Cowon iAudio S9 16GB MP3 Player – Titanium
Audio: Normally, on a player with such a ground-breaking screen, we’d start with Video, but on the S9, we really want to make special mention of the audio – it is the best sounding player we’ve ever listened to, by far! We’re totally confident that you will not in any honesty be able to listen to it back-to-back with any other portable player with the same files on it and say it’s anything but the best. We have – it’s true! The S9 uses Cowon’s new BBE+ audio architecture, personally integrated with the player by the CEO of Cowon – Mr Park! BBE+ is a range of sound processes that give incredible reproduction of good quality sources and can boost the quality of low-quality sources beyond comparison. It includes upgrades to BBE, Mach3Bass, 3D Surround and MP Enhance that featured in earlier Cowon players, with the addition of better EQ facilities, stereo enhancements and approximately thirty different specific profiles for different music and acoustics. Codec support is customarily comprehensive for Cowon. It will play MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, WAV and APE – offering compatibility with easily found files and also the most high quality lossless audio. Even better, you can listen to music for up to 55 hours continuously! To truly appreciate this player, you need to listen to it – you’ll be blown away – as we were!
Video: Now, we’ve spoken about audio before video, but the video capabilities of this player are, if anything, even more impressive than the audio! This is the first ever use on a portable device of a 3.3″ 16 million colour AMOLED display. What does that mean? Well, traditionally, portable screens use LCD displays. These have a mask layer of pixels, which can change colour – filtering light from a backlight to create images. The technology is well-proven, but has some limitations. There is a lag time with the pixels changing, which can cause rapidly moving images to get slightly ‘muddy’. Also, their very design means they waste energy – they filter and cut down light output from a backlight. AMOLED works differently. It still uses individual pixels (480 x 272 in the S9) but the pixels themselves emit light and change much quicker than LCD. This means the screen is sharper, pixel for pixel, much brighter and movement is pin-sharp. It’s bright and crisp, but not taxing on the eye as there is no ghosting or blur. The S9 can play Xvid SP/ASP and WMV9SP/MP files natively, and supports SMI subtitles. Playback time is an amazing 11 hours of continuous video!
the best you can buy
After a recommendation from a friend i punted for this player given the spec and AMOLED screen. I own a 30gb and 120gb ipod both of which struggle to cope with bass and only offer a limted range of EQ settings. The poor quality sound was really exposed once i bought a pair of Shure SE310 headphones so decided it was time to upgrade the player. Reading some of the forums, everyone has said about how Cowons have the best sound quality etc., and not having heard it for myself decided to take a gamble. I have to say what a fantastic player, the sound from this thing is amazing and matches the quality of the headphones.
You must invest in a good pair or the quality of this player will seem no different to any pther ipod/MP3 player. EQ settings are infinte and the screen colours just blow you away and the screen is brilliantly responsive. FLAC tagging is a little clumsy but firmware updates seem to be coming out every month which should address this. Also MP4’s are not supported which is dissapointing but as long as you have a decent converter does it doesn’t matter as you can still convert to divX but again a firmware update may fix this. Bass is stunning and top end has clarity you simply will not have heard before. The interface takes a little getting used to, certainly as i own an iphone and the interface is no-where near as intuitive but once you know your way around its fine.
all in all this player exceeded all my expecations. If you can get the 32g go for it, but the 16gb will hold 360 songs at 44mb each in uncompressed format so should be enough for most. I stull use my ipod for going to the gym and use Skullcandy earphones which compensate for the lack of bass, but if your going to spend £200 on a player buy this you will not be dissapointed
Eats Apples
This thing is beautiful. I converted my CDs to mp3s and my music collection outgrew my 8GB mp3 player. I needed a 32GB player, so after hours of googling and forum reading I got this.
Stick it in any computer and it acts like a USB stick, just drag ‘n’ drop your files.
It’s a bit slow starting when the full 32GB capacity is used, but if you’re buying an mp3 player to listen to music then I highly recommend the Cowon S9, the sound quality is excellent.
If you’re not an audiophile and want to play games, surf t’Internet and stuff, get the Apple ipod Touch.
Great bit of kit!!
Great bit of kit. Never heard of Cowon before but the quality of the design and build of the S9 is outstanding. Really light as well. Main reason I bought this was due to the solid state 32 Gb memory and the wireless function. I managed to pair the device with my Sony DR-BT160AS Active Series Headphones with no problems at all.
