First time Cowon

1) Development:

The design looks at first sight very high. The front is covered with a glass pane, which you should protect scratch with a film before definitely. The rest is made of plastic. The player is very comfortable to hold and feels light. To me it makes a sufficiently robust. Should sezten sure you would rather not when it is stowed in the back pocket, but he's not even provided. Unless one roughly throwing the player by the edge should go because nothing broken. The greatest danger lies in the scratching of glass and plastic, whereas you can counteract with relevant cases and / or films. What I find a bit annoying is the arrangement of the pages buttons. Right you have 2 for volume control, a left to go to the main menu. Since these buttons are mounted at the same height, to get really fast ran to a, even though you wanted to push the other.

2) Battery:

The battery can only charge via USB. However, there seems to be an optional Plug-loader that can be purchased separately. I find that somewhat disadvantageous because you always need to load the computer. The battery life I found the beginning a lot shorter than indicated. However, have also made a lot of sound settings and tried a lot. I think that the improved even after a couple of charges. One should also be aware that you can not change the battery yourself. When the battery is down, you have a good piece sending, which is certainly not cheap. However, this is in many MP3 players do.

3) The menu:

There partly some negative criticisms of other rezesionen, which I can not anschliesen me. Although it's my first Cowon MP3 player (I had never seen a ipod) I feel most functions intuitively. Even without instructions you can get very quickly became clear to the functions. The scroll works without friction, you can individually "through tap-" or more quickly by scrolling depending on how far you want to work your in the list. Sometimes you have to press once to iAUDIO 9 reageirt more. Is not a problem for me, especially since you can adjust the sensitivity as desired. The folder can be seen on the player as they have been pulled over themselves via drag and drop from your PC. The more you have your music, photos and / or videos sorted transmitted before, the faster you will find what you are looking for. Nix amazing. I think a lot more you need to say here. The menu is really "straight forward". Try a bissl rum and you know how it goes.

4) Sound:

Probably the most important point at all. The player supports many formats really especially well WAV and Flac, which is a big pluss.
You should first be aware of to a. Should to make a direct sound comparison to other players to "make normal" both at first. Should generally normal to give the most balanced sound. Any other attitude changed after all, only the hervorhebing different frequencies. This brings natural c then what if the taste of excellent music from neutral differs, or if the headphones are not neutral. I think in the neutral state, the sound is not really earth-shattering. Especially the bass comes over me a little weak. The normal presets as (rock, dance, Mach3Bass, flat, etc.) Although bring change but were not that great either. Of these, there are plenty of Prestes, some are much more useful than others. Makes also use it only those features included the player is Sonically hardly different from other MP3 players on the market.

The decisive point is the self-definable preset's. With these you can adjust everything myself at will. It has 2 Bass Boost Funtionen (grade 1-10), 3D surround (Grade 1-10), MP3 Enhancement (on / off), stereo enhancement (1-6) and the frequency band menu. In frequnzband menu you can move 5 different frequency bands of (-12 to 12). Additionally, you can choose zwichen 4 different frequencies at each frequency band. For example, you can choose at the first zwichen (80Hz or 105 Hz or 135Hz or 175Hz). The 2nd frequency band takes over from 220 Hz and is adjustable up to 385 Hz, also steps back in 4 ... etc. Also you can every frequency band zwichen "wide", "normal" or select "narrow". All these things can be changed independently in their own definable menu.

Thus you get really sounded out each pattern. One can define the bass as high a wiggle their ears, or emphasize the high frequencies so far that it hurts. Because remain truly nothing to be desired. However, you have to take a long time for it. Who has little time to invest, for this fantastic course menu not really make sense no desire. The heavy is the sound that can be difficult to compare. If you turn the bass up and the volume is nehmich higher. Comparing this with the previous setting, the volume difference also täuchen something. And as always, has advantages and disadvantages all. Much bass also means that some of the mid-range frequencies are drowned. With a lot of bass, the sound then indeed emphasized bass but also seem a bit dull. With very high-end definition may again seem a little too thin / blächern sounded. However, If you take the time, you can produce truly beautiful sound patterns. This makes the cowons real unique. What I find especially fascinating is itself more than defined settings everything still sounds clean. If you turn up the bass is too high, the sound is muffled, but the bass stays clean. As is also a substantial difference to other mp3 players. I once asked the Ipod on XBASS. That was not so. The bass was so dirty that it passes a.

The last important point in terms of sound is headphones. I have never tasted supplied. But I know that you hear from are good as usual nothing. Therefore, if a thing is the sound, invest definitely in a few vernüpftige headphones. Otherwise, makes the good sound of the players less meaningful.

Conclusion:

A great player, with good menu control, and many sound settings. One can virtually any sound patterns produced, bringing the sound over headphones as well as about boxing can improve a lot. Processing is fully in order, and the design chic.

+ Sound settings (only for who wants to take the time)
+ Good menu, easy operation
+ Chic design, fits comfortably in your hand
+ Number of unterstüzten formats

Rechargeable non-outlet -
- Positioning of the side buttons are not very optimal

From me the player will definitely get 5 points ...