New model Cowon - Plenue D2
Jan 26, 2019 at 2:19 PM Post #61 of 941
We live in the era of modern technologies and streaming services like Tidal, Deezer and others is just one of them. Have they ever heard about Wi-Fi?
The reason I don’t purchase Cowon DAPs anymore is that they are OUTDATED, every new player they produce is outdated from the beginning IMHO.
Well, it's all a matter of opinion. Different DAPs are aimed at different users. Everyone already has a smartphone, which can do all that. The main purpose of portable DAPs is still to play music on the go. Yeah, there are DAPs that have implemented streaming features, but on the go you're still bound by your smartphone acting as a hotspot, which just burns through its battery.

The fact that you went for a Onkyo Granbeat DP-CMX1, means that you're one of these people expecting DAPs to turn into smartphones, which has several implications: first, DAP manufacturers don't have access to proper smartphone hardware at affordable prices as this is a niche market and they produce limited quantities, so you end up with several years old hardware or in the case of fiio, with hardware intended for smartwaches, so the performance will always be far from a modern smartphone; second: the more internal circuits you add, the more interference you add to the sound; third, the more features you add the bigger the DAP gets and the higher the price gets - you can't honestly expect to get full streaming support as on a modern smartphone, with the DAP remaining small in size, with several times the battery life of a smartphone, with amazing sound quality and costing 300 bucks.

It seems to me that you're looking in the wrong thread. You should be looking for something like the R6 Pro or just grab an LG V40, of course both will run you something like 800 bucks, but that's the price of quality with features nowadays. Or if you want something with similar audio internals as the D2 and modern features, you are looking at A&norma SR15, which is 700 bucks, not 300.
 
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Jan 26, 2019 at 2:29 PM Post #62 of 941
Anyone know if the leather cases and screen protectors from the d fit the d2?
 
Jan 26, 2019 at 2:32 PM Post #63 of 941
Well, it's all a matter of opinion. Different DAPs are aimed at different users. Everyone already has a smartphone, which can do all that. The main purpose of portable DAPs is still to play music on the go. Yeah, there are DAPs that have implemented streaming features, but on the go you're still bound by your smartphone acting as a hotspot, which just burns through its battery.

The fact that you went for a Onkyo Granbeat DP-CMX1, means that you're one of these people expecting DAPs to turn into smartphones, which has several implications: first, DAP manufacturers don't have access to proper smartphone hardware at affordable prices as this is a niche market and they produce limited quantities, so you end up with several years old hardware or in the case of fiio, with hardware intended for smartwaches, so the performance will always be far from a modern smartphone; second: the more internal circuits you add, the more interference you add to the sound; third, the more features you add the bigger the DAP gets and the higher the price gets - you can't honestly expect to get full streaming support as on a modern smartphone, with the DAP remaining small in size, with several times the battery life of a smartphone, with amazing sound quality and costing 300 bucks.

It seems to me that you're looking in the wrong thread. You should be looking for something like the R6 Pro or just grab an LG V40, of course both will run you something like 800 bucks, but that's the price of quality with features nowadays. Or if you want something with similar audio internals as the D2 and modern features, you are looking at A&norma SR, which is 700 bucks, not 300.

Agreed, regarding the additional features for DAPs. However, even in simpler DAPs like the Cowon D, the achilles heel is always the software. They cannot get the UIs to work smoothly without bugs/issues. This is true not just for Cowon, but for the majority of DAP manufacturers, possibly with the exception of AK.
 
Jan 26, 2019 at 4:15 PM Post #65 of 941
It seems to me that you're looking in the wrong thread. You should be looking for something like the R6 Pro or just grab an LG V40, of course both will run you something like 800 bucks, but that's the price of quality with features nowadays. Or if you want something with similar audio internals as the D2 and modern features, you are looking at A&norma SR15, which is 700 bucks, not 300.
No, I'm not looking for a DAP at the moment- onkyo granbeat currently meets my requirements.
I just like the form factor of the PD2 and features they advertise in general. I was happy with Plenue P1 in the past, but the world is changing and customer (audiophile) preferences change with it as well).

BTW, I do not like the sound of Astell and Kern DAPs including Norma SR15 – not my cup of tea.
 
Jan 27, 2019 at 8:59 AM Post #67 of 941
We live in the era of modern technologies and streaming services like Tidal, Deezer and others is just one of them. Have they ever heard about Wi-Fi?
The reason I don’t purchase Cowon DAPs anymore is that they are OUTDATED, every new player they produce is outdated from the beginning IMHO.

While I have nothing against these streaming features, one of the selling features for these Cowons is the lack of streaming. I have been specifically looking at players like Cowon, ZX300 and DX120 because they are purely music players, nothing fancy. Usually battery life is better in these types of players as well, which I place a huge emphasis on. There is definitely a market for no frills, pure music players.

I also generally like Cowon players because they have some of the best software EQ in the industry.
 
Jan 27, 2019 at 11:23 AM Post #68 of 941
While I have nothing against these streaming features, one of the selling features for these Cowons is the lack of streaming. I have been specifically looking at players like Cowon, ZX300 and DX120 because they are purely music players, nothing fancy. Usually battery life is better in these types of players as well, which I place a huge emphasis on. There is definitely a market for no frills, pure music players.

I also generally like Cowon players because they have some of the best software EQ in the industry.
This is exactly why i bought the Plenue D. I could use my Galaxy S8 to play music, but the sound is not anything near what i want to hear. And then have to charge the darn thing multiple times a day? No thanks!
 
Jan 27, 2019 at 12:56 PM Post #69 of 941
Well, if you are a Tidal user and you have it integrated into your Roon software at home and into UAPP app on your android based phone/DAP, you don't want to miss a part of your collection which is permanently online. But agree, cowon is for pure offline users.
 
Jan 27, 2019 at 1:16 PM Post #70 of 941
Well, if you are a Tidal user and you have it integrated into your Roon software at home and into UAPP app on your android based phone/DAP, you don't want to miss a part of your collection which is permanently online. But agree, cowon is for pure offline users.
Honestly it's silly to even talk about it with players like this. If that's your collection, no matter how good this sounds it won't be for you.

What's silly about the d2 is that it still has just a 5 band EQ and apparently has the same 128 gb max SD card size limit as other "low-end" cowon players. These are arbitrary decisions intended to make you purchase their more expensive players, but in reality we all know they're idiocy and greed that needlessly hamstring their usability with zero technical justification.

I will be ordering this player in the very near future, but those type of anti customer decisions make me very mad and if they continue to do it, I won't buy their products in the future.
 
Jan 27, 2019 at 2:02 PM Post #71 of 941
Honestly it's silly to even talk about it with players like this. If that's your collection, no matter how good this sounds it won't be for you.

What's silly about the d2 is that it still has just a 5 band EQ and apparently has the same 128 gb max SD card size limit as other "low-end" cowon players. These are arbitrary decisions intended to make you purchase their more expensive players, but in reality we all know they're idiocy and greed that needlessly hamstring their usability with zero technical justification.

I will be ordering this player in the very near future, but those type of anti customer decisions make me very mad and if they continue to do it, I won't buy their products in the future.

You can select 3 different FR targets in each band in either wide, narrow, or normal, covering essentially the entire frequency.
 
Jan 27, 2019 at 5:08 PM Post #73 of 941
I would like to read your impressions. At the moment i am deciding between this Cowon, Shanling M5s (why have you sold it?) and Ibasso DX120.
The m5s needs firmware updates before its useable for me. The EQ wasn't adequately functional upon release which was a deal breaker for me. Sound itself was pretty good, but warm. It didn't really do anything better than my hiby r6.

The dx120 is pretty basic, I thought about buying it at one point but the selling point of the cowon is the jeteffect/bbe advantage. If this doesn't meet my expectations (which are very high, and I'll also be buying the hiby r6 pro soon,) I'll sell it on the Classifieds. But the specs on this have me seriously intrigued that it could be a giant killer, soundwise.
 
Jan 27, 2019 at 6:43 PM Post #74 of 941
Need advice, I have $500 Hifiman he-400i headphones and a old cowon d3. I am going to buy the
Cowon - Plenue D2 or Cowon Pleunue M2. So which should sound better? That is the most important thing, not how many songs it will hold or much else.
Thanks .
 
Jan 27, 2019 at 9:00 PM Post #75 of 941
Get the L, its 4.4 balance sounds beautiful, it pushes and makes my TH900 sound better than any TOTL dap. Has 256 internal gigs and holds a 400 gig ss card.
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