Is the X7 that bad?

[jlbrach]

i find it a bit difficult to quantify the battery life on any and all mp3 players...for instance....if i use my x7 for say 30 minutes at a time it lasts for far less than the advertised time...but on the other hand the other day I let it run after it reached one bar and it ran for about 22 hours without me changing songs or anything else....so in effect,it seems that if you simply turn it on and leave it playing without any actions it will last a good long time but if you use it and turn it off and back on etc it will last dramatically less.....in addition if you leave it in sleep mode it will drain power whether u use it or not and in about 12 days be totally drained whether you use it or not

[CrowdAds]

[Rednazak21]

First of all thanks for the two quick replies.

Originally Posted by jlbrach

i find it a bit difficult to quantify the battery life on any and all mp3 players...for instance....if i use my x7 for say 30 minutes at a time it lasts for far less than the advertised time...but on the other hand the other day I let it run after it reached one bar and it ran for about 22 hours without me changing songs or anything else....so in effect,it seems that if you simply turn it on and leave it playing without any actions it will last a good long time but if you use it and turn it off and back on etc it will last dramatically less.....in addition if you leave it in sleep mode it will drain power whether u use it or not and in about 12 days be totally drained whether you use it or not

I agree that it is quite hard to quantify battery life on an mp3player, as so many different factors affect it, however I think one can give some kind of indication. For example my old Iaudio 7, which was advertised to have a battery life of 60 hours, probably never actually reached that kind of battery life when I used it(I simply dont know it probably did or did not), but I still had the feeling that it was just running for ages before I had to recharge it again. Even on heavy usage only every couple of days. However my I audio 9 was only advertised with around 20 hours I remember, and although I also never really measured that, I can say that the battery life was much less than that of the iaudio 7. I cannot say by how much, but I know that I had to recharge it quite often, if I used it heavily even every day.

So what I mean when asking is whether on normal usage(without the display on, 192kbps, without turning the device and the backlight on and off every minute to change songs etc) do people think that it could actually reach something near 103 hours? I know that one can only estimate this, as noone will actually sit down and measure it, but I think that one will get a feel after using the mp3player for a while, as to whether what COWON says about the battery life is absolute nonsense, or whether there actually is some truth to it.

[jlbrach]

well,as i said....i got 22 hours on the last bar with continuous play...no track change etc with the screen off etc so it seems to me that if you simply turned it on and left it running without any action of any kind i assume it would get very impressive batery performance based on my experience with one bar

[AoyLoyOoyLoL]

Are the situtation is the same with J3? If X7 sppouse to have 103 hours but in in practice it actualley hold 8 hours... so how the j3 hold in actual fact?

[dfkt]

I get two days of constant listening out of the J3. Some people might have bad batteries, for other people it's fine. If one has a bad battery, it would be best to send the player back.

[meurglys0]

Originally Posted by AoyLoyOoyLoL

Are the situtation is the same with J3? If X7 sppouse to have 103 hours but in in practice it actualley hold 8 hours... so how the j3 hold in actual fact?

It's not simply 8 hours. It lasts 8 hours playing FLAC only, with display always on etc. That's how I use it, because I don't need it to last more than 4 hours in my daily life. If I go on a trip I'll definitely set the display to turn off after 10 seconds and maybe load mp3 versions of some of my favorite albums on the device to lengthen the battery time. Otherwise, it's no big effort for me to plug it to the wall adaptor overnight every two days...

I really think it's the advertisement language that deliberately misguides people: there's no fix battery life for a digital audio player when there are so many optional settings that affect it. So the X7 battery doesn't last 103 hours; the X7 battery lasts up to 103 hours. That is under the most economical settings and with audio files of lowest bitrates. My personal record of 8 hours of battery life is under the least economical settings and with audio files of highest bitrates. Whatever the number is, it's battery life is longer than other players for sure.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by meurglys0

with display always on

Well, that explains basically everything.

[meurglys0]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Well, that explains basically everything.

Of course. But the advertisement doesn't say it will last 103 hours only if you don't keep the display always on. Keeping the display always on will result in battery drain much sooner than the advertised battery span. But so will every other setting on the device and the way you use it including how much you use the touchscreen scrolling and swiping through the menus and how much you fast-forward or rewind etc... 103 hours is the utopic maximum potential battery life of the device.

[dfkt]

Sure, but screen backlight is about 95% more battery drain than using, say, BBE or a harder to decode audio format.

[Rednazak21]

Originally Posted by meurglys0

I really think it's the advertisement language that deliberately misguides people: there's no fix battery life for a digital audio player when there are so many optional settings that affect it. So the X7 battery doesn't last 103 hours; the X7 battery lasts up to 103 hours. That is under the most economical settings and with audio files of lowest bitrates. My personal record of 8 hours of battery life is under the least economical settings and with audio files of highest bitrates. Whatever the number is, it's battery life is longer than other players for sure.

Thats indeed true. Advertisement language is misleading, because after all any number of battery hours is relative to so many factors. However in the past Cowon were always quite honest with what they said about their devices and their battery life. Obviously they also give a very "optimistic" number, as any company would. But at least with my iaudio 7 and 9 I had the feeling that the actualy battery life was similiar or at least close to the battery life used in the advertisements by Cowon. When I read all the negative criticism about the X7 however, I thought I'd rather check again.

[meurglys0]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Sure, but screen backlight is about 95% more battery drain than using, say, BBE or a harder to decode audio format.

Originally Posted by Rednazak21

Thats indeed true. Advertisement language is misleading, because after all any number of battery hours is relative to so many factors. However in the past Cowon were always quite honest with what they said about their devices and their battery life. Obviously they also give a very "optimistic" number, as any company would. But at least with my iaudio 7 and 9 I had the feeling that the actualy battery life was similiar or at least close to the battery life used in the advertisements by Cowon. When I read all the negative criticism about the X7 however, I thought I'd rather check again.

If what dfkt says is true, then there's not much to worry about! With the backlight off it should last quite a long time, maybe 50 hours under moderately economical settings?

[Kiiskinen]

Originally, I had some doubts. Now, after using the player for a few months, I've come to love it more and more every day. I had some problems originally (jamming after adding a ton of music, tags being messed up etc) but after I figured out how to operate this thing properly it's just unmatched as a portable player, period. It has a soul. It already feels like something I couldn't live without, while the iPod classic I've had for some years now is just a machine that I don't really care for or like. The touchscreen isn't bad when properly calibrated and properly used (takes some time to get used to, though) and people make a way too big a deal about the size. It is just not that big.

If you have a Mac I wouldn't recommend it, though. Macs seem to have a lot of problems with Cowons, especially the x7.

[musichound]

Well, I just bit the bullet and purchased the X7. I will give it a go but the size seems much too big to carry around. I got it form B&H Photo, and I can try it for 15 days and get a full refund if unhappy. I will probably return it, however, and get the J3 instead. It is more compact, and the screen is more responsive because it's capacitive. However, even the resistive screen on the X7 is much better since I calibrated it.

PS. B&H photo doesn't have any on display, so if one wants to see one the only alternative is to open a box.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by musichound

Well, I just bit the bullet and purchased the X7. I will give it a go but the size seems much too big to carry around. I got it form B&H Photo, and I can try it for 15 days and get a full refund if unhappy. I will probably return it, however, and get the J3 instead. It is more compact, and the screen is more responsive because it's capacitive. However, even the resistive screen on the X7 is much better since I calibrated it.

PS. B&H photo doesn't have any on display, so if one wants to see one the only alternative is to open a box.

[musichound]

Hopefully tomorrow I can put some pictures up.

[The DarkSide]

@musichound: You went to B&H without me?!?!?!

[musichound]

DS, I plan to go again this Friday. let me know if you will be there.

I had to get rid of some cash as soon as possible. You know the drill.

[AoyLoyOoyLoL]

Originally Posted by musichound

DS, I plan to go again this Friday. let me know if you will be there.

I had to get rid of some cash as soon as possible. You know the drill.

pictuers are welcome!
I have also the dilemma - what you think will be the final chosen winner?

[musichound]

Originally Posted by AoyLoyOoyLoL

pictuers are welcome!
I have also the dilemma - what you think will be the final chosen winner?

A J3 perhaps?

[musichound]

Well so far I have 0 technical issues with my X7. Unfortunately it still might go back because i think it's too over-sized for my needs. The resistive screen works great, almost like capacitive, it's just that I don't see myself staying with this for the long term because my main focus is on music and not video. I chalk it up to this:

If music is your main concern and the capacity will fit, get the J3.

However, if you plan on using a player mainly for video and need the space, you can't go wrong with the X7.

The end result might very well be I might hold onto it, because once I adopt a player I can never let go.