the iPODS?

To my knowledge, the battery is not user-replaceable. Normally, though, by the time it wears out you're going to want a new one.

 

[okinawa_joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannay337 To my knowledge, the battery is not user-replaceable. Normally, though, by the time it wears out you're going to want a new one.

Indeed, the battery is internal and non-replaceable, maybe if you send the unit to Cowon they might do it, but I doubt it.

As far as gapless goes, I can't find it listed in the specs, I'll try playing a live album and see what happens.

You can use the headphone out as a lineout by setting the volume to max (40 or 38)EQs OFF and audio enhancements off, you can swap betwen earbud setting and line out setting quite fast as you have presets that rembers all your setting inside the EQ.

 

[Oga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by okinawa_joe I tried the FLAC support and works, not much logic using FLAC in a 2GB portable player with all of the street noise and all,

Actually not necesarily so. I have the 2GB U3 myself and I use FLAC on it all the time. I have paired it with Ety Er-6i so the external soundproofing is rock solid and you can hear the quality on those.

What is nice about having so many formats supported by this player (MP3, FLAC,Ogg Vorbis, WMA) is that you just throw thigns on there and dont have to worry about transcoding. Typically what I have on there is a mix of all the above and all have been fine.

As you said the video is a cute idea but screen to small. I have a smartphone for that usage anyway.

Its a very good player - the joystick interface really works well and is very intutive.

There is a bug on recording with internal/external but I think that is on the 1.22 firmware only - which has nothign you need.

If I could fault anything on this player it is that the ID3 browsing is half done. That said there was none when the player came out and Cowon has done as the said and added this feature and FLAC too.

If my experience on the U2 (owned that before) is anything to go by then I feel confident that Cowon will do as they say and have us a top notch ID3 browsing within anoher couple months. Unlike every other gadget company they DO come through on firmware updates - they they keep right on tweaking and adding features.

I had the U2 model before this and was very happy with it which is why I was willing to upgrade. This U3 has been great value as well. On the battery I think it will be a long while before you ever have to thing about it - I had the U2 256MB for over a year before I got this U3 and it still works fine - the main reason I upgraded was the colour screen and the bigger memory.

 

[Sparky191]

The 2GB ones seems to be hard to find. Where did people buy theirs?

 

[TheCount]

2 gig versions can be found here - http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/2549...fichetechnique

Can anyone tell me what the browsing is like on this player? As an itunes user

I'm very much attuned to the familiar id3 tag system and - forgive me if I have glossed over this somewhere - don't see this being possible for the U3.

I'm torn between whether to go for the 2gb u3 at £137 or the qoolqee k7 1gb at £109 . The qoolqee seems a bit jazzier and entertaining, but I'm worried that those words might be replaced by 'tackier' and 'gimmicky' if I go out and buy it.

I've also heard about the iaudio freezing for some when they have upgraded the firmware. Is this something I can truly be concerned about, or just one of those stories that happens to a few and gets blown out of all proportion?

Thanks from a newbie. My previous player was a 20gb Rio Riot that fell apart and was equal in weight to a depressed brick, so I m understandably cautious about my next foray into the world of DAPs.

 

[Sparky191]

I think the U3 is filetree only. ID tags only used for the displaying the track details.

 

[okinawa_joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparky191 I think the U3 is filetree only. ID tags only used for the displaying the track details.

I am afraid not, you can set the browser mode to either "music" or "file", if you set it to "music" then you'll be able to browse all your music by tags, you need to set it and reboot so that changes take effect.

BTW I got mine off eBay.com for about 180USD shipped to Spain in 2GB black, not bad.

I took some pictures and made a small video showing the GUI and the unit playing a video.

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showp...&postcount=417

 

[Sparky191]

Thats different to a X5 then? I usually stuff the artist and album into the file name. Would be a pain if it doesn't read them as tags. Filtree itself I have no problem with.