[Albinoni]

A friend of mine is seriously looking into getting herself a nice new MP3 player and though she doesn't know much about this sort of stuff, I have offered to do the hunting for her, plus I am going to steer her away from Ipod (her daughter has one already and 1 in the house is enough I reckon) so its time for a change and try something else IMHO, her budget is between AU $170 and $240 or around that figure, I am also considering others as well, but the Cowon is my 1st priority. She has kindly asked her to choose and MP3 player for her.

Here's what I am considering:

1. Cowon D2 or D2+
2. Sansa Fuze
3. Sansa Clip+
4. iRiver
5. Creative Zen X-Fi II

Q re the Cowon D2 and D2+

1. Is there much a of a diff between these two?
2. How about their SQ, are they much alike?
3. Is it true the D2 becomes a D2+ with firmware update and is this hard to
do?

4. How loud are the D2 or D2+ compared to the Fuze or Clip?
5. Re the memory expansion is it SD or MicroSD?
6. Batt life, how long ?

 

[tds101]

I think you should be asking this question on the appropriate forum: iAudiophile.net

 

[mp3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Albinoni /img/forum/go_quote.gif Q re the Cowon D2 and D2+ 1. Is there much a of a diff between these two? 2. How about their SQ, are they much alike? 3. Is it true the D2 becomes a D2+ with firmware update and is this hard to do? 4. How loud are the D2 or D2+ compared to the Fuze or Clip? 5. Re the memory expansion is it SD or MicroSD? 6. Batt life, how long ?

1. Only aesthethical
2. Identical
3. Yes, and easy
4. Louder
5. SD and SDHC
6. Long, stated around 50h

 

[Hero Kid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Albinoni /img/forum/go_quote.gif 1. Is there much a of a diff between these two? 6. Batt life, how long ?

1: One has a metal outer (D2) whilst the newer D2+ is all plastic. The D2 also comes will a wall charger when you have to buy one separately if you get the D2+. Besides that the only difference is the software which you can update anyway.
I recently went through the same uncertainty and ended up with a D2+ which I am very happy with. I'd recommend it.

2: Depends on a few things. They advertise 52 hours of audio playback. This outstanding number however is compromised by what formats you use and if you use a SD card. I haven't had a full on listening session as of yet but I've heard of people getting 40+ hours which is... wow.

 

[hk1388]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hero Kid /img/forum/go_quote.gif 1: One has a metal outer (D2) whilst the newer D2+ is all plastic. The D2 also comes will a wall charger when you have to buy one separately if you get the D2+. Besides that the only difference is the software which you can update anyway. I recently went through the same uncertainty and ended up with a D2+ which I am very happy with. I'd recommend it. 2: Depends on a few things. They advertise 52 hours of audio playback. This outstanding number however is compromised by what formats you use and if you use a SD card. I haven't had a full on listening session as of yet but I've heard of people getting 40+ hours which is... wow.

You sure about that? My D2 looks and feels plastic to me.

 

[EddieE]

Both D2's are all plastic.

Considering you can force the D2+ fw on a D2 the differences are aesthetic. I think I read somewhere that the newer D2+ fw won't go on (don't quote me on that - not 100%) but the original fw is stable and works great on my vintage D2.

The fw differences are:

a) BBE+ instead of BBE, it's a subjective thing but I think it's much better
b) Subjective again, but IMO much nicer UI aesthetically
c) Pressing the down button on the browser jumps you a whole screen of tracks rather than moves you one track down - very handy improvement IMO

Beyond that, the two are identical besides the case looking a bit nicer on the + model.

The D2 is a great sounding DAP but IMO inferior to the S9 with it's slightly softer, warmer sound, and much better presets including the ViVA settings. i9 provides the same sound without the frills at a cheaper price point.

 

[Partybreaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieE /img/forum/go_quote.gif The D2 is a great sounding DAP but IMO inferior to the S9 with it's slightly softer, warmer sound, and much better presets including the ViVA settings. i9 provides the same sound without the frills at a cheaper price point.

How much is S9 better sounding DAP than D2+? BBE ViVa is just a profile (like Metal, Rock, Pop etc.), and can't be used with EQ settings, or I'm wrong?

TIA.

 

[Aevum]

both sound more or less the same, wolfson + telechips combo (***, theres also cirrus and AKM, why always wolfson), except that the D2 as a bit of a bass rolloff, which is what they tried to correct in the D2+ with the mach 3 bass and such,

the S9 has better bass, but the D2 has a wider soundstage,

 

[Hero Kid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hk1388 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You sure about that? My D2 looks and feels plastic to me.

"D2 has nice metallic accents vs. all plastic for D2+."
I don't know I've never actually owned one but I remembered reading it somewhere.

 

[Partybreaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aevum /img/forum/go_quote.gif the S9 has better bass, but the D2 has a wider soundstage,

Hm, that's strange because the D2(+) has only wide frequency setting (in EQ filter) only for three bands - 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Most used bands, for lower bass and higher trebles, have only normal mode... S9 has wide setting as default for all bands, plus 13KHz frequency (comparing to 11.7KHz on D2).

 

[EddieE]

Party Breaker - there is a slight difference in the flat sound between D2 and S9 (to my ear at least) the D2 is a little crisper and more analytical and the S9 a little softer and warmer. That's what I've found anyway and I own both of them.

I remain unsure over whether the BBE ViVA settings are an EQ preset or a BBE sound enhancement.

They are listed on the presets, but BBE ViVA is listed on the BBE website as a specific sound enhancement.

I have a suspicion that it is a sound enhancement but it will sound terrible if configured any way other than how they have engineered it. So they do not allow it to be turned on in conjunction with your own choice of EQ and other sound enhancements, they just offer you ViVA or ViVA 2 which is ViVA with a bass boost as far as I can tell.

I could be wrong as this is just guess work but the sound of the ViVA preset is radically different to just an eq tweak. It actually changes the sound stage and separation (to my ear anyway - I'm not infallible).

What I will say is good luck trying to work out an EQ preset of your own that sounds like ViVA - I've put many hours into trying and failing without getting close!

 

[Albinoni]

Wow the d2+ doesnt come with a charger, that sucks doesnt it

 

[Aevum]

theres only like a couple of players on the market that bring a charger
you can get a 1amp usb charger for like 3 bucks shipped from deal extreme,

 

[tjumper78]

its just a charging unit with the usb plug on one end. pretty much everyone has one somewhere at home. i think i have about 10 as they came with digital camera, gps system, cell phone, etc. or you can also just charge d2/d2+ from your computer via usb cable.
for me, the charging time is very short and the battery lasts for a very looong time.