Cowon S9

jonny oxford

Hey

Anyone know of any bricks and mortar shop in Ireland that is selling the S9 yet?

Thanks.

hopeful

To be quite honest I doubt anyone is yet. The most likely is Peats but as far as I know they are not stocking them right now.

I really don't want to rub it in...but I just received my S9 from AMP3 this morning...and it is beautiful

Kintarō Hattori

Cown have pretty much pulled out of Europe. The stockist in Ireland was Sharptext and they stopped carrying Cowon many months ago. I don't think there is a distributor here at the moment.

Gran Hermano

Not a B&M store, but the only place I've seen it is amp3.co.uk

gary the great

hopeful wrote: »

To be quite honest I doubt anyone is yet. The most likely is Peats but as far as I know they are not stocking them right now.

I really don't want to rub it in...but I just received my S9 from AMP3 this morning...and it is beautiful

So whats it like?

With sterling being so crap agaisnt the euro its a bargain on AMP3...think i may be tempted! Had a cowan iaudio x5 before and loved it!

hopeful

gary the great wrote: »

So whats it like?

With sterling being so crap agaisnt the euro its a bargain on AMP3...think i may be tempted! Had a cowan iaudio x5 before and loved it!

I also had an X5 and then a D2 (also very briefly had an Ipod touch but less said about that the better).

The S9, in my opinion has even better sound quality than either the D2 or X5, has a superb screen and the battery life is as advertised. As usual with Cowon, the controls are a little quirky but once mastered become second nature. Video playback is fine for the screen size and conversion is a breeze. There have already been two firmware updates to fix small issues, so it looks as if it will be well supported. Build quality is great even though it feels very light compared to the X5...fits perfectly in the hand and looks lovely.

If you do go for an S9 I would advise investing in a very good set of headphones. The money I spent on my Atrio M5's was well worth it

butts

hopeful, how does the screen perform outside under direct sunlight. Is it noticeably easier to read than the other players you have owned?

Thanks,
Butts.

Orion

that does look very sexy. I've been thinking about replacing my Zen Vision M - this looks like the one. Do AMP3 ship to Ireland? If not I've an address in Belfast I can use anyway.

pleasant Co.

Macros42 wrote: »

Do AMP3 ship to Ireland?

They ship worldwide

hopeful

butts wrote: »

hopeful, how does the screen perform outside under direct sunlight. Is it noticeably easier to read than the other players you have owned?

Thanks,
Butts.

Not that we have had too much sun to test it with...but I can safely say I've had no problems with visibility in any conditions so far. It is far better than the Zen X-Fi I was using, and better than the Ipod Touch.

And yes..AMP3 are very reliable and quick. Ordered my S9 on the Thursday before Christmas and it was with me on the Monday morning. Have used them a few times and never had any issues.

I'd post pictures of the S9 for you but I'd not wish to be the cause of people drooling on their keyboards

butts

Thanks, that's good to know, hopeful. I was thinking with the screen performing well in daylight conditions and long battery life, it could also be a good little ebook reader as well as a great music player.

Orion

Anyone know of any B&M stores near Belfast that sell these? I'll be heading up there in a week or two anyway so I might try to pick one up. AMP3 are out of stock unfortunately.

Heck, even an online store would do me, advanced mp3 are out of stock. Anyone find anywhere else it can be gotten online that deliver to Ireland and are trusted?

hopeful

Back in stock at AMP3....order while they have 'em

I'm now waiting for Noreve to produce a nice case for it.....their site says this week.

pleasant Co.

should I......should I.... :P ah I'm in no great rush right now and I'm sure i'll be able to get one even if they sell out....

It's been a while hopeful, is the S9 still the best DAP/PMP eva?

hopeful

Mactard wrote: »

should I......should I.... :P ah I'm in no great rush right now and I'm sure i'll be able to get one even if they sell out....

It's been a while hopeful, is the S9 still the best DAP/PMP eva?

You know you want to

It has better sound quality and screen than X5, D2, Ipod Touch and Creative X-fi. Video looks better than on the Ipod or Creative.

My only criticism is no SD slot...but then 16gb is well enough for me.

So yes....it's the best DAP I have experience of.

pleasant Co.

Well 16gb isn't enough for me so I might just buy the 8gb model, just to try it out..or maybe Cowon will be kind enough as to give me one....we'll see...

Orion

hopeful wrote: »

Back in stock at AMP3....order while they have 'em

I'm now waiting for Noreve to produce a nice case for it.....their site says this week.

thanks for that hopeful - even though boards was down I saw the mail with that post when I got home and ...

Date Ordered: Tuesday 06 January, 2009

Products
------------------------------------------------------
1 x Cowon iAudio S9 16GB MP3 Player (S9-16GB) = £199.00

16gb is plenty - I usually have about 4Gb of music on my player which leaves 12 gb for video - using Handbrake to shrink avis that's tons.

And I'm a Linux user so I love that they actually support my OS. That's one of my major gripes with Creative.

Orion

Anyone recommend a good screen protector for these? Invisibleshield don't have one and the noreve ones are a little expensive.

pleasant Co.

Macros42 wrote: »

Anyone recommend a good screen protector for these? Invisibleshield don't have one and the noreve ones are a little expensive.

I don't think you'll need one....i'll let this video show you why I think that

Can't scratch me

I ordered mine from advanced mp3 recently (16gb), after a bit of an issue with confirming delivery address they confirmed that they were "picking" it from the warehouse on the 9th, but I am yet to receive further updates on it's shipping and delivery so far....

pleasant Co.

Have you tried emailing/phoning them?

Orion

I ordered mine early last week. Confirmation of my billing address was accepted last Thursday. On Monday I rang them cos it's still at 'Picking'. They told me it would ship either that day or Tuesday. It's now Wednesday and no sign of shipping.

Orion

they must be reading this forum cos I just bot my shipping notification and tracking number

pleasant Co.

Still, they must be getting absolutely hammered with orders! whenever I've ordered it's taken 2 days max to have my order shipped

hopeful

They are usually pretty quick..must be a hot item...and with good reason in my opinion.

They have put out a couple of firmware updates already...nothing major..just fixing a few minor issues...and people are already starting to make custom interfaces for it.

Macros42

Macros42 wrote: »

they must be reading this forum cos I just bot my shipping notification and tracking number

Ha ha, i got my shipping confirmation and tracking number this morning too. Wonder when they will actually get to our houses?

hopeful

sacramento wrote: »

Ha ha, i got my shipping confirmation and tracking number this morning too. Wonder when they will actually get to our houses?

The suspense must be unbearable !

I got it yesterday! Serious piece of kit. I can definitively announce that the radio works absolutely fine. In fact, better than the zen vision m i used to have and a Samsung player I had too. I mainly use the radio on the maynooth train line, gets all the stations very clearly. It sounds amazing, and the video.... well, I don't think I can describe such an amazing screen, I'd have to show you! Feel free to ask me any questions about it.

butts

sacramento,

hopeful gave me his thoughts about how the cowen preformed outside under direct sunlight. I'd like to hear your view on this as well and any pics of it in action under direct sunlight would be great.

Thanks,
Butts.

Butts,

I haven't had the opportunity to check it under direct sunlight, it has been cloudy and raining since I got it. I will post pics and give my thoughts once I find out though.
However, I just tested it by taking a picture of the screen while using the a flash, (a powerful Canon flash) and it gives me the impression that it would be visible in direct sunlight. The individual light source of the pixels is replaced by a different light source and it looks like glass with a picture behind it. I wouldn't say it's anything to worry about. Hard to explain, so here's the pics. With the two different themes I use....


The hair straightener is my housemates......

Feel free to ask anything else about it.

Sacramento.

My Review of the Cowon S9.

I wanted to give a full review, giving that I own the device, have put my music and videos on it and used it almost constantly for a few days.

First off, the looks.
Mine is the titanium 16gb and it looks really nice, it's light. Now some people have said it is too light for it's size, I find it fine. It's all plastic, though I like it quite a bit. The back is this curved dark brown/black matte finish which is pleasant looking, it features the reset button and the microphone hole. The sides are also curved titanium looking finish. And if you haven't seen the front, it is an extrememly attractive looking device, the 3.3" screen fits flush with the rest of the body. Bottom left is the hidden USB connection, bottom right, is your ON/OFF, HOLD buttons and in between these is your headphone jack. Top right is your skip track buttons, and top left is your dedicated volume buttons which are all very welcome in this design.
Dedicated buttons are a huge plus since you can disable touch screen controls when it's in your pocket and simply skip songs using the tactile ones without taking it out. The top middle protrusion acts as a pause/play button, very nice touch. I read a review on CNET that the reviewer complained that he would not be able to tell which buttons did which. This was a particularly ridiculous claim. I remembered after a day of use, and I can skip songs, pause/play and change volume without looking at the thing while it's in my pocket. Must apply for a job at CNET soon.:pac:

Next up, the interface.
There has been a huge amount of complaining in some reviews about the UI. I can see some of their points, but only if your a complete novice to the device, after that, it's very easy to navigate and I find myself flying through Artists, albums and songs in seconds flat. The double tap works just fine and takes very little time to get used to.

The look of the interface when browsing files is simple but effective, I can have no complaints, though it's not mind blowing. One of my favorite things about this thing, is the "Now Playing" Screen. I have album art on all my songs, and the such is the quality of the AMOLED screen, that they really jump off the screen if you've used a high quality picture. There are many ways of skipping through tracks, all of them easy to do and very nicley planned, except the cover flow, which I have disabled (I'll come back to that). My favourite is the swipe left or right over the album art to skip songs, it works very well.
The way people are complaining about the interface gets to me a bit. The main complaint seems to come down to the fact that it doesn't mimic the Apple Touch's UI in every way. If you want to compare it to the touch, fine, but realise that the Cowon gives better sound and plays video more clearly, I have put them side by side, same video, same music, using the earphones that came with each of them. Cowon wins in that department. Those features are far more important do you not think? All that being said, I like the Cowon UI anyway.


The sound and equalizers are hands down, the best of any mp3 player or pmp I've used. Now I work in a place that sells Ipods, Creatives, Samsung, Sandisk, Archos etc, you name it, we got it (except for Cowon players). I've used them all. The sound on the Cowon S9 genuinely out performs all the ones i've used in my shop. The BBE equaliser setting are especially recommended. I use the BBE Mach3Bass currently. And for those who want to know how loud it goes. I put a song onto an ipod touch (Go with the flow by Qotsa) and the same one onto the cowon. I could listen to it on the Touch on full volume. On the Cowon, the highest I could bear without it behind far too loud was 36 out of 40. Note that sound on any device depends on the quality of the tracks you put on it. I'm a fan of 320kbps on mp3 or wave. Or I sometimes have some FLAC too.

The video is of such a high quality. Most of my videos are Avi (Divx), so they all went straight on, no conversion needed. The video screen as the player is upright shows the video near the top, with the bitrate and quality info and equaliser settings underneath it. Flip it on its side, and it's fullscreen and widescreen. The quality must be seen to be believed, as clear as a bell. It's the framerate that impressed me so much though, no blurring. Incredibly smooth. I knew it would be good, just not that good!

Synching my music from my Pc was very easy, some folders I just copied straight on. Other times i just used WMP to sync it up. It didn't give me any trouble and such was my organization that all the album art came up, with no exceptions. Video was drag and drop too. I used the software that came with it. It's not bad, syncs up fine and converts automatically if necessary, though I think i'm just so used to WMP that i just wasn't too bothered with using the Cowon media centre.

Radio. This is something I've struggled to understand about some reviews since I got the player. I would have been forgiven in thinking that it would be useless based on them. However, I used it while travelling from Clonsilla to Maynooth on the train and it scanned and stored all the stations just fine. It is clearer than my Zen vision :m (RIP) and my samsung YP-k3. So where did all the negativity come from about the radio? The interface for it is so cool, the virtual dial is so much fun it actually makes me use the radio more than I usually would.

Pictures and the rest, work as you would expect, you can view pics in full screen just like the videos and zoom in and out as you wish. The flash and utilities comes with nothing but a calculator as standard. I'm sure there will be more utlities to come. I've loaded some .SWF files myself from various places and they're very fun. Some puzzle games and bowling games work perfectly with the touch screen. Documents viewer works really nicely. You can change font size, select auto scroll, change the auto scroll speed and the background colour of your choice. Though the accelorometer has not been incorporated into this, and it would have been a very good idea to do so. However, it has been nicely done. Coverflow, I promised to get back to this, now I will. When on the "Now playing" screen in music, if you flip it on it's side, (given that you have this function enabled) it will go into cover flow mode. Now it is utterly pointless in my view, and poorly done. It doesn't do coverflow between different albums, it does it between all the songs in the album you have currently selected! I have no idea why they did this. Since the picture is just the same. It does give the song name, but I disabled the accelorometer in music mode. It's just pointless. Once I disabled though, I had to worry about it.:cool:

Thats about it I guess. I'll probably post this review in some other places. If you have any questions about the player, or feel I should add to this review. Let me know!

-Sacramento.

hopeful

This is my third Cowon player (previously an X5 and D2) and all have been bought for the same two reasons...battery life and sound quality. The S9 is a vast improvement in both areas.
The bonus for me is the superb screen that allows viable viewing of video. I've always liked the fact that the GUI can be altered on Cowon players...and already there are some interesting ideas coming along. The next couple of months should see a good amount of skins and new featuers being added.
Once Cowon make a few tweaks to the firmware I'll be even happier.

Just for information I have a Zagg screen protector on it's way to me plus I'm awaiting shipment of a case from Noreve. I do like to keep my gear in top notch condition

Orion

Can I ask why the Zagg protector and the Noreve case? Sure one or the other is enough?

hopeful

hopeful wrote: »

This is my third Cowon player (previously an X5 and D2) and all have been bought for the same two reasons...battery life and sound quality. The S9 is a vast improvement in both areas.
The bonus for me is the superb screen that allows viable viewing of video. I've always liked the fact that the GUI can be altered on Cowon players...and already there are some interesting ideas coming along. The next couple of months should see a good amount of skins and new featuers being added.
Once Cowon make a few tweaks to the firmware I'll be even happier.

Just for information I have a Zagg screen protector on it's way to me plus I'm awaiting shipment of a case from Noreve. I do like to keep my gear in top notch condition

I've noticed that the Noreve case doesn't have enough cutouts for all the buttons, I'll probably go for something like this

Old Pretender

Sacramento just wanted to thank you for the honest review of the s9. I pick mine up tomorrow when I fly over to the UK. I too had read a number of the reviews doing the rounds from supposed experts and am glad you've added a sense of realism to your comments. I was always sure that these reviews were being very picky in that it always take a bit of time to familiarise yourself with any new device. I had the x5 and have to say the sound quality was first class. I went for the S9 over the i-touch for that reason. Your comments on the video quality will help too. Good review well done.

hopeful

Macros42 wrote: »

Can I ask why the Zagg protector and the Noreve case? Sure one or the other is enough?

Just my OCD showing

With any touchscreen device I'd always have a worry about long term use leaving marks on the screen....the screen protector is cheap insurance.

The Noreve case will look after the external device.

Adam

omg it's so pretty...and i'm in the market for a new player. looks like this will be the one! had the x5 as well, reliable old girl, if a bit chunky!

my one gripe with these guys is that they cant just put the headphone jack on the top like everyone else! have a decent set of headphones that don't have the "right angle" jack, just sticks straight out, so if i put the x5 in my pocket it's putting the jack under pressure, likewise with the s9...

hopeful

Just for information...

Received the Zagg screen protector yesterday. Fits perfectly and is invisible (and to my ancient eyes reduces reflections on the screen). It certainly doesn't reduce the screens sensitivity or view in any way.

JohnK

I cracked and bought one tonight

Heres hoping it lives up to the hype!

Quint

I'm thinking of getting one. Is there any branches of shope in the UK that does them? I'll be over there (Newcastle) at the weekend and I'd pick one up, but if not amp3.co.uk will do grand.

edit: actually, after seeing both in the flesh I'll go with the D2.

JohnK

I have to say having played around with it for the weekend I'm very happy and its a really nice device but I just wanted to comment on this bit from sacramento's post

sacramento wrote: »

Pictures and the rest, work as you would expect, you can view pics in full screen just like the videos and zoom in and out as you wish.

I was expecting a hell of a lot better from the picture viewer which is really just crap from what I can see. Maybe theres a setting somewhere to change but from out of the box I'd expect it to firstly only load pictures from the pictures folder - not to go searching for images in other folders like the music directory. I dont know about anyone else but I dont want to see album art or disc images in my photo viewer. Secondly, it takes far too long to open the thumbnail view if you have more than a few pictures in there. Thirdy unless (and I'm guessing here about resizing) the images have been presized for the S9 you'll get shockingly bad quality when fully zoomed in. And I'm not just talking about increasing the image size of small pictures here as I put on a few photos direct from my camera and full zoom in on the S9 was very pilexated with jaggy edges. In the case of CD cover scans, text thats perfectly readable on a computer is just a mishmash of of pixelated blobs on the S9.

But that aside it is a great player and like I said I'm happy with it.

Scubadevils

Wow, I want one of these. I have had the X5, D2, I7, A3 & Q5W - needless to say, I need the S9! I still use the Q5 and I7 but I find the Q5 a bit big for general travel and everyday use, great player but too big for my needs. Love the I7, not the prettiest on the market and useless for video but sounds great and super battery - 45 hours. HUGE Cowon fan and have been since my first X5 all those years ago.

This sounds like my next player, along with my other next electronic purchase, these lovely earbuds from Denon...

http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/3781.asp

The Boarder Man

Hi all,

My long suffering H10 no longer allows me to scroll at all so I think it's time to finally give up on it and get a new player. I was considering getting the 32GB S9 as it's the only thing that looks like it meets my most basic requirements:
- Good sound quality
- Easy file transfer/compatability
- >20GB but still portable

Is the S9 still the best option out there or is there anything else worth considering?

Also, a few questions on the S9:

- Can someone confirm that I can attach this to any PC/Mac and copy/sync music and files without any particular software required?

- Is there any sort of "quicklist" / on-the-fly playlist support (i.e. add files to the end of a playlist you are already playing).

- Any recommendations on where to get a beltclip (essential) or AC wall adapter?

- Good community site / source of S9 content?

Thanks!

Orion

You can attach it to any PC (Windows or Linux) and a Mac. It's just a standard mass storage device.
There is no playlist support on the device as such - unless they've added it in a recent firmware. You can use playlists but you need to create them on your PC and copy them over.
I bought this case/beltclip. It's excellent if pricey.
I haven't added any content besides official firmware so can't help there.

All in all this device is the dog's bollox. Sound and video is superb. It is simple drag'n'drop from any OS and very easy to use. No moving parts means no skipping.

pleasant Co.

The Boarder Man wrote: »

- Good sound quality
- Easy file transfer/compatability
- >20GB but still portable

Is the S9 still the best option out there

Sadly yes, it pretty much is, there really aren't many quality players out there these days. Also check out the rather pricey sony x1000 (has no on the go playlist though )

The Boarder Man wrote: »

- Is there any sort of "quicklist" / on-the-fly playlist support (i.e. add files to the end of a playlist you are already playing).

Yup, both in the stock firmware and some of the user created "UCI's"

The Boarder Man wrote: »

- Any recommendations on where to get a beltclip (essential) or AC wall adapter?

It charges over USB so any 5v usb wall charger will do, for accessories check out advancedmp3players.co.uk, ebay, amazon.co.uk...search around.

The Boarder Man wrote: »

- Good community site / source of S9 content?

iAudiophile.net, another site I work on :P it's a fansite for cowon products and we've been around for a few years now

Macros42 wrote: »

You can attach it to any PC (Windows or Linux) and a Mac. It's just a standard mass storage device.

Correct

Macros42 wrote: »

There is no playlist support on the device as such - unless they've added it in a recent firmware.

Incorrect, there has always been the option of the "dynamic playlist" (DPL), this is essentially an on-the-go playlist, also relevant: in the latest firmware (2.31b) the s9 has gained support for extended .m3u playlists.

Macros42 wrote: »

All in all this device is the dog's bollox. Sound and video is superb. It is simple drag'n'drop from any OS and very easy to use. No moving parts means no skipping.

From what i've gathered you're correct here too

The Boarder Man

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for the detailed replies. I had heard of the Sony but immediately disregarded it as being, well a Sony :rolleyes:. Having had a quick look at it now however it looks like they have woken up their ideas a bit in the last few years so I might look into it a bit more given time.

I presume that a 5V USB wall adapter will charge it as quickly as using the Cowon wall adapter? ...Actually scratch that - I've just noticed that that's what the Cowon one is!

The Noreve case looks pretty good and I can get it a little cheaper from amp3.co.uk (if they get it back in stock). Can you press the covered buttons OK through the case?

Finally - I'd be grateful if you could answer two further questions I forgot about yesterday in relation to long lists / lots of music files:

- How easy is it to navigate / accelerate through long file / directory lists?

- Is the "random play" effective over large playlists (e.g. over your whole music directory?)? I presume it's fine but my H10 always had problems
with this where it would only play files from a particular segment of the entire list.

Thanks again!

Orion

The Boarder Man wrote: »

The Noreve case looks pretty good and I can get it a little cheaper from amp3.co.uk (if they get it back in stock). Can you press the covered buttons OK through the case?

Finally - I'd be grateful if you could answer two further questions I forgot about yesterday in relation to long lists / lots of music files:

- How easy is it to navigate / accelerate through long file / directory lists?

- Is the "random play" effective over large playlists (e.g. over your whole music directory?)? I presume it's fine but my H10 always had problems
with this where it would only play files from a particular segment of the entire list.

Thanks again!

You can press the buttons through the case - the pause/play button and the forward/back buttons.

Very easy to navigate - you can set the list zoom and scroll speed to suit yourself.

I generally only random play individual albums so can't answer the last question.

cronos

How is this player better than a zune?

pleasant Co.

In lots of ways, read up on both players and decide if it's better than a zune for you.

kida

does it support DRM files (wma)