Is the X7 that bad?

[The DarkSide]

For video I got the Archos 70 250gb, and it plays .mkv perfectly!!!

@musichound: As for this coming Friday, I'll PM you later w/my phone #, we'll see if we can meet up.

And, there's a decent Irish pub/restaurant across the street - FOOD!!! The waitress had an eye on lestatar,...

@AoyLoyOoyLoL: lestatar and I tried to take a pic or 2 when we wen't there, we we're told it's not allowed. Myybe we can ask someone to click a shot while we stand outside, but no pics of the interior - sadly. It's a playground in there!!!

[CrowdAds]

[musichound]

Oh yes, I agree, as for video, you cannot go wrong with the Archos. I was just comparing the two Cowon players, because some people are confused as to which one to get.

DS, sounds good for Friday, and keep me posted.

[The DarkSide]

I will musichound!!! And, please, bring that X7 please!!! I'll bring the Archos so we can check out each others new toys,... before you return it I guess.

[AoyLoyOoyLoL]

Thanx for the intvation guys however It will problem cause I am living out of united state of America... yeah I know my details telling else :P

[musichound]

I was testing its ability for gapless playback and listened to the first two tracks of Pink Floyd's DSOTM. On the X7, there was a noticeable pause between them, but low and behold, on my lowly iPod Touch, there was no noticeable gap whatsoever. Isn't it ironic that even though the iPod accomplishes this via oftware, it's still better than Cowon's hardware method, at least to my own observations?

Does anyone know if the J3 handles gapless better than the X7? If it does not I still might hold onto the X7 if this is the best that a Cowon can implement.

[dfkt]

The J3, S9, and i9 are perfectly gapless. Pretty funny what a failure the X7 is, considering it came out after Cowon already made players that handle gapless just fine.

[The DarkSide]

WOW!!! The X7 is a POS. Take it back musichound,...get rid of that annoying brick.

[musichound]

Originally Posted by dfkt

The J3, S9, and i9 are perfectly gapless. Pretty funny what a failure the X7 is, considering it came out after Cowon already made players that handle gapless just fine.

Thanks for that. Then it's definately going back for the J3. The fault of the X7's poor gapless playback could be because of the hard drive, but even my Classic can play gapless better, IMO

DS, I will try my best to hold out until Friday.

[dfkt]

Who knows since when the X7 has been in development. It has the same outdated 2007-ish screen as the O2 - so maybe the firmware dates back to that time as well. Seems Cowon just released it 3 years too late...

[The DarkSide]

Please check your PM's musichound - as I can't make it on Friday - sorry :P

[musichound]

I just realized there is also2GB of internal flash in the X7, and am curious if the poor gapless playback will be the same. I will test and keep you all posted.

[musichound]

Originally Posted by musichound

I just realized there is also2GB of internal flash in the X7, and am curious if the poor gapless playback will be the same. I will test and keep you all posted.

OK, I compared flash and HDD, but there was no noticeable difference. However, after comparing my Touch with the X7, the Touch plays gapless a trifle better, IMP, enough for me to reconsider keeping the X7. For the next few days I am going to torture test this puppy, and make a final decision by then.

Hey, at least it does gapless better than that $800.00 piece of crap, eh?

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by musichound

Hey, at least it does gapless better than that $800.00 piece of crap, eh?

Good point!!! And the SQ alone is quite worth it I'd say.

[musichound]

OK, I just purchased the J3. What a damn good UI! However, gapless plays identical to the X7. They both play gapless good but with MP3 filles a slight pop is heard when switching tracks, but this is most probably directed to the way MP3 files are interpreted. On my iPod Touch, when the tracks are switched it is definitely more silent.

one negative about the J3 is with my fat fingers I keep missing some selections vs the X7, which I hardly ever miss. Over the next few days I need to determine what's more important to me, the roomy capacity of the X7 or the gorgeous interface of the J3. The more I think of it, I already have a pretty good interface with my iPod Touch, so I need to take that into consideration also.

Decisons, decisions.

[Olley]

One thing you may not know about the J3 is that when you're in a list view you usually can zoom the text to make it easier to tap with big fingers. Look for the Zoom icon bottom right. Tap it to switch the bottom row to a slider. Slide the button right to enlarge text or left to reduce text in size.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by musichound

However, gapless plays identical to the X7. They both play gapless good but with MP3 filles a slight pop is heard when switching tracks, but this is most probably directed to the way MP3 files are interpreted. On my iPod Touch, when the tracks are switched it is definitely more silent.

I would guess the MP3s are probably not LAME 3.90+ then, maybe they're FhG or Xing. I don't know what iTunes does to such codecs when analyzing/syncing, but I read it can circumvent the limitations of such MP3 codecs. With properly ripped LAME albums the J3 is definitely gapless.

[Olley]

The J3 took a few firmware updates to get to its gapless status if I remember correctly. I'd give Cowon a few more updates before throwing out a D3 or X7. To me it seems clear they know what their reputation is and are working toward gapless with every update. It just can't be a trivial thing to do, and takes a different strategy with each new device platform.

[dfkt]

The J3 was gapless right out of the box - it was the S9 that got gapless along the way, as the first ever gapless Cowon player.

[The DarkSide]

Have they been taking care of the X7 w/FW updates??? Or are they treating it like a bastard stepchild,...

[musichound]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Have they been taking care of the X7 w/FW updates??? Or are they treating it like a bastard stepchild,...

An update came out either yesterday or the day before, I believe 1.08.