New Cowon iAudio U7
Oct 26, 2018 at 4:43 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 9
BruceBanner

BruceBanner

1000+ Head-Fier
Joined
Mar 26, 2011
Posts
1,044
Likes
267
Anyone heard/seen it yet? Impressions etc?


ov_area_0_1.png

http://www.cowonglobal.com/product_wide/iAUDIOU7/product_page_1.php
 
Oct 26, 2018 at 4:02 PM Post #3 of 9
musicday said:
Looks stylish, but that's all. Not better at all then the Clip+ with Rockbox 3.14
Now, the battery life has been improved from 15 h to 27 h playback, and the sound is great for such small device.
Click to expand...

Not sure I still have a Clip+ anymore :'(

I'm more interested to know the power output of this little thing, I have an iAudio E3 but it's too quiet at full volume, I need to amp it. I'm wondering if I would have to amp this one too...
The little cap that covers the USB port will get lost within a week lol.

Looks like it has no BBE/Jet Effect but does have a custom EQ.
 
Dec 20, 2018 at 3:01 AM Post #4 of 9
I purchased this little player few days ago just out my curiosity. Cowon offer generally good players and this one is not according to me exception. It has only inbuilt memory 16GB or 32GB which can not be extend with any memory card, it has only very basic, but good and quickly working UI. Load music in to memory takes time, but after that UI react quickly. Start is in 2sec. There is no classic Cowon tools for music adjustment such as BBE, etc, but U7 offer kind of user equalization. In my opinion is better leave setup on FLAT.
Sound is nearly neutral with slight tilt to middle band. It is tonally very close to Shanling M0. U7 send to earphone good amount of tight and precise bass, clear midis and enough sparkle on top end. There is plenty of details and with right earphones you can enjoy each single instrument, each single tone. Soundstage is wide, but I do not feel much deepness.
U7 remember last position, so it can be used for audio books as well. Specification show live time up to 15 hours, according to my experiences is that a bit on ambitious side, you will get more likely 8 to 10 hours as max with mix of format quality. U7 will not recognize DSD, or higher quality of FLACs formats.
It has no any BT, WiFI or other stream capabilities. It is nice, stylish, small and very good sounding EDC player for sport, traveling or simply on the go offline listening. In the past I have tried similar players as iPod NANO, Lotoo PAW Pico, Walnut V2s ( bit bigger ) or Shanling M0. From technical perspective is M0 winner, but if you will not care about BT, DAC capability, etc and most of your music library is in MP3 or lower FLACs, U7 will give you plenty of joy of your music.
 
Dec 20, 2018 at 6:21 AM Post #5 of 9
mrazik said:
I purchased this little player few days ago just out my curiosity. Cowon offer generally good players and this one is not according to me exception. It has only inbuilt memory 16GB or 32GB which can not be extend with any memory card, it has only very basic, but good and quickly working UI. Load music in to memory takes time, but after that UI react quickly. Start is in 2sec. There is no classic Cowon tools for music adjustment such as BBE, etc, but U7 offer kind of user equalization. In my opinion is better leave setup on FLAT.
Sound is nearly neutral with slight tilt to middle band. It is tonally very close to Shanling M0. U7 send to earphone good amount of tight and precise bass, clear midis and enough sparkle on top end. There is plenty of details and with right earphones you can enjoy each single instrument, each single tone. Soundstage is wide, but I do not feel much deepness.
U7 remember last position, so it can be used for audio books as well. Specification show live time up to 15 hours, according to my experiences is that a bit on ambitious side, you will get more likely 8 to 10 hours as max with mix of format quality. U7 will not recognize DSD, or higher quality of FLACs formats.
It has no any BT, WiFI or other stream capabilities. It is nice, stylish, small and very good sounding EDC player for sport, traveling or simply on the go offline listening. In the past I have tried similar players as iPod NANO, Lotoo PAW Pico, Walnut V2s ( bit bigger ) or Shanling M0. From technical perspective is M0 winner, but if you will not care about BT, DAC capability, etc and most of your music library is in MP3 or lower FLACs, U7 will give you plenty of joy of your music.
Click to expand...

Hi! Thanks for weighing in with your impressions. I have just one question really that I would love answered. I own the Walnut too, but not the Paw Pico, of the three (Pico, Walnut and U7) which has the greatest power? Which obtains the highest volume? I'm essentially looking for a shuffle only screenless type DAP, the Walnut I find just a tad too big, hence the Pico Paw and U7 are shortlisted. But I own an iAudio E3, and it's just too underpowered for my liking really, I'm hoping the U7 has a bit more guts to it but I'm guessing probably not. Am I right in thinking the Pico Paw is substantially more powerful than the U7 and Walnut?

Cheers!

Bruce
 
Dec 20, 2018 at 7:06 AM Post #6 of 9
BruceBanner said:
Hi! Thanks for weighing in with your impressions. I have just one question really that I would love answered. I own the Walnut too, but not the Paw Pico, of the three (Pico, Walnut and U7) which has the greatest power? Which obtains the highest volume? I'm essentially looking for a shuffle only screenless type DAP, the Walnut I find just a tad too big, hence the Pico Paw and U7 are shortlisted. But I own an iAudio E3, and it's just too underpowered for my liking really, I'm hoping the U7 has a bit more guts to it but I'm guessing probably not. Am I right in thinking the Pico Paw is substantially more powerful than the U7 and Walnut?

Cheers!

Bruce
Click to expand...

I did test for you. First of all. There are 30 possible degrees to increase volume up. With my earphones ( KZ ZS3, Massdrop + ) I'm listening on 6 or 7, so that is less than third of scale. I connect my only headphones I have Sennheisser HD598 and I had to increase volume on 15 up to 20. Over 20 I consider listening as to load for my liking, but still I did not heard and distortion and U7 handle Senns pretty well. Of course with increasing volume will by battery dry sooner I guess.
So I believe, that U7 have enough juice to handle proper headphones, just probably for not so long. My advice is add to your list Shanling M0. Is small as well, sound is great and it have much more technical advantages compare to anything else at this size. In terms of volume is more or less same as U7.
 
Dec 20, 2018 at 3:10 PM Post #7 of 9
mrazik said:
I did test for you. First of all. There are 30 possible degrees to increase volume up. With my earphones ( KZ ZS3, Massdrop + ) I'm listening on 6 or 7, so that is less than third of scale. I connect my only headphones I have Sennheisser HD598 and I had to increase volume on 15 up to 20. Over 20 I consider listening as to load for my liking, but still I did not heard and distortion and U7 handle Senns pretty well. Of course with increasing volume will by battery dry sooner I guess.
So I believe, that U7 have enough juice to handle proper headphones, just probably for not so long. My advice is add to your list Shanling M0. Is small as well, sound is great and it have much more technical advantages compare to anything else at this size. In terms of volume is more or less same as U7.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for that. I take it you no longer have the Paw Pico to compare power output wise to the U7?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top