Review of the Cowon D2

Sorry folks, has been about a month from my last Blog post, life and all (got laid off and my mom was in the hospital), and I know you were waiting to see what I would write about this time.

So this is a review fo the best PMP/MP3 Video player that I have owned.

Which is really not saying too much since this is the first one I have owned. However I feel that I am qualified to write about this because I have since borrowed a Meizu M6, iPod Touch, iPod Classic, Iriver Clix Rhapsody, Sansa Fuze and Zune players from my friends. (Yes I have nice friends). Reviews of all these products will come later.

First Impression: This is a solid player. Heavier than I thought it would be but still a good weight. It is a nice looking player, not in an iPod way (thank Buddha). Has been mistaken for a cell phone from several passers by when I wait for the bus or train going to and from work.

Looks: As I stated before it is a good looking player. I have the 16 GB version that is black with silver sides. The touch screen is bright and clear. It looks much better than I thought it would. It is a 2.4" QVGA screen with 2.7 million colors. It is a resistive touch screen that is pretty sensitive and you do not have to click the same touch button 5 times for it to work. It also has tactile buttons for the on/off and hold, for volume up and down, and for menu. Once on hold you have the option to customize the tactile buttons. I have it set the volume up and down to skip forward and reverse and the menu button to a play/pause button. This makes it nice for listening to music and controling the player while it is in your pocket. On the left there is a door that hides the power port and USB 5 pin port as well as the reset button. Above the door is the 3.5 mm headphone jack. Finally on the bottom of the player there is a SD/SDHC slot. Not mirco, mini or so small you will lose it in 0 to 3 seconds flat. It can use up to 32GB cards. 

One thing I do not like is the stylus. It is very small and hard to hold. However it can be used as the stand, which is convenient when watching movies on the train.

Firmware/UI: I have heard a lot of complaints on this UI. That it was un-intuitive or requires too many clicks to get things done. That was the one thing that kept me from buying this right away. I am glad to say though, all the speculation and complaining was, I feel, un-justified. Yes initially it does take an added touch to play a song or to skip forwards or backwards, however once you enable the hold button and use the tactile buttons, it is a non issue.

Interruption Number 1: As if an extra little click is that annoying. S#!%!!!! what is annoying that buying a iCrud and having to encode your music to a propriatary format AAC and making it so your music will not play on any other devices. That is just not Swayze.

Firmware/UI Continued:I also like the fact that you can switch the firmware between the US firmware (2.xx) and the Korean firmware (3.xx) with little to no hassle. In the US firmware you can upload DRM WMA files and Audible files, however in the Korean firmware there are more theme and skin options and you get the use of the dictionary. You can change the themes with realative ease and actually have Flash based skins.

Music/Sound Quailty:Next to the Sansa Clip/Fuze, this has got to be the best sounding player out there. At least it is the best sounding one that I have heard against the players I have tested. I feel the Clip/Fuze beats this player in none EQ'd or boosted sound, once you set up the BBE features this edges out the Sansa in my opinion. You get a full music range, bass could be a little more responsive, but once the Cowon D2+ firmware can be safely uploaded to my player, that will be less of an issue. I have to say, it is a joy listening to this with earbuds (Sony MDR-ED21LP Fontopia) as much as with my cans (Senheiser EH 150). I feel that for music this can not be beat.

Video: It has a 2.4" QVGA screen with 16.7 million colors. This is a awesome screen. You can easily watch movies on the player without your eyes getting tired. It handles 30 FPS with ease and once you configure the video properly you can fit approximately 6 vids on 2 GBs. The other thing that makes it a pleasure to watch vids on this player is that the BBE effects are still in working for you. That is because the player uses a Telechips chip (TCC7801) for the video & other functions and a Wolfson chip (WM8985) for the audio. This allows the Wolfson chip to control the sound while the other chip controls the video. Makes for a very dynamic movie viewing.

Will continue the review very soon.