Quick X9 thoughts.....

[Marvin the Martian]

It takes forever to fill that internal memory, holy crap. The internal reader is slow as hell.

As usual for Cowon, the manual is useless, and it takes a couple days to get used to how to do stuff.

Now that I have custom settings saved for a couple headphones, I am listening a lot....good sound, and plenty of power. Even with the HFI-780's I can't go over 25/40 unless it is a really old album. (No MP3Gain used here since I don't shuffle with this player)

Now that my presets are saved and the thing is mostly full, I'm going to charge it all the way, and then mark the date, and see how long before I have to charge it...lol.

Don't bother asking about video capability or any of the other stuff....I am only using this player for music, nothing else.

The resistive screen isn't that bad. Occasionally it will make a sound but not register the input from a fingertip(like if you are close to the edge), but if you then use the fingernail it will register.

As I've said before, the various sound tweaks can work wonders, if you are careful....it's easy to end up with a wildly artificial sound though. Without anything enabled, though, it doesn't stand out in any way at all....so to get your money's worth, you have to take the time to tinker with the DSP effects.
As is always the case, most of the presets aren't worth your time...set up a custom setting to truly appreciate what a Cowon is capable of delivering.

[CrowdAds]

[Jeven]

It looks a good solid player for its battery life and it seems that it would survive a drop or two.

one review I read said that their model - while - in standby - ran the battery down quite quickly, a day or two. I'm wondering why? since the player doesn't have wi-fi or bluetooth or anything like that. It would be interesting to see if your model also behaves like this when just sitting idly...that is, if you can tear yourself away from it since its new

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Jeven

It looks a good solid player for its battery life and it seems that it would survive a drop or two.

one review I read said that their model - while - in standby - ran the battery down quite quickly, a day or two. I'm wondering why? since the player doesn't have wi-fi or bluetooth or anything like that. It would be interesting to see if your model also behaves like this when just sitting idly...that is, if you can tear yourself away from it since its new

I did use the standby mode earlier....when I went back to sleep at about 05:30, I put it on so that it would remember what song I left off on so I could finish the album. At about 11:00 when I got up, the battery indicator still seemed to be at the max.

Now you have me curious, though...it is now indicating that it is fully charged, so I am going to put it into the sleep mode, and check back with it tomorrow. I still have plenty of other players to listen to, after all.

[Jeven]

It wasn't a particularly good review, but not many are nowadays as most people compare specialised players unfavorably with modern phones or players of a few years ago.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/cowon-...e-Audio_review

[Marvin the Martian]

Interesting....the specs there say it's compatible with AAC. I'll have to test that out....I have two albums purchased from iTunes.

[dawningistheday]

Originally Posted by Jeven

one review I read said that their model - while - in standby - ran the battery down quite quickly, a day or two. I'm wondering why?

This is interesting. I had a J3 that would do that intermittently (maybe like one out of ten times I put it in sleep mode) and it would noticeably get warm. It would drain the battery over a few hours like that. I sent it back once, and they tested it and couldn't find anything wrong with it. I sent it back again a few weeks later and they just sent me a new one which has never once done it. I use sleep mode all the time.
Hopefully Marv's isn't like that...it's quite annoying because then you have to let it fiddle its diddle every time you turn it back on, which with the J3 took maybe 15-20 seconds to initialize.

[skip252]

Nice player, Marv. Kind of bulky but with a belt case or down in a pouch it shouldn't be bad. It's a bit bigger than my old Zune 30 but lighter I suspect. It's definitely more capable. That got 10 of the rated 14 hours on it's best day. Also I like the sound of my old Zune but I'm the first to admit that's a preference, not because it sounds as good as today's best.

I want to point out that while the review Jeven linked isn't favorable, it's how PMPs are reviewed now. When it comes to portable entertainment anything that's bigger than a Clip will just naturally be compared to a smartphone.

There was a firmware update about a month after the linked review. I wonder if it was at least in part to address the battery drain during sleep. I don't see anything on the firmware update page that says what it fixed or improved.

[The DarkSide]

Th Zune 30 is way lighter,...but the Cowon X9 DEFINATELY sounds better IMO. Still, to this day, I do miss the Zune 120,...

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by skip252

There was a firmware update about a month after the linked review. I wonder if it was at least in part to address the battery drain during sleep. I don't see anything on the firmware update page that says what it fixed or improved.

Well, this one already had that update applied when I received it, so I guess we'll never know what changes it brought.

It's big enough to not really be shirt pocket material ( I have Clip Zips for that), but smaller than my SGP 5.0, and lighter for sure than my iPod Video 5.5G in its aluminium case....lol.

[The DarkSide]

Heh,...I guesses you likes it???

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Heh,...I guesses you likes it???

Yes, now that I have it loaded and I've gone through the process of learning how to operate it (with no help from Cowon's poor attempt at a manual), I do quite like it.

I have custom settings saved for my JVC HA-S500 and Ultrasone HFI-780, and I'll have to make one up for the CAL! as well....the player has plenty of power, pleasing sound, and JK98-worthy battery life, so it works for me.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

I did use the standby mode earlier....when I went back to sleep at about 05:30, I put it on so that it would remember what song I left off on so I could finish the album. At about 11:00 when I got up, the battery indicator still seemed to be at the max.

Now you have me curious, though...it is now indicating that it is fully charged, so I am going to put it into the sleep mode, and check back with it tomorrow. I still have plenty of other players to listen to, after all.

Well, approximately 24 hours later, it doesn't appear to have lost any charge. I'll give it another day in sleep mode and see what happens.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

Well, approximately 24 hours later, it doesn't appear to have lost any charge. I'll give it another day in sleep mode and see what happens.

And, 2 days later, battery bar still appears full....so I guess I have a properly working X9.

[BruceBanner]

I'm curious as to why you chose this over something smaller, that is if video is not important to you. What led you to buying the x9?

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

I'm curious as to why you chose this over something smaller, that is if video is not important to you. What led you to buying the x9?

It's really not as big as everyone thinks it is. And as far as video, I have the SGP 5.0 and my Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus for that.

So what led me to it? Wanting something that I hadn't had before.....and sure, the battery life intrigued me.

[patrikkoo]

Just bought Cowon iAudio 9, and it doesn't work with earphones that has inline remote control + mic (3 ring 3.5mm jack). I can hear the audio, but only partly as the pins do not meet properly.

I'm using Sony XBA-4 IP headphones (the series with the inline remote). Can anyone please confirm if this is the case for the X9 too? (You can try this with any of Apple's crappy earphone with volume control..) Please reply. Cuz i'm thinking about getting a refund and buy the X9 if it works..

Thanks!

[BruceBanner]

My i9 did the same thing with my ultimate ears superfi 5's. If u keep the line in button pressed down permanently does it work ok? I got a small piece of duct tape and wrapped it around the inline button to keep it permanently pressed down and that fixed that little annoyance for me.

[patrikkoo]

Wow. You are right! It works OK with the buttons pressed down.

But I still wanted to know if the X9 or other more recent Cowon product like the Z2 works just fine with the types of earphone with in-line remote..

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

My i9 did the same thing with my ultimate ears superfi 5's. If u keep the line in button pressed down permanently does it work ok? I got a small piece of duct tape and wrapped it around the inline button to keep it permanently pressed down and that fixed that little annoyance for me.

[The DarkSide]

The inline controls will not work on ANY Cowon. It's been tested by others on differing sites,...this includes the Androd players.

[BruceBanner]

Yeh i can't test TDS comment with my C2 player as my super fi 5's are now dead, but i've learned occasionally that TDS is right about a few things. I'd trust him on this one :P