[Kayito-san]

I just bought a Cowon S9 from B&H Photo, fairly good price at $286.61 CDN including shipping. 15 day money-back guarantee, so I have that reassurance if it turns out to be a knock-off.

But I'm still kind of anxious. Did I get a good deal? How does the Cowon compare to running from my MacBook Pro? I know it shouldn't be a contest between a small media player and a full-sized computer, but I'm trying to find a solution to usurp both my PSP (sad, ain't it) and my Mac's sometimes spotty outputs with something a bit more purpose-built.

I need some encouraging words here. This is the first time I've bought my own dedicated portable music solution.

 

[ilney]

If you choose the S9, prepare to learn how to use EQ heavily. The S9 is built just for that

 

[Kayito-san]

EQ? I'm more of a "How the music is recorded is how it should sound" kind of guy, but the BBE# technology (anti-digitization) thing really caught my eye when I was reading up on it. Does the anti-digitization EQ setting work well?

 

[tds101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kayito-san /img/forum/go_quote.gif EQ? I'm more of a "How the music is recorded is how it should sound" kind of guy, but the BBE# technology (anti-digitization) thing really caught my eye when I was reading up on it. Does the anti-digitization EQ setting work well?

fantastically well. Play w/the settings and you'll have quite an enjoyable experience IMO.

Also, visit iAudiophile.net for all you Cowon S9 assistance,.........great place to hang out.

 

[kunalraiker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kayito-san /img/forum/go_quote.gif EQ? I'm more of a "How the music is recorded is how it should sound" kind of guy, but the BBE# technology (anti-digitization) thing really caught my eye when I was reading up on it. Does the anti-digitization EQ setting work well?

you should've got Sansa if you wanted that

 

[mesasone]

The Cowon is just fine with or with out EQ. I think the EQ and effects are nice if used in moderation. Some people seem to think that because the options are there, they need to crank all of them up.

The deal you got seems OK. I paid $268.00 US for my 32gb S9, and got 20%(!) Bing cash back. I'm not sure of the exact exchange rate currently, but I would guess $285 CDN is probably pretty close to $268 US.

 

[Chef]

EQ is basically irrelevant. I played around with it a bit, but 99% of the time I have it off because I feel like all it does is turn the volume up in most cases.

The player has no feedback, which is about all you can ask for in terms of sound quality. It's well built, and pretty nice. The mic is better than I thought it would be, though I've never really bothered using it except to test. The amplifier goes loud enough to put my HD650s at a satisfying volume.

Basically it's a good product if you don't have a fetish for buzz words. And even if you do, you can always read tonnes of ignorant people talking about the CEO's 'golden ears' and how Cowon has the best sound quality and blah blah blah.

Honestly I got it for it's codec support, and it does everything it needs to do as well as any other player. Its video is quite nice too, and it seems to be ahead of the curve in battery life compared to its competition.

You're getting a good player. I paid the same and I'm happy with it.

 

[mesasone]

I would guess that EQ is relevant to the people who use it.

 

[chicagojammer]

I wonder how much cheaper the S9 will be now that its successor the J3 was announced today.

 

[Kayito-san]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicagojammer /img/forum/go_quote.gif I wonder how much cheaper the S9 will be now that its successor the J3 was announced today.

What?

FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

This always happens... Should I cancel before it ships and wait for the price to go down? What do I do!?

 

[candy287]

I've been wanting a cowon s9 for about a yr now. hope the BBE hype is worth it. Im trying to convince myself not to buy it since i dont want to dish out $280+ without trying it first. i give a huge props for taking initiative.

 

[candy287]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kayito-san /img/forum/go_quote.gif What? FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU- This always happens... Should I cancel before it ships and wait for the price to go down? What do I do!?

try the s9 first then return it. at least you had the change of trying it out.

 

[Covenant]

I use BBE Viva 2, which makes cheaper earbuds/portable headphones come to life. However, if I use the S9 with my HD600, I switch back to Normal.

EQ becomes glaringly obvious and artificial sounding when used with a good quality headphone like the HD600.

 

[Kayito-san]

Well I'd be using the Pro 900s (and occasionally Grado 225s), unamped for a while.

 

[Hanafuda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicagojammer /img/forum/go_quote.gif I wonder how much cheaper the S9 will be now that its successor the J3 was announced today.

I dug around to find some info and what I found was the J3 would be coming with 4, 8, and 16GB versions.

What? I guess if it has a slot for external memory (micro SDHC or whatever) I might still be interested, but I've been hoping for MORE storage on Cowon's successor to the S9, not less.