H20Fidelity
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2012
- Posts
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This is something we've been keeping behind closed doors for a little while now, today I'm going to let it out into the public.
Kogan 8GB MP4 Player
I came across this MP4 player made by a company based in Melbourne Australia called Kogan, maybe you guys have heard about it? Anyway, they had this MP4 player for sale for $29 shipped, I read it supports FLAC, MP3, WMA, APE, battery life is good for 15 hours a charge with music (3 hours for video). Becoming quite interested in it's FLAC support I then googled "is Kogan a good brand" and got hits from Whirlpool where people were talking about Kogan's TV's.
Link for reference: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1109116
Later on in the very same thread I was reading the owner of Kogan joined in explaining their company use the same parts as big brands. Hand picking the parts himself he does not settle for anything less than the same (and hopefully) more than the quality products they offer, but much cheaper. After reading the thread some more I felt content he was being pretty legit in his words then ordered one of his MP4 players. It's an 8GB player (8GB micro sd card already installed, no internal memory), a USB data cable and stock (bud) earphones. We have tested the unit with 32GB - 64GB cards working fine (maybe just some slight lag with 64GB)
When the player arrived I really wasn't expecting much and bought it just to muck around. Though to my surprise when I loaded up some FLAC files it sounds really decent, more than decent. I kid you not it sounds very generous compared to a Clip, iPod or any Cowon I have tried, with exceptional detailing levels, the unit ran no problem soon as I put my sd card in and although the UI is not on the level of Apple it does appear to be a quality functioning / sounding unit.
To give you a point of reference and some reassurance I'm going to copy and paste the sources I have tried since joining Head-fi. I'm more than aware there are cheap Chinese MP3 players out there on eBay and Deal Extreme that are absolute garbage, ones that go flat in an hour or simply break down by looking at them. So far Kogan is not one of those players, in it's usability and especially Its sound.
I'd like to think with more than a few sources under my belt I'd know the difference between mediocre, cheap or poor sounding DAP's, I can assure you Kogan is none of those despite its $29 price tag. So much so I really don't want to say just how detailed this unit is in fear people won't believe me, though to stay on the safe side I will state Kogan is quite a bit more detailed than the $100 Colorfly C3 I have here beside me.
Rather than prattle on I'm going to give you some quick photo's of the user interface and start up screen then answer any questions people may ask.
Firstly, some quick pics of the front and rear of the unit.
Keeping in mind the player has a camera on the back, Kogan supports these menu options for the 2.4" screen.
Ebook
Pictures (JPG, BMP)
Movies (AVI)
Music (FLAC, MP3, WMA, APE)
Camera
Video Recorder
Settings
Recordings
File navigation,
Tools > Stop Watch, Calculator, PC Camera, Calander
Pushing that aside there's just too much to go through in each menu, so I'm going to focus on what Head-fi is about, the sound. Oh, did I mention it's only $29?
(please keep in mind my cameras were struggling to pick up the images with the screen on. (Please zoom in to make out the pictures better)
Start up Screen
Inside the music menu you have:
All Music
Artist
Album
Genre
My music list
Dir list (folder sorting)
Record list
Star level
Tag list
As you can see that's a lot of options.
You can see here I've chosen the directory list and the screen is asking me to select the internal or external memory.
Inside my micro sd card from the external memory, nice big 2.4" screen to see many folders at once.
Now playing screen: Shows the track name, album name, genre, track duration, track number.
There's even a little equalizer that goes in time with the music.
Music menu options:
AB Repeat
Repeat (inside this setting are your shuffle options)
Select EQ (Only Presets, but do not worry the player sounds more than fine set flat)
Set Sound (this lets you adjust a fade in/out when the music stops / starts)
Replay times
Repeat intervals
Variable Speed
Lyric display (very handy for those who want to see their lyrics)
Set star level
Add Tag
Add to my list
Delete File
Information (shows track info such as file format, kbps, name, title, year etc etc)
Inside the track information menu.
As you can see the player has an overabundance of options which all work fine, (that's just the music section) and the UI is rather smooth, there might be a little bit of lag if you try going very fast but the unit works great. There's also several other options like settings in the main menu for changing things, but what I'm here for is the sound. Kogan is very detailed, clean and crisp, it sounds if not better than the Sansa, iPods, or Cowons I have heard, every one of them.
The downside to this thread however is I don't know anywhere worldwide members can purchase Kogan, far as I can tell it's only available on Australian eBay by Kogan and their website. I'm going to give the links so our Australian members can check it out, hopefully someone in the USA can source them.
I can tell you now though this unit sounds very good for just $29.00
Kogan Website: http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/mini-camera-and-mp4-player/
eBay: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/171399223622?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Updated: Kogan Picture Quality Samples: Link (Click Here)
Updated: Kogan Outdoor Picture Quality Samples: Link (Click Here)
Updated: Kogan disassembled: Link (Click Here)
~H20
Members Testimonials
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Members Kogan Rigs
Kogan 8GB MP4 Player
I came across this MP4 player made by a company based in Melbourne Australia called Kogan, maybe you guys have heard about it? Anyway, they had this MP4 player for sale for $29 shipped, I read it supports FLAC, MP3, WMA, APE, battery life is good for 15 hours a charge with music (3 hours for video). Becoming quite interested in it's FLAC support I then googled "is Kogan a good brand" and got hits from Whirlpool where people were talking about Kogan's TV's.
Link for reference: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1109116
Later on in the very same thread I was reading the owner of Kogan joined in explaining their company use the same parts as big brands. Hand picking the parts himself he does not settle for anything less than the same (and hopefully) more than the quality products they offer, but much cheaper. After reading the thread some more I felt content he was being pretty legit in his words then ordered one of his MP4 players. It's an 8GB player (8GB micro sd card already installed, no internal memory), a USB data cable and stock (bud) earphones. We have tested the unit with 32GB - 64GB cards working fine (maybe just some slight lag with 64GB)
When the player arrived I really wasn't expecting much and bought it just to muck around. Though to my surprise when I loaded up some FLAC files it sounds really decent, more than decent. I kid you not it sounds very generous compared to a Clip, iPod or any Cowon I have tried, with exceptional detailing levels, the unit ran no problem soon as I put my sd card in and although the UI is not on the level of Apple it does appear to be a quality functioning / sounding unit.
To give you a point of reference and some reassurance I'm going to copy and paste the sources I have tried since joining Head-fi. I'm more than aware there are cheap Chinese MP3 players out there on eBay and Deal Extreme that are absolute garbage, ones that go flat in an hour or simply break down by looking at them. So far Kogan is not one of those players, in it's usability and especially Its sound.
| Kogan MP4 Player (8GB + 32GB SD Card) Creative Zen (4GB + 32GB SD Card) iBasso DX90 (Audition) iPod Video (30GB / Rockbox) Hifiman HM-700 (sold) iPod Touch 5G - 16GB Sansa Clip Zip (4GB + 32GB SD Card) Stoner Acoustics UD110 v2 (USB DAC) (sold) Sony NWZ-F806 32GB Black FiiO X5 (Audition) Studio V 3RD ANV (4GB + 23GB SD Card) (sold) iPod Touch 4G - 8GB iBasso DX50 (8GB + 32GB SD Card) Xuelin IHIFI 760 (8GB+ 32GB SD Card) (sold) Cowon J3 (16GB + 32GB SD Card) (sold) Studio V 2nd Edition (4GB + 32GB SD Card) iPod Video 5.5 Generation Black 80GB (sold) Hisound Rocco BA (4GB + 32GB SD Card) (sold) Sansa Fuze v2 (4GB + 32GB SD Card) (sold) Hifiman HM-601 (8GB + 32GB SD Card) (sold) Colorfly CK4+ (8GB + 32GB SD Card) (sold) Colourlfy C3 (4GB + 32GB SD Card) Cowon C2 (16GB + 32GB SD Card) (sold) Cowon D2+ (16GB + 32GB SD card) (sold) 4GB SanDisk Fuze+ (16GB SD Card) (sold) Cowon S9 (32GB) (V-2.53) (sold) 2GB SanDisk Sansa Clip+ (64GB SD CARD) (Rockbox 3.13) iPod Nano 1G - 2GB (Rockbox 3.10) iPod Mini 1G - 4GB (Rockbox 3.10) iPod Mini 2G - 8GB CF Mod (Rockbox 3.11) (sold) iPod Touch 2G - 8GB (sold) Sony Media Player Walkman NWZ-A828 - 8GB (sold) Creative MuVu - V100 2GB Sony MD Walkman MZ-R501 |
I'd like to think with more than a few sources under my belt I'd know the difference between mediocre, cheap or poor sounding DAP's, I can assure you Kogan is none of those despite its $29 price tag. So much so I really don't want to say just how detailed this unit is in fear people won't believe me, though to stay on the safe side I will state Kogan is quite a bit more detailed than the $100 Colorfly C3 I have here beside me.
Rather than prattle on I'm going to give you some quick photo's of the user interface and start up screen then answer any questions people may ask.
Firstly, some quick pics of the front and rear of the unit.
Keeping in mind the player has a camera on the back, Kogan supports these menu options for the 2.4" screen.
Ebook
Pictures (JPG, BMP)
Movies (AVI)
Music (FLAC, MP3, WMA, APE)
Camera
Video Recorder
Settings
Recordings
File navigation,
Tools > Stop Watch, Calculator, PC Camera, Calander
Pushing that aside there's just too much to go through in each menu, so I'm going to focus on what Head-fi is about, the sound. Oh, did I mention it's only $29?
(please keep in mind my cameras were struggling to pick up the images with the screen on. (Please zoom in to make out the pictures better)
Start up Screen
Inside the music menu you have:
All Music
Artist
Album
Genre
My music list
Dir list (folder sorting)
Record list
Star level
Tag list
As you can see that's a lot of options.
You can see here I've chosen the directory list and the screen is asking me to select the internal or external memory.
Inside my micro sd card from the external memory, nice big 2.4" screen to see many folders at once.
Now playing screen: Shows the track name, album name, genre, track duration, track number.
There's even a little equalizer that goes in time with the music.
Music menu options:
AB Repeat
Repeat (inside this setting are your shuffle options)
Select EQ (Only Presets, but do not worry the player sounds more than fine set flat)
Set Sound (this lets you adjust a fade in/out when the music stops / starts)
Replay times
Repeat intervals
Variable Speed
Lyric display (very handy for those who want to see their lyrics)
Set star level
Add Tag
Add to my list
Delete File
Information (shows track info such as file format, kbps, name, title, year etc etc)
Inside the track information menu.
As you can see the player has an overabundance of options which all work fine, (that's just the music section) and the UI is rather smooth, there might be a little bit of lag if you try going very fast but the unit works great. There's also several other options like settings in the main menu for changing things, but what I'm here for is the sound. Kogan is very detailed, clean and crisp, it sounds if not better than the Sansa, iPods, or Cowons I have heard, every one of them.
The downside to this thread however is I don't know anywhere worldwide members can purchase Kogan, far as I can tell it's only available on Australian eBay by Kogan and their website. I'm going to give the links so our Australian members can check it out, hopefully someone in the USA can source them.
I can tell you now though this unit sounds very good for just $29.00
Kogan Website: http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/mini-camera-and-mp4-player/
eBay: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/171399223622?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Updated: Kogan Picture Quality Samples: Link (Click Here)
Updated: Kogan Outdoor Picture Quality Samples: Link (Click Here)
Updated: Kogan disassembled: Link (Click Here)
~H20
Members Testimonials
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Members Kogan Rigs
