Is it outdated to buy a J3 now?

[digglydrag]

I'm getting a slightly better earphone: Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10 Noise Isolating Earphone and Klipsch Image X10 Noise-Isolating Earphone (I ordered 2 to see which one works better), so I'm thinking of getting a slightly better mp3 player. The ipods never impress me. I've read reviews about Cowon and it seems that they have the best audio experience with the enhancements.

Cowon recently released iaudio 10, but I heard these aren't really comparable to J3, they are more for people on budgets?

For me, the most important thing is the audio quality the device can provide, esp the ability to adjust the settings and audio surround capability in the mp3. I often use FM tuner too.

In US, 8GB J3 is $25 more expensive than a 16GB iaudio 10. But J3 has a microusb slot so that doesn't bother me. I'm thinking do I need a J3? Or is it outdated to get a J3 since it has been released over a year ago? I heard J3 supports flash, is there a Super Mario game out there that can fit into J3's 480 x 272 resolution?

On the other hand, I have an ipod touch 4 to do other cool entertainment stuff.

It seems to me that J3 is the most debated product of all Cowons, and it's not so durable?

Thank you so much.

[CrowdAds]

[steinburger1109]

The J3 is still pretty top of the line, IMO.

[Urne]

Would still say that the J3 is worth purchasing. IMO Cowon hasn't released anything new that can beat it yet. ^^

[Marvin the Martian]

If you already have a 4th-gen Touch, spend $3 on the Equalizer
app first before you buy a whole new player just for sound. Tinkering with that was enough for me to decide to keep my Touch and trade away my Cowon players. The Cowons have so many things you can tweak that it is easy to end up with an un-natural sound. Now maybe that would be to your liking....and if so, that's fine....but I think it is worth the three dollars first on that app, just to see.

[Tuur]

I hope it is not outdated, because my J3 is arriving today :-)

[The Asgard]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

If you already have a 4th-gen Touch, spend $3 on the Equalizer
app first before you buy a whole new player just for sound. Tinkering with that was enough for me to decide to keep my Touch and trade away my Cowon players. The Cowons have so many things you can tweak that it is easy to end up with an un-natural sound. Now maybe that would be to your liking....and if so, that's fine....but I think it is worth the three dollars first on that app, just to see.

I think that's the point. You can tweak it to match your headphones and get the sound you want. I could never go back to a IPod / iPhone after the J3.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by The Asgard

I think that's the point. You can tweak it to match your headphones and get the sound you want. I could never go back to a IPod / iPhone after the J3.

That's the point of my mentioning the Equalizer app.....you can do all the tinkering that you need with the 7-band parametric EQ, setting the frequency and Q value of each band, etc.

[digglydrag]

Thank everyone's input, I'm going to try on the app first.

[dzjc]

One of the biggest reason for using the J3 is the UCIs that are available. Make it incredibly customizable.

[vegetaleb]

I have a P3 and a HTC Sensation, well the P3 beats the Sensation in terms of quality sound in every ways, I tried DSP Equaliser on the Sensation but it's miles from being as pure and clean, I guess the J3 will be the same toward an ipod with Eq too...

[warrior047]

Originally Posted by digglydrag

Thank everyone's input, I'm going to try on the app first.

so did ya try that eq? So how was the sound in touch?

[vegetaleb]

I wonder if it's better to get the newer i10 (sweeter price) than J3?
Though I didn't find it in US websites like B&H and Adorama

[Atarii]

Originally Posted by dzjc

One of the biggest reason for using the J3 is the UCIs that are available. Make it incredibly customizable.

You SAY "incredibly customizable," but in reality, the changes are mostly eye candy, with a couple of practical changes, here and there.

Oh, and the average layman is not really able to do anything with it, from what I've heard.

[Cowon D3]

Originally Posted by Atarii

You SAY "incredibly customizable," but in reality, the changes are mostly eye candy, with a couple of practical changes, here and there.

Oh, and the average layman is not really able to do anything with it, from what I've heard.

I don't agree. UCIs have added some pretty advanced functionality including 'now playing' playlists, customizable playlists, renaming custom EQ presets, find more from the same artist etc. None of these things were present in the standard interface.

Also, eyecandy does matter to some.

[meanwhile]

Originally Posted by vegetaleb

I have a P3 and a HTC Sensation, well the P3 beats the Sensation in terms of quality sound in every ways, I tried DSP Equaliser on the Sensation but it's miles from being as pure and clean, I guess the J3 will be the same toward an ipod with Eq too...

You can't assume this. Not every EQ is coded the same way (doh - you probably already guessed this) and some of them use EQ hardware that is built into chips but sometimes not enabled by manufacturers because they want to keep a consistent UI and not have people complain when they switch chips. My memory is that some 4 & 5G ipods have top of the line Wolfsons DACs as good as the best that Cowon have used - maybe sometimes the same chip in fact.

The amp attached to the DAC in an ipod won't be as good as the Cowon one, which is why very fussy ipod users by-pass them with lineout cables to a pocket amp. But this quality difference probably won't show unless you're using much better iems or 'phones than most people.

..My suspicion is that the DSP EQ you tried was attempting to use too small a bit range, perhaps using SIMD registers built into the general purpose CPU.

[afraaa]

still ROCKing OUT , J3 is monster has powerful detailed sound and awesome battery with dedicated AMOLED

i have both creative zen-xfi 2 and iaudio j3

i have pair of trained ear and what i say here is reliable thing to share !

creative x-fi2 has superiority in 3D expanding .. this means u have detailed music with 3d surrounding that make sounds far aways than your ear , this make u so much comfortable for listening music even for day without feel any pressure on your mind and more enjoy than j3 when voices playing right left in your ear

and if u become expert music listener , 3d make u recognize how many layers music has ( known in trance music )

but iaudio has great thing and superiority in mention things

sound frequency is power full than x-fi2

touch and Ui is so fast , loading Sd card and touch screen in xfi 2 is nightmare compare to j3

all needed buttom for playing music

j3 has more great battery back up (dont forget to buy ac adapter and charge the first time charg rule )

EQ is so optional and proffesional almost u dont need user define in j3

but in smooth 3d surronding issue , x-fi2 is badly rocking out

[The DarkSide]

Creative has garbage sq, and you having trained ears making you an authority is bullshit. And even though we can eventually understand what your TRYING to say, your post is a jumbled mass of nonsense.

[Leroy Bad]

Over a year after the original post, I just bought a J3. I don't see how it can become outdated we still use MP3 and Flac and theres been no great improvement on BBE sound. The only challenge is just finding one!