Cowon J3 Audio quality > Cowon S9's

[gecis]

Hi All,

I recently bought a Cowon S9 32GB. And I loved it. However I had to RMA it due to screen alignment issue. Anyways Since I liked Cowon so much I decided to move up a step and ordered the J3. Straight out of the box, one thing I noticed was the audio on J3 was even better than S9. Not significantly but I could certainly feel the difference with the stock headphones. The audio has more warmth to it. Any one else noticed the difference or am I the only one?

Oh Btw the battery on this thing is insane and while I do agree the S9 felt a bit plasticky (even though I like the s9's design better) the j3 certainly has a better build quality. specially the buttons are pretty firm. This is just my 2 cents for people out there trying to decide between s9 and j3

[CrowdAds]

[NeedBalanceCtrl]

Originally Posted by gecis

Hi All,

I recently bought a Cowon S9 32GB. And I loved it. However I had to RMA it due to screen alignment issue. Anyways Since I liked Cowon so much I decided to move up a step and ordered the J3. Straight out of the box, one thing I noticed was the audio on J3 was even better than S9. Not significantly but I could certainly feel the difference with the stock headphones. The audio has more warmth to it. Any one else noticed the difference or am I the only one?

That's very interesting as I feel my J3 is out of alignment. I wanted to ask if I can calibrate the pin-point accuracy on the J3's screen alignment and I think this is a good thread to do it in. On mg GPS, I'm able to calibrate the touch screen alignment. Can I do that on the J3? If so, how?

[KromaXamorK]

Originally Posted by gecis

Hi All,
The audio has more warmth to it. Any one else noticed the difference or am I the only one?

+1

[gecis]

Originally Posted by Need Balance Control

That's very interesting as I feel my J3 is out of alignment. I wanted to ask if I can calibrate the pin-point accuracy on the J3's screen alignment and I think this is a good thread to do it in. On mg GPS, I'm able to calibrate the touch screen alignment. Can I do that on the J3? If so, how?

Sorry, maybe I got you wrong but from screen alignment I meant, the glass on my s9 didnt align with the bezel, it was slightly raised on the bottom left, I could feel the glass edges. Thats why I had to RMA it. I am not sure if you mean the same thing or if you mean the tocuh screen calibration. If your issue is latter then I'm sorry I dont have an input as I never faced that problem personally.

[gecis]

Originally Posted by KromaXamorK

+1

Glad to hear that I am not the only M.r. "golden ears"

[NeedBalanceCtrl]

Originally Posted by gecis

Sorry, maybe I got you wrong but from screen alignment I meant, the glass on my s9 didnt align with the bezel, it was slightly raised on the bottom left, I could feel the glass edges. Thats why I had to RMA it. I am not sure if you mean the same thing or if you mean the tocuh screen calibration. If your issue is latter then I'm sorry I dont have an input as I never faced that problem personally.

I mean the touch screen calibration. I don't feel the resultant touch is exactly where I'm pointing on my J3. It's not hugely off, but I do feel it's not calibrated 100% correctly.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by gecis

Straight out of the box, one thing I noticed was the audio on J3 was even better than S9. Not significantly but I could certainly feel the difference with the stock headphones. The audio has more warmth to it.

You have to be kidding me. Seriously? You judge a player's sound quality with the crappy garbage buds that come with it, and decide from memory that it sounds "warmer" than another player you've heard some days/weeks(?) before. One that has pretty much the same SoC and DAC, nevertheless.

Do a proper ABX comparison, with both players volume-matched side by side. That would be a bit more conclusive than telling such baseless, anecdotal fairy tales.

I've heard lots of the same nonsense over time: "the X5 sounds warm", "the D2 sounds cold", or even that different firmware versions on the same player sound different. I had a lot of Cowon players that I tested side by side (with good headphones). They all sound the same.

[gecis]

Originally Posted by dfkt

You have to be kidding me. Seriously? You judge a player's sound quality with the crappy garbage buds that come with it, and decide from memory that it sounds "warmer" than another player you've heard some days/weeks(?) before. One that has pretty much the same SoC and DAC, nevertheless.

Do a proper ABX comparison, with both players volume-matched side by side. That would be a bit more conclusive than telling such baseless, anecdotal fairy tales.

I've heard lots of the same nonsense over time: "the X5 sounds warm", "the D2 sounds cold", or even that different firmware versions on the same player sound different. I had a lot of Cowon players that I tested side by side (with good headphones). They all sound the same.

No need for hostility here. I was just asking a question and if you don't agree then a simple 'No' would suffice. On the other hand besides trying the stock headphones I also tried my Bose, Sennheiser's and ultimate ears. Just didn't felt it was necessary to list my headphone brands here. Again I don't want to get into all the frequency response, distortion , noise isolation, sound isolation tests etc etc technical comparisons. It was just my thought and you need to lighten up a bit.

[samhunt]

Originally Posted by gecis

you need to lighten up a bit

I agree - what a wanky reply !!

Clearly you missed my first post, because it was essentially a naive personal observation/expression of opinion that had no scientific data to support it. I'm sorry - please feel free to criticise me.

[The DarkSide]

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by gecis

No need for hostility here. I was just asking a question and if you don't agree then a simple 'No' would suffice. On the other hand besides trying the stock headphones I also tried my Bose, Sennheiser's and ultimate ears. Just didn't felt it was necessary to list my headphone brands here. Again I don't want to get into all the frequency response, distortion , noise isolation, sound isolation tests etc etc technical comparisons. It was just my thought and you need to lighten up a bit.

No, I'm not going to lighten up a bit. Especially since the title of this thread broadcasts to the world that the J3 sounds "better" than the S9. There might be people out there who would actually believe such misleading opinionated stuff. We've been through these shenanigans time and time again on these forums, and it's always some random people coming on with that "audiophile" babble. Since you're new here, you might not know that - and it's nothing personal against you. It's just that this is the umpteenth repetition of the same old theme...

If people want to talk about "colder" or "warmer" sounding players without backing that up with any facts, they should do that on Head-Fi or some place where they like anecdotes and fear properly done AB tests. Threads like this one here tend to get quoted/repeated over and over again, gain a momentum on their own, and everybody starts taking opinions as facts. This is troublesome, and I want to prevent that here on ABI. Sure, ABI isn't Hydrogenaudio - but we're not Head-Fi either.

In short: If you did not listen to the S9 and the J3 side by side with exactly equal volume, equal EQ settings, and the same pair of phones, every comparison of their sound qualities by ear is invalid. This has nothing to do with measured specs or "sound science" - it's just common sense against random babbling, confirmation bias, and placebo effect.

Originally Posted by samhunt

I agree - what a wanky reply !!

Clearly you missed my first post, because it was essentially a naive personal observation/expression of opinion that had no scientific data to support it. I'm sorry - please feel free to criticise me.

Who are you and why are you meddling in this? Especially since you obviously have nothing of value to contribute to this thread.

[gecis]

Originally Posted by dfkt

No, I'm not going to lighten up a bit. Especially since the title of this thread broadcasts to the world that the J3 sounds "better" than the S9. There might be people out there who would actually believe such misleading opinionated stuff. We've been through these shenanigans time and time again on these forums, and it's always some random people coming on with that "audiophile" babble. Since you're new here, you might not know that - and it's nothing personal against you. It's just that this is the umpteenth repetition of the same old theme...

If people want to talk about "colder" or "warmer" sounding players without backing that up with any facts, they should do that on Head-Fi or some place where they like anecdotes and fear properly done AB tests. Threads like this one here tend to get quoted/repeated over and over again, gain a momentum on their own, and everybody starts taking opinions as facts. This is troublesome, and I want to prevent that here on ABI. Sure, ABI isn't Hydrogenaudio - but we're not Head-Fi either.

In short: If you did not listen to the S9 and the J3 side by side with exactly equal volume, equal EQ settings, and the same pair of phones, every comparison of their sound qualities by ear is invalid. This has nothing to do with measured specs or "sound science" - it's just common sense against random babbling, confirmation bias, and placebo effect.



Who are you and why are you meddling in this? Especially since you obviously have nothing of value to contribute to this thread.

You are right, you dont need to lighten up a bit. You need to lightnen up more than a bit. On the other hand, assuming this is a free forum, if my thread title is misleading then someone like you will create another title with detailed comparisions and since people can read they will likely make their own decision. You really dont need to police people's thoughts. Take my advice..take a chill pill, go relax or probably take a vacation. It sounds like you are overworked and need a break.

Oh and, also if you want to continue proving your point, you dont have to. I get the idea. I rather you close the thread since this turns out to be such a big deal for you. Peace out!

[dfkt]

Don't tell me what to do. Seriously. And if by "free forum" you're assuming this is a democracy, then you are wrong. It is your privilege to be here, not your right.

Furthermore, I rather nib all that hogwash in the bud right here in this thread before it spreads to others. That's more efficient than creating yet another thread about some make-belief anecdotal differences in sound quality.