Just received my Cowon S9

[abitdeef]

Well, I just got mine this morning and was quite worried with what I read on Cnet and some other sites. O.k first point, the build quality is very good (donald bell is nuts), it's light but still feels very well constructed and it seems mine has metal sides (cold as hell here) as they were freezing and the back was not. Second, my accell- g- senor lol works flawlessly and is very fast. Enzoten on ABI said his was erratic. Third, shure e530 have a nano level (very little) of hiss (or lower) with the eq and effects on- on the d2 it would hiss like mad when I turned it up with eq on. I have to do some serious listening, but I already think it sounds amazing (better than d2) on normal (flat). Plus I tried bbe headphone and it sounded very natural and nice, I might actually use some of these effects

The last point is the touch interface is very responsive, the best I have used except for my touch, so far it's very responsive. Oh buttons all feel great also (I'm weird about buttons being to soft or loose) these feel quality. I will post some pics later, with ipod touch for size comparison, it's small. I'm going to tool around with it and upgrade the firmware, but so far I'm pleasantly surprised with it. Feel free to ask any questions. I'm not going to do a full blown review (as Huxley did a fine one), but will add any additional info or quirks I find. Hopefully we will get tons of user created stuff like the d2 did. Oh, and of course I will obsessively compare the sound to my other daps.

Some niggles, the accell- g-sensor is way to sensitive and a pain in the ass, it rotates to landscape at a smaller angle then it should. Also my WMP stuff didn't show up under the music icon, only in folder mode? Also after more testing using the eq (not the bbe+ stuff) brings in some serious hiss. Even more than the D2 I think. Also the sides are metal under the plastic sides, thats what I was feeling that was so cold, how do I know that? Look at the picks

The sound vs my ipod touch (no BBE or EQ) is really close and I might prefer my touch as it seems to have a bigger soundstage and better highs. Time will tell on that, it did sound excellent on my senn. hd 595's.

Edit, after more use, the s9 has more detail than the touch and the highs have seem to be more precise and less splashy than my touch. And with flac it's no contest, even with apple lossless the touch just doesn't have the detail and depth of the s9. I would with flac put it above my clip and fuze for sq, good stuff, now if cowon can iron out some of the other issues...

pics:

Wolfson codec 8750 nice pc board!

comparison with touch

shielding on the inside of the back cover

Screen comparison S9 bottom touch top

S9 screen

Touch screen

 

[Raez]

I just plain old don't understand why in god's name they would put 16gb max with no expansion slot! Really cowon, really?

So how many gigs of media do you have?

 

[Punnisher]

32gb is coming. Chill!

 

[abitdeef]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raez /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just plain old don't understand why in god's name they would put 16gb max with no expansion slot! Really cowon, really? So how many gigs of media do you have?

I have lots of gigs of media, but most of it I don't listen to. Also I only keep 1 or 2 movies/tv shows on my dap at one time so 16 seems to be O.K for me (my touch is 16). I'm old school as I remember when 512 mb was a BIG amount of storage (cowon cw200- still have it). And yes I guess they are coming out with a 32 gig anyways. Not many daps have expansion slot, but it would have been nice ,as would wifi. But as a music and movie player this thing should be very nice, movies look amazing on the screen! Cover flow is weak though. As far as I know the samsung p3 and new sony touchscreen dap will not have expansion either.

 

[roebeet]

No expansion slot is a real killer, for me - I hope this is not a sign of things to come. I know the Zune / iPod's don't have them, but that's one of the reasons why I don't use them.

I learned a long time ago that whatever storage you get will always be too small, eventually.

 

[darkninja67]

Thanks for the impressions. A side by side picture with the Touch would be most helpful.

 

[Huxley]

I heard cowon didn't bother with an expansion slot as it would have hurt sales of the d2 not to mention adversely affecting battery life.

The menu is indeed fast, most reviews slate it before they have had a sufficient play of it, you have to use it in the right manner, just tapping the quicklist button won't always work as it shows in my video, you need to tap and hold for a split second, remember this and your laughing.

As for the sides of the player im pretty sure they're plastic, least to me it feels like it.

The difference with the screens of the tough is the cowon is slightly longer while the touch is a bit wider, however the s9 i believe is a 16:9 display so ideal for video.

 

[Waveblade]

The iPod touch has a slightly bigger screen

 

[Xena]

Movies look amazing?

If the screen isn't as big as me ... I'm not generally impressed. Really, I can't think of a single time in my life that I wanted to watch a movie on a 4" screen (or whatever it is).

 

[Beyerfan70]

Is there a normalise function on it?

 

[odigg]

How is the radio? I've read that it does a very poor job of finding the right frequency.

The D2 had a horrible radio (poor reception and it sounded very mono). Is the S9 any better at the right (actual frequency of the transmission) frequencies?

 

[Cowon_1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waveblade /img/forum/go_quote.gif The iPod touch has a slightly bigger screen

True but the S9's screen is actually bigger than the touch when watching widescreen. Less wasted screen on the S9. The S9 screen is wider than the touch when held horizontal. When watching widescreen on the touch the bars on top and bottom will be bigger.

Pic:

http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-6499_7-...tag=mncol;thum

 

[BloodSugar00]

Thanks for the initial impressions! I won't consider until the 32GB variety though.

Out of curiosity, how much space in actuality do you get with the 16 GB variety (ie 16GB- space used up by firmware etc)?

 

[Raez]

Honestly, I don't really care if or when the 32gb S9 is coming. I have over 500gigs of media, and >50% of it is music. I like to be able to listen to most of my music all the time, so 80gigs is basically the min for me. Just ordered an Archos 5 120gb.

 

[abitdeef]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xena /img/forum/go_quote.gif Movies look amazing? If the screen isn't as big as me ... I'm not generally impressed. Really, I can't think of a single time in my life that I wanted to watch a movie on a 4" screen (or whatever it is).

It looks really good for a small screen