Is the X7 that bad?

[musichound]

I am zeroing in on a Cowon player, between the J3 and the X7. I am aware they are completely two different players, and the X7 (160GB) is hard disk based where the J3 (8GB-32GB) is flash based and includes a micro SD slot. After reading through the X7 forum, I have come to the conclusion that there seems to be more dissatisfaction toward the X7 than mostly all other DAPs, most specifically because they can become unusable after a certain point in time. I also understand the UI is not that great, but would take some getting used to. I can live with that, but if the failure rate is higher than most other players I am not too keen about that statistic. The J3 on the other hand seems to atract much more favorable coments in general. I also know that people tend to post more when they are not satisfied than when there are no issues, so I am asking this question to all X7 users;

Is the X7 that bad?

[Marvin the Martian]

I didn't read through the entire forum like you did, but I was under the impression that it was mostly problematic for Mac users. As far as usability decreasing over time, it's still a pretty new player, so can that really be established with any certainty?

[musichound]

I was reading that after copying a certain amount of music the player stopped working properly. I also read the problem tends to be more specifically for MAC users but MSC mode should be common for both MAC and PC users.

[jlbrach]

I have come to like the x7 more and more over time using it....it is still too big and the touch screen is lousy but once you figure it out the strengths tend to overcome the weaknesses...it sounds great,has tons of hard drive room and has great battery life....

[meurglys0]

I love my X7. I have no problems with it, except for occasionally freezing screen which is unlocked right away by resetting the machine.

The UI is good enough for me. Plus the user created interface here is a big improvement over the native UI, so the interface is quite fine for me.

I can't comment on the problem with too many files being dragged or synced into the player at once, because I put 3-4 gb each time, which is what I'd suggest you do, too.

The touchscreen isn't lousy. Comparing it to the Iphone screen is not logical, because they use completely different technology; one is resistive, the other capacitive. A resistive touchscreen works by physically pressing the screen, while electrons at your fingertips are what makes the capacitive touchscreen work, or so I know. So you can't call a resistive touchscreen lousy because the wind of your fingertips doesn't activate it, you just have to press the screen. But that doesn't mean it's a pain to use it, it just isn't as easy using as the Iphone screen. For me the touchscreen of the X7 is fine. I press the play button and listen to my album, anyway.

The hdd space, the battery life, the EQ and drag&drop system are great. The SQ is amazing.

J3 on the other hand has a capacitive touchscreen, amoled screen, great Cowon SQ, EQ, drag&drop system and nice battery life, though not as long as the X7's as far as I know.

So the only things the X7 has over the J3 are the hdd space and the bigger screen. Make up your choice according to your needs. Do you need a larger hdd space or the relatively easier capacitive screen?

Besides these differences the two are basically identical machines.

[musichound]

Thanks for the coments all, please keep 'em coming.

[t'challa]

Once getting my head around the UI and creating playlists I have found the X7 excellent. I wanted sound quality above that of my ipod classic and to escape the prison of itunes, the X7 delivers on both counts.
I haven't come across a problems after copying and pasting large amounts of tracks as some others have mentioned.

[system11]

The touchscreen is lousy, some of the UI is operated by scrolling, and its very hard to consistently do that, especially with a screen protector on. I sent Cowon a list of improvements they could make to their UI (small ones) to make it much easier to use - like giving the scrollbar on the left side a bit more space, but I doubt much will come of it.

Despite the flaws though, there's simply nothing else with the battery life and capacity that sounds as good as this one. I wish they'd fix the bass rolloff though, it's very obvious on good cans.

[dfkt]

You can't fix the frequency response, it's a hardware issue, not a firmware one. Either way, I doubt the bass roll-off is 'very' obvious. Most Cowons are down by maybe 2dB at 50Hz with 16 Ohm phones, anything above 32 Ohm should basically be 'flat'.

[AoyLoyOoyLoL]

Yeah I asked in the forum about if using needle can improve, cowon x7 can putted with strap, so strap with a needle that using in touch can be better than your fingers, after all it's not multi-touch screen.

[AoyLoyOoyLoL]

Originally Posted by dfkt

You can't fix the frequency response, it's a hardware issue, not a firmware one. Either way, I doubt the bass roll-off is 'very' obvious. Most Cowons are down by maybe 2dB at 50Hz with 16 Ohm phones, anything above 32 Ohm should basically be 'flat'.

By the way- Is the 16 Ohm better phones are better than 32 Ohm?

[dfkt]

You can't really speak of better or worse there - I've heard lots of great sounding phones across the whole impedance range, no matter if 12 Ohm or 600 Ohm.

16 Ohm phones are harder to drive than 32 Ohm ones, they demand more electrical current. On some players lower impedance phones might show more bass roll-off and stereo crosstalk than higher impedance ones, and they might also hiss more. Usually it's negligible though, at least with quality players.

[meurglys0]

Originally Posted by musichound

Thanks for the coments all, please keep 'em coming.

My friend, if you can fit in 32 GB + SDHC card(s), don't hesitate to drop the X7 case and go for a D3!

Check this out!

[Mimouille]

I bought the X7 a few weeks ago, and as an amateur audiophile and fairly experienced computer user I will give you VERY PRAGMATIC reasons not the acquire this device yet, mostly based on the fact that the firmware is TOTALLY SHITTY.

1) I have used my Cowon only twice before it bricked the first time (for those who do not know what I mean, it is stuck in the "updating database" phase and there is NOTHING you can do about it : reset, waiting for it to fully discharge, use Tcctool, put it in the microwave). When this happen, this only solution you will have is to SEND IT BACK TO KOREA as Cowon will not provide you with any other solution. The main issue here is that it is impossible to predict when or why this will happen. Reasons include : using a Mac (I use a PC), transferring too much music at the same time, transferring music that the Cowon does not appreciate (in terms of format, tag, etc.). So it might happen anytime. Two days after I got it back from Cowon it bricked AGAIN. As I am stubborn I sent it back again against a new one, but they will not provide me with another solution. Therefore, you will spend 300$ for a player that threatens to become useless every time you transfer anything on it...good deal. By the way, this happened to several other users.

2)There is NO WAY to guarantee that the X7 will recognize your tags. You can clean you library all you want using Jet Audio (the Cowon program) and still when you transfer your music it will be a huge mess

3)My X7 so far refused to recognize any embedded album art. You have to put a cover.jpg file in each album folder. When you do, the covers are resized to fit the screen, so if your covers are not all the right size and resolution, the COVERS WILL LOOK AWFUL

4)Cowon does not give a shit about you, or they would not "test" shitty beta version of their firmware are the expense of your nerves. They care even less when your issue concerns the X7 as their flagship player is clearly the D3 (apparently another piece of shit)

Maybe in 6 months or a year the firmware will be ok, but you'll have 64gb or 128gb sd cards by then, and no need for this brick.

The sound quality is indeed much better than any ipod, but it is definitely not worth it given the absence of reliability.

@Admin, I am thinking about posting this as a thread to warn people against this scam of a player.

[AoyLoyOoyLoL]

thanku so mush for this honest post, other people I find to like the X7 more and more when the time past.
Just two points for you:
1)your firmware was upgraded til the last?
2) there is no 'reset' button, or small hole that you can push a pen?

[dfkt]

Mimouille: 2) and 3) - best to try a better tagging app than Jetaudio, for example MP3Tag or Tag&Rename.

[Mimouille]

@AoyLoyOoyLoL :

1)I do have the latest firmware 2.07 and I was very careful when transferring music : used only Jet Audio, transferred small amounts at first, etc.
2) The reset button only cuts off the power off and does not help you when your device is bricked. It is not a true reset which resets the player to its original configuration

@dfkt

That's what I thought at first, so I used MP3 tag, and still many tags went wrong. I kinda figured out the problem : the tags will go wrong with certain version of ID3tag. Besides, it will not recognize certain characters or strings of texts that are too long.

The point is that if you switch from Ipod + itunes to a Cowon X7 and have a significant library, it will take A LOT of work to set your tags right, with no guarantee that it will look right on the X7. My cover art is just fine on MP3tag and still does not appear on the X7.

I had figured that Cowon would keep it consistent between what is recognized by Jet Audio and what is recognized by the X7 but I was wrong...

Anyways, now all this is virtual as my X7 is certainly above Russia or China right now (for the second time - the device should be grateful for all the tourism and not brick). I will stick to ipod + lod + ibasso T3D + shure SE535 for a while I think...

[meurglys0]

@Mimouille

I'm sorry that your X7 got bricked and my aim here is not coming up with counter-arguments to your points just for the sake of arguing. I just want to comment on some of the matters you have touched upon.

I use mp3tag and dbpoweramp's id-tag editing feature. I have 85 gb of flac and a few gb of mp3 files on the device right now and I had no problems with neither tags nor embedded artworks.

Also, a rectangular screen so big cannot display the square artwork properly; the player would either resize the image -but then half the screen would not be covered by the image- or the image would be squeezed to take the rectangular shape of the screen or the image would be kept as it is but the displayed part would be a section of it. Somehow Cowon engineers chose the final option. However there is a great UCI located here and if you install it the first option mentioned above becomes the method the device uses to display the artwork; plus it has many more great features. Simply a better interface than the native one.

I hope the new X7 Cowon will send you as a replacement for your bricked player works perfectly...

[Rednazak21]

Could someone comment on the COWON X7's battery life? 103 hours sound amazing and is one of the main things that make me interested in the mp3player. However companies often overestimate the battery life, so does the player really reach around 100 hours of battery life when a normal (in ear) headphone on normal volume is used?

[meurglys0]

Originally Posted by Rednazak21

Could someone comment on the COWON X7's battery life? 103 hours sound amazing and is one of the main things that make me interested in the mp3player. However companies often overestimate the battery life, so does the player really reach around 100 hours of battery life when a normal (in ear) headphone on normal volume is used?

I have observed that using only FLAC files, having the display and the EQ "on" all the time, the battery of X7 lasts about 8 hours. If you play mp3 files, the battery life will increase immensely: the more the bitrate, the more energy will be used to play the music. If you set the display to go off after 10 seconds, it will increase the battery life dramatically etc.

103 hours of battery life could only be possible with the lowest-battery-draining-settings. That means use 96kbps crappy mp3 files, no EQ or sound enhancement, set the backlight to level 1 and set the display to turn off after 10 seconds, no bluetooth headphones, least of scrolling through the menu etc.

I believe that with my settings explained in my first paragraph, but only using 320 kbps mp3 files instead of FLAC files, the battry life should go up to 16 hours at least. It's just a guess though...

Good thing is you can recharge the device by either connecting to your computer via the usb sync cable or via the wall adaptor both of which come with the device. The first one is said to recharge the device in 6 hours, while the latter does it in 2.5 hours according to the manual. For my previous digital audio player, Zune 120, one had to buy the wall adaptor separately, so that is a great thing in my opinion that the adaptor is included in the box, too.