My Review #2: The Cowan/iaudio D2

sory forgot to add the cowan

Sureless tha lack of lossless audio on the samsung would put you off it though?
Or has that been ammended?

I do have a smasung mobile tho, so being a gadget junkey the option to pair them may just be the seller ><
Video wise the cowan looks better in terms of screen

argh
 
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Unfortunately not - that what gets my goat

828 (8Gb + BT) + EX85s + BT DR-BT21G headphones = £170

829 (16Gb + BT) + EX85s = £230

Why skimp on their lead product :confused: - Id buy the 829 in a heartbeat if it came with what the 828 does...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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Chronictank said:
sory forgot to add the cowan

Sureless tha lack of lossless audio on the samsung would put you off it though?
Or has that been ammended?

I do have a smasung mobile tho, so being a gadget junkey the option to pair them may just be the seller ><
Video wise the cowan looks better in terms of screen

argh
Click to expand...

nope, dont use lossless on my mp3 players. if i were to go all the way and use an amplifier and a £250 pair of headphones then i'd probably go for an ipod classic and use the line out in which case i would be using lossless. but for normal listening no, i cant tell the difference between a decent 192k lame mp3 and lossless on a portable setup on all but a select few tracks. i dont use video on an mp3 player either, so i cant really help you there....well, it is pretty good on my iphone lol
 
Samsung it is, thanks guys :),

Edit, but the cowan does have a pretty screen and 50 hrs playback...

Right buying the samsung before i change my mind again
 
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james.miller said:
wait you bought a sony, which comes with the very good ex85's, and then replaced them with the inferior cx300s? :eek:
Click to expand...

I require mucho bass for the music I listen to, I already had some ex85's I had bought which I found really bad quality wise (for my music) the cx300's are great, fantastic price too!
 
sorry guys, afraid i buckled
Simple reason is the lack of supported files in the Samsung and the sony along with the lower review scores on a lot of website (example the sony and the cowon get 8.7 on cnet, the samsung gets 7.7)

After seeing the prices of the players
Samsung YP-P2 8GB - cheapest
Cowan iaudio D2 8Gb - same as samsung
Sony Walkman NWZ-A828 8Gb - +£40

I do have one issue though James if you could help me with that is the size and weight of the player.
It is twice the thickness of the samsung and is the heaviest of the bunch
Would it be annoying when running for example (where the bluetooth in the sony and the samsung becomes very attractive)? the creative zen's size and weight were one of the major put offs for me.

I still need some convincing to go with the Samsung as most the sites seem to review it with a lower score than both the cowon and the sony ><

Cheers in advance
 
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Damn lol, was hoping you'd get the Samsung as I'm stuck between that and the Cowon D2. The file formats on the D2 win me over, plus the D2 reminds me of my old iRiver H3xx player and my Vision:M in the features department.

I am definately goint for the D2 though. I just need to wait for that 16gb version to hit the Uk.
 
Kainz said:
Damn lol, was hoping you'd get the Samsung as I'm stuck between that and the Cowon D2. The file formats on the D2 win me over, plus the D2 reminds me of my old iRiver H3xx player and my Vision:M in the features department.

I am definately goint for the D2 though. I just need to wait for that 16gb version to hit the Uk.
Click to expand...

wouldn't have throught that matters :) i was going to just buy the 8 gig and stick in a sd card
 
I'm probably going to end up doing the same now. I would have preferred 16gb internal memory though, as my audio collection is just hitting 11gb. Then again by the time I fill up an 8gb card the cards will no doubt be available in larger capacities...
 
Kainz said:
I'm probably going to end up doing the same now. I would have preferred 16gb internal memory though, as my audio collection is just hitting 11gb. Then again by the time I fill up an 8gb card the cards will no doubt be available in larger capacities...
Click to expand...

Ah i thought you wanted to record stuff (as i think it can only record to internal memory)
 
Nah, the internal memory is primarily used for music or anything just as with any other player. I'm currently getting sick of trying to find the D2.

The 8GB version is available no where, and the only available version I can find at present is the White DAB 8GB D2 for £179. Does anyone know what DAB is like in the UK? I do intend to use the radio as I listen to Radio1 in the mornings. A mate of mine told me that it was more or less a joke over here :/

I believe there are no differences between the DAB version and a normal D2 aside from price.
 
i found writing to the internal memory of my old 4gb to be pretty slow, as my review showed. so much so i tended not to use it at all and just stick to the memory card as writing to it was just too much of a chore when i could stick the card in a reader and write almost literally 5 times quicker. it may or may not be a deciding factor for anybody interested in a D2.

perhaps the 16gb d2 is near release and thats why the 8gb's are drying up. im hoping they fix the low impedance issues on the 16gb but i doubt they will
 
I just ended up purchasing the 8gb version for £175. Also purchased an 8gb card to go along with it. The 16gb versions still haven't arrived here and 8gb versions are close to impossible to find aside from a few ripoff retailers who have a couple in stock. Guess I'll let you lot know what its like soon enough.
 
Well my player arrived earlier this week so I've got to do a review on it soon.

The thing is tiny. It is by far the smallest device out of all my audio players. It weighs a lot less than my Ipod Touch, which is bonus as that thing always felt too heavy for rear jean pockets.

Audio quality out of the box was simply outstanding on Super.Fi 5 Pro's. I had to tinker with the JetEffects audio settings to use my HD595's and HD515's because they just had bass overload otherwise. I haven't had the chance to really use it that much though as I've been getting lifts home lately instead of me using the bus :p Imo the audio quality is almost equal to iRiver's quality, but much more open in regards to the tweaks you can do.

Having been spoilt by the untouchable ease of use OS/UI sitting on the Touch, its hard to feel at home with anything else. The D2's interface obviously isn't as good, nor is the touch screen. Unlike the Touch's screen, which relies on the static on your fingertips, the D2's screen is a tactile touch one so it isn't as sensitive nor accurate if you see what I mean. The interface could do with more work in places, but its otherwise functional.

Transfer speeds to the internal memory are nothing to write home about. Using the USB cable on Vista x64 I get around 4-6mb per second, and around the same speeds when writing to the 8GB SDHC card - so as James mentioned, it's best to use a card reader when writing to the card.

Battery life, well I've been using it on and off for about a week now and have yet to see it drop down a bar - out of four.

This player is primarily for music and radio use. It is superb for the former, whilst average on the latter. The picture viewer is pretty rubbish in this day and age though, the screen size nor resolution just isn't large enough. The funky paintbrush Notepad app is rather neat though, but doesn't work too well with the touch screen sometimes.
 
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