Advertisment
Advertisment
Promo

Cowon S9 - The official 'Ask The Editors' thread

Topic started by Nate Lanxon on 18 December 2008

26 Posts

Previous  Page 1 of 2  Next

18 December 2008, 05:34 pm

All your questions relating to the Cowon S9 can go here, where we and other readers will help answer your questions.

So, what do you want to know?

Log in Register

18 December 2008, 07:30 pm

Probably too early to tell as you haven't given it a full review yet, but here goes:

Which is better then? The iPod Touch or the Cowon S9?

Also, I thought that MPEG-4 and H.264 were the same thing?

And, horror of horrors, does it actually have less buttons than the iPod Touch? Jobsy must be shaking in his boots.

Log in Register

19 December 2008, 03:51 am

Does it have same loud but cold output, by default rather flat signature as D2, when unamped and unequalised? or is it quieter more smooth and bassy like cowon x5?

For D2, the mids sadly are recessed somewhat, the low frequency tends to roll off on more sensitive inear phones, as result generally signature is just not fun to listen to imo without using both attenuator and amp in comparison to sony players, but once amped, sony can in into the bin with the annoying background noise. Thus in short if it sounds identical to D2,have you tried how it responds to external amp?

Log in Register

19 December 2008, 04:38 pm

It has more buttons than the iPod touch - volume and playback buttons on the top of the device.

And allegedly this MP3 player is the best sounding MP3 player ever made

Log in Register

19 December 2008, 05:11 pm

hiya. i currently have the bril Samsung P2 but sad to hear it' s been discontinued. ever since i've heard of the the P3 coming out i felt excited but the excitment died down easily because IMHO i think it's just a "slightly improved" version of the P2. then i heard about the S9 with all it's features and capability. my question is...like Sammy's P2 does it have any "pre-set" empty playlist list wherein you can just add tracks "on-the-go" on the player itself then delete them whenever as well? and how about firmware updates? will it be as often and as easy as the P2?

Log in Register

20 December 2008, 11:55 pm

Hi. Could you comment on your cnet colleague D. Bell's comment -

"The first drawback I've noticed on the Cowon S9 is that it just feels kind of cheap--which is a complaint I rarely have with Cowon. Unlike the glass and steel design of the iPod Touch, the S9 uses an all-plastic design that--though lightweight--has a hollow and flimsy feel. Even the all-plastic Samsung P2 feels a little more durable and substantial."

Agree? Rebuttal?

Log in Register

22 December 2008, 02:12 pm

what codecs? is it your typical Korean product that supports every codec known to man?

Log in Register

27 December 2008, 04:50 am

is the coverflow slow compared to that of the ipod touch? also is the rest of the interface sometimes sluggish or not at all?
could u also let us know if it supports subtitles...it says on its site that it can read smi subtitles, so could u check if it does that because i read on another review that it doesn't support soft subs.
thanks...

Log in Register

29 December 2008, 06:20 pm

About the Cowon S9 my question is i know it comes in 4Gb, 8Gb and 16GB internal memory however can you also have external memory as well like in some of ther older models via memory chip slots?

Log in Register

29 December 2008, 11:51 pm

Terry101 says:
About the Cowon S9 my question is i know it comes in 4Gb, 8Gb and 16GB internal memory however can you also have external memory as well like in some of ther older models via memory chip slots?

No. The S9 is not expandable with memory cards of any type.

Log in Register

29 December 2008, 11:52 pm

ssk says:
is the coverflow slow compared to that of the ipod touch? also is the rest of the interface sometimes sluggish or not at all?
could u also let us know if it supports subtitles...it says on its site that it can read smi subtitles, so could u check if it does that because i read on another review that it doesn't support soft subs.
thanks...

The subtitles I tested did not work, however I've yet to test SMI-format subs. I'll get back to you on this.

The coverflow is slow, yes. It's nothing like the iPod touch, and frankly I hated it. The rest of the interface is okay. Again, it's no iPod touch, but it's the best Cowon interface to date.

Log in Register

29 December 2008, 11:54 pm

Pokeh says:
Probably too early to tell as you haven't given it a full review yet, but here goes:

Which is better then? The iPod Touch or the Cowon S9?

Also, I thought that MPEG-4 and H.264 were the same thing?

And, horror of horrors, does it actually have less buttons than the iPod Touch? Jobsy must be shaking in his boots.


1) The iPod touch is a low better. More responsive, more features, more intuitive. That said, the S9 destroys the touch in terms of sound quality.

2) MPEG-4 is a format in its simple profile, but H.264 is a codec in its own right, stored inside an MPEG-4 file. They're two separate formats.

3) No, it has a lot more buttons. Full roster of navigational controls, volume controls and lock switches.

Log in Register

29 December 2008, 11:56 pm

yyzxex says:
Hi. Could you comment on your cnet colleague D. Bell's comment -

"The first drawback I've noticed on the Cowon S9 is that it just feels kind of cheap--which is a complaint I rarely have with Cowon. Unlike the glass and steel design of the iPod Touch, the S9 uses an all-plastic design that--though lightweight--has a hollow and flimsy feel. Even the all-plastic Samsung P2 feels a little more durable and substantial."

Agree? Rebuttal?

I have to agree. I think it looks great, but to me and Donald it's not got the solidity of the touch.

Log in Register

29 December 2008, 11:57 pm

paulkinsey says:
what codecs? is it your typical Korean product that supports every codec known to man?

In our tests, the following audio formats played without issue: MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, OGG and WAV. However, AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MusePack and Real Audio files did not play. And although WMA Lossless files began to play, after a few seconds the sound became distorted and the entire player locked up. Oops!

As for video file support, the S9 played DivX 5, Xvid and WMV. That's decent, but MPEG-4 SP would've been a bonus, as would H.264, which would not play in our tests.

Log in Register

29 December 2008, 11:58 pm

gino_76ph says:
hiya. i currently have the bril Samsung P2 but sad to hear it' s been discontinued. ever since i've heard of the the P3 coming out i felt excited but the excitment died down easily because IMHO i think it's just a "slightly improved" version of the P2. then i heard about the S9 with all it's features and capability. my question is...like Sammy's P2 does it have any "pre-set" empty playlist list wherein you can just add tracks "on-the-go" on the player itself then delete them whenever as well? and how about firmware updates? will it be as often and as easy as the P2?

Excellent question. I'll get back to you on this issue when I'm back at the office (stupidly neglected to bring it away with me over Christmas!).

Log in Register

30 December 2008, 05:30 am

Nate I was just wondering if you would recommend this to a Zen Vision M 30GB user. I'm kinda wavering away from the ipod touch because it relies on running itunes which I have a rather dislike for. Your initial report shows the cowan like the creative seem to support more formats and codecs than the Apple. One thing that I do benefit from the Zen is it's plug and explore feature a bit like a USB drive which comes in really useful for quick access and temp storage.

Log in Register

30 December 2008, 05:01 pm

thanks a lot for the reply nate!

Log in Register

5 January 2009, 04:31 pm

hi, i'm finding it very hard to pin down the actual maximum bitrate that the S9 is able to record to via the Line-In facility, some say 128kbps, some say 256, and some say 320

could someone confirm which bitrate quality it is?

also, will there be firmware upgrades available for the player?

Log in Register

5 January 2009, 04:43 pm

Loki says:
hi, i'm finding it very hard to pin down the actual maximum bitrate that the S9 is able to record to via the Line-In facility, some say 128kbps, some say 256, and some say 320

could someone confirm which bitrate quality it is?

also, will there be firmware upgrades available for the player?

The maximum line-in quality, I can confirm (because it's in my hand), is 256Kbps.

Firmware is already available from Cowon, and the company is pretty good at regularly updating its site with new firmware versions.

Log in Register

5 January 2009, 04:45 pm

Deepurple says:
Nate I was just wondering if you would recommend this to a Zen Vision M 30GB user. I'm kinda wavering away from the ipod touch because it relies on running itunes which I have a rather dislike for. Your initial report shows the cowan like the creative seem to support more formats and codecs than the Apple. One thing that I do benefit from the Zen is it's plug and explore feature a bit like a USB drive which comes in really useful for quick access and temp storage.

It works just like that, yes. You'll manage files on the S9 just like you do on the Creative player. Sound quality is better too.

It's a very different player to the Zen Vision M, and the Zen is certainly the simpler to use thanks to its interface. But the S9 definitely has some great features. It just depends on whether you want or need them!

Log in Register

26 Posts

Previous  Page 1 of 2  Next

Number of posts per page: 10 | 20 | 30