New - Cowon Plenue S
Apr 15, 2019 at 10:17 PM Post #1,036 of 1,158
Does it have a similar lush Burr Brown sound though?
Still has the Cowon sound but a little more details. Main improvement is its 4.4 balanced, it puts out more volts. PL shines with dsd recordings and details , PS shines dor the lush dac sound.
 
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Apr 15, 2019 at 10:19 PM Post #1,037 of 1,158
That's what I meant 3.5. Defly a nightmare with the cables
2.5 connector is trash for on the go. It gets loose and bends easily.
 
Apr 15, 2019 at 10:50 PM Post #1,038 of 1,158
2.5 connector is trash for on the go. It gets loose and bends easily.

Agreed. My perfect scenario would be a cowon cap with the Burr Brown and 4.4 balanced out
 
Apr 15, 2019 at 10:57 PM Post #1,039 of 1,158
Agreed. My perfect scenario would be a cowon cap with the Burr Brown and 4.4 balanced out
I noticed that the PS has more sparkle in top then the PM2. Also volume,it get louder much faster on the PS.
 
Apr 16, 2019 at 2:26 AM Post #1,041 of 1,158
Yes, PS is much more powerful DAP than the PM2 and even the P2MKII. It generates more power with higher impedance cans.
I had no idea, I added my Arrow amp , as I usually do, and it seems too much power.
 
Apr 16, 2019 at 2:31 AM Post #1,042 of 1,158
Sounds like Cowon hit it out of the park with the Cowon Plenue S back in 2015 and 4 years later is struggling to come up with a flagship with an appreciable sonic improvement. Glad that I held back on getting a P. With the Cayin N8 and a hefty investment in single-ended Wagnus cables, I am somewhat loth to jump onto the balanced bandwagon.
 
Apr 16, 2019 at 2:42 AM Post #1,043 of 1,158
Sounds like Cowon hit it out of the park with the Cowon Plenue S back in 2015 and 4 years later is struggling to come up with a flagship with an appreciable sonic improvement. Glad that I held back on getting a P. With the Cayin N8 and a hefty investment in single-ended Wagnus cables, I am somewhat loth to jump onto the balanced bandwagon.

Yeah the PS is really nice. The PL in balance is also nice but is it better than the S ? Hard to say and too close to really care to chose. Ill keep both, but the N8 is a step up.
20190111_134203.jpg
 
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Apr 17, 2019 at 11:49 PM Post #1,044 of 1,158
Is this player still worth considering these days? I was thinking of trying to find a used one. How is the battery life?
 
Apr 18, 2019 at 12:06 AM Post #1,045 of 1,158
Apr 19, 2019 at 1:21 AM Post #1,046 of 1,158
Is this player still worth considering these days? I was thinking of trying to find a used one. How is the battery life?

The battery life isn't that great on the PS Around 8 hours at the top end But, If you like lush , analog sound with the ability to eq to your hearts content, this is the one.
 
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Oct 10, 2019 at 8:22 PM Post #1,047 of 1,158
Just picked up one of these from the 2nd hand forum.
AACC0800-D425-4F49-BDCE-45CF7368ABD9.jpeg

I seem to have ended up doing a tour of the Plenue line; at various points I’ve owned the D, D2, M, M2, R, V, P1 and P2 mk II. I guess having owned so many DAPs is a common affliction among head-fi’ers :wink:

Seriously impressive sound, and not quite what I expected based on other impressions. Detail and sense of space is phenomenal, and I’m only using the single-ended as I don’t have any headphones that can take balanced at the moment.

I had the P1 about 3 years ago, so difficult to make comparisons, but I was never really satisfied with the sound. The bass seemed rounded off and I couldn’t get the impact I wanted even with JetEffects. Looking back, maybe it was an impedance matching issue as I was mainly using Momentum M2s at the time, which have 18 ohm impedance vs the 3 ohms on the P1 output, and I was newer to all this and didn’t realize impedance matching would be a thing.

As I said, that was a while ago, but the PS sounds quite different from what I remember of the P1. Either that, or my hearing has changed :wink: It has real punch and weight down low. But the biggest thing is probably the power. I don’t think I’ve heard a Plenue with this kind of drive before, not even the P2 mk II or D2 balanced outs which are rated as higher Vrms. Don’t know what this amp is doing different, given it’s only 3 Vrms but man it feels powerful, like there’s real drive at hand even at lower volumes.

I see in the settings you can have the cradle out as 1.3 or 2 Vrms. That suggests those pins are a fixed line out? That would make it the only Plenue with a dedicated line out? (if you buy the overpriced cradle though).

I bought the P2 mk II earlier this year, but ended up returning it within the exchange window as I found it quite colored: very warm and again with softened bass impact. So I a bit nervous about the PS and wondering if maybe I only liked the lower priced Plenues ;

But so far it sounds great. There’s a certain “live band/instrument” sound to it. I do wonder if some specific treble frequencies that are pushed forward will get fatiguing after a while (my ears seem to be very sensitive to some treble presentation that I haven’t quite figured out). But so far, so good. My unit maybe hasn’t had that much burn in either.

Need to get some balanced headphones to hear what that output can do.
 
Oct 10, 2019 at 8:57 PM Post #1,048 of 1,158
Just picked up one of these from the 2nd hand forum.


I seem to have ended up doing a tour of the Plenue line; at various points I’ve owned the D, D2, M, M2, R, V, P1 and P2 mk II. I guess having owned so many DAPs is a common affliction among head-fi’ers :wink:

Seriously impressive sound, and not quite what I expected based on other impressions. Detail and sense of space is phenomenal, and I’m only using the single-ended as I don’t have any headphones that can take balanced at the moment.

I had the P1 about 3 years ago, so difficult to make comparisons, but I was never really satisfied with the sound. The bass seemed rounded off and I couldn’t get the impact I wanted even with JetEffects. Looking back, maybe it was an impedance matching issue as I was mainly using Momentum M2s at the time, which have 18 ohm impedance vs the 3 ohms on the P1 output, and I was newer to all this and didn’t realize impedance matching would be a thing.

As I said, that was a while ago, but the PS sounds quite different from what I remember of the P1. Either that, or my hearing has changed :wink: It has real punch and weight down low. But the biggest thing is probably the power. I don’t think I’ve heard a Plenue with this kind of drive before, not even the P2 mk II or D2 balanced outs which are rated as higher Vrms. Don’t know what this amp is doing different, given it’s only 3 Vrms but man it feels powerful, like there’s real drive at hand even at lower volumes.

I see in the settings you can have the cradle out as 1.3 or 2 Vrms. That suggests those pins are a fixed line out? That would make it the only Plenue with a dedicated line out? (if you buy the overpriced cradle though).

I bought the P2 mk II earlier this year, but ended up returning it within the exchange window as I found it quite colored: very warm and again with softened bass impact. So I a bit nervous about the PS and wondering if maybe I only liked the lower priced Plenues ;

But so far it sounds great. There’s a certain “live band/instrument” sound to it. I do wonder if some specific treble frequencies that are pushed forward will get fatiguing after a while (my ears seem to be very sensitive to some treble presentation that I haven’t quite figured out). But so far, so good. My unit maybe hasn’t had that much burn in either.

Need to get some balanced headphones to hear what that output can do.
PS is indeed very powerful, someone posted this in this thread long time ago. Where did you get the PS, here in head-fi classifieds?

upload_2019-10-11_6-26-34.png
 
Oct 10, 2019 at 11:30 PM Post #1,049 of 1,158
PS is indeed very powerful, someone posted this in this thread long time ago. Where did you get the PS, here in head-fi classifieds?

Yeah I’d noticed that graph earlier in the thread. You can really hear the difference too.

Yes I got it here in the head-fi for sale forum.
 
Oct 10, 2019 at 11:35 PM Post #1,050 of 1,158
Just picked up one of these from the 2nd hand forum.


I seem to have ended up doing a tour of the Plenue line; at various points I’ve owned the D, D2, M, M2, R, V, P1 and P2 mk II. I guess having owned so many DAPs is a common affliction among head-fi’ers :wink:

Seriously impressive sound, and not quite what I expected based on other impressions. Detail and sense of space is phenomenal, and I’m only using the single-ended as I don’t have any headphones that can take balanced at the moment.

I had the P1 about 3 years ago, so difficult to make comparisons, but I was never really satisfied with the sound. The bass seemed rounded off and I couldn’t get the impact I wanted even with JetEffects. Looking back, maybe it was an impedance matching issue as I was mainly using Momentum M2s at the time, which have 18 ohm impedance vs the 3 ohms on the P1 output, and I was newer to all this and didn’t realize impedance matching would be a thing.

As I said, that was a while ago, but the PS sounds quite different from what I remember of the P1. Either that, or my hearing has changed :wink: It has real punch and weight down low. But the biggest thing is probably the power. I don’t think I’ve heard a Plenue with this kind of drive before, not even the P2 mk II or D2 balanced outs which are rated as higher Vrms. Don’t know what this amp is doing different, given it’s only 3 Vrms but man it feels powerful, like there’s real drive at hand even at lower volumes.

I see in the settings you can have the cradle out as 1.3 or 2 Vrms. That suggests those pins are a fixed line out? That would make it the only Plenue with a dedicated line out? (if you buy the overpriced cradle though).

I bought the P2 mk II earlier this year, but ended up returning it within the exchange window as I found it quite colored: very warm and again with softened bass impact. So I a bit nervous about the PS and wondering if maybe I only liked the lower priced Plenues ;

But so far it sounds great. There’s a certain “live band/instrument” sound to it. I do wonder if some specific treble frequencies that are pushed forward will get fatiguing after a while (my ears seem to be very sensitive to some treble presentation that I haven’t quite figured out). But so far, so good. My unit maybe hasn’t had that much burn in either.

Need to get some balanced headphones to hear what that output can do.
3.5 balance is pretty good.
 

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