xylin6
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2013
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I have always wanted to hear a Cowon (specifically the J3,but any of them really) just to see how their house sound compared to that of Sony.So while I can't give you an A/B comparison on any of the players you mentioned (including the Z1000 which I also have not had a chance to hear) I can tell you that the Sony F800 series (be it the F805,F806 or 64gb F807 model available from Japan) have a very rich and warm sound over all and the bass presence with the eq flat is what I would define as neutral,but can be very deep by simply adjusting the EQ setting on the native player's clearbass function from the middle to highest setting (depending on what style of music you are listening to and which headphones or i.e.m, you use).
I use Grado SR80i and SR60i headphones which are considered to be neutral and not bass heavy cans by anyones standards,yet by simply setting the clearbass on the sony eq anywhere from 6 to 8 (out of 10) I get more than enough rich bass textures which are pleasant and not overly booming (unless I am listening to some IDM or Minimal Techno or Rap in which case I simply go into the EQ and turn the clearbass setting to 4 or 5).
I know you said you don't want to have to mess with the equalizer or any sound enhancements,and I suppose you could just leave the eq flat on this player and it would still sound great,I just enjoy having the ability to dial in my own setting (since this player offers a variety of preset eq settings as well as three customizable settings).and the nice thing about having three customizable equalizer settings is that you can set them up (for example,one setting for Rap/Electronic music etc and one for Classic Rock and New Wave etc and say another for Jazz and Classical music and then you can just leave them alone).in fact I rarely if ever mess with the EQ settings as most of the music I listen to sounds really great on my first custom EQ setting.
in a nutshell I can say that if you love good rich full texture and a nice bass presence in your music You would be very happy with the sony F800 series,and you may even want to wait another month or so as Sony are about to release the newer F series (the F886) which will have some very nice features not included on the present F 800's including 24 bit resolution,a physical play/rev and ffw button on the side of the player making it much easier to stop/pause a song when someone speaks to you or the phone rings (on the present models you only have a volume adjustment rocker and a W button (which stands for walkman) on the side and so to pause or stop a song or scan through the songs on the album,you first have to press the W button which wakes up the touch screen,and then from there you can (using the touch screen) stop or pause the track and/or scan through all the songs as well as return to the library to look for other albums etc.so those physical buttons on the side will be a very nice addition and make the player much more intuitive and of course the addition of 24/192 bit depth is for many a welcome upgrade from the present 16/44.1 format,personally I think either is fine for listening to lossless music.and of course the ability to play flac is another great reason to own the F series.the newer models of the F series will cost more is the only downside.Sony's retail price for the 32gb F886 is £259.00 (or 306.80 euro) whereas the retail on the F806 is £186.65 (or 221.10 euro) so there is that to consider.I'm sure there are other new features on the F886 I may have left out so here is a link to the Sony UK site http://www.sony.co.uk/product/nws-f-series/nwz-f886/technical-specifications
the only spec on that list I would be skeptical of is the battery playback time,whatever they boast,cut it at least in half if not more.ha.still these are amazing sounding players and I sincerely believe you would be happy if you bought one.You could always order one through Amazon and if you for some reason were unhappy with it return the unit (just make sure its purchased directly from Amazon) though I have a feeling that once you hear it You'll be so impressed/happy that the idea of returning it would be unimaginable (I know it would be for me) I purchased my F807 about 5 weeks ago and it is now basically a permanent appendage to my body haha.I just LOVE it I really do.
and also one thing I forgot to mention which is great is that,because it has Android You can download and install many different kinds of third party software players such as PowerAmp,Neutron MP, WinAmp etc etc... There are quite a few good free players and many others which are very inexpensive (roughly 3.69 euros for the ones I mentioned) and most of those offer a two week trial so you know before you buy if you really like the player or not.
Anyway I hope that information is helpful.I wish I could offer you some comparisons to the other players you mentioned but I simply haven't had the chance to hear them.I just know that compared to my friends iPods and my older Sony players (such as the E series player I still have and use) that this is the best sounding unit I have heard and was well worth the price (I was able to get it for $338 which is roughly 250 euro).I think they may be a bit more now,but I would glady have paid even more for this unit as it is really one kick ass sounding little player.very light weight,great response on the touch screen and best of all the sound quality is superior to anything I have ever heard.
p.s. - You said you didn't want the volume to be limited so I would suggest ordering a model from the United States or Japan.the only thing with the US is they don't offer the 64gb models and only come in two colors (Red or Black).I ordered mine from Japan through a vendor named Blueskyangel Japan and the price I paid was $320 + $18 extra for faster shipping with tracking.I received my player within 8 days of ordering it and in perfect condition.then all I had to do was change the language setting to English and update to the latest version of Android and I was set.and this player is plenty loud.for most albums I am happy with the volume at around 60% of the maximum and that is LOUD.its only on some older albums that I use more volume,but either way I have never felt the need to have my player any louder than it can go (and this is without any amp).good luck on whatever you decide to purchase and you may also want to check some other forum posts on for example the Sony Z series vs the Sony F series etc.though from what I have found the F series is the better choice of the two.
p.p.s. - here is a link for the player I purchased (for the 64gb player) .the price has gone from $320 to $345 (so whats that about 255.00 euro? (at least from blueskyangel japan who i purchased mine from).and while that is not inexpensive I have to say I would gladly have paid that price especially now that I know how good this player sounds.some of the other colors are less expensive (no idea why) as of course are players with less storage,but with lossless files I wanted at least 64gb). http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B009JXJKM8/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new
