Cowon X9 Review

These days, many people use a smartphone as their main music player. However, back when you were lucky if your phone had a colour screen, dedicated players like the Cowon X9 were big business. Now Cowon has to aim squarely at the audio enthusiast.

[junky]

found my cowon s9 today after 2 years and i have to say there is nearly nothing out there with such an amazing sound

[PawlOwl]

I wish they would just make a solid, small player with huge battery life and skipped all the video and games bullshit. Unless you are doing those two things very well no one will use them anyway, like the D2. I mean, thats the only reason people buy a dedicated portable music player, for the sound, not the other crap that your smartphone can do 100x better anyway.

[ricciarelloderoma]

Better is a very relative word here... Apple: Better built, better software, better quality in general. Cowon: better sound than ANY Apple mp3 player out there today.

[interceptorm]

"Pretty good" is not good enough if you looking for sound that will transfer you in the another dimension, which is what most of the Cowon buyers are in for. Yes, a lot of things about Cowon players suck, but things that matter to the Sound aficionados like: lossless support, gappless playback (not installed by default though!), user EQ and ability to truly customize sound, powerful built in amp etc.- all these things are there, plus huge online community and developers who tweak UI.

[commontsar]

You know, some people buy MP3 players for *sound* - where as a phone...that's more important to have a camera.

[DazedConfused]

x7 is like wine it gets better as the years go by. nothing will top it in the next 5 years money to quality wise as the x7.

[interceptorm]

If it's not that hard how come such a force like Apple still makes average sounding players?

[interceptorm]

...Cowon should be ashamed from not sorting few issues out and not listening community, so should Apple. Difference between us who appreciate Cowon and Apple followers is that we don't go raving around that our gadgets is the best thing since sliced bread. All of us continue to be ripped off by Apples and Cowons of this world, just look it their CEOs salaries!

[interceptorm]

SOUND QUALITY + BATTERY LIFE = Beat that Iphone fanboys, aye?

[iggybibi]

they sound pretty good and its not that hard because everything is shit on the cowon except the battery and sound quality, if u only want those 2 things then go ahead buy a cowon why do you care if a person's preference is an ipod?

[fourburnerbreakfast]

yes! finally i can play "Chicken Head in the Sky!"

[Swim_Jonse]

Does anyone know if there's a Cowon brand successor to the X9? As in "all music, long battery life, no "apps" or bullshit like that"? I love mine but am looking towards Hifiman as an upgrade unless this exists.

Between FLAC and 320kpbs records, I get about 60 hours of battery life out of my Cowon from 2013 @ 27-33 volume depending on the recording. This is plugged into a Fiio AMP to further make it louder as it distorts past about 32, or the "getting into it" range with electronic music.

I am content with that. I'd get the ~100 if I listened to it @ half the volume and just MP3s. 40- 60 hours is good enough. Has Cowon made a device since then with battery life akin to that for both FLAC and MP3 at volume? When I bought my X9, most other models were 12-20 hours at best. Out of the box, my X9 new lasted a whole three week trip through NE, UK (England and Scotland) and back with >15% battery life back (this being most of the time listening to music quietly) and I felt I should settle for no else besides that but I hate the proprietary charger and the jack that can break (did, I had to recable it) on you.

[nezerac]

Very interested in this. If they could meld it all into a "x79" (pc gamers will get this joke) with a HD screen I'd be flabbergasted. I'd like to see a better screen altogether. Like the ultimate portable media player. X7's size and space, the x9's battery life and storage expansion, and lasty a UHD touch screen would make the "x79" an ipod killer. Also a market!! Let the geeks play with it and put some root os's on it so we can hack em. Phone calls would also be nice!!

[TotalMorgo]

You don't need a sodding camera on an MP3 player.

[lorenzospa]

Is it possible to change the radio station and volume with the buttons?

[iggybibi]

i agree but that's how business works you can say that about any company

[willy]

I agree PawlOwl, and with the ability to stream Spotify, that would be the perfect Player. all other non Music things I can do with my Smartphone.

[diannovita]

Hi.. do you have a link for buy it . Thank you

[grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic]

Do they have one without a touchscreen?

[dmsthf]

If you are planning to buy this, trust me buy the Z2 instead.
Don't regret it later
(X9 owner)